The self titled county -The Peoples Republic of Cork has a gritty beauty to it that you don't see in the Not The Peoples Republic of Dublin. There's an old worldliness that charms you about Cork and there is no other food market in the country like The English Market -which offers you the freshest sea smelling fish at one corner, crubeens at the next and followed by a smorgasbord of local seasonal veggies. I gathered bread, dried hibiscus (just 'cause) and Gubbeen Smokehouse salami. We went next to Kinsale for hake -at half the Dublin price and we got ourselves some cheese, including Toons Bridge Dairy buffalo halloumi. The highlight of the weekend was cooking all our meals on the 100+60 year old stove in my brothers re-constructed railway station house/cottage/dwelling near Oyster Haven. It's hard to gauge cooking times when using open flames that need to be watched and tended to like a young child near a pond. The highlight of cooking on the stove was the pavlova that my brother made. The stove marketed as 'portable' because it would have been dismantled and taken off on hunting trips, has a two shelf oven where the soft meringue was lovingly placed to sleep overnight and gently dry out. The magic of cooking completely off grid certainly leant an indescribably delicious undertone to all of the grub.