With four children, of a school-going age, our weekday breakfast is rushed, to say the least. However, the only advantage to this is the learned appreciated that I now have for the weekend breakfast. Without the threat of the imminent school bell, our weekend breakfast is a whole lot more relaxed. Valentine's day falls on a Saturday this year, so if you're planning on starting the day off well, and earning a few brownie point, treat your loved one to an extra special breakfast, or brunch. This bap can be assembled in minutes, and the combination of flavours are simply scrumptious.

We’re very fortunate to have eggs straight from our garden from our lovely hens, but if you’ve to buy eggs seek out some true free-range, organic eggs. How delicious this bap really is, completely depends on the quality of the eggs. Brioche buns are for sale in M&S and Aldi, but if you can’t get your hands on them, any bread buns will work in their place. Enjoy!

Chorizo, Avocado & Poached Egg Brunch Bap

Ingredients

Serves 4

4 free range eggs

½ tsp white wine vinegar

2 ripe avocados, thinly sliced

1 tsp olive oil

100g chorizo, thinly sliced

4 brioche buns

Tomato relish of your choice

Smoked paprika, optional

Method

1. To poach the eggs, bring a saucepan of water to a bubbling boil, add the white wine vinegar. Using a spoon quickly stir the water to make like a whirlwind in the saucepan. Crack the egg into a cup, and with the water still swirling gently add the egg into the centre of the saucepan. Depending on the size of the egg it will take between 2 and 4 minutes to poach. Once cooked, remove to a plate lined with kitchen paper and cover with additional kitchen paper to keep warm while the rest of the eggs are cooking. You can cook two eggs together, but repeat this process for the rest of the eggs.
2. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Add the chorizo slices and fry for about 1 minute on each side. Remove to a plate.
3. To assemble the bap, cut the bun in half and over the bottom half spread a thin layer of relish, top with the slices of avocado, an even layer of fried chorizo and top with the poached egg. Season with a few grinds of black pepper and a sprinkling of smoked paprika, if you have it to hand. Add the top of the brioche bun and sandwich together. Enjoy straight away.

Happy Valentine's Day!
Nessa x

It never ceases to amaze me that when one fruit goes out of season, in our garden, another can take its place. I had but a few days of yearning for fresh berries, when I spied the first of our blueberry crop, already ripened by the summer sun. For the past number of years we've successfully grown blueberries in pots filled with soil, acidic compost and the odd shovelful of rich compost, from our compost container. The blueberries are deliciously juicy, and even seem to thrive without the benefit of a sunny summer. Rather surprisingly, they are the only fruit in the garden that the blackbird isn't drawn to, leaving all the more for us to enjoy.

One of our old, large pots that we filled with soil and acidic compost before planting the blueberry plants.

This little lady is a big fan of blueberries, and loves them best when she has picked them herself for her morning cereal. 

I was recently sent a few punnets of blueberries from a relatively local grower in Ballyteague, Co. Kildare, called Kildare Blueberries. Here they have a farm shop selling their berries, but visitors can also pick their own, if they’d prefer to have a hands-on fruit picking experience. Like my own blueberries, these were remarkably bigger and juicier than many of the foreign, shop bought varieties. We mostly munched on these berries as they were, but with one punnet, in a matter of minutes, I made a tasty compote, which served nicely on that morning’s pancakes. This flavoursome compote also made a perfect accompaniment to a few afternoon scones. When blueberries are at the height of their season, now is the time to buy a few punnets of them, pop them into the freezer and enjoy them winter long in smoothies, jams and delicious compotes, such as the one in the recipe below, (just increase the cooking time by 5 minutes when the berries are frozen).

Blueberry Compote

Ingredients

250g blueberries

zest of 1 orange

2 tbsp soft brown sugar

2 tbsp water

Method

1.      Place 225g of the blueberries into a medium sized saucepan, along with the orange zest, sugar and water.

2.      Place over a low heat and allow to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring regularly. After this time stir through the remaining 25g of blueberries, and let the saucepan remain on the heat for a further minute, and continue to stir well.

3.      Allow to cool slightly and serve with pancakes and a dollop of yogurt. Otherwise allow to cool completely and keep in the fridge for up to three days. 
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In Other News
* I'm thrilled to announce that my blog has been shortlisted for three categories in this year's Irish Blog
Awards. Thank you so much to anyone who nominated me and to the judges who shortlisted this blog.
Also a big congratulations to all my fellow nominees. Best of luck. xx
* Móna Wise has written a great blog post all about blogging, and the opportunity of
gaining employment as a result. I was delighted to contribute to this. Have a read here - http://www.wisewords.ie/index.php/2014/08/blog-awards/