{"id":546998,"date":"2026-07-13T06:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T06:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/546998\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T06:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T06:54:08","slug":"summer-soap-part-6-a-fascinating-chat-but-another-dead-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/546998\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Soap, Part 6: A fascinating chat… but another dead end"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year’s summer soap, The Lost Recipe, is a summer mystery with a romantic subplot and an underlying theme of food – and involves a search for a long-lost recipe. It was written by Emma Tirlot from the MA in Creative Writing Programme at UCC. Catch up with previous episodes at echolive.ie<\/a>.\u00a0 In the sixth episode, Claire and Fionn continue looking for the lost recipe<\/p>\n

Episode 6: Barry\u2019s Tea<\/p>\n

Whitegate sits on the edge of the water, in Cork\u2019s natural harbour, precisely, as I\u2019ve learned during our drive.<\/p>\n

I park along the main road. Further down, a pier stretches over the water. An open snack bar stands at its edge, tables overlooking the calm bay. Big white clouds travel fast across the blue sky, throwing shadows over the landscape. Only the cries of seagulls and crows disturb the peaceful quiet. I place a hand above my eyes to peer at the town across the estuary.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Cobh over there.\u201d Fionn rounds the car to stand beside me. \u201cVery touristic. There\u2019s a museum about the Titanic there.\u201d<\/p>\n

I tilt my head, \u201cThe Titanic stopped here?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes. Well, it didn\u2019t sail all the way into Cobh, which was named Queenstown at the time. The ship waited outside the bay, and a shuttle boat took around 120 passengers from Cobh to it. That was the Titanic\u2019s last stop before crossing the Atlantic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWow, I had no idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

He smiles, \u201cCobh is a must-see. When you visit the Titanic museum, they give you a passenger ticket. At the end of the visit, you find out if they survived the wreck or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

I raise my eyebrows, \u201cI\u2019m not sure whether that\u2019s genius or absolutely horrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n

******<\/p>\n

Fionn leads the way uphill to a detached home. The bright red door is a sharp contrast to the dark stones. I ring the bell and a woman in her thirties opens, a baby on her hip. Catherine invites us in, mumbling an excuse for the collection of pastel-coloured toys and baby clothes scattered around the house.<\/p>\n

The sitting room is bright with a glass sliding door opening onto the yard.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like I\u2019m working two jobs with this little one!\u201d Catherine says while placing the baby in a high-chair.<\/p>\n

******<\/p>\n

Theo, her little boy, is busy chewing a plastic elephant when Catherine comes back with tea. To my surprise, I\u2019m growing accustomed to Barry\u2019s Tea, although I\u2019ve noticed that in Ireland, tea is always infused while the water is too hot. I think it gives it a bitter taste. Maybe that\u2019s why they add milk to it. I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around the whole milk-in-the-tea thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is pretty much all I have left from the generations beyond my grandfather.\u201d<\/p>\n

Catherine reaches for the large leather-bound photo album sitting on the table and lays her palms flat on it. \u201cWhen my grandma passed away… I was around eight years old? Anyways, my grandad sold the house and everything that was in it\u2026 I don\u2019t know what became of it all. I think he got rid of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n My mind flies to gran\u2019s house – where I was supposed to spend my summer – still untouched, with everything exactly the way she\u2019d left it. I was already incapable of finishing the aromatic herbs she\u2019d made; I couldn\u2019t imagine letting go of anything.\n <\/p>\n

Catherine continues: \u201cI didn\u2019t know much about the bakery until Fionn called. I mean, I knew that there was a business in the family on my mom\u2019s side, which got destroyed by a fire, but that\u2019s about it. I didn\u2019t know that they were in business with another family, nor that they won some awards!\u201d She smiles.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyways,\u201d she pushes the photo album towards us, \u201cyou can take a look at this, but I am not sure you will find anything interesting. And about this specific recipe, I\u2019m sorry, I wish I could help you more.\u201d<\/p>\n

The album contains grainy, monochromous pictures, pasted on stiff yellow pages. All of the pictures are carefully dated, most of them labelled with names or events. One of the pictures draws my attention. A man in an army uniform.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy great grandfather, Henry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHenry Gallagher.\u201d I\u2019d seen him in many of Margaret\u2019s pictures, \u201che went to war?\u201d<\/p>\n

Catherine nods. \u201cHe fought in the First World War. He made it home, I wouldn\u2019t be here if he hadn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

I smile. \u201cThank-you for taking the time to speak with us, I know you must be really busy.\u201d<\/p>\n

I glance at Theo who seems to be attempting to lift the tray off his high-chair, but his fingers aren\u2019t quite co-ordinated enough.<\/p>\n

Catherine looks at her son and chuckles. \u201cYou\u2019re lucky, he\u2019s in a good mood right now!\u201d<\/p>\n

I reach into my purse and hand her the brown envelope in which I\u2019d gathered a few photographs of the bakery. Her eyebrows shoot up when she sees the woman standing behind the register.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes! This is my great grandmother, Mair\u00e9ad! I can\u2019t believe these exist…\u201d Catherine lays the pictures on the table one after the other. \u201cCan I take a picture of them?\u201d She asks.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course! Actually, let me get them copied for you,\u201d I offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, that would be lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n

******<\/p>\n

Fionn and I walk down to the pier in silence. Our meeting with Catherine had given us no other lead, other than John, her cousin in Kerry, to whom she had promised to reach out to the hope that he had any information or archives on the bakery.<\/p>\n

I point towards the coffee shop out on the pier.<\/p>\n

\u201cComfort pit-stop?\u201d<\/p>\n

He smiles. \u201cSure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Corkbeg Cafe has one of the most scenic decks I\u2019ve ever seen. A large crow lands on the fence just as I spot the \u2018beware of crows\u2019 sign. Instinctively, I slide my carrot cake closer to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess it couldn\u2019t have been that easy,\u201d I say<\/p>\n

\u201cNot all hope is lost,\u201d Fionn chimes in, \u201cwe\u2019ll see what she can get from her cousin.\u201d<\/p>\n

I raise my eyebrows at him. \u201cYou really think there could be something there?\u201d<\/p>\n

He looks down at his mug, pressing his lips together in a thin line. \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

I blow out a breath and look up to the estuary. A large cruise ship is making its way towards Cobh.<\/p>\n

Fionn leans over the table, catching my attention. \u201cAre you okay Claire?\u201d He asks, knitting his brows.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t I look okay?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou haven\u2019t even tasted your carrot cake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n I peer at the pastry, untouched, before looking up at Fionn patiently waiting. I sigh.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m wasting so much time. This biography is not going to write itself. There is no way we\u2019ll find this recipe, and I just… Fionn, I don\u2019t know anything about Irish baking, how am I supposed to come up with anything Mrs Kelly hasn\u2019t already thought about?<\/p>\n

\u201cClaire. She wanted you for the job. I think that\u2019s for a good reason. We\u2019re not completely out of leads, research takes time, so many dead ends before finding what we\u2019re looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the problem, we don\u2019t have time! We have a couple of weeks and then…\u201d My shoulders slump.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen, let me take on the Irish baking research. I\u2019ll send everything I find. Focus on whatever Margaret gives you for the biography. Anything. I know she\u2019s reluctant about sharing her family history, but maybe you can change her mind down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFionn, you don\u2019t have to… You still have your research and…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to help,\u201d he insists, \u201cIf you\u2019ll let me, I want to help you.\u201d<\/p>\n

41873301;41874596;41875250\/readmore]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This year’s summer soap, The Lost Recipe, is a summer mystery with a romantic subplot and an underlying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[61,60,80],"class_list":["post-546998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}