The Cellar

Lovely lunch in The Cellar in the Merion Hotel today.

For starter I had a chicken liver and foie gras parfait with brioche and onion marmalade.  It was served so beautifully with the onion marmalade in a little jar.  The liver parfait was tasty and the brioche was melt in your mouth.

For my main I chose Beef Cheek with a pomme mouselline, mushrooms and pearl onions and bacon ragout.  The beef was amazing - so rich!

Then dessert was a passionfruit posset with macaroon and white chocolate bark.  Other dessert choices were choux buns filled with vanilla ice cream served with a jug of melted dark chocolate.

All divine!

If you are ever in Dublin town, I thoroughly recommend this place.

Btw, I should mention that I also had a very generous glass of the house red!

Roundabout Ranelagh

It's a very pleasant day so I just took the dog for a walk to Ranelagh Gardens which is a close by park. I took a picture of two buildings of interest on my walk home.  Ranelagh Gardens is the site of the first balloon ride in Ireland in 1783.

The house with the green door is the Indian Embassy on Leeson Park Avenue. The other house is called St. Helens. Situated near Warwick Terrace, it is unlike any other in Ranelagh.

For info, Ranelagh is pronounced Wren-a-lah!

Nobody puts baby in the corner!

Ciaran is away at a stag party so I am indulging myself and watching Dirty Dancing. 

Scary to think that it is more than 20 years since I first saw this film! Eeeek!

Patrick Swayzee :-)

Tantrums in the morning

Generally my husband takes the dog with him to the office everyday.  However, he decided to leave Bones at home with me as I am off work today.
I had planned to have a lie in and take it easy.  Well I tell you, that was not going to happen with Bones in the house.  He went berserk when Ciaran left without him.  The dog was so cross that I nearly phoned Ciaran to come back and take him with you.
The whole day I've had a sulky dog on my hands.  He is really acting up - he won't even eat his food!!
Not a good boy......and I'm not too pleased with having been woken up early on my day off.
If you are looking to read another blog about Irish life, pop over to my sister's blog

Valentine's meal

Here's what we had for Valentine's....

Wicklow Blue Cheese
Prawns in parsley butter
Steak and chunky chips (fries) with pepper sauce
Chocolate torte
Chocolate truffle

Washed down with a bottle of Cab Sauv.

What did you do for Valentine's Day?

Vote for my doggie please

Check out this pic of Bones. 
I've entered it in a competition on the Mutt Ugly Facebook page.  If you are on Facebook, please click here and then like the photo of Bones.  Thanks in advance!

How many pancakes did you eat?!

Today is the last day before Lent.  Here in Ireland we call this Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday.  Traditionally we eat pancakes today and then make a decision to forgo something nice for Lent which leads us up to Easter. 

By the way, I had 1 pancake today.  How many did you have?!