Cobbler

I called to the cobbler to pick up my boots which I had left in to get new soles and heeled.  He did such a good job - they are like new!!

I don't generally get my shoes reheeled or resoled but I really like these boots and I was not in the mood to shop for a new pair so it was just easier to get them fixed up.   In total, it cost 30 euro.

Pretzel heaven

I have been looking at these pretzels in Superquinn for a few weeks and I decided to buy them last night.  

I think they are fairly new to the Irish market and I have not seen them for sale anywhere else.  They are made by Snyders of Hanover in Pennsylvania, USA.

They had a few different flavours - I saw Buffalo and some other spicy flavour.  I chose the Honey Mustard.

Wow!  I loved them.  They tasted unlike anything I have tasted before.  So delicious and very moreish.  

They tasted so good and so unique.

As you can see they have been making pretzels sinch 1909 - how great is that!!  You can even visit their bakery if you are in the Hanover area - I have friends who live in Pennsylvania so I will see how close they live to here and whether they have ever visited the Snyder's of Hanover Pretzel Bakery!

I wonder if they will be bringing chocolate covered pretzels to Ireland???  I'd love that!

Egg-cellent!

It's Saturday morning of the Bank Holiday Weekend.  We went for a swim at 8am and now we are in the Fumbally for eggs.  

We have sneaked Bones in and he is sitting under the table on a little shelf.  He keeps sticking his head out when the waiter walks by with food.    

I don't understand why dogs are generally not allowed in to cafes - once we were even asked to leave the outside area of a cafe because we had the dog!!!  What are your thoughts on dogs in shops and cafes?

Doggy holiday

Normally when we go away at Christmas my parents mind Bones.  This June, however, we are all going away so we needed to organize a minder for him.

We finally chose Doggy Holidays which is run by the head groomer in Mutt Ugly.  The dogs are minded in her home and then taken in to Mutt Ugly during the day.

Last Friday, Bones did a trial day in day care to see how he got on with the other dogs.  He was fine so we are all now set for our hols and his "Doggy Holiday"

We will be able to see how he is getting on while we are away as there will be photos put up on the Doggy Holidays Facebook page!

Stir it up!

I had a chicken noodle stir fry for dinner last night. Loaded with fresh vegetable and a soy & ginger sauce.  We followed it with strawberries and meringue. Yum!

Feeling nostalgic

A 1 litre of fresh milk in a glass bottle by Adare Farm

Glass bottles were phased out in the 1980/90's in Dublin.  Deliveries used to be done by the milkman who would leave fresh bottles of milk and remove the empties.  As supermarkets began to open earlier and close later - as well as stay open on Sundays the role of the milkman became defunct.  Milk also began to be sold in cartons (tetra pak to start with) which I presume was more cost effective.

Adare Farm have just started selling milk in glass bottles again in certain shops.  When I saw it on the shelf in Superquinn Ranelagh I had to buy it!  The milk looks so good - so tasty and fresh looking.  It's also way colder than milk from the carton.  

Although more expensive, I think it is worth it.

What way is your milk sold?  Glass, carton or plastic bottle?

What I'm reading

The weather was great yesterday so it was a day of reading for me.  A batch of new books arrived in the library on Friday and thought this one looked good so I borrowed it.

It's the "Autobiography of us" by Aria Beth Sloss.

It was an easy read and I enjoyed the era it was set in - it started in the 1960's and was set in America.  I always think the difference between USA and Ireland in the 1950's and the 1960's was amazingly vast. Ireland only saw money coming in to the economy in the very late 1960's through the beginning of Foreign Direct Investment.  Prior to this it was quite backward and extremely rural, for example Ireland only became fully electrified in the late 1970's.  

In this book there is a part where the main protagonist is preparing to go to college.  Although not from a well off background she gathers together a fairly extensive wardrobe that will see her through the college year and all of the events she will have to attend.  An 18 yr old in Ireland at that time would have a few staples to see her through the working week along with her "Sunday Best" for mass and dinner on Sunday!

But back to the book.  As I was reading it I realised that the author jumped over large sections where you had to assume what had happened.  I can be a little slow on the uptake so it took me awhile to cop where the story was going.  There was a slight twist near the end (which obviously I hadn't seen!) which gave a little bit of a lift to the story.

Overall a book which is readable in a weekend and a very good effort from a first time novelist.