Sunday, 21 July 2013

Strawberry Fair

Fun day at the Strawberry Fair at the Strawberry Fair, Dublin!


The Blanchardstown Brass Band played some super modern tunes including ABBA!!

Strawberries & cream - one of the best desserts ever!

Bones found a pal ;-) 

Dairy Cottage - how cute!


Old metal bridge

The road between the Angler's Rest and the Strawberry Hall Pub was closed off.  Such a nice walk between the two.

After the fair we called in to the Angler's and had a drink in the sun (glass of wine for moi) and a little snack (wings & pate).

My sister volunteered at this event and wrote a really great blog post about the day, have a look here.





Riverdance World Record

Over 1,600 dancers lined out in Dublin today to break the World Record for the longest line of Irish dancers.  It all took place on the banks of the Liffey and it was quite spectacular!


The dancers had to keep their hands linked and dance for a full 5 minutes in order to break the record.

The dancers were mainly made up of girls - but there were boys too among the  dancers, including Padraic Moyles, the current male lead in Riverdance.  Padraic led the line in the rehearsal and seemed like a genuinely all round good guy.

The most famous Riverdancer was there - Ms. Jean Butler (that's her in the shades at the water)

For more information about this event, check out The Gathering website.

Events like this make me very proud to be Irish!


Feel free to share this blog post or any of the photos that I took at the record breaking event.







Minding children

My sister was stuck for a babysitter yesterday so I minded my niece and nephew for a few hours.  Wow, minding children is tough work.  They are great kids but they need constant attention.

When they were dropped off we straightaway walked to the shops.  I gave Oliver the job of lugging my pull along shopping trolley and put Eleanor in charge of the dog. Walking through the park to the shops, we looked in the pond for fish.

After buying a few things for dinner we went to the corner shop and they picked out an ice cream.  Here's a fact the kids and I figured out - a Golly Bar has been renamed.  It's now called something like the big bar or the giant bar.



When we came home the kids helped me get the salty water ready and the lobsters on to boil and then went and watched TV.


We had dinner then - btw, maybe lobster mac & cheese isn't the best dinner option for children!

Kids didn't get the surf & turf.  They just had baked potato with lobster mac.



Ciaran and the kids started playing a train board game while I cleaned up and just as the game finished their mam came to pick them up.


Before they went home they wanted to walk up the glass stairs so I let them do that before they got on their way home.


Friday, 19 July 2013

Summer clothes

I've always wondered what it is like to work and live in a hot country.  While Ireland is going through this mini heat wave I'm finding out what it is like.

Here's what I discovered:

1. Working in a building with no AC is not fun when temps go up to 80.

2. Finding clothes that keep you cool but look professional can be a struggle. Today I am wearing a light blouse, a cotton skirt and sandals.

3. It's a good idea to take a cold drink with you for the 40 min commute home in a black car that's been sitting in the sun all day.

4.  When taking your coffee break outside you should wear sunscreen.


Preview Screening: 3D Wolverine

My twin sister got tickets for the preview of 3D Wolverine yesterday evening.  Security is always tight at these events with security guards asking you to switch off your phone as you enter.  Then during the show there are security guards positioned in different parts of the theatre facing the audience for the whole movie to make sure no one is filming.

The film was your typical superheroe action movie but I did enjoy the fact that the majority of it was set in Japan - I love Ninja warriors!

The best thing about the evening was that we discovered that the cinema served Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream. Peanut butter flavour ice cream is so difficult to get in Ireland.  It was delicious along with a scoop of Phish Food.




Thursday, 18 July 2013

The Summer is on!

The Summer is definitely on here in Ireland.  Gearing up for a sunny weekend with the mini heat wave we are experiencing.

It's 9am and I'm sitting outside Starbucks having coffee.  Generally (even in Summer) only smokers sit outside in Ireland!!




Monday, 15 July 2013

Fade Street Social

I like this place!  

The bar on the roof has a great vibe and the place is very buzzy (albeit very loud in the restaurant when eating).

Duck mousse

Meat selection

Flatbread

Chateaubriand

Lamb

Micro vegetables