Smarter than a smart

As regular readers know, I drive a Smart Car which I adore.  I was considering getting a new Smart until I came upon a Toyota IQ.  It's pretty much the same size as a Smart but it has two seats in the back (which is the boot space of the Smart). How clever!

The IQ has a 1 litre engine in comparison to the Smarts 599 cc engine.  It should get about 50mpg - awesome!

So anyway look what I picked up on Friday!

What do you think?!

Two teeny back seats - only comfortable for short journeys I would think (best for those with short legs!)

The other great thing is that I get to hold on to my beloved Smart! My husband got rid of his Mercedes and is driving the Smart instead. We live down a tiny cul de sac with limited parking so his large car was unsuitable (and very inefficient considering he only does a 2 mile round trip to work each day) - the Smart is a better option for him at the moment. Result!!!

Chicken wings on a date?

Last night we went for a nice meal in the Canal Bank Cafe. This restaurant is a sister restaurant to TriBeCa in Ranelagh.  

TriBeCa is well known around these parts for their chicken wings and they also had them on the Canal Bank menu. Personally I am not a fan of their wings as they are covered in hot sauce and I prefer BBQ sauce covered wings.  The wings are good value though.  A huge basket for €13.99 and certainly enough for two.

While I was out last night I got to thinking about "date food".  It's commonly known that it is not entirely advisable to eat such food as spaghetti bolgnaise while on a date as there is too much of a risk of looking messy and splashing sauce on your face or down your front.

I've never really thought too much about chicken wings until I saw a couple order a basket to split last night.  Oh dear, I think wings are not a good idea for date food when you aren't fully comfortable with your date.  The couple (more so the girl) looked awkward and uncomfortable picking up the wings and chewing on them.  Sometimes to avoid putting the wing in her mouth and chewing off the meat (which is how we all generally eat wings) she picked off the chicken meat off the bone with her fingers.  She was then left with dripping sauce all over her fingers which she was constantly wiping and tried to clean with her napkin - I bet she just wanted to lick her fingers!!!

So readers what do you think, are wings advisable on a date??!!  Or is there any food that you don't think is a good idea to order when on a date?

Btw, here's what we had last night for dinner.

Hummus & pitta bread to start (we shared this)

Fish & chips for Ciaran 

Rib eye for me

Washed down by a bottle of Bordeaux.

The restaurant is a short walk away from us - about 5 mins walk so we were home by about 11.30pm.  We booked a table at short notice so only could get a 9.30pm sitting for dinner.  As I mentioned before we are like Seniors and prefer to eat early - about 7pm.

Back to the '80's

I visited a house Ciaran is building in Knocklyn. On the way back I passed this dodgy looking strip mall.  I don't think it would be missed if it was knocked!

Look at this Penneys sign!!! I remember this branding from the nineties, I think!

Btw, for the benefit of my US readers I should mention that Penneys has nothing to do with JC Penneys.  The Irish store Penneys is known as Primark in Britain and is a clothes and homewares store for the whole family. It is a cheap and cheerful, high fashion shop.

London Architecture

These buildings are great.  They were so striking as we turned the corner in Soho.

We could see "The Shard" from just about everywhere!

We also got a good glimpse of the "Cheese Grater" building and the "Walkie Talkie" building.

London Underground - in the underbelly of the city!

From the time Amy and I got on the underground or "Tube" at London Bridge we loved it!

Our cousin had arranged for us to get a lend of Oyster Cards (like the Irish Leap Travel card) from her parents so all we had to do was top them up and away we went!

A fun, fast convenient way to travel all over the city.

Great picture of Amy with the Henry Beck conceived map of the underground.

London's underground is the oldest in the world and I think the best - even better than New York and Paris!

Standing to the right as per Amy's advice!

By the end of the trip we were like locals we were so au fait with the tube! 

Mo the cat

My cousin was cat sitting Mo in London.

Mo was quite the character!

Mo slept in the bed with Amy and I.  Sleep really is a loose term for the activity she got up to at night.  She slept on my face and on top of Amy's head. Springboarded on to my face at one point and tapped Amy's pendant off the nightstand with her paw for fun - you get the idea - the cat was mad - really hyper!

London - Day 3

We had a slow start and made our way to the very nice Borough Market - foodie heaven.  There was so much to choose from and lots of great bread, chocolate, cheese and produce.

I had Udon noodles with chicken, prawn & veg.  Kasey had a chorizo burger (think that was the nicest) while Amy had boar tortellini (Mmmm!).

I loved the atmosphere at this market.  We also saw Monmouth Coffee Shop with its mammoth queue.  Seemingly it's the best coffee in London.  

Here's a few more pics of the market

Look what we happened upon!!  

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

From the Globe we sauntered along the streets of London and arrived at the Tate Modern - wow what a building!!

We went in to the Tate and had a look at some art, stopping off in the gift shop as we we left.

From there we walked across a particular bridge a la Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones while taking in the sight of St Paul's.

Given that this was our last day and we were prepping for our flight that evening I felt we did a lot.  We even managed to get a bite to eat in Oaka in Kennington, before we got the underground to London Bridge to get a train to Gatwick Airport.