Sunday Independent Shoot

We had the Sunday Independent out photographing the house for an article in a few weeks.  Rug Art gave us a lend of two different Jan Kath rugs for the shoot.

Tony Gavin is the Sunday Independent photographer.  He has won numerous press awards for his work.  Here he is photographing the glass stairs.

I'm intrigued to see how this shot of the open door in the studio will look.

I staged the area around the hot tub.  Cocktail anyone?!

Here's my Paddington Bear collection being photographed - along with a painting of Picasso that was painted by Ciaran's Dad.

Tapas time

So after a great night in Fade Street Social a few weeks ago, we returned last night.  Having ate in the main restaurant on our last visit we ate in the Tapas bar this time.

I love Tapas.  I enjoy the ease and familiarity of ordering a pile of food and having it arrive at the table at different times.  It makes for sociable eating as everyone digs in and shares the food.

Here's a few pics of some of the food we ordered:

Potatoes cooked in beef dripping

Mini burger which tastes awesome but is grossly overpriced, there should be 3 of these on the plate to make them better value

Large portion of beef cooked medium rare: divine!

Mini lobster roll - cute, adorable, tasty and not seen on many Irish menus

A mini chicken covered in caramelized onions and some type of cured meat

Dessert of chocolate mousse with hazelnut ice cream - this was very good!

Individual banoffee (my favourite dessert)

Overall I love the food and atmosphere in Fade Street Social it is such a buzzy place.  However, I do think the tapas menu is overpriced and there is just not enough food on the plate for certain dishes to justify the price (I'm looking at you lobster roll & mini burger).  

In comparison, have a look at our dinner in Santiago's Bodega - we generally spend about 100 dollars here (including wine & tip) and leave absolutely stuffed having eaten about 8 dishes between us.   In Fade Street we dropped 105 euro, had about 6 dishes between the two of us and were not full at all.  I think Fade Street could knock about 30% off the tapas prices which would allow for guests to order a few more dishes.  They could also double or triple the portion size of some of the more teeny weeny dishes.

BTW, I should mention we ordered a bottle of malbec which was delicious at dinner but today has given me the typical malbec headache - tannins!!!

Ranelagh Speakeay

Before meeting friends in Fade Street Social we went for a cocktail in the Speakeasy in Kinara Kitchen in Ranelagh.

Getting to the bar is complicated with you being led through a maze of areas before hitting the stairs to the speakeasy.

I wondered why was Ward 8 printed on the stairs!!  I never heard of this cocktail before in my life......

But I recognised an "Old Fashioned"......

Ciaran chose a rye based cocktail - a Whiskey Highball

I chose a Falling Water again.  Surprisingly it tasted different to the last time I had it.  It had been made with plain vodka the last time (in error, I think) while this time it was made with Feijoa flavour Level 42.  It was quite a unique flavour and I think I had finally got used to it by the end of the drink!

Dulux Sting

So last night I'm watching Design Doctors on RTE which is sponsored by Dulux Paint Company.  

As the programme goes to Ad Break, who do I see in the Dulux "Sting", only Declan my husband's business partner in ODKM Architects.

You can have a look at the "Sting" here on on Youtube.  

BTW, as far as I can make out, a sting in marketing terms seems to be an ad by the company that is sponsoring a TV programme.  It was shown in two parts last night - half at the first ad break and then the second half at the end of the programme.  It kind of tells a little story by the time the sting is finished.  Would you believe that this 30 second film took 8 hrs to record!!!

Here in Ireland we don't have as many TV ad breaks as in the USA.  In a half hour programme there would be one ad break at the 15 min point.

Here is a photo of Declan I took from the TV. 

Talk Talk

Today When I showed a work colleague a photo of my new "Trista" Olive bowl he said that it reminded him of the work of James Marsh.  My colleague is a big fan of the band Talk Talk and he went on to tell me how James Marsh designed most of their album covers.

He then produced a book called "Spirit of Talk Talk".  It is mainly about the band but the last chapter details the work of James Marsh.

The art work really is stunning!  I can understand why my colleague thought there was similarities.  Both artist's work are quite whimsical and are very brightly coloured.

My colleague showed me the back of the book where his name is listed.  He gave a contribution and agreed to buy a copy of this book before it was published.  

Off to the post office....

Yesterday when I returned from work I found a note from the postman saying that he had missed me and to call to the post office in Rathmines to collect a delivery.

Expecting a letter I set off on my bike for the post office this morning.  I had to laugh when I saw the postman bring a very large box to the counter.  When I laughingly told him I was on my bike he said I could come back later but I said it was ok that I would manage.

I also said that I wasn't expecting any large packages and I wondered what it was.  He looked at it and said it was from Pennsylvania.  "Ah", I said, "I know who that is from".  He then looked at it again and said "Well don't look here if you don't want to discover what it is until you open it".  Lol.  I didn't look!

When I got out to the bike yard I attempted to put the box in my panniers.  No joy!

Then I remembered that I had a bungee cord on my carrier.  I strapped on the box and I was away.

When I got home I excitedly began to open the box.  At the top were two cute postcards of scenes of Amish life with two lovely notes on the back.

Inside the wrapping were two very well wrapped packages.

Inside the smaller package were two clay olives - this might give you an idea what was in the bigger package.  One of the notes on the postcard warned us not to eat them that they were pottery - thanks Alan for preventing what could have been a serious accident!!

And finally I got to the larger package and opened it to find the most magnificent olive dish by artist Trista Depp Chapman (a favourite artist of my friend Pam in Pennsylvania).  Pam & Alan had visited the  Mt. Gretna Art Show two weekends ago and Trista had been displaying her work.  

Look how great the dish looks on my black kitchen countertop!  It's hard to see but the two pottery olives are in the dish for display when not it use - what a great concept!

But I think it looks best on the bar!

Here's contact information for Trista Depp Chapman, you can also see more of her work here here

How quaint are these Amish families?

Thanks so much Pam & Alan, I love the dish - I feel like inviting friends straightaway over and serving snacks right out of it!!

How wonderful to have an original piece of artwork from Fredericksburg, Virginia sitting in my house in Dublin, Ireland!

Low carb lobster roll

My friend gave me a tip for low carb lobster roll.  Scoop out the bready centre of the roll before making as usual. 

Do you have any tips for low carb dining?

Look how good it looks!!

Thanks to my friends in the USA for the tip and the great pic.......oh and also thanks for making my mouth water!!