Cleaver East

On Thursday we visited Cleaver East in the Clarence Hotel (which is owned by U2).  

It is a restaurant that serves "tasting plates".

Cashel Blue

Fish & chips (Hake)

Paella (deconstructed)

Lobster Dumpling

Monkfish

Pork belly

Corn fed chicken

Scotch egg

Banoffee

While we did have an enjoyable time being out for lunch, we both found the food  be over manipulated and over processed. A lot of the food options were deep fried :-( and very salty.  We thought we would experience light, refreshing and flavorful food made with a gentle hand but that was not to be.  Service was unfortunately sketchy also.  I highly doubt we will revisit Cleaver East.

Wicked

On Saturday night I was taken to the theatre by my sister Katie to see Wicked the musical. 

Before the show we went to the always excellent Tribeca for a burger and a glass of malbec.  We had our burgers cooked rare and agreed that they were one tasty burger!!  I love this restaurant.  It always a great buzzy atmosphere and the service is the best.

After we left the restaurant, we took a taxi to the Grand Canal Theatre.  It was not too far but the weather was windy so it was more comfortable by car.

After a drink at the bar we entered the theatre.  The Bord Gais Theatre is fairly newly built.  It's about 5 years old and extremely modern.

The show itself was quite spectacular.  From the songs to the acting to the scenery to the costumes - quite brilliant staging.  We could partially see the orchestra under the stage from our seats which added to the brilliance of the show.

Wicked tells the tale of the friendship between the Wicked Witch Elphabor and Glinda the Good Witch.  We also found out about the origins of the tin man and the scarecrow. 

It was a surprisingly good story that had you hooked for the whole show.  All in all it was a "Spectacular Spectacular". 

We are lucky in Dublin to have a fantastic facility that allows shows to visit from the West End.

Above is a selfie that we took- tried to get the Wicked sign in!

Katie and I walked home afterwards - getting a good laugh from the eigits participating on the 12 Pubs of Christmas!

Have you seen Wicked on Broadway or the Westend?  What did you think?

Main Street Ranelagh

Another new restaurant has opened in Ranelagh.  We spotted it this morning when out for coffee.

It's called "Brioche" and it is around the corner from Gammells.  It is a French Restaurant that serves tasting plates for around €10 each.  It looks like it could be a really nice addition to all of the other great restaurants in this area.

 

 

I would like to book in before we go to Tenerife on Friday but I don't think we will have a free day.  We are already booked in to Cleaver East for lunch on Thursday.  Perhaps we will visit after at some stage between Christmas and New Year. 

It looks really nice inside -  I can't wait to try it!

Up the road near McSorleys are another two new shops.  There is "Magpie"  (a little boutique) and a new book shop.  

The new book shop begs the question as to whether a small village like Ranelagh can sustain two book shops. I'm sure the "Company of Books" is not happy about the new book shop.

For the new businesses opening on Main Street Ranelagh, I'm sure it is comforting to know that Dance World has been in business for 40 years!

There was a popup shop for yesterday and today in another unit on the main street.  They were selling lots of handcrafted items which were all lovely.  I bought some onion relish for my brother in law as he is a big cheese fan and he loves good relish to go with it.

 

In other news, I got my Christmas Tree up over the weekend!

Alone at Christmas

James Gray has spent the last 10 years on his own for Christmas.  Despairing that he would be on his own again this Christmas he placed an ad in the paper looking for someone to spend Christmas with him in London.  Unfortunately he did not receive any replies.

The Irish Post Newspaper is making arrangements to get Christmas Cards to Mr. Gray.

If you want to send him a card, you can send it to 
James Gray
C/O The Irish Post
Suite A
1 Lindsey Street
Smithfield
London EC1A 9HP

If you do send a card you can post a picture of it here

Here's the card I am sending, hopefully it will make Mr. Gray happy and not so lonely.

 

Please comment below if you are going to send a card to this old man - it would be great if he got cards from all over the world!


Who will you be spending Christmas with this year?

Mid-Century Modern

Walking down Cow's Lane in the City we browsed all the little market stalls in the area.  Then we saw the shop "Find" and went in for a little browse.  There was lots of lovely stuff in there but I didn't think we were going to find anything!  A lot of their stock was painted in the new chalk paint - this seems to be the very in thing at the moment.  It is not the style of furniture that would suit our house.

But deep in the shop, eagle eyed Ciaran spotted a little mid-century modern table.  It was exactly what we needed for a spot in our house.  We asked to see it and gave it an inspection.  A few little scratches but generally in good nick. 

Look how great it looks in our house.  We were so happy when we got it home.  I put this retro looking Carolyn Donnelly vase on the table and think it looks well. It is from her "Eclectic" range.

I'd love to get a retro looking telephone for on the table.   I think it would look fun!

Christmas Post

The last dates for posting this Christmas are:

I'm somewhat organized this year.  I posed Bones for our Christmas card in late October and got the cards printed and delivered in November.

I got a batch of my cards posted today.  I'm thankful I got all of the ones that are going outside of Ireland in the mail.

I bought my stamps in the Ranelagh Post Office.  There was no queue whatsoever.  This was surprising as the queue has been out the door in Blanchardstown.

On the way to the post office I stopped and looked at the rather old fashioned Christmas display of goods in the window of Leeches Pharmacy or Chemist Shop.

After I got back from the post office I had two visitors from a department store in Ireland.  They were viewing my house to see if it was suitable for shooting an ad for their Spring Marketing campaign.  They loved my house (I could hear the guy repeating "I am so jealous, I want this house") but they are also considering two other houses.  I think my kitchen may be "too black" so my house may not be suitable for their requirements.

Yesterday I had the most amazing Bikram Yoga class.  I always have a better class when I am a little hungry and also when I bring coconut water for during the class.  Yesterday there was not too many people in the class and it was the perfect temperature.  I am back in the hot room today at 6.30pm - I hope I have another great class!

I bought a frozen lobster in the shop this morning (I went in for fresh flowers for the viewing and came out with a lobster, lol!) along with dates and bacon.  Tomorrow I may make some tasty small dishes like mac & cheese lobster and Devils on horse back to be enjoyed with a nice bottle of wine.

We are trying to make plans for over the Christmas Break.  We are going to Tenerife on the 20th for seven days over Christmas - fingers crossed the weather will be good!  For lunch on the 19th, I booked in to Cleaver East.  I was feeling happy about this place until I saw some online reviews which are quite mixed.  For New Year's Eve we are booked in for a late dinner in Dillinger's in Ranelagh.  I'm looking forward to the Christmas season!

Modjeskas

So we received fantastic present of amazing pressies in the mail the other day.  It was sent to us by our fantastic friends from the US (you know who you are!).  

There was a selection of candies which included "Pretzel Pleasures", "Peanut Butter Meltaways" (kind of like a handmade Reeces cupcake), Non-Pareils and also "Modjeskas".

The Modjeskas had me stumped!!!  I had to google them.

So it seems that they are a caramel covered marshmallow candy that was first created  in 1889.  The Modjeska's that were sent to us are covered in chocolate and were made on an Amish farm in Pennsylvania - how cool is that!

They are delicious!

 

Have you ever tasted one of these sweets?

Bones looks on enviously!

 

The Non-Pareils are very good too!

 

From our family to yours!  How quaint!