Happy Chinese New Year!

Blanchardstown Shopping Centre have nice balloon decorations to mark the Chinese New Year.

2014 is the Year of the Horse!

Georgian Mile

I had meetings in the city yesterday.  One of my meetings was in a building on Fitzwilliam Street which is home to rows of preserved Georgian Houses.  Most have been converted to offices.

Here is a pic  in the other direction. To the right of  the photo is Merrion Square (the area with trees).

Go Cars are an interesting concept.  It is a car sharing initiative, offering short term car rental to members on a hourly basis.  Unlike renting a car, users of Go Car pay a monthly subscription in order to then pick up a car from many different convenient locations city wide at a very reasonable hourly rate.  Parking in the city is also free when using a Go Car - perhaps one of the biggest benefits of partaking in the car sharing scheme.

Fat Bombs

When eating an LCHF diet it can be hard to find a snack that is high fat.  A fat bomb is the perfect solution to this problem.

 

To make my fat bomb I mixed 325g of butter with 125g of melted 85% chocolate. To this mixture, I added toasted coconut flakes and ground almonds.

 

I then spooned in to baking cases and sprinkled with more toasted coconut.

 

They taste so good and are the perfect way to add more fat in to your diet!

I got the chocolate in Aldi and the ground almond and toasted coconut in the Hopsack in Rathmines.

 

Fat bombs need to be stored in the fridge or freezer as they melt quickly due to their high fat content.

 

To make the fat bombs look nicer they could be pressed in to candy moulds.  I will probably do this on my next batch.

 

Variations include using peanut butter in addition to regular butter.

Times they are a changing....

Starbucks Blanchardstown was given a makeover.  The majority of the comfortable couches are gone - replaced by high bench style seating.  It's a lot darker and it is covered in mock wood.

 

 

This stencilling on the wall looks pretty cool!

 

Changes are also taking place on Charlemont Street where the old flats are being knocked.  Read about the stalled regeneration here.

Here it is a few days later

The historic Ffrench Mullen House block of flats is also being knocked.  They were designed by architect Michael Scott who also designed Busaras.

I took these photos when I stopped on Charlemont Street to call in to the laundrette to pick up my laundry. 

Edit:

Here is the above block of flats on the 1st of March.  It's now partially knocked.

Oil Pulling

Have you heard of Oil Pulling?

It involves swooshing oil around your mouth for 20 minutes every morning.  It purports to leave your mouth fresh and toxin free.  You can read more about it here

I plan on starting it tomorrow morning using Coconut Oil.  Common advice is to do Oil Pulling on an empty stomach as there is a high risk of vomiting (eek!)

I wonder can it really whiten teeth?

A tale of two pâtés

I had a hankering for pate today so I bought 2 different types in Dunnes.

 

This one was the cheaper of the two.  It is very artificial tasting.

 

It is also a strange pink colour!

The other pate I bought is from the Blue Haven Food Co in Kinsale, Co Cork.

 

It is fresh and home made tasting and deliciously smooth.

It is also a fairly normal colour!

As an aside, what colour are your eggs?

 

Here in Ireland, there seems to be only brown eggs on sale.  I am always amused to see white eggs in America when I visit.  I used to think they bleached them but now I know that certain varieties of hens produce white eggs while other varieties produce brown!

A little LCHF snack I made for my husband.

Blueberries in cream

Avocado with lime & oil dressing

Italian ham wrapped cheese (with a smear of butter)

Nuts for Coconuts

So I just ate a big spoonful of coconut oil!

 

It tastes more coconutty than it smells. 

 

 

I ate it in order to attempt to increase my fat intake.  I need to be eating 75% fat to 25% protein in order to become leaner.

 

Yesterday I started back swimming.  It was tough.....but awesome!  Rathmines pool is great - very new and very modern.  The pool temp was perfect and I had an enjoyable sauna and steam after my swim.