Brazen Head - Dublin's oldest pub

We were taken for lunch in the Brazen Head by guests who we were hosting for the weekend. 

The Brazen Head is one of the oldest pubs in Ireland and was established in 1149!

The chowder was pronounced delicious.

Ciaran loved his Bacon and Cabbage which is seriously traditional Irish food.

I had liver pate with Cumberland sauce (which was a new one on me - it's made with red currants).

All in all a lovely lunch in a very tourist spot in Dublin.

Rock of Ages - Grand Canal Theatre

On Saturday night Amy, Katie and I went to see Rock of Ages in the Grand Canal Theatre.  

After an enjoyable dinner in Tribeca (3 rare burgers and 3 glasses of malbec!) we got a taxi down to the venue.

Look how close we were to the stage!!  3 rows from the front!

Rock of Ages was incredible!  Amy and I saw this show when we were in London and we absolutely loved it.  We said if it ever came to Dublin we could go see it.  And I can tell you we were not disappointed.

Noel Sullivan from the band Hear'Say starred as Drew.  Wow, what a singer! 

Along with Noel I think the cast were all super and I loved hearing all the '80's greats including"I want to know what love is", "Cherrie" and of course "Don't stop believing". 

A brilliant night in all and as I cycled back from the theatre on a Dublin Bike, I couldn't help but belt out "We built this city"!

After I left back the bike on Fitswilliam Square (no spaces left on Leeson Street Bridge) I then went and met Ciaran, and guests that were staying with us, in Birchills for a nightcap.  After an early start to this day to cook breakfasts for our guests I was ready for my bed when we got home at 1.30am!

Late Late Show - in the audience

I won tickets for Friday's Late Late Show and was delighted to attend with Amy, Kasey and Samantha (who traveled all the way from South Africa to attend!!!).

The girls called over to my house on the way to the studio and we got ready here and also had a little nibblie and a cocktail.

We were incredibly excited to be part of the Late Late Show audience and took every opportunity to take a picture in different parts of the TV studio.

When we arrived and checked in we were given our tickets and invited in for a wine reception.  We were also told that that the host wanted to meet us and that he thought the story of Sam flying over for the show was just great!

I did mention how excited we were didn't I?!

And here it is!  The famous Late Late Show set.

Guests who appeared on the show

Nidge from Love/Hate (Tom Vaughan Lawlor)

Michael Harding

Sharon Corr 

Katie Hopkins

Paul Carrack 

Mario Rosenstock

Just before the last part of the show as it went to the final ad break we were approached by the staff member who had checked us in and she told us that the host was going to approach us and tell the story of how Sam had traveled from South Africa to attend the show.  As the sound guy instructed Sam and I to stand up to be "mic-ed up" we balked!!  None of us wanted to be interviewed on live TV on the biggest show in Ireland!!  We were able to garble a confused "No we don't want to do this" and thankfully that was the end of that!  Seriously is this what she meant when we were told that "Ryan wants to meet you" when we had originally arrived???

After the show we went to the Green Room and met some of the guests and also host Ryan Tubridy.  Here we are pictured with author Michael Harding along with Ryan Tubridy.  We really enjoyed Michael Harding on the show and it was so great to chat to him and let him know that we were fans.

The day after I looked at the show on the Player to see if we could see any of us in the audience.  

And lookee here - there we are!

Amy is in the bottom right hand corner of this scene.

Wine Buff, Ranelagh & Salt Lick (Hobarts)

Salt Lick is a BYOB pop up restaurant that is open in Hobart's every Friday and Saturday.  We love the atmosphere here and we also love how the menu changes every month.

We had an 8pm reservation but beforehand we called to the Wine Buff to buy a bottle of wine.  We are completely clueless when it comes to wine so luckily the owner is very happy to give recommendations......and also tastings!  He had a bottle of Malbec open so while chatting to us about what to have in Salt Lick he gave us a glass to enjoy.  Brilliant!

This is the Beaujolais that we ended up buying.  There was one chilling already in the fridge so it was good to go!

We enjoyed the wine with our meal and agreed that it was a great choice finding it a combination of peppery and fruity.

It was "Diner Month" in Salt Lick and we couldn't wait to see how it was!

For starters there was a choice of wings.  We got a portion of each.  The ones on the left are Korean wings while the others are Garlic and Honey with house hot suace.  Both were extremely flavoursome and perfectly cooked (slightly crispy on the outside, moist falling off the wing on the inside.

Once Ciaran started eating his wings he remarked that he wished he had brought beer instead of having wine with his food.  For me as a non-beer drinker the wine was perfect but I think beer would have been a good option for him given the type of food that we were eating.  

Main was a choice of three sliders from a selection of four.

Corn fritter, coriander, avocado, chipotle mayo and macerated heirloom tomato.

Pan fried prawns in garlic butter, shredded iceberg, spicy Marie rose.

Sweetbread with confit lemon and caper mayo.

Beef short rib, kimchee ketchup and pickled daikon radish.

The sliders looked so good that we had eaten nearly all of them before I remembered to take a photo.  Ciaran's favourite was the prawn slider while I loved the vegetarian option, with the sweetbread slider coming in a close second.  Surprisingly the beef was our least favourite even though we had order the most of this one as we expected it to be the nicest!

The prawn slider reminded me of the fresh taste of fish tacos that I had down in Key West off  Garbo's Grill food cart.  We sat on the kerb and ate our food with a cold drink in hand taking shade from the midday heat under a large tree close by.

Dessert (which I think pushed me over the edge - I was so full!) for me was malted cheesecake with cherry cola syrup (which I asked for on the side) while Ciaran had a fried Apple Danish with ice cream.  I loved mine while Ciaran said his was "ok".

All in all a great night but after eating so much it was time to go straight home and not stop off for a drink even though we had received an invitation to join someone for a drink after our meal. Another great night in Salt Lick!

Jennifer Rothwell - New store in Powerscourt

Last night Amy and I attended the launch of Jennifer Rothwell's new store in Powerscourt.

I was delighted to be invited to this event as I adore this designers work - click here to see a dress that I bought a little while back.

Constance Harris introduced Jennifer Rothwell and told us of her past accomplishments.  The designer has had many great successes and lots of fans and followers.

Here is the designer and her daughter in stunning creations.  As well as using amazing prints the feel and fall of the fabric used fits the female form so well.

And of course we got to try on some amazing dresses!!

Here's Amy wearing a black dress.  It's worth noting that if you buy a dress from Jennifer she will tailor it to your figure so in essence you are buying a bespoke piece.

I was very tempted by this purple number (it comes in black also). The skirt had a slight A-line to it so it was extremely flattering.

To see a video of more of her dresses, click here.  I think that her clothes look both stunning on models and "real women" - they will always make you turn your head!

What do you think?  

Dyson Animal DC44

I've been thinking of getting a cordless Dyson for awhile now.  The other day I saw a great deal on the Animal DC44 on my Work Group Scheme.  I ordered it over the phone and they arranged to deliver it a few days later.

The reason I wanted to get a cordless is that we have two landings so the cord on out vacuum cleaner is not long enough.  It is hassle to pull out the plug and have to move it around to a point that can reach.  The other inconvenience is having to balance the large vacuum cleaner on the steps while working.

Here it is in the box - surprisingly heavy!

Here it is out of the box already to go.  It came fully charged which was very convenient.  Speaking of charging, it takes 5 and a half hours to charge fully which will give you 20 minutes on regular power and 8 minutes on turbo power.

I thought that 20 minutes wasn't going to be long enough but I got loads done.  I did the two flights of stairs and also the front room and the kitchen and I also gave the bathroom a quick going over.

I wanted to put up a picture of all of the accessories that came with this machine but Ciaran has packed them away somewhere.  I'll put them up when I discover where he stored them when I talk to him later this evening!

OMG!  Look how much dirt it picked up - I only vacuumed a few days ago!!
I remember when friends got a cordless Shark they were surprised by how much dirt was picked up even though their cleaner had done their house recently.  
I think maybe you are going in to areas that the regular vacuum cleaner finds it hard to get to???

So how do I find it?

Perhaps it does not have as good suction as my Nilfisk but for convenience it wins hands down.  If you live in an apartment or are tight for space I would highly recommend it!

Million Dollar Arm

Millionaire Dollar Arm is a feel good Disney movie that is hard to dislike.  It is based on the true story of Sports Agent JB Berenstein who goes to India to find cricket bowlers that can learn to become baseball pitchers in a year and go on to get a contract from a USA baseball team.

JB returns to the US with two Indian sportsmen who go on to get contracts from the Pittsburgh Pirates (true story) and along the way falls in love with his tenant Brenda (who in real life he goes on to marry).

Starring Lake Bell and the ever cool Jon Hamm (aka the even cooler Don Draper) Milliona Dollar Arm is a movie that will be enjoyed by the whole family.

We went to an afternoon showing in Cineworld.

We were first in to the cinema but were joined by about 20 other people shortly after.