Call the Doctor!

Call the Doctor!

The Hot Tub Doctor that is....

Our hot tub panel went a little wonky the other day so I emailed the guy who fixed it for us last time. He is based in Northern Ireland but seems to do a lot of work all over both Northern Ireland also the Republic of Ireland. 

The Hot Tub Doc called this morning and luckily was able to get my hot tub up and running in about an hour. It needed a new thermostat which he fitted and switched on the hot tub and left. 

It was 15 degrees when I left work and 25 when I got home.  It should be 38 degrees by tomorrow - we will be back hot tubbing by tomorrow evening!

Vesta 1205 Twin Landline by Binatone

My landline has been slowly dying. For a time it was usable however the battery seemed to have no life at all once it was off the holder. However, it took a turn for the worse a little while back whereby it would instantly go dead when I answered it.

I don't actually use my home phone for a whole lot. The only person who rings me on it is my twin sister. She was getting very frustrated by the whole thing as it was sounding like I was hanging up on her from her end!

So anyway I finally got around to buying a new phone.  I decided to buy a double handset in order to always have at least one charged up and ready to use and to avoid all of the above!

So this is it.

I bought it in Argos in the Pavillions on the way to work. I put one phone back where the original one was and the other one is in my bedroom. I have to say I'm very happy with the set (I'm sure my twin sister is even happier!) and it's got a dinky little ring on it too!

Richmond Restaurant Portobello in Dublin

On Friday night, friends texted us and asked would we like to go out for dinner on Saturday night. We said yes even though we had planned to get up on Sunday morning at 4am to watch the Conor McGregor UFC fight. 

I went to work on Saturday and while at work Ciaran rang a friend of his who supplies produce to all of the top restaurants in Dublin. He recommended a few restaurants but said our best bet was Richmond as the others would be booked out.   Richmond is a new restaurant in the old Gig's place and we got a reservation for 8.15pm.

We stopped off for a drink in J O'Connells pub before dinner and then made it to the restaurant at about 8.20pm. When we got their we all thought the owner looked familiar and then found that he was the former manager of The Butcher Grill in Ranelagh.

The menu looked great and the specials even better.

Here's pics of our food....

 Scallops

Gravalax with crab mayonaise on a muffin - this was the special starter

Croquettes

 Blue Cheese salad

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Cotes du Boeuf special

I thought I took a pic of the two desserts (chocolate mousse and date pudding) but it didn't save. I can only say that the desserts were spectacularly good!

We had a great night and would go back to Richmond (it had a nice ambiance and small restaurants remind me of Key West).  We got home about 12.30am and yes we did get up and watch the fight at 4am.  Unfortunately McGregor lost and we despondently got back to bed about 6.30am. We struggled up at 10am (with both of us describing as feeling quite jet lagged) and visited both our mothers for Mother's Day. 

We had a great weekend all in all.....I hope you did too!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all Irish Mammies!

It's Mother's Day here in Ireland so I called over to my mam this morning with some gifts.

Here she is reading the card I got her. I wish I took a picture of it as it was not an actual Mother's Day Greeting Card but was instead a black & white photo of Ireland in the 1920's. It was a photo of a shop in Waterford (where my mother's family is from) called "Patricia's" with the ladies who work in the shop standing in the front of the shop in their uniforms of white "shop coats" over their everyday clothes. I thought it was the perfect card for her due to the family connection to Waterford and also her second name (baptism name) being Patricia!

The gifts I bought her included a nice bouquet of flowers, a box of Butler's chocolates and an adorable little Carolyn Donnelly butter dish which I think will look great on the table at Easter time!

If you are a mother I wish you the best today and I hope you have a lovely Mother's Day!

What's going on with me.....a quick update!

We visited the newly opened "Pupp" - Ireland's first dog friendly cafe. Here's Bones enjoying staring at my cappuccino!

The cafe is only open two weeks so we will give it another chance....however I do hope they improve their food offerings. They also need to add butter and other good stuff to their scrambled eggs to make them more appetizing.

I'm watching.....
"The Wonder Years" on Netflix.  It's incredible....I love the sixties!

I'm reading...
"Are you there, vodka? It's me, Chelsea" by Chelsea Handler

Election Count Day

After dropping her husband off at the airport (he's gone on a ski trip with friends) Amy called to me just before 9am. She brought me a lovely gift of a pack of limited edition nespresso pods (look at the great colour - so pretty!). We straightaway made Baileys coffees and then set about making breakfast.

For breakfast we had scrambled eggs made with this bottle of O'Egg liquid egg that I had bought in Supervalu the day before. It is super convenient and I shall purchase again!

We spent the morning eating brunch and drinking vodka OJ's watching the election count. But it turned out to be a long time before results started coming through. In my sister's constituency, it was about 11pm before the Tanaiste (Sub Prime Minister) won back her seat by a tight margin. My constituency only elected someone today on the 7th count!!

We vote by Single Transferable Vote (or Proportional Representation) here in Ireland which is quite complex and counts are lengthy. Click here to read all about how our system works. I think Malta is the only other place in the world who uses this system.  Although quite complicated it is a brilliant system and it can mean that there can be really exciting moments throughout the count.

And today as the dust settles and the TD's are being elected we are beginning to see that no one party has a clear majority. It looks like a government will have to be cobbled together.....but I have to question what parties will work together.

.......We could be back at the polls in 6 months time.

Little Kitchen Leeson Street

On Thursday afternoon I attempted to get a table in Tribeca for 7pm that evening.  They could only offer us a 6pm spot which I wouldn't be home from work in time for.

I then rang The Little Kitchen on Leeson Street and got a table for 7pm.

When we arrived we were offered a choice of tables.  We chose the window seat which, even though was near the door which blew cold air on us as people arrived, was a nice place to sit with a good view of the street.

I liked this restaurant from the get go.  It's a small place which I always prefer as it reminds me of a lot of the small really good restaurants that we go to when we visit Key West.  It is also BYOB which is always a good option (I took a bottle of French wine from the our wine rack - and to be honest I can't even tell you what type it was)!

We enjoyed all our food and definitely shall return soon.  The only dish we wouldn't order again is the lamb.  As we walked home we agreed that the lamb had been cooked well but that we just aren't really in to it!

Here is what we ate...

Donegal smoked haddock chowder, chorizo and wild samphire

Risotto of chili, roasted red pepper, prawns, garlic and soft herbs

Slaney River, Slow roasted lambshank, roasted yellow squash andvanilla, twice cooked root vegetables,treacle gravy

Sesame crusted tuna with mussels (this was a special with a €5 supplement)

Half-baked chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream