Elin Hilderbrand - my new favourite author!

I discovered a new author and I am hooked.

When browsing the library in the house we were staying, in on my recent Key West holiday, I saw "The Castaways" by Elin Hilderbrand. I was aware of this author but had never read any of her books before. When I read the back of the book I saw it was set on the island of Nantucket. I thought it was apt to read a book by an American author while I was visiting the USA and staying on an island too!!

I had been reading a book by Maeve Binchy which I thought was atrocious (what a pity as I loved all her older stuff that I read years ago) and had stopped half way to then start "The Castaways".  To say I was pleasantly surprised was an understatement!! It was unputdownable (is that a word?!). A really nice story and so well written.....an absolute pleasure to read while on vacation.

When I got to Ireland I put a hold on every Elin Hilderbrand novel the library had and I am making my way through her whole catalogue. What bliss!!

I also recommended "The Castaways" to my twin sister Amy when she arrived in Key West and she really enjoyed it too. She is currently reading another of Ms. Hilderbrand's books and is loving that one too!

How great is it when you happen upon a great author and you can dive in and discover their back catalogue?!

June Bank Holiday in Dublin

Before calling to my parent's house for dinner on Sunday, we called in to Ciaran's parents. We hadn't seen them since before we had been in Key West and we had some small gifts to give them.

Bones ran straight out in to their back garden so I followed to see what he was up to.  When I got out I saw the prettiest scene.....

Look at all the planting that Ciaran's dad has done. They looked so beautiful in the sun!

 

Then it was on to my parent's house. I had made an Irish version of American Coconut Cake which I just loved in Key West.  It was quite the tower of cake!

Transporting the cake from my house was not fun I can tell you.  I froze it before we set off but being such a hot day it started to soften straight away. I held it on my lap but the dog hopped from the back to the front of that car at one point and I nearly dropped the cake!!!  That wouldn't have been good.....

The weather has been spectacular for the past week....but seems like normal weather is returning now :-( 

Look how pretty my mother laid the table! 

It was a lovely afternoon out and when we got home we watched a movie - a really nice ending to a great Sunday in Dublin.

Trivia Nights in Key West

In the last few years on our trips to Key West, we have started going to "Trivia Nights".  Trivia nights are somewhat similar to the table quiz concept here in Ireland. There are a few differences to the table quiz which I think are definite improvements. In Ireland, a team is made up of maximum 4 people while in USA the team can have any number of people on it. There are pros and cons to this. The larger number on the team gives added brain power but the downside is there is lots of input and discussion and sometimes the correct answer can get lost in all of the talk and the wrong answer is marked down after much debate. The other difference is that prizes are given for the top score in each round.  I like this element as even if you are doing badly overall you can still maybe win a round, if for example, the music round if you have a lot of music buffs on your team!

A few years ago we did the Trivia Night in McConnells Irish Pub on Duval Street. The trivia quiz was organised well with the questions on a screen but really the pub is quite dark and dingy (typically Irish) and not really a pleasant environment to be in. 

Now the Trivia Night event seems to have moved across the road to the Viva Saloon and is on Thursday rather than Wednesday. This is a big improvement - the event is held outside in their lovely garden area. The screen that the questions are projected on to is massive and there is plenty of space for lots of competitors. It's fantastic.

Our team generally consisted of my family (depending on who was in Key West at the time - my husband was there for the first two weeks, my twin sister was there for the second two weeks along with my mother and father and I) and some Key West locals who are friends of ours (I won't name names as they may not want to be mentioned on my blog). It's a varied bunch and there are definite areas of expertise within the group - as one of the team said in reference to my mother "If she says the answer is Eisenhower, write it down"!!!

We had a lot of fun at these nights with good company and relaxed drinks in a nice setting. We never won overall (think we came 3rd on our second week) but we won a few round prizes every now and again. It's the participating that is the most important thing....but winning would have been nice ;-)

Love the Tropic Cinema in Key West

One of my favourite things to do in Key West when the sun goes down or on a rainy afternoon is to visit the Tropic Cinema.

On this visit I saw the excellent "Papa Hemingway in Cuba"  an apt film to see in Key West!!

Sunday Brunch at Bistro 245 in the Westin

We love the Sunday Brunch in the Westin in Key West in Bistro 245. We always reserve a table outside with the beautiful sea view.

The brunch consists of a large seafood selection, many meats to choose from, a superb dessert choice and even bottomless mimosas. The food and drinks are amazing and the view is stunning.

Here's pics of some of the plates my family enjoyed.

As an aside, my sister visited the Butterfly museum in Key West. It looks great - click here to read all about it, if you are interested!

Back home to a great new Restaurant on Leeson Street!

I arrived home from Key West (watch out for some more blogs about my holiday over the next while) on Friday and have so far seemed to have very little jet lag!

On Friday night we had an early night with dinner at 6pm in Dillingers and then a drink outside O'Brien's.  It was a lovely evening so we popped in and got Bones and took him for a walk along the canal before we stopped off at the pub for a wee drink.

Then on Saturday night we attempted to get in to the new Restaurant "Forest & Marcy" that only opened a week or so ago. We got to the restaurant at 7pm and it was already completely full (it seats 25) but we gave our phone number and they said they would ring us if a space popped up. At 8.30pm (while in O'Brien's on our second drink) we got the call to say we could come around that there was a place for us. Happy Days!

Just as we began to look at the menu, I told Ciaran that the meal was my treat as we were celebrating his recent exam success. We then decided to have the Tasting menu (it was a celebration after all!) but also chose to start with an additional plate of cheese (by the end of the meal we were so full so maybe the cheese was not a good idea!). 

Here's photos of the food we enjoyed - I loved the lime tart to finish......it brought me back to Key West!.  All of the food was so unique and delicious tasting and as we left we wondered was it better than our favourite Ranelagh restaurant which is Brioche! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forest & Marcy is the sister restaurant of Forest Avenue which we are booked in to in August(!) - I think it could be the hip little sister!!

Hemingway House Key West

I visited the Hemingway House on Whitehead Street in Key West the other day. It's a great tour of a remarkably well preserved house. Hemingway spent about a decade on and off in Key West and wrote "To have and to have not" while living here.

Pictured is Hemingway's room where he wrote every day.

Hemingway owned a polydactyl cat and descendants of this cat currently live in the house. Many have 6 or 7 toes. 

 You can see the cats have made themselves quite comfortable!!

The house has a lovely airy veranda wrapping itself all the way around the upstairs.

If you ever visit Key West, the Hemingway House is a must see.......and if you plan on getting married in Key West you can always consider the Hemingway House as a venue!