Guess what these are?!

 

Any idea what these might be in the picture above?

Well they are intense buttery and toffee tasting. 

Still no idea?!

Well......they are called "Brown Butter Bites" and I made them on the pan today by simply browning butter and then pouring in to silicone moulds to set. That's it, that's all I did in order to make these sweet little buttery bites.

If you want to make them you can google exactly how to do it, but all you need ingredient wise is butter.  Next time however, I am thinking I will add in some chocolate flavour (or peanutbutter!) protein powder in order to elevate these bites from a regular Keto fat bomb to a protein fat bomb. Watch this space!

The most beautiful Yoga Studio in Dublin

There's a new yoga studio in Dublin! 

It's called Yoga Yard in Irishtown and it's open less than a year in a newly purpose built studio. 

I visited Yoga Yard this weekend and did a Hatha 25 + 2  class on Saturday morning.  Then on Sunday morning I did what was called "Hot Sunday Fusion" and boy was it hot as well as being very tough!! The Saturday hot yoga class is probably the one that I will be looking to repeat.

I signed up for a 5 class series over the next month and I look forward to doing some more yoga classes in this beautiful studio over the next few weeks. It really is the loveliest place with a spacious and airy reception and a spotlessly clean studio with a special floor surface not like most Bikram studios that have that awful carpet on the studio floor. The studio is also cleaned in between each class which is really great to know. Additional to the studios there are changing rooms with showers that again are spotlessly clean and well laid out - all in all really great facilities that make for a a brilliant yoga experience.

With the studio being about a 15 minute cycle away from my house it is very accessible and I can't see myself going to another studio after visiting this one!

It's a downhill cycle on the way to the studio so a little bit tough on the way home as there are a few small hills to navigate. But so very worth the effort :-) 

New Year - new you?

Happy New Year - here's to 2024!

To be honest, I'm not really in to the whole "New Year, New You" thing. To be fair, self improvement is always a good thing but on the other hand, do you really think you need to be a whole "New You"?

Small changes are probably something better to focus on rather than large scale resolutions. So with this in mind, here's a few things that I am going to focus on in 2024

First thing is sustainability.  I'm going to try buy less new clothes and items and instead try and buy vintage or secondhand, or alternatively reuse things.  Another thing that I will do is try and get a lend of an item that I may only use once or twice, rather than buying.

The next thing is I am going to do is read more because, well, nothing bad comes from reading more! Already I'm mid way through a book I borrowed from the library yesterday and have put my name on a request list for Reece Witherspoon's first book club read of 2024.

Looking after my body is my third focus, and along with getting more sleep, I am going to as always focus on my diet with continued intermittent fasting and a low carb diet. A change for me is that I am actively going to focus on getting more protein in to my body along with taking a vitamin D supplement.

I'd love to hear from you - what are your new year changes that you plan to make?!

Sharing a pic of myself that was included in my sister's "Christmas Portraits" project - to see the rest of the Christmas portrait pics on instagram, click here.

Announcing the winner of the 2023 annual "Christmas Sandwich Search"!

 

So here it is.....the winner of the annual Christmas Sandwich Search!

As you have seen in the past few blogs, myself and PIGSY have been on the hunt for the best Christmas Sandwich in Dublin. In order to complete this task we both put forward two places offering Christmas sandwiches and set off to eat in these places and sample their sandwich offering. We also included last year's winner on the list so this meant that we had 5 places to visit in the month of December.

The five cafe's / restaurants are:

KC Peaches (last year's winner)

Gerard's Deli (Enid's nomination)

Greenville Deli (Enid's nomination)

247 Deli (Ciaran's nomination)

Junior's Deli (Ciaran's nominaton)

Unfortunately we didn't get to visit 147 Deli due to certain circumstances but we did get to visit some bonus venues that were not on the list above. With marks out of 50, our scores for each Christmas Sandwich offering are outlines below (in no particular order):

KC Peaches 28/50

Farmer Brown's 36/50

Greenville Deli 38/50

Itsa Bagel 31/50

Gerard's Deli 29/50

Starbucks 33/50

Juniors Deli 32/50

Two Fifty Square 33/50

You can read back over detailed reviews of the sandwiches here but with the rating not just based on taste there are alot of variables that can effect where a sandwich ranks.

But the sandwich that won out in the end, was....drumroll please......

GREENVILLE DELI

I'm not surprised that this sandwich won, as it was actually the only one that we went and got a second time over the month of December and it was also the one that we spoke positively the most about.

It's been a fun event to do in the month of December and it also pushes us to try new places.  We are creatures of habit so we tend to over visit venues we like rather than risk giving a chance to alternatives.

Let me know what you think of our fun little competition and whether you do anything like this also!

Christmas 2023 Wrap up!

Here's a few pics from Christmas 2023, in no particular order....

Homemade goodies

I made Peanut Butter Bites for homemade Christmas gifts this year - here they are along with some pics of them all boxed up and ready to give to friends (we did deliveries around the area on the days leading up to Christmas and even did a "cycle-by" to 2 houses in Ranelagh on Christmas morning, with plans to leave the homemade tasties on doorsteps!)

Wrapping Gifts

Instead of wrapping paper this year I decided to use tea towels or table cloths (mini side table sizes). I found some fabulous vintage Christmas tea towels in the most glorious of colours

The above pic is of a little gift that I gave my younger sister. How cute!

Bones got in to the Christmas spirit and wore a seasonal jumper

Christmas Eve

We had a lovely quiet Christmas Eve and spent the afternoon in The Stella watching "It's a Wonderful Life"

And after a tasty Christmas dinner it was lovely to enjoy a glass of wine with the Christmas tree lights twinkling in the background

And while Christmas is all over now, you can still check this video out to see me reading a part of 'Twas the Night before Christmas with colleagues

Hope you had wonderful Christmas full of cheer - here's to the new Year!

2024 is going to be great!!!

Seasonal Sandwich Search - Two Fifty Square, Juniors Deli and a shout out to the Lidl Sandwich!

Our Christmas Sandwich competion continued with 3 more sandwiches.

Christmas Sandwich number 7 was in Two Fifty Square (Rathmines) and it included the "moist maker" which was an extra slice of bread in the middle of the sandwich smothered in gravy.

It was a good sizeable sandwich that came with salad on the side and a dipping jus. But with a price tag of €16 it was always going to lose on price.

The scores for the Two Fity Square were 

1. Price.                                     Enid 3/5      Ciaran 3/5
2. Ingredients                            Enid 4/5      Ciaran 4/5
3. Construction / aesthetic.      Enid 4/5      Ciaran 4/5
4. Atmosphere/ Experience       Enid 2/5      Ciaran 2/5
5. Tradition                                Enid 4/5      Ciaran 4/5

With a total of 33 out of 50, Two Fifty Square achieved a good score,

Sandwich no. 8

It was then on to Juniors Deli for sandwich no. 8. 

We had high hopes for this one as Ciaran had talked it up, having enjoyed Juniors sandwiches before. Both of us removed the rocket which we felt over powered the sandwich and In think the score reflects how it was over all.

The scores for Juniors were 

1. Price.                                     Enid 4/5      Ciaran 4/5
2. Ingredients                            Enid 3/5      Ciaran 3/5
3. Construction / aesthetic.      Enid 3/5      Ciaran 4/5
4. Atmosphere/ Experience       Enid 2/5      Ciaran 3/5
5. Tradition                                Enid 3/5      Ciaran 3/5

With a total of 32out of 50, Juniors got a score lower than anticipated.

An honourary sbout out goes to the Lidl Sandwich which is on sale for €2.99 and is a great sandwich for this price point.

We didn't score this sandwich becuase we ate it at home unlike all of the other sandwiches which we ate inhouse. I reckon it would have scored well!

So that brings an end to the Annual Ciaran & Enid Christmas Sandwich Competion.

I'll announce the winner in my next blog post - but you can can read about the other sandwiches here.

Seasonal Sandwich no. 5 & 6- Gerard's Deli & Starbucks

The search continues for the best Christmas Sandwich in Dublin.....

Gerard's Deli

After visiting the Warhol exhibition in the Hugh Lane Gallery on Wednesday, we sauntered back through town from the Northside to the Southside making our way to Gerard's Deli on Earlsfort Terrace in order to have their Christmas Sandwich. which we had seen advertised on Instagram. The sandwich was made on a roll and they suggest it be toasted - so that's what we did!

There is no seating to speak of in Gerard's and it is more of a sandwich to go place that probably services all of the offices in the locality. 

However, we did manage to stand at a small counter near the back of the shop where we split a sandwich between us.

Here's the pic of the toasted sandwich with our scores to follow, and as a point of information this sandwich was €7.50.

1. Price.                                     Enid 4/5      Ciaran 4/5
2. Ingredients                            Enid 3/5      Ciaran 3/5
3. Construction / aesthetic.      Enid 3/5      Ciaran 3/5
4. Atmosphere/ Experience       Enid 3/5      Ciaran 2/5
5. Tradition                                Enid 2/5      Ciaran 2/5

Total for Gerard's is 29 out of 50

Starbucks Holiday Sandwich

After stopping in Voila on Baggot Street to see if they had a Christmas Sandwich (they don't) we headed on to Starbucks on Waterloo Road where we ordered one of their Holiday Sandwiches, which again we got toasted.

At a cost of €6.25 it was tasty even though I was picking up a hint of cinnamon from it - perhaps it was in the stuffing? Is this a thing?

Here's our scores for this sandwich

1. Price.                              Enid 4/5      Ciaran 4/5
2. Ingredients                          Enid 3/5      Ciaran 4/5
3. Construction / aesthetic.       Enid 3/5      Ciaran 4/5
4. Atmosphere/ Experience        Enid 3/5      Ciaran 3/5
5. Tradition                                Enid 3/5      Ciaran 2/5

Starbucks sandwich got a total of 33 out of 50

So as you can see neither of these sandwiches are top scorers with Greenville Deli sandwich still at the top. And if you want to read about the last contender, click here to read about the Santy Bagel from Itsa.