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.

New togs!

I picked up a new Maru Swimsuit (or togs  as we Irish call them!) this morning - am planning to get back swimming seriously.  I swam competitively up to my teens but haven't done much as an adult except for a 1500 km swim as part of a triathlon relay.  The triathlon was in Chicago and it was probably about 8 yrs ago.

The race itself was great but the training was tough.  I even swam in the river Shannon in preparation!

LCHF Shopping and eating

Our Low Carb High Fat food shop for the week.  I didn't need to buy eggs as we have a dozen left over from last week. Note that we are now using double cream for in our coffee.

 

 

I made Avocado salad.

Oil, lime juice and pepper mixed to make a dressing.

 

Steak and garlic butter for Ciaran.  Steak and pepper sauce for me!

For more info about the health benefits of eating fat click here

I should also note that that the last time I ate a piece of chocolate was on December 31st.  Eating fat kills my cravings for sugar!

Big Art!

Our new artwork has been installed.  It's a huge piece!!

 

It's a self portrait by my husband (artist PIGSY - see here).......I'm still deciding whether I like it......only joking, I love it!!

I opened the door to show the size of our 50" TV against the painting.

 

 

We finally found a sideboard after searching for probably close on a year!  It's a G Plan "Fresco" Sideboard from the 1960's. It is made from a mix of Teak and Afromosia (poor man's rosewood at the time of construction but now desirable........but extinct!)

Oopsie Bread - Low Carb Bread

Tonight I made "Oopsie Bread" - it's a low carb bread substitute.

 

First thing I did was separate the whites of 3 eggs from the yolks.  I then whipped up the whites in to stiff peaks.

200 grams of cream cheese was mixed with the 3 yolks.

When I mixed the yolks and cream cheese together it turned in to a creamy mixture.

The creamy cheese mix was folded in to the egg whites.

I spread the mixture on to a baking tray and baked at 150 degrees Celsius for 25 mins.

Tomorrow I will have the Oopsie Bread for breakfast with scrambled eggs and bacon!

 

To update.....

Oopsie Bread is not too bad and it certainly is an option if you are desperate for bread!!!

It is best a day or two after baking as it dries out.

 

Cup Song in Irish (as gaeilge)

A friend in the USA sent me this cool video of school kids singing the cup song in the Irish Language (as gaeilge).   It is definitely worth a look.

In Ireland it is compulsory to study Irish until you leave school at 18.  Many children take additional classes during the Summer Holidays by travelling to Summer Camp in the Gaeltacht region (all Irish speaking region) of Ireland.  This video of the cup song was filmed in one of the Gaeltachts.

While at the Gaeltacht, they stay in the homes of families who converse through Irish (Gaelgoirs) and they do classes during the day through Irish.  The classes are a lot of fun and consist of singing, Irish dancing, acting, sport and quizzes - this is all done through the Irish language.

In the evening time the kids attend "Ceilidhs" (prounounced Kay-Lees) which are dances where set dancing is done.  For many teenagers it is a rite of passage to meet their first boyfriend at a Ceilidh in the Gaeltacht!

Generally it is children from the age of about 13 to 16/17 yrs who go to these camps and it is very beneficial as they tend to come home with a fluency that you don't get from studying in the traditional classroom during the year (case in point being able to translate the cup song in to Irish!).

By the way the cup song is extremely popular at the moment here in Ireland, click here for another version by Irish school children which was performed on the Late Late Toy Show just before Christmas.

New dress!

I went for a browse around shops in Dublin City yesterday.

The first shop we visited was the Kilkenny Shop.  As per their website, Kilkenny is "Ireland's Largest Emporium for Irish Designed Products".  I enjoy looking around this store - it's like a mini department store with lots of lovely products including jewellery, clothes and household items.

Look what I bought! A beautiful silk dress in a tropical Hummingbird fabric!

It's by Irish designer Jennifer Rothwell

Here's the link to my Square Neck Silk Dress on the Jennifer Rothwell website.

It's Friday!!

Wow this week has been tiring!  I hope it is due to the fact that it was my first full week back in work after the Christmas Break.  

I am back in Swords for a meeting this morning and then in Blanchardstown for the afternoon.  My drive this morning took me past the National Conference Centre. I took the below photo of it as I was stopped on the new bridge over the Liffey.  I'm unsure of this bridges name - I just call it the new bridge.  In fact I don't think I know the names of any of the other bridges except the walkable Ha'penny Bridge (so named because it used to cost a Half Penny to cross!) and also Millennium Bridge

Currently there are issues with the Ha'penny bridge - damage is being caused by people attaching "Love Locks" to it. Along with damage, it costs Dublin City Council a lot of money to remove the locks.

Have you heard of "Love Locks"? They are currently the scourge of many European Cities.  The concept is that a couple buys a padlock, writes their names on it, locks it to a landmark bridge and then they throw away the key.  Cute concept perhaps - but not when it destroys heritage sites.  Maybe the council should provide a particular site for these love locks to be attached to???

 

Next time I am in the city I may take a stroll down to the Ha'Penny Bridge and take a few photos of the bridge and maybe a few locks if I can spot them.

 

I had a little time before my meeting so I went to Starbucks in the Pavillions Shopping Centre.

I bring my own cream to Starbucks - is that weird???

I can't use their cream because they add a vanilla sugar flavoring and I am not consuming sugar these days (I'm substituting fat for sugar to aid weight loss!)

Swords, County Dublin

I spent the day in Swords today.  It was a grey day here in County Dublin but I still got out for a walk during my lunch.

 

Here is Swords Castle which the Council has done a great job in removing all of the hoarding in front of the castle and making it a focus at the end of the town.

County Hall Swords, Fingal County Council - this is a very attractive building sited across the road from the Castle. 

Here's a picture of the main street.

I was saddened to see so many boarded up shops.

I am very surprised to see this café is closed - it seemed generally busy when I used to work in Swords.

 

This used to be a busy deli/supermarket.

And this store used to house a large hardware shop which seemed to do good business.

 

This seemed to be a shut up men's suit shop.

 

The other end of main street seemed to have less empty units with pubs, banks and a few other businesses.  I guess many of the businesses have moved to the large newish Pavilions Shopping Centre at the other end of the town.

 

I should mention that I am still losing weight on the LCHF diet - if you are interested in joining the Fat Revolution, click here for more info.  This diet is for you if you want to give up counting calories, feeling hungry all the time or constantly feeling like you have low blood sugar.