Pizza time! Rita's in Ranelagh

I've written about different restaurants in Ranelagh before and from reading them it should be apparent that Ranelagh is quite the foodie village and should be a destination for any food lover. Over the past few weeks there has been a few new openings that make great new additions to the area.

There has been The Devlin (I never knew Ranelagh was missing a boutique hotel until this place opened!) which offers food in their rooftop restaurant Layla's or the American Bar on the ground floor. Hobarts closed but reopened as Scoff with Gigi's going in next door.

However, the restaurant I was most excited to visit is the very recently opened Rita's which I had heard serves top class pizza. We were out in Dun Laoghaire where we went on the vintage Ferris Wheel from Grease and on the way home we decided that we would pop in to Rita's "for a slice" ....or even a pie!

Rita's is in a central location in between  Kinara Kitchen and Host Restaurant (in the old Bow and Pearl location) and it is nicely decorated with cool stencil work on some of the walls. ** EDIT - Rita's is now relocated to the old Brioche location on Elmwood Avenue Lower in Ranelagh Village (across from Lidl) ** It's got a great atmosphere and when we visited it was packed with a great buzz in the place. It is small and cozy and of course it's got a great big pizza oven in the restaurant.

Once we were seated we got down to the business of ordering our pizza. The menu is interesting and included some pizza toppings that we had to google before we ordered. For info, Nduja is a spicy pork salami!

I ordered a pizza with blue cheese on it. I love blue cheese and this pizza did not disappoint - it worked well with the glass of red wine that I ordered too.  Ciaran went for the pizza with nduja and also scamorza cheese which he washed down with a couple of bottles of Peroni.

The pizza was really superb - beautifully cooked, thin base with a soft doughy crust around the edge. We ordered a portion of garlic dipping sauce which was perfect for dipping the crust in to. These are seriously good pizzas.

Rita's certainly is an asset to Ranelagh and I hope it does well. It will appeal to all and is perfect for big groups who are looking for a fun reasonably priced meal or couples out for a nice bite to eat. It will be sure to prove popular with families also. If you visit, let me know!

The above pic is the huuge pizza oven where they cook those pizzas at 500 degrees!!!  That's one hot mama of an oven!

It's a Wonderful Life!

We had a wonderful Christmas day yesterday. After a slow wake up, I made myself a Baileys coffee (Hello, Reindeer Antlers handled mug from Starbucks!) while Ciaran poured himself a cup of tea before we started in to our present opening,

Breakfast was a light option made by Ciaran. We just had poached eggs and Clonakilty black pudding because we wanted to save our appetite for the main event later on!

Santa truly spoiled me this year. Every present I got was a surprise and they were all gorgeous.

I was  especially happy when I saw that Ciaran got me the "A Star is Born" soundtrack.

I promptly poured myself a glass of prosecco and put the record player on.

This is the cutest little glass to drink from.  My mam bought it for me on her recent trip to Amsterdam and she got it engraved with my name in the Heineken museum.

We also listened to David Byrne's American Utopia which I had bought for Ciaran.

Dinner was lovely. The turkey and ham were cooked by the Butler's Pantry and it was lovely and moist. We had some nice wine with dinner and afterwards we sat down and watched "It's a wonderful life" which was so good - surprisingly, neither of us had ever seen it.

Ciarán wrote a nice blog on his website to wrap up 2018 - click here to have a read.

Benefit Cosmetics Launch - The Devlin Hotel

The lead up to Christmas was fairly hectic with lots to do. It was great, however, to be able to catch up with my best friend Alice and attend the Benefit Cosmetics Roller Liner Launch in the Stella Cinema in The Devlin Hotel on the 18th of December. 

It's a great venue and we were treated to some pink bubbles along with a demo of the liner by the Benefit Head of Marketing Mark Rogers.

Suitably impressed by the makeup demos that we saw we made our selections and picked up a few items for both Christmas gifts to friends and family along with gifts for ourselves - well I did need a new foundation and blusher! 

Licence to drive!

Finally!

I swopped my paper licence for a credit card sized version.  I had been intending on changing over, since....oh about 2013 when the new credit card sized one was introduced.

I finally got sick of the old one and with it still being valid until 2021, I made an appointment with the NDLS to get the new one.

The process to apply for the replacement licence was fairly painless.  I had to complete a short form and bring proof of address to the office along with proof of my PPS number. At the office, they took my photo - I look very stern because the lady taking it gave me very strict instructions not to smile.

And then about a week later this little dinky thing arrived in the post!

It feels so civilised to carry this card around in my purse rather than constantly moving the big pink paper thingy from bag to bag. I nearly wish that I had changed over years ago.

I also look forward to proudly presenting it when I next hire a car abroad rather than sliding the long piece of paper over the counter to bemused car hire clerks who hold it up like it is a piece of toilet paper!!

Ice cold Alex!

I was introduced to Brandy Alexander on the island of St Lucia on the second last night of my recent sailing trip and since then I've had one (or two!) at every opportunity I've got.

On Satuday, Amy and I had one in Dillingers and then we had another one the next day when we met Alice for dinner.  Alice agreed they were just like milkshake and partook in two!

Here's the Dillingers version (sans nutmeg - which is fine by me):

And here's the Shelbourne version:

In the Shelbourne, we introduced Cousin Kasey to Brandy Alex (at that point we were so familiar we were going by the short name.....lol) and she also agreed they were mighty good.

So for the moment it is a see you later to Espresso Martini and a hello to Brandy Alexander!

Bones on holiday!

While we were on holidays, Bones had a holiday too. He visited a few different houses and were minded by a few different people. He first started off in my parents house and from there he was taken back to his house to be minded by my sister and her boyfriend. Seemingly he was renamed for a short while as "Buddy" because the aforementioned 'boyf is Canadian Irish living in the States. 

From there he was taken on the Luas back to my parents for another few days until he was then moved to my older sisters house for one night when my parents went to Galway to see my younger sister perform in the musical "The Sound of Music".

Phew - lots of movement for Bones - luckily he is a social dog and loves meeting people and will pretty much sleep anywhere!

On his return he was straight in to the groomers and he is all clean and cuddly as he was well overdue a hair cut!

We kept his hair semi-long in order to keep him warm for Winter.

On the high seas of the Caribbean! Martinique, St Vincent, Bequia and more......

As you can probably see I haven't blogged in a little while.  This was because I was on a sailing trip around the Windward Isles. It was an amazing holiday - a trip of a lifetime in someways.

Here's a few pics and a general report about the trip.

We left Ireland and flew to Martinique through Paris and arrived at the boat dock late in the evening. The boat was handed over to us and we were instructed to check in at the office the next morning and get sorted for taking her off to the islands.

For the first time, we had arranged a company to provision the boat before we arrived. This is a must and I would never go back to provisioning ourselves. It saves so much time - probably a few hours in total by the time you go to the shop, buy everything, load in to a taxi and then carry it all on to the boat.

Some of the spots we visited:

• Soufriere, St Lucia
• Keartons Bay, St Vincent
• Bequia
• Mustique
• Mayreau, Grenadines
• Union Island
• Tobago Cay
• Bequia Island
• Cumberland Bay, St Vincent
• Marigot Bay, St Lucia

Highlights of the trip:

• Swimming with turtles in Tobago Cay
• Seeing starfish on the sea bottom
• Dolphins swimming alongside the boat
• Bathing in a waterfall on Keartons Bay
• Lobster dinner being delivered to our boat by canoe on Mayreau
• Visit to Moonhole
• Bequia
• Taxi tour of Mustique Island
• Cold strong drink once we were safely docked
• Rum punch on arrival at Rock Side Cafe, Keartons Bay
• Renting a speed boat for our last morning in Martinique
• BBQ in Mustique in local hangout "The View"
• Nautical gingerbread fronting in Bequia
• View of the Pitons
• Lobster pizza in Macs on Bequia
• Tasting sugar apple
• Arriving safely at port
• Fresh Mahi-Mahi and Tuna for dinner

As you sail around the region, you will be visiting different countries when you land on certain islands. This means that you need to check in and out of customs and immigration or if you dock in a bay but don't set foot on land, you will need to raise a yellow flag to show that you are transiting. Getting through customs takes a little organisation as most of these offices work general hours - on one occasion our Captain and a crew member had to rush down to customs, passports in hand, the minute the boat was docked. Luckily they made it in time before the office closed!

Some of the places we ate at:

• Frangipani in Bequia
• Rock Side Cafe, St Vincent
• Maria's Cafe, Bequia
• Zanzibar in Le Marin, Martinique
• Mac's Pizza, Bequia
• Basil's Bar, Mustique
• The View, Mustique (known as Lisa's by locals)
• Le Petit Peak, Soufriere in St Lucia
• Hurricane Hole, Marigot Bay, St Lucia
• Doolittles, Marigot Bay, St Lucia

Swimming in a waterfall was like a dream come through. What a great experience and then I washed and conditioned my hair and made it sooo soft!

Hanging out on the ropes! I think this was the only time that I wore a jacket. It was chilly for probably 1 minute :-) 

 Look at this!  

 Obligatory provisions - Vodka and Gin!

A note about safety. We took usual precautions of not carrying large amounts of cash, leaving jewellery at home in Ireland and bringing phones and passports on to land with us when we left the boat. Overall we felt very safe even in places that we were advised were a little unsafe.  

I adored this fish shaped gingerbread on this little medical centre in Bequia.

Happy and safe on our second last night in Marigot Bay in St. Lucia.

Weekend Wrap Up!

It was a Bank Holiday weekend here in Ireland and as weekends go it was a pretty good one ending with some great new about Pigsy.

On Saturday morning, our plumber came and finished off the installation of a new heat regulating system for our underfloor heating. We now have the Heatmiser system and can control our heating on an app on our phones which is pretty nifty.

In the afternoon, I cycled in to the city to meet my mother and sister at the Bewleys Cafe Theatre. Amy was treating us to a show. We saw the play "Wringer" which was very enjoyable - well acted and a gripping story.

Sunday morning brought us to the Pot Bellied Pig in Rathmine for brunch. I had a delicious shakshuka and a glass of prosecco (noice!) and Ciaran had a full irish breakfast which he said was really good.

After brunch it was off to the Omniplex to see the new Freddie Mercury movie "Bohemian Rhapsody". Wow what a film. So sad to see that he was so young when he died. What a loss of talent.

Speaking of talent, I should mention that we went to see David Byrne in the the 3 Arena (will always be The Point to me) on Wednesday night. This was quite possibly the best gig I have ever been to in my whole life. It was eye opening as to what can be done live on stage with a 12 piece band. I've been singing his songs since then along with thinking about the performance. It was a terrifically choreographed performance with a powerful ending of "Hell you Talmabout". Just phenomenal in all senses.

And so to the great news that ended our weekend:

The Pigsy documentary will next be shown in London!

Come see it at the Irish Film Festival London which runs from the 21st to 25th of November with Pigsy being part of the Irish Film Shorts being shown on Thursday 23rd of Nov at 5.30pm. 

Just brilliant - I've already booked our flights!

Rock of Ages - Bord Gais Theatre, Dublin

Rock of Ages came to Dublin and we got to see it!!

It's my favourite musical and I've seen it in London, Dublin (a few years ago) and also Athlone (my sister was starring!)

It was showing in the Bord Gais Grand Canal Theatre and I was lucky to have snagged seats in the third row which gave us a close up view of all of the action.

It was a great night out for Amy, Katie and myself.  I cycled to meet the girls (it was a very mild Oct night) who went for wings in Wishbone beforehand. 

Someday I hope to see Rock of Ages in the USA as an American production as I imagine that could be even better than an English production.

A Star is Born - 3rd times a charm!

Ooops, I did it again.  And again!

Within the space of 3 weekends I saw Lady Gaga's new movie "A Star is Born" three times. I loved it when I saw it first and I can honestly say I love it even more after seeing it for the third time.

Lady Gaga is electric when she makes her appearance on Jackson Maine's stage and Bradley Cooper is brilliantly believable as hard drinking Jack Maine in the twilight of his career.

The story is is a beautiful love story (this is the 4th retelling with Kris Kristofferson and Barbara Streisand in the 1970's version) - but bring tissues!

The main thing about this film that I loved was the music. Most of it was written for the movie and if it doesn't win an Oscar for best music I will be even more annoyed than when La La Land didn't win best picture.....but best not mention this as I still feel for the La La Land crew on this one.

So obviously I highly recommend this film but I say don't go once, plan to go 2 or 3 times to really enjoy the experience!

Cruising prep!

We met up with our Sailing Crew yesterday evening to go over the plans for our big trip to the Caribbean.

It's all terribly exciting with not long to go now. Look at the concentration on all of our faces.....except for me - I was having selfie time!

Today I bought some gloves for the crew. It will be way windier than past trips to Europe so the Captain reckons gloves will be necessary. I bought a pair during the Summer and I find them to be brilliant - an essential piece of kit.