This blog was originally started to track our progress as we regenerated a derelict Victorian house in Dublin. We turned an old crumbling ruin in to our dream house! If you wish to read through the trials and tribulations of the house build it is best to start at the oldest blog post and read in date order. The blog then evolved in to being all about my life in Dublin, Ireland and then life in Malaga, Spain with artist "PIGSY" and now back in Dublin
I hope you enjoy reading it!
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!
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
Price. Enid 3/5 Ciaran 3/5
Ingredients Enid 4/5 Ciaran 4/5
Construction / aesthetic. Enid 4/5 Ciaran 4/5
Atmosphere/ Experience Enid 2/5 Ciaran 2/5
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
Price. Enid 4/5 Ciaran 4/5
Ingredients Enid 3/5 Ciaran 3/5
Construction / aesthetic. Enid 3/5 Ciaran 4/5
Atmosphere/ Experience Enid 2/5 Ciaran 3/5
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.
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.
Price. Enid 4/5 Ciaran 4/5
Ingredients Enid 3/5 Ciaran 3/5
Construction / aesthetic. Enid 3/5 Ciaran 3/5
Atmosphere/ Experience Enid 3/5 Ciaran 2/5
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
Price. Enid 4/5 Ciaran 4/5
Ingredients Enid 3/5 Ciaran 4/5
Construction / aesthetic. Enid 3/5 Ciaran 4/5
Atmosphere/ Experience Enid 3/5 Ciaran 3/5
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.
So we got a bonus sandwich added to our search for the best Christmas sandwich in Dublin this year.
We made a quick stop off in the city before Ciaran headed off for Mayo later in the day. Both of us were a little bit hungry so we decided to go for a Christmas sandwich and ended up in Itsa Bagel (in Arnotts) were we each had their "Santy Bagel".
They were very tasty but the cranberry was quite sharp so I asked for some mayonaise and added that to my bagel to tone it down.
I haven't had a bagel in a long while and this one was particularly good but perhaps quite sweet.
Here's the pic of the Santy Bagel, which was made of all the usual Christmas trimmings.
Keenly priced at just under 8 euro, here's how it scored overall.
For our 3rd Christmas Sandwich of the season we returned to Rathmines in order to visit Greenville Deli where I had seen their seasonal sandwich offering on Instagram and it looked promising.
We ordered one sandwich between us as they seemed sizable enough and Ciaran also ordered a coffee while I had a Coke Zero.
We seemed to have hit the cafe at a bad time, literally peak lunch time, at about 1.30pm and there was a long line ahead of us and then more people after us with the place being packed and having no seats available. Seating generally is quite limited in the place and we ended up at the counter facing out on to the street with a high stool for me and Ciaran standing.
And finally after a bit of a wait, our number was called and this was the sandwich we collected at the counter.
Looks good doesn't it?!
On the Greenville Deli insta they list the following ingredients in the sandwich: Roasted Turkey, hand carved ham, sage & rosemary stuffing, brie, pickled red cabbage, cranberry sauce and mustard mayo on sourdough! Comes with our homemade cranberry aioli dip and a little bag of crisps. And altogether it sure tasted good......even the brie - of which I am normally not a fan.
And so it was on to the scores for the sandwich:
Price: Enid 5/5 Ciaran 5/5
Ingredients: Enid 5/5 Ciaran 5/5
Construction/Aesthetic: Enid 4/5 Ciaran 5/5
Atmosphere/Experience: Enid 3/5 Ciaran 2/5
Tradition: Enid 2/5 Ciaran 2/5
With a score of 38 out of 50, Greenville Deli is on top at the moment having beaten sandwich no. 2 (Farmer Browns) by 2 points. See here for the Farmer Brown results and pics
I forgot to take a pic of the receipt but coming in at 9 euro this sandwich ranked high on quality and taste versus price, and while there was not a whole lot of Christmas spirit in the cafe (barely a decoration in sight and no Christmas music being played) it is looking like this sandwich could win out to be our ultimate winner!
After two strikes on our Christmas Sandwich Search this afternoon (no seasonal sandwich in Brother Hubbard Ranelagh and all sandwiches sold out by 3pm in Greenville Deli in Rathmines) we ended up in Farmer Browns in Rathmines where we both ordered the "Turkey & Ham Yorkshire Pudding Wrap" for 12 euro each.
We were unsure what was going to be served to us - but I was happy enough to wait, and see, while sitting outside sipping a glass of proseco. It was a cold day but we were seated under an outdoor heater and there was also blankets on all of the chairs which was a nice touch.
Well when it arrived we were quite surprised by what it was!
We shouldn't have been surprised as what arrived at the able was was exactly as described on the menu. Check it out!!
It was basically a Christmas dinner wrapped in the most massive Yorkshire Pudding. Quite whether it could be classified as a "Christmas Sandwich" gave us pause for thought as we ate the dish.
But either way we went ahead and scored it against the same criteria as KC Peaches which was our first sandwich as part of this seasonal competition that we do. See here for KC Peaches sandwich score and pics.
And this is our scores for the Farmer Browns seasonal "sandwich" (debateable!)
Price: Enid 3/5 Ciaran 3/5
Ingredients: Enid 4/5 Ciaran 4/5
Construction/Aesthetic: Enid 3/5 Ciaran 3/5
Atmosphere/Experience: Enid 4/5 Ciaran 4/5
Tradition: Enid 4/5 Ciaran 4/5
Both our scores were added together and this sandwich got a total of 36 out of 50, which means that it takes the lead......but still lots more sandwiches to go so it's certainly not guaranteed a win at this point!
Edit - so seemingly the Yorkshire Pudding Wrap is a viral trend!
After reading my blog, my younger sister let me know that she had seen a video of the Yorkshire Pudding Wrap in borough Market, on Tik Tok. So I went in search of more info and found lots of places serving it. Let me know what you think? Are you intruiged and will you be visiting Farmer Browns to taste it here in Dublin?!
