pump up the jam: Tea at Lady Gregory's

Saturday we went to Coole Park, home of Lady Gregory, founder of the Irish Literary Theatre and the Abbey Theatre (fun fact: her birthday is the Ides of March too. poor gal!). While pretty, all that remains of the estate are the house's foundation, the stable building and the autograph tree (carved by the likes of Synge & Yeats and a few others... that was interesting, but I think I went in to the trip expecting to see and learn more than what was available at the site).



Lunch was on the pricey side and the line was long, so I opted for a scone and some tea. The scone was only 2.50 and was accompanied by freshly whipped cream and homemade ginger rhubarb jam, which had a looser consistency than most jams, allowing it to seep into every nook, cranny and sultana it touched. The rhubarb was sweet and mellow while the ginger added a welcome kick and the unsweetened cream balanced both flavors.

The River Inn B&B

We stumbled on the River Inn B&B the other day. 7.90 euro and a student ID gets you anything on the menu (obviously if a meal is cheaper, you pay that price).

I got chicken with whiskey thyme sauce and mushrooms, mashed potatoes and veg. Much better than sandwiches, for sure (and the portions were huge!)

slumming in the park with Marks & Spencer

eating out can be expensive...and fattening. desperate measures are sometimes needed to inflated prices and empty calories. on such occasions, one turns to M&S for their pre-prepared 360 calorie 3 euro meal options. sure it looks good, and heck, it may need salt and more spices and major help in the flavor dept, but it was cheap and I didn't have to tip.

buon appetito

(Pictured 6.90 lasagna, layers of fresh pasta, bechamel and bolognese served sizzling and smothered in melted buffalo mozzarella. Below: (left) dark chocolate gelato (right) nutella and caramelized banana crepe)

doughnut man [bestill my heart, it's love]

Yes, technically this should be part of the post on the market. However, if you tasted one of these doughnuts, you would realize that they are in a class of their own. I am not a huge doughnut fan (unless they're warm and made fresh... and even then, I like old-fashioned ones preferably of the fall-flavored variety like cider or pumpkin). However, if my arteries could stand to live on one food alone, it might just be these doughnuts.


Made fresh, each doughnut is served hot then sprinkled with your choice of cocoa powder or cinnamon sugar (I think we all know which one I picked). The outer part is cakey and perfectly fried, while the inside is somehow creamy and delicious. I had my two friends each try a bite and though they are self-admittedly not doughnut fans, they were easily seduced by this cinnamon sprinkled piece of heaven.



(Pictured here, the man who makes them himself. He was sassy and quite a character).

the Galway market

In pictures.

Griffin's. [redux]

And now, to tantalize your taste buds further, allow me to tell you about our second visit during the daylight hours (during the first I made friends with the staff and talked their ears off about how beautiful their pastries were... and they didn't even have a fraction of them out because they were closing).




After perusing the market (more on that later), we were beat and stopped in for a coffee. Nicole got a hot chocolate. Please note the difference in our beverages.



which would you rather have? (an Americano or hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows buried underneath clouds of whipped cream and curls of shaved milk chocolate? thought so.)

Griffin's.

I don't even know where to begin.

I had drooled over the giant meringues in the window on many jaunts down Shop Street, but it wasn't until Bryan & I were hankering for food late one night that I went in and was entranced by its amazing pastry creations. Yeats might call it the stone in the stream of Shop Street. I can't walk through the river of people without glancing at the window... and it takes quite the effort to go by it and not stop in.

I present you with Chicken Pizza (excuse the lighting), Bailey's cheesecake, and the Spanish Arch.

Wards

Hands-down some of the best sandwiches I've ever eaten. They have a weekly special as well as daily ones. The daily ones are only 3 euro, which is fantastic because they're huge. Bonus: it's right on the edge of campus.


Pictured here, my oven-roasted ham sandwich with lettuce, tomato, red onion and sliced cheddar on a fresh-baked baguette (did I mention how amazing the bread is? It makes the sandwich. Crusty on the top and soft on the inside. Perfection).

It's hard not to get one for lunch every day... and at 3 euro, could you blame me?

ahh, Aran Islands

Inis Mór. Let me tell you a little bit more...





Quite possibly one of the most amazing weekends of my life. 3 days of cloudless skies, brilliant sunshine glimmering over the Atlantic, hiking up Ireland's green hills, scaling rock walls and bike riding along the coast with the wind at my back and that familiar smell from childhood to keep me company--the salty smell of the sea.

Food was beyond amazing, as you can imagine. We hiked over five miles throughout the weekend over rocky terrain (the Aran Islands are made of huge slabs of limestone so footing could get a bit tricky) and biked over 20 miles.



Our first day we did most of the hiking (a half hour walk turned into 2 hours in an epic quest to find the elusive Black Fort). Exhausted, the gods smiled upon us and we stumbled upon an ice cream truck. Pictured here, my vanilla cone with a flake bar.

For dinner the first night? Fish & Chips & a frosty Heineken.



Fresh-caught Aran pollack, beer battered, fried and served with chips, salad and coleslaw. The best fish and chips I've ever eaten (and I'm finicky about fish).

The second night, we had a group dinner, cooked by the boys' guesthouse owner. Chicken kiev, mashed potatoes, carrots and broccoli. The breading was perfect. The chicken was tender and juicy. The brown sauce was rich and delicious. Garlic butter trickled down the center when I cut into it. I am drooling just thinking about it.


Dessert was equally delicious. Chocolate covered cream puffs and the creamiest vanilla ice cream I have ever eaten.



Well deserved after such an exhileratingly wonderful weekend.

(oh and finally, I fell in love with rhubarb-vanilla bean yogurt. I saw it, was originally weirded out but thought, "when in Rome...")



Despite the water shortage (what happens when an island made of limestone gets no rain), the weather was beautiful. I saw cows and horses. I walked through rabbit warrens. I made friends with a seal. I was sad to go, but excited to start my Galway adventure...

clonmacnoise & chicken cucumber sandwiches

Who would have thought that I would discover the amazing combo of chicken, cucumber, lettuce and tomato sandwiches in a 6th century monastary smack dab in the middle of Ireland?

(best coffee so far, too. and only €3 for lunch total)

[if you haven't figured it out yet, this is my lazy way of giving you a tease of the hundreds of pictures I'm taking]