Your Cooking Coach
Show MenuHide Menu

Tag: dublin

Time To Say GoodBye To Belfast & Dublin..

We had a just a couple of days in Dublin.. I have been here before with my husband a few years ago. I really enjoy being in Dublin.. love the walkable city, food and the people. We took a 1 PM train from Belfast and got to Dublin around 3:15PM. It was raining and we quickly found a cab and made our way to the hotel which was not very far away. After unpacking a bit, we decided to venture out with our umbrellas in tow. The problem with venturing out is that you need to know where to go.. I am quite directionally challenged and have trouble with maps, although Belfast was quite straightforward. Dublin on the other hand is very complicated, with tiny streets going in all directions. Luckily I was able to use the GPS on my phone which was a life saver!! We walked around and reacquainted myself with the lovely city.

We stopped for a cappuccino and hot chocolate early during our walk as it was quite chilly and wet. The sun peeked out every half an hour or so… My daughter wanted something other than Irish food for dinner so we ventured out and found an Asian restaurant and ordered some noodle dishes- the food was okay, nothing special. We then walked around some more and finally found a gelato place, which my daughter was desperately searching for. I had a delicious scope of passion fruit cream gelato topped with a dollop of whipped cream. I love coming to Ireland for the delicious butter, cream and yogurt and of course cheese! It is all so delicious!

The next morning, we had a yummy Irish breakfast and ventured out for a historic Dublin walking tour. It was really good and walking for two and half hours prompted us to head to Queen of Tarts, a cafe and dessert place with delicious desserts and lunch. I ordered a bunch ofFB_IMG_1407760748010 madeleines served with raspberry compote and fresh whipped cream! All my favorite things on one plate. I washed it down with a delicious glass of pinot grigio. We lingered there for a while and read our books and enjoyed the delicious aromas coming out of the kitchen.

We then walked to the Stephen Green area, which is a beautiful green area with a lake and lovely walking paths. We walked around a bit and headed back to the hotel for a rest before heading out for our last dinner in Dublin!

It was raining, yet again and so we decided not too walk very far for dinner. Hairy Lemon it was! A highly rated Irish pub around the corner from our hotel! It was packed as we walked in but we managed to get a table for 2. I ordered a glass of cabernet as I was planning on getting the burger. Although this place was famous for it’s stew, I just wanted a juicy burger- and it was great, with bacon, cheddar, tomato and arugula! It was yum! We didn’t have any dessert as I had seen an ice cream place the night before called Murphy’s Ice Cream made in Dingle. 20140811_184900 Now, Dingle is a place on the west coast of Ireland, in county Kerry that I had visited and fallen in love with a good 8 years ago. I was thrilled to see a reference and wanted to eat their ice cream.. plus they had some very different sounding flavors like caramelized brown bread ice cream, brown butter ice cream… I indulged in one scoop each of the caramelized brown bread and Irish coffee… both of which were spectacular… a perfect end to a great trip.20140811_193102

We are back home tomorrow, just in time for me to get back to exercising and not eating everything in sight!!!

Dublin Day 5- Goodbye…

P1060496One of my favorite things to do on a vacation is go home. I look forward to visiting new places but no matter where I am or how exotic the city is- I love coming home.

Dublin was a pleasure to visit. I am going to miss the Temple Bar area, the scones, the breads, the sausages, the bacon, the cheese…etc, etc. As you might have guessed, I focus on the food where ever I go. Food is the best way to get to know a new culture. I love going to grocery stores and studying all the aisles to see what the locals eat.

I ate and drank and now it is time to get back to reality- GG crackers here I come…

Dublin Day 3- Guinness and Tea

Day three started earlier than the previous days. We walked into a cafe called KC Peach. We had seen it the day before but it was closed. We had peaked in and liked what we saw. It was an open concept cafe and they seemed to serve good quality, organic foods. I ordered a mini Irish breakfast and was much happier today as the meats were nicely warmed and so were the eggs. My cappuccino was delicious- am I in Italy or Ireland??

Dublin Day 3 Cappuccino

A few hours later I found myself at St. James Gate home of the Guinness brewery. It was a lovely self guided tour and at the end we were treated to a pint of Guinness! I am not a beer drinker but I do enjoy this particular one. The problem is that I am not used to consuming so much beer at one time- especially a heavy beer…. so, I had about a quarter of it and didn’t want to waste my calories for the day. I wanted to save them for the afternoon tea.

We made our way to the Westbury Hotel for the tea. We were presented with the usual three tiered platter filled with sandwiches, scones and pastries. I am mostly interested in the sandwiches and scones. The sandwiches were good but the scones were amazing- light and airy.. not hard and crumbly. I guess some will argue that real scones are hard and crumbly.. but I guess I prefer the ones we were served. The jam and the clotted cream was icing on the cake (pun intended). The experience was wonderful… and that took care of all the things I came to eat in Dublin… what am I going to eat tomorrow???

Dublin Day 3 Tea

Dublin-Day 2, Healthy Eating?

Day two in Dublin started a bit late- as we are jet lagged and didn’t get out of the hotel room till after eleven. I wanted to hurry to Bewley’s for a full Irish breakfast. Usually I am happy with my GG crackers and a big cup of coffee. This breakfast included a big sausage, 2 big strips of bacon, tomato, toast, etc. It was a huge plate but I had no trouble devouring it. I was looking forward to the Irish breakfast. The problem was that the meal was not warm enough. I could have enjoyed it a lot more if everything was piping hot!

Dublin Day 2 Breakfast

The rest of the day was spent walking around Trinity college and taking a tour of the Jameson distillery. We stopped for a delicious gelato on the way and then finally settled in a bar in the Temple bar area. It was a lovely old bar with big windows. We sat down and people watched for a good hour. I love looking at people in foreign country and wondering what their life is like. It is at the bar we met two screaming girls. One of them was recently engaged and they were celebrating. She showed us her engagement ring and we chatted for a bit. They were super friendly and recommended a restaurant- which we will try tomorrow.

Dublin Day 2 Dinner

We walked around a bit more and found a restaurant called The Pig’s Ear. I sat back with a glass of red wine as I waited for my rib eye steak with truffle mashed potatoes with marrow on the side- I know what you are thinking… is she going to eat all of that. Absolutely- I was looking forward to a few things on this trip. An Irish breakfast, Irish beef and afternoon tea. The steak was amazing. I ordered a trifle and enjoyed it immensely.

Healthy eating can wait till I get home- till then, I am going to enjoy everything Dublin has to offer…..

Back In Ireland… Hello Dublin

Dublin-BuildingAs I stood in immigration line, I flipped through my passport and noticed it had been five years since I have been back to this beautiful country. We visited the west coast and flew into Shannon airport and spent the most glorious week driving around, drinking beer and eating the most delicious food- I know the food part comes as a big surprise but Ireland has come a long way as food is concerned. The countryside was absolutely beautiful. We had rented an apartment in a small town called Dingle and it had the most amazing restaurants. It was a glorious vacation.

I have been meaning to go back ever since.. in fact, I wanted to buy a house and just stay there. Fast forward five years and here I am. This time we decided to experience the city life and of course Dublin came to mind. After taking a red eye flight, we finally landed at the airport. A quick shuttle took us to our hotel right in the middle of the Trinity college area, which is filled with restaurants and bars- my kind of scene.

We quickly unpacked and got ready to venture out and look for a place to eat- I was starving! Our biggest argument whenever we are on vacation is how often to eat- I tend to get hungry every four hours (according to some people in my family). I just want to go out there and experience all the food I can without overdoing it. So, we walked around and found a lovely pub. I wanted to have a huge burger filled with amazing Irish beef. We settled in with a beer and a wine- I know.. I need to have some beer. Last time in Ireland, I had delicious beers and I am not a beer person at all. For some reason, I wanted a glass of red wine with my burger.

Dublin-Burger

The burger came with the beef patty in a strange looking bun. It was thin like an English muffin but tasted like a regular bun. I was happy to have less carbs as the pile of fresh chips (french fries) were extremely tempting. There were some greens as well- very yummy. There was melted Irish cheddar on the patty. I smeared some English mustard and went at it. It was very enjoyable and the best thing was- I didn’t feel overly full… I think it was the fresh ingredients used….

Stay tuned for tomorrow….