Cake & Pie!

We had a little send off party at the office for my friend, Sara, on July 30th...for which I made cake and pie.  Beat that!

It's a little inside joke.

I found some really delicious recipes though and thought I'd share the links here!

Guinness Oatmeal Stout Pie and Root Beer Cake

I'm sure you'll all think less of me because, in the interest of time, I used a frozen pie crust and (gasp!) store bought frosting!  I know...I know.  But it had to be done.  I also had to use good old A&W root beer because the bodega near my apartment didn't carry any natural sodas....can you imagine? :)

I want to make both of these again so I can tweak the root beer cake and make my own frosting.  It was SO sweet (though no one but me seemed to have a problem with that)! 

The pie was totally kick ass. Maybe some day when I have more counter space I'll attempt to make my own pie crust. Until that day, Fresh Direct carries a great frozen one!

It was a rather hilarious evening of slightly manic baking...complete with flour-y footprints all over my hard wood floor!  It was well worth it though.

We miss you Sara!

XO

Day Tour of Wicklow!

You know when you let life point you in the direction you should go? Even with the simplest of things...it always turns out to be exactly where you need to be. Lately, I've been trying to live my life this way.

This particular example was our Day Tour of Wicklow. We just asked the front desk to recommend a tour and in 5 minutes we were signed up.

Our tour guide, John, was like an old friend from the moment we approached him on O'Connell Street. Everything he said was something I needed to hear.

The Fabulous John!

Sara and I at a beautiful photo stop

Every molecule in my body relaxes when out in the open, breathing fresh air.  Staring out at the vastness and thinking about everything...and nothing.

The water used for making Guinness comes from the Wicklow Mountains. We were literally at the source!

A little babbling brook of Guinness :)

John and Sara :)

A lake of Guinness (Lough Tay)

My twisted love affair with photographing cemeteries continues.  This one, at Glendalough, had a beautiful wildness and energy to it. The trees were shimmering and the stones were glowing after the rain:

I learned that Ireland was a Scotland stand-in for "Braveheart."  It's like I've been living a lie!  :)  This is where the wedding scene was filmed...Gorgeous:

We stopped for lunch in Avoca, where Ballykissangel was filmed...

Fitzgeralds

I wonder if "Cheesy Chips" are like "Disco Fries"

BEST. LUNCH. EVER!

Irish Soda Bread...of course!

I would have licked the bowl clean had I not been in public...

Where Thomas Moore wrote "The Meeting of the Waters"

Us and John

Back in Dublin

My best friend's Dad nick-named me "Leeson" when we were kids



********

Thanks Again John!

XO

Thank Goodness for Guinness

Me, after our free pint :)

The day after our night out in Dublin we visited the Guinness Storehouse! The exhibit is really well designed...

Water

Barley

(Yeast rounds out the list of ingredients in Guinness)

Sara got this lovely shot of the wall

The remains of my free pint.  

When we got up to The Gravity Bar, one of my new favorite songs was playing, "Coming up Easy" by Paolo Nutini. Bliss...

View from The Gravity Bar

On our way to the Storehouse, we passed the oldest pub in Dublin, The Brazen Head, est. 1198!  So on the way back we stopped in for some dinner and a pint.  Sara ingeniously used the photo she had taken to see if they served food (zooming in on her camera to read the signs out front) as we made our way from a quick rest in Phoenix Park. She should be a detective!

I had Irish stew and we chatted with a hilarious Scottish man and his family at the next table.  We were talking and laughing with them so much the hostess combined our bills because she thought we were together!

Good times.

XO

*Thank You to Sara for the use of a few photos (Hops, Brazen Head, "Poetry in a Pint," and ME!)

Saturday Night Out in Dublin

 Scotland/Ireland Scarf

Scotland was in town for rugby and had just won the game when we left our hotel for The Abbey Theatre.  So we joined the flood of joyous, kilted men along O'Connell street. Us on our way to the concert, them to the Temple Bar area for celebrations.

We joined in later.  I do recall making eye contact with a handsome Scottish man at McDonalds earlier in the evening (I was afraid we'd be late for the concert, so I asked that we unhealthily eat some quick fries there). I had an idea that it would be hilarious to travel to different countries and only eat at McDonalds...or Burger King...and then blog about it. But I digress.

In high spirits after The Waterboys show, we made our way to the Temple Bar area and found a bar where the whole crowd was singing along to "We are the Champions." Scotland was in the house. The jukebox then segued into "Eye of the Tiger!" Excellent.  After a Guinness, my fringe dress decided to make advances when it snagged on a very attractive man's pants.  I'm still not sure what it caught on but no matter! I was forced to reach over and stop him, lest he rip my dress.  He seemed rather confused, but not unhappy, as I reeled him in to unhook myself. He responded (in a lovely Scottish voice) "I thought you were grabbing onto me!"  :)  Hee Hee. Maybe my dress had the right idea!

After singing along to some truly awesome 1980s power ballads...we were off to another bar. There we met three Irish fellows...and one of them spilled my Guinness. Shame! But he bought me another and we spent time talking with his two friends. I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time.  My favorite moment was when I was offered 50 Euros to knock the beer-spiller out cold. I laughingly said, "But I have no upper body Strength!" and the response was, "But you have a bar stool and the element of surprise!"  Priceless.

The evening ended on an anti-climactic note when the beer-spiller got kicked out of another bar...but we had all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

"All the single ladies, put your hands up!!!"

 The blurriness in no way reflects Sara's state...or mine :)

Long Weekend in Ireland

Behind the "Delta" Sign

I am posting this, the first of my Ireland blogs, on a creative dreams update day because it goes along with this week's assignment quite nicely.

Last week's was to figure out what our dreams were in need of...and mine were to get the heck out of Dodge...so THANK GOODNESS I had my Ireland weekend planned.  Amazingly good timing.

This week we are charged with taking a look at our commitments and asked the following questions:

• are you committed to living your dreams?
• can you see a way of becoming even more committed to living your dreams?
• do you have any commitments that are draining you? 

I'm delighted to say yes to the first and as for the second...I feel I'm doing all I can right now. Third...well there are a lot of things draining me, but I've been shifting things around in my life to simplify and re-establish my priorities. 

The most important thing I've discovered is that I'm fully committed to myself. The Dublin trip helped to refresh my goals and remind me why I love going out to that part of the world so much. I love that everything seems so much closer, after our quick visit. The Guinness tasted so much better at the source!

I gratefully left on Thursday, March 18th to go to Dublin for a Waterboys concert and a weekend away from it all. I spent a wonderfully quiet day packing, doing yoga and thinking about the journey ahead.  It still didn't seem real! Everything felt very right though.  Early in the day my friend and fellow concert-goer, Christina, sent a message that Scotland was going to be playing Ireland in rugby that weekend. Dublin would be full of men in kilts.  What better sign could I have asked for?  :D

To add to the adventure, I took the bus out to the airport!  Normally I get a car but I wanted to save money and take the bus. The stop is literally around the corner from my apartment so it seemed right.

I ended up getting on the wrong bus.

But my inner voice kept saying, "All is well..." and the correct bus was right behind.

Result?  I got to the airport an hour earlier than I had to. No worries...time was good because I had to walk from the bus stop to the correct terminal. I felt very accomplished in the end.  Walking up to the Delta terminal was like approaching a scene from The Jetsons :) and when I walked inside it was total chaos;  people milling about like lost cattle.  I managed to check myself in and drop my bags...totally calm despite the confusion and a madman yelling and screaming over something. Ah, New York...

After I made it through the security check point, I found a little market cafe that sold gourmet sandwiches and beer! So I settled in with some yummy roast beef and a blackberry Sam Adams. All the while texting with my travelling companion, Sara, who was in line behind Jim Gaffigan!  All good signs.

I had been slightly worried about delays since JFK had closed it's main runway for renovations a few weeks before...but after a tipsy call to my Mom (thanks Sam Adams!) our flight boarded on time and we were 3rd on the runway for take-off under a beautiful "Cheshire Cat" Grinning Moon!

It felt like we were there in no time!  I had barely slept but got a short little revitalizing nap on the runway in Dublin.  Our flight got in an hour early and there was no available gate...so I put on my chakra cleansing meditation and we were moving the second it ended.

We took a taxi to our hotel and discovered that check-in wasn't until 3:00!  So we deliriously left our bags and headed into town for breakfast before having a surreal walk around (which included a marching band dressed as Leprechauns playing "Eye of the Tiger").

Full Irish Breakfast

Dublin Castle

A Gorgeous Iron Gate

I Was Obsessed With this Iron-Work

The Chester Beatty Library

Temple Bar Area

We managed quite well and then took a little disco nap before dinner and a Guinness (or two...)

In the end we stopped at a bar called "The Purty Kitchen" where there was a band playing covers and mash-ups.  They caught my attention with The Waterboys' "Fisherman's Blues"  (appropriate) and then made us smile when combining "I'm Yours" and "Paparazzi" acoustically.  Genius.

This trip was full of balance and quiet reassurance that I'm making the right choices and that I am committed to change.

XO