Colman's Mustard

I have to say a short word about Colman's Mustard, which I mentioned in the previous post. This stuff is fabulous. We first ran into it in a pub, where we proceeded to load it on our burgers, only to find out it is hot like wasabi. It will make my eyes water if I put it on a turkey sandwich. Love it. We eventually spotted some Colman's without the heat, and it was called, what else, "American Style Mustard."

The culprit

Notes on Food Shopping

Honestly, I didn't expect too many differences in the food supply between Ireland and the U.S. I knew they'd have fabulous dairy and lamb here, which they do. But I didn't figure on not being able to find a few key staples. These are regulars in the McFadden Ranch diet, so having to search for them was troublesome. We have been able to locate most of these at specialty food stores, or under different names.

1) Black Beans --> These are not popular here. The preferred beans are Baked beans, a cornerstone of the Irish breakfast. Some of my Irish colleagues had not actually heard of black beans.

2) Popcorn (not microwave popcorn, the stuff you actually pop in a popper) --> we finally found some, and it was labelled "American Style" Popcorn --> Mom, just FYI, we didn't actually have to go to a feed lot to find it!

3) Real Maple Syrup --> haven't looked hard enough yet, I guess.

4) Cottage Cheese --> a seasonal offering here, sometimes found next to the specialty cheese, sometimes it's just not in stock

5) Natural Peanut Butter --> we haven't been able to find any without palm oil

6) Baking Soda --> called Bread Soda here and it comes in a bag. Yes, if it doesn't say Arm & Hammer, I really have to hunt!

Maybe we just haven't mastered food shopping here yet!!!

That said, there are some other wonderful foods here.. my favorites: homemade Irish brown bread, Cashel Blue cheese, and Colman's mustard.

The Clonsilla Train Effect

I'm still trying to catch up on the first 4 months of posts, but I decided I better start logging some entries in real time to capture some notes on daily living in Ireland.

The traffic in Dublin is known for being some of the worst in Europe, and it is as bad as they say. The baffling thing about it though, are the daily surprises. In 6 weeks of driving home from work, we have yet to establish a pattern of traffic jams. That said, you can always expect a traffic jam. I've coined my own term for the unpredictability of Dublin area traffic... the Clonsilla train effect. We'll call it CT for short.

Reuben and I left work today and headed toward Lucan to shop for a car, and took some choice little backroads. Everything was smooth sailing until we hit the Clonsilla train station... Here's the scene..... we watch one train pass, wait 10 minutes without the gates opening, then watch another train pass, wait another 5 mins for everything to clear, then someone in a tower hand cranks the gates closed. 20 minutes after the first train, we're finally moving, and cars are lined up back to Blanchardstown. You never know when, or where, the CT effect will strike next.

Hedgehogs!

Reuben and I live right across the street from Malahide Demesne and Malahide Castle. The Demesne has a great little network of paths for jogging/walking, and it has acres of playing fields for soccer, cricket, etc. Tonight in the park, Reuben cut through a little wooded area to a playing field and started shouting at me to come quickly....... there was a little hedgehog sniffing around in the field just meters away from Reuben! Of course I was very excited.... Apparently this is normal, to see wild hedgehogs in Ireland. I told some people at work and they were not impressed.

The WEST

This weekend, we went to "THE WEST" as they call it here, off to Galway and the region of Connemara. Galway is what I would call the Asheville of Ireland, and if you know Asheville, NC, you know what I mean. It's a small-ish university town, with lots of farmers markets, drum circles, etc. Wonderful little place with a few great restaurants serving up wicked vegetarian grub. And of course, the quay streets with lively music and pubs. We spent the day on Saturday wandering around town in the rain and shopping for Claddagh rings and Aran Island sweaters. The Claddagh ring originated here, from a tribe that made its home just south of the river in Galway. Word has it they still had a "king" of the Claddagh tribe until the mid 1950s.

On Sunday, we headed even further west to Connemara for a day of hiking. Connemara is one of the remaining native Irish speaking areas in the country. Sitting quietly outside a convenient store, I was able to listen to the locals conducting their daily gossip/business in Gaelic (Irish). We'll get to the Irish language later, it's extremely difficult to identify by (my) untrained ear. The hiking at Connemara National Park was not extensive, but it was wonderful and wild. Outstanding views of Kylemore Abbey from the peaks, and sea views to the North and West.
Click here for more photos

Reuben and Allison staying dry in Galway

Newgrange and Trim Castle

In early April, Reuben and I took a quick trip to the Midlands to visit Newgrange and Trim Castle. These are both within an hour's drive of Dublin, and made for an interesting impromptu afternoon. Newgrange is an ancient passage grave built in ~3000 BC (older than the pyramids). On the morning of the winter solstice, the sun shines directly down the small passageway entrance at dawn, lighting up the entire chamber. For the rest of the year, the tomb remains dark. We toured the grave on one of those lovely Irish spring days, and got hit with a hailstorm as we stood out in the field. Regardless, it was beautiful.

Trim Castle was also great... some scenes from Braveheart were filmed at the castle, which gave it instant star power. Reuben has been wanting to see some castles, so this was his 'starter' castle. Click here for more Newgrange and Trim photos

Newgrange