Weekend Recap

This was a busy weekend, indeed.  A combo of food, drink at a new pub, cooking demos and a trip to new Irish town!  Ooh yes, and my first car ride in over a month!  While I enjoy not having a car here, it was oddly refreshing to be transported somewhere via car. 


Friday I had Product Liability class from 12-2pm.  I then hit the gym and later met up with Jessica and Juliette at House 6 for cheese tasting evening hosted by the DU Food and Drink Society.  Of course, what better to pair with delicious cheeses than delicious wine?  They served 6 delicious cheeses from Sheridan's Cheesemongers and gave out a printed list with descriptions to educate us about each cheese.  Delish!


From there, we decided to go to The Bailey for a pint.  Juliette had to leave early to catch the last DART back to Blackrock.  Jessica and I stayed and chatted for a while, then called it a night.  I liked the Bailey.  A bit crowded tonight, but we found a comfortable table inside away from the crowd.  Aside from the couple across from us who took Public Displays of Affection to a whole new level, it was grand. 

The Bailey

Ideal Home Show at RDS

Saturday I met up with Juliette at the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) in Ballsbridge.  I remembered the RDS was the venue that held the Dublin Marathon expo when I was here in 2006, so I knew it was walkable and decided to skip the train idea in favor of some exercise.  It's approx 3km (just under 2 miles) from College, and a straight shot down the road, nice and convenient.

The Ideal Home Show has all sorts of vendors such as home improvement, interior design, landscaping, household tools, cheesemongers, cheesemakers, wine vendors, holiday crafts, beer brewers, chocolatiers, and cooking schools.  Juliette's friend Sheona was doing a cooking demonstration for her cooking school.  I thought the cookbook from this Irish cooking school might make a good Christmas gift for a few of my friends, but then realized the postage alone for a heavy book might cost more than the book itself, so I didn't buy any.  Sorry, friends. 

I sampled delicous cheese from Co. Clare cheesemaker:  Bluebell Falls Goats Cheese.  They had about 5-6 different types of goats cheese for sampling.  I tried the Pegasus and the Orion, both of which were delicious and tasted quite different than your ordinary goats cheese.  I started chatting with the owner and she sent me home with 2 complimentary large wedges of Orion!  yummm.

I also sampled beer from Carlow Brewing Company, based in (you guessed it) Co. Carlow.  I liked both the Curim Ale and the O'Hara's Red and ended up buying a 4-pk of each.  This is the first beer I've purchased (outside a pub, obviously) since I've moved to Ireland!  I had been wanting to find a small Irish brewery, now I have found one.  Now I have something other than tea to serve potential guests.


We then drove back to Juliette's place in Blackrock and had a relaxing evening...watching television!  I realized that not only had I not been in a car in over a month, but I'd also not watched television!  I actually don't miss having a TV, but it would be nice to watch a DVD now and then.  This was when I learned of the show, "The X Factor" - and boy, was it awful! 

A few singers were good, but the most memorable was the most awful:  Jedward.  Have you heard of them in America?  They are clearly still on this show for the ratings because they are absolutely awful.  The show is a UK show; all the contestants (I think) are from the UK except for John and Edward (get it, Jedward?  ugh.), who are from Dublin.  Yet just because they are from here does not mean that they are good!  Matt, Lexi:  I dare say they are worse than our friend Georgie.  Maybe on equal par.  On second thought, I take that back - at least these guys have crowd appeal, even if only on account of their atrociousness. 

Are you kidding me?

Twin brothers singing "Opps I Did it Again"...

...just when you thought it couldn't get worse, here is this weekend's performance...

The Twins' rendition of Ricky Martin's "She Bangs". 

My ears have been assaulted.

check out the nightmare videos here and here if you dare.

After a few more laughs at Jedward's expense, we all crashed at Juliette's.  I took the DART home the next morning and got some studying in.  I later got a text from Jessica asking if I wanted to join her and Audrey on a bus trip to Trim, Co. Meath.  It was only a 45-min bus trip, so I figured why not.  Trim Castle is the largest Anglo-Norman castle in Ireland and was featured in Braveheart.  We walked the grounds ourselves, then had a guided tour of the Keep.  I haven't gone through my photos yet, so I will post photos of our Trim trip later.  Until then, here is a photo of Trim Castle from this website:

Tomorrow is a Bank Holiday and also the Adidas Dublin Marathon!  Sadly, I'm not running it, but I do plan to wake up early to go cheer on the runners. 

Will post Trim photos soon.