Guinness gives you strength!

We don't go out too often these days. M is tired alot of the time, which only makes sense. He works his bum off and, with taxi driving in the evenings (8-1am or longer), his sleeping schedule is thrown off and he is even more tired... (here's me again wishing i could do something to bring in some income!) Anyhow, sometimes I just want to go out... I want to sit in a pub and have a couple pints and see people, have a bit of atmosphere and enjoy the buzz.

The American and Irish version of 'let's go and have a couple pints' is miles apart. For me (and I think alot of Americans), having a few pints of beer means one or two. I have no problem going to the pub, enjoying a beer and going home. To the Irish, having a couple pints really means eight or nine (according to M) so I think he's not always interested in going. He's stuck on the eight or nine while I am really thinking two, at most!

But somehow, I get him to agree to go and have a couple pints. We head up to Sean Dougherty's pub, maybe two miles from our house. There is no place like an Irish pub in my mind, not even the 'Irish-style' pubs in the US (my favourite haunts) can remotely compare. This place is gorgeous. There's about 20-30 people in and most of them are men. There's one cute young thing in a short jean skirt(no tights or pantyhose - brrr!) and fuzzy boots (after all, it's less than 30 degrees out) but other than that, it's mostly blokes. As usual, there is a huge range of ages, which is one of my favourite things about the pub. You can head out any night of the week and there will be auld ones and young lads sitting together, and not just men, women as well. Not usually young women though - seems that they are probably drawn to the trendier pubs and bars because the 20-40 yo women seem to missing from the traditional Irish pub. Better odds if you ask me but as I already have my guy, I'm out of the running!

So where was I? Oh yes, the pints. There is NOWHERE in the world that serves a Guinness like Ireland. I don't know what it is but in Ireland, the Guinness is thicker and creamier than any I've had in the States. M says it's the water. We both agree it doesn't travel well. England apparently gets the worst tasting Guinness ever, but that figures. The Irish have a serious dislike of all things English so they wouldn't be sending them their finest stout! lol

So, I head up to the bar and order two pints (I'm somewhat of a odd one here, as I drink pints. A lot of girls will order a 'glass' - more ladylike I guess.. I like a pint though.) and then I return and sit down. We watch the rugby a few minutes and I get up just as the bartender is settling my pints. It's another difference here. They actually let the pint settle halfway through, then top it up. At home, even in the Irish pubs, they'd just pour the pint out fast and hand it to you. It's not the same. Here, you have to order your second one halfway through the first, so it is 'ready' in time! lol

So sitting down and taking the first swig is heaven. The pints as Dougherty's weren't as good as I've had. If you can believe it, I can tell the difference and I don't even drink it that often. Once a month or so. But it was lovely to sit down next to my man and toast to our evening and a good pint to be had.

You really need to come out here and try it sometime. By the way, you are all welcome to. Anytime.

Post Thanksgiving Blathering

I woke up Thursday cranky (seeing a pattern, aren't you? yawn! LOL). We didn't really have any plans for Thanksgiving but had discussed heading to a restaurant doing the Thanksgiving meal... only it wasn't a 'real' T-Day meal... I just didn't want to fork out the money for something that wasn't traditional..
Martin suggested cooking it ourselves, having people over... I admit I was a pain, whinging about it being a work night for most, not the same as having the mid day meal and then conking out in front of Lawrence of Arabia on the tv! Martin pushed me out the door to the gym (knowing full well I'd be in better form after) and as I was there, I realized how really sweet he was being... trying to create a bit of home for me here in Ireland... When I returned from the gym, he had already called 6 people, they were all coming over at 8pm that night, we headed to the store for food. Although his oven was barely big enough, we managed to get everything out on the table together (he borrowed his sister's oven too, she lives a block away) within 15 minutes of everyone arriving. It was an amazing feast, I have to say. Tons of food & wine. A big turkey that turned out pretty good in the oven that I cannot work properly (even though we argued about oven temps and how long it takes to cook), stuffing that i learned to make that day from a recipe on Epicurious, potatoes (mashed and roasted, this IS Ireland after all and they LOVE their potatoes! LOL), steamed broccoli & brussel sprouts, roasted carrots and I made the gravy after talking with my mom 10 minutes on the phone. Gosh, there was a lot of food. It was fun to explain the meaning of Thanksgiving (but difficult not to go into my own views about how after all this 'thanking' we proceeded to force the indians to tiny reservations in the middle of nowhere, etc, etc) .. We couldn't find pumpkin pie for dessert but bought an apple and rhubarb tart with vanilla ice cream. Decadence, I must say. But it was really good to spend that day with friends/family - I received a call from one of my best friends in SF and I chatted with my parents twice (my dad thought i must be lonesome because I called TWICE! LOL).. It was a great day! I actually feel great today. Like my cloud has lifted... All because the boy wanted to make us a Thanksgiving dinner.

Yummy, yummy for the tummy

I don't do it very often but today I baked some chocolate chip cookies. Nestle Tollhouse famous recipe but, of course, I didn't have any Nestle Choc Chips, certainly not in the 12 or 16 oz bag because you can't get them here. Sigh. I actually DID see chocolate chips at the store in this little 5 oz bag (actually it's grams here) and they didn't look all that good. So I broke up baking chocolate instead. And for some reason, they just don't taste that great... Don't get me wrong! I'll still eat 'em - they ARE cookies and there IS chocolate involved - they just aren't AS good. Maybe I need to get used to the oven, a little different than ours at home because there's a fan in it.. things cook faster and at lower temps than I'm used to. Maybe it's still my measuring process, having to convert my US measurements to Metric (why can't the US just use the same system as everyone else? we always gotta be different... in a pain in the ass sorta way!), maybe its the fact that I just don't have the proper equipment. I don't know. They aren't as good.

So, I've decided to make fajitas tonight because I CAN make those with no problem and they are yummy. I know I'll be happy with them! LOL

And don't worry, I'll still eat the cookies.

Friends, friends and friends..

The thing I miss most by far, being here in Dublin, is my friends. I have a few good friends in the Bay Area, some have already fallen off the face of the earth now that I am gone. I shouldn't be surprised really, the same thing happened when I left to travel in 2002. I guess the feeling is so strange... people I was so close to suddenly I don't hear from, or it's sporadic. It makes me a little sad.. I miss them.

But recently, I've found a whole new bunch of girls. The online ones. We used to know each other from posting on our i-village websites, now we are all blogging. I read how each is doing, they read how I'm doing, there's all sorts of support for me from a place I never expected to get it. I get alot of advice, support, laughter from these ladies and unlike my wine drinking/hiking/dancing/irish bar hopping/wicca friends, they are here for me day in and day out. I feel like I'm reaching out there and these girls are reaching back and this is making me happier than I can say right now.

Thanks girls.

Weekend Blues

Holy cow! I haven't had such a blue weekend for months. Not sure where it came from really. I handled the Thursday divorce proceedings well (his divorce, not mine, as you all know...LOL). That day I was happy for him, although sad that he was sad but not because it had anything to do with his ex-wife. I mean, he may have been sad for what he could've had with her, I understand that, but it doesn't make me think he wants to be with me any less... if that makes sense. I KNOW he loves me, I have no doubt that he feels our love is stronger than his EVER was with her, I have never felt so secure about a love in my life... So my feelings around it were joy, he could move on now like he really hasn't been able to do for 4 years.

The rest of the weekend was blah. I woke up in a funk both Saturday and Sunday. I read a bit on Saturday, he started working on a project, I went back to bed but finally had to literally drag my a$$ up to go to the gym. If you know me at all, you would know that I love going to the gym so the fact that it was a chore was a problem. M would say I was in 'bad form'. Yes, I was. I finally made it to the gym and did my workout and it DID cheer me up a bit. Sunday though, I woke with the same feeling of blah. Which got better during the day but still...

I've come to the conclusion that I need to get 'doing'. I need to get out and get meeting people. I go to the gym, okay. Not too many people chatting with me at the gym. I finally went to talk with someone about a volunteer position at the Dublin PSCA (animal shelter - I start next Monday). And I'm going to seriously start looking for a job. I realize I need to work. I need to meet some people and I need to have some income. I need to do something because I am one of those people who, when faced with a lot of time on her hands, has a hard time getting anything done. When I'm busy, I seem to be able to fit everything in. I'm more organized, less lazy. I need that. So, I'm getting motivated. It's time. No more excuses. I need it for my peace of mind.

Sometimes, things are easy

Well, this morning we were awake quite early to drive into town. It's a chore... for a girl who used to be up and at the gym by 5am, some days I'm lucky if I can get up by 9! I'm shocked at my laziness sometimes but when you don't have a schedule, you can go the gym whenever you feel like it! Anyhow, the goal was to get into town when the immigration office opened so I could extend my visa. I had my passport, my insurance card and a letter from my broker in the States saying I had a little money to keep me from living off the state... boyfriend was driving, amazingly little traffic (even though we used the taxi sign to ride in the bus lane) and a parking spot around the corner... The line was huge at 8am, all waiting to be let into the building. And it was f^%&in' freezing out, 2 degrees C maybe (about 36-38 F, I think) but sunny and clear. We decided to hop over the Bewleys for breakfast. Bewleys is the oldest tradition in Ireland I think. It's closing two of it's biggest restaurants this year - this one and another on Grafton Street (people in Dublin want trendier places with trendier coffee, these days). M used to go every day, in his old life as a banker. He actually knew the person making the coffees. Anyhow, after an uneventful meal (we could see why it is closing its doors, to be honest), we wandered over to the immigration, took a ticket and a miraculous 2 numbers later I was at the counter. Unlike the last time I was in Ireland for over 3 months, this guy was nice and friendly. Maybe because we were so organized, I don't know. M had his passport full of US stamps to prove we were together. It all finished in 10 minutes. We were pleasantly surprised. Now I'm in for another year! Not just a year TOTAL, but a year from today (2.5 months after I arrived)! Not bad. We probably won't stay this long but it was nice to know that somebody's country would welcome us without us being married. Guess that's all for now.

This is a test

All I wanted to do was send a comment to a friend and here i am, blogging. What a new experience! Strange. I'll write more later. You'll see!