It’s Trinity Ball Night. That means Trinners students get to dust the cinders off their jeans and hop into a pumpkin for a memory-making night of music, drink, and elegant dress fun. Walking through College Green this evening, weaving through the six pack-clutching, tuxedo-clad Trinity Ball attendees, I stopped short when I saw this: If […]
Ireland
Signs of Irish Spring
Rain, rain, rain, and now this: Apple blossoms on campus, daffodils in the park. Can’t stop myself from buying even more greenery from the flower stands on Camden Street; more daffodils and even small potted blooms in yellow, white, and fuchsia to line my windowsill. And carrots. And yams. And then the freshly-mended coat comes […]
Laundry Day
Laundry Day in New York City: the big schlep. Apartments don’t come with washing machines in the City, so laundry must be hauled — to the basement if you’re lucky, a neighborhood laundromat if you’re not. Here’s hoping a machine is free. Measure, pour, pay. Count ceiling tiles, thumb a book, head to the corner […]
Side Streets of Dublin
Now, look; I enjoy Dublin’s iconic images just as much as anyone. [slideshow] Gorgeous. Lovely. But for me, it’s all about the side streets. Peek inside; try to uncover the secrets. This post has been brought to you by Delicious Baby’s Photo Friday
It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
My butcher is Mr. Whelan; he sells me fat orange slabs of salmon and slices of red steak that I sear blue. My optometrist is Dr. Brennan; he says I don’t look 20 if I’m a day and has his secretary searching high and low for child-size sunglasses suitable for a 3o year-old kid. My […]
St. Quinlan’s
I live around the corner from St. Quinlan’s music school — a massive Georgian building guarded by a blue vault-shaped wooden door. St. Quinlan’s prohibits the chewing of gum on the premises; is holding a Spring Recital in early May; is taking donations for said recital’s refreshments. There are black wrought iron fittings on the […]
- Food Culture
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Lunch at Temple Bar
Audrey Hepburn I ain’t, 5th Avenue this isn’t. It’s Temple Bar; once Dublin’s Jewish ghetto and now a nightlife/tourist hub extraordinaire. At noon on a damp, rainy day there are less tourists than there are commuters. The cobblestone streets are slick, shining softly under the overcast sky. Objective: to enjoy some lunch in the scenic […]
Two Women, One Bus
On the 15A into City Centre, two women are sitting together, chatting gaily. It’s a sunny day. The bus bumps over the Grand Canal, heads up Aungier Street, makes a right on Harcourt Road past The Bleeding Horse pub. Woman 1: … and then she took them down to Disneyworld in Florida, you know. Sure, […]
Is There Life on Mars?
It’s chilly but sunny on 3/10; the day I turn 30 years old, an age that once seemed as distant as Mars. But here it is, all up in my grill, and after a year of dithering about the looming decade, I’m pleased to see that I haven’t vanished in a puff of smoke and there is indeed […]
- Food Culture
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The Last Supper
On your last night of vacation, why not splash out on dinner? Ah, go’wan. Go’wan, go’wan, go’wan. This is how we do it: Beef and Guinness pot pie at the Bayview Restaurant, overlooking Killeany Bay. Crushed meringue with strawberries and Irish cream to finish off. Now. The shuttle to the landing strip comes at 15:45, […]