Travel-sized Mise en Place: September 2015

Ireland so far has been a blast. We stayed in Dublin and in Cork and Crookhaven and later we will be in Fermoy. But the trip to get here was an adventure all in itself. We left our lovely apartment in Paris and took a train outside of the city and met a nice couple driving from France to Liverpool. We used a carpool website called bla bla car that matches people and drivers and you just help pay for gas so it saves a lot of money traveling. And it's a great way to meet people the couple were from Morocco but lived in France and we also rode with a Romanian and her cat. They were moving from Paris to Leads,UK. So the journey started from outside Paris and we drove to northern France where we got on a ferry to cross the English Channel into Dover. We were crossing to go into England so we had to stop at boarder customs. Where we ran into an officer who seemed like he woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Everyone in the car he stamped their passports no problem but when he looked at ours he asked a lot of questions and was very rude about everything. We couldn't understand what he was asking and the more he repeated the more angry he got. Somehow we got on the same page with him and he stamped our passports! Then we boarded the 300 passenger ferry. It was my first time on a ferry every so I was excited, I was looking out the window and was amazed at how big this boat was and we went out on the back deck and watched France disappear. Once we docked in England and gained an hour back we drove around London and up to Liverpool but got stuck in a lot of traffic so when we thought we had 3 hours to spare at the beginning of the trip we now had less than one. We needed to catch a train that took us to the ferry to cross from England to Ireland, but only one ferry leaves from one port took foot passengers. The couple driving the car were very nice and went out of their way to make sure we caught the right train especially since I had already bought the tickets. We just barely made it on time and the train took us to the port and at 1am we boarded the ferry to cross the Irish Sea and docked in Dublin.

We arrived early in the morning and checked into our air b&b and slept most of the day. When we woke up we met Grace, our b&b host. She is our age and just finished nutrition school. She told us where the good restaurants were and that there was a farmers market in the next town on the weekends. We made our way to downtown Dublin and ran into a huge crowd of rugby fans just getting out of a game. That was interesting. We wondered around downtown watched some street performers and listened to a band and saw a guy playing bagpipes. We found a pub that was having live music later. So we got a seat downstairs and ordered a big bowl of Irish stew and two pints of Guinness. Our first taste of Ireland and it was delicious and warm and filling! We waited for the music to start and more people came. Two musicians that had been playing on the street sat beside us and asked if we would watch their guitar and violin while they got a beer. The host of the night came on stage and played some funny songs to get the crowd going and he grabbed people from the crowd to the stage to play or sing. It was really great the music and the atmosphere and so many different people some rugby fans, tourists, locals,and musicians. The two musicians beside us finally got on stage and the host asked them what their name was, they made up one on the spot the Czech Mates. They were very good they played some original songs they wrote. It turned out to be a real Irish night for our first night in Dublin.

The next day we went to the farmers market in the next town. It wasn't like the markets in France it had a Lot more already prepared foods but it was still awesome to see and taste local foods. We bought some local cheese that had been rind washed in beer and some sundried tomatoes. We got lunch from a food stand that had everyone talking about their falafel wraps. We took our wraps and ate lunch on the pier before we walked back home. It was so cold and rainy the next day we stayed in a had a movie and food day! We made a delicious meal using our ingredients from the market.

We did a lot of tourists attractions we went to the natural history museum and the national museum of Ireland archeology. We saw some sand sculptures and some comedy. One of our last days in Dublin we went to the Guinness factory. We had some tastings and got some recipes for Guinness mussels and Guinness stew and at the top of the factory they have a 360 glass lounge that has the best views of Dublin. We had one night that we got to cook dinner for Grace and get to know her a little better and now we have a new friend!! That's all for Dublin.

We took a bus to a small town by the coast and on the other side of Cork called Monkstown. We met Anne and her family she is a psychologist and works at home. She has a beautiful old Victorian house over looking the cork harbor. We quickly joined her life and started to enjoy the ocean air. Her neighbor had a dinner party on her boat one of the first nights we were there and we helped cook something to take over and got to enjoy a great evening on a boat. They loved my chocolate raspberry mousse! Our main job was cooking dinner for her and helping with upkeep on the house.

One week we went with her to their summer home in Crookhaven which sits right on the North Atlantic Ocean. It was so beautiful to wake up every morning and see the ocean view and be a part of this small town. We helped her and her husband clean and close up the house to get ready for the winter. Justin did a lot of work in the yard and cutting back of the vines which made a big difference. She took us out one day on the boat to the next island which was the southern most point of Ireland. It was beautiful. We had a fisherman come by the house and bring us fresh caught lobsters! We cooked them and made lobster scampi for dinner and saved some meat for lobster salad for lunch the next day. We walked up a huge hill and got a gorgeous overview of the land and ocean. We passed a big sheep pasture and a really nice house that was for sale(my new dream home). We have found that lamb is available everywhere like how beef is available for us in the states. So one night we cooked lamb chops with balsamic glaze. There was a small pub in the town that she liked to go and hear music at. Each night we went it was more and more crowded as the weekend got closer and people would come stay in the town for a holiday. There was a local guy that played the guitar and one night he played Garth Brooks and surprisingly the whole pub knew the song and chimed in. Our last day we borrowed some kayaks and ventured out into the sea it started out with smooth waters but the more we got out the rockier it got, it was definitely the best workout I've ever had. We made our way to some big caves we saw earlier that week that we wanted to explore. The big rocks were a beautiful purple color and the water was so clear and blue. Beside the caves we found a ton of tiny baby mussels growing. I think The kayak adventure was the most fun we had, once we made it back safely to land. Anne and her family were so nice to let us be a part of their life and allow us to experience the coast of Ireland.

Tomorrow we are going to find a food festival that's not far from here and then Sunday we go to the next workaway in Fermoy, Ireland.

First Guinness!