How to Eat and Shop Your Way Through Dublin: No experience required

So when I last left you, I spent my first day exploring Dublin.



After boozing it up at Guinness Factory ;), Meaghan's cousin, Deirdre, who generously offered accommodate us , picked us up outside of the factory and whisked us away to suburbia aka the best part of the trip. I never realized how much I miss "home life." Home life, at least for me, means sitting on the couch, sipping a cup of tea, snacking, and watching movies. Deirdre’s house did not disappoint. Not only is her house straight out of an IKEA magazine, but she had a great movie selection. I’m very easy to please. We ordered Chinese and popped in a DVD. The night couldn’t have been better.

I'll take this set up anyday!

The next morning, we hopped on a public bus and traveled back to City Center for some more sightseeing and shopping. I’m about to share some top secret information with you. Ireland likes its alcohol, so it only seemed natural that we hit up the Jameson Distillery. We took advantage of our two day tour bus and made our way to the factory.

Oh let the Jameson sink in

After Jameson, we tried to navigate to this Leprechaun museum but somehow we got sidetracked shopping. Shocking? With four girls, in a new city, this was bound to happen. We discovered the Mecca of shopping destinations- Penney’s. I'm a very loyal Forever 21 shopper, but Penney's kicked Forever’s ass and I'm seriously contemplating another trip to Ireland just to go back. It had everything, and I mean everything. I was in love, but unfortunately my already over packed North Face bag allowed me to only  purchase the necessities , i.e. an infinity scarf , gloves and a cute new top. Only the essentials obviously.

Owns my wallet

 Shopping kept us busy for the majority of the day and it's safe to say that nobody missed the Leprechaun museum,

What do after a long day of shopping? hmmmm, EAT! Deirdre recommended a fabulous restaurant, Mongolian BBQ located in the Temple Bar area. It was great. You basically got to fill a bowl with a bunch of veggies, meats, sauces and spices and then hand it over to a chef who quickly sautéed your creation right in front of you. Very similar to the Fire and Ice restaurant in Boston if you’re familiar with the concept. I went a little overboard with the spices on my first round (rookie mistake), but I perfected the art for my second go around.

Round 1.

Working his magic.

The next morning Meg's cousin whipped us up a traditional Irish breakfast of eggs, sausage,bacon, English breakfast tea and toast with jam and butter. A home cooked meal was just what the doctor ordered. After our lovely breakfast, which lasted till 1pm, we went to the mall. Once again Penney’s lured us in, but I held strong...kinda. Okay I bought ONE thing.

The Spread

After shopping we decided to cook up a Mexican feast for Deirdre as a "thank you for putting up with us" gesture. Tacos are what we know best, so we all manned different jobs and easily conquered the meal. I know this may come as a shock to you, but this was Deirdre's first taco experience. I think we would have made Chipotle proud. Sadly the salsa suffered major causalities and didn't make it to the table. Note to self: Always buy two containers of salsa.

Sous chef's in action

Our little fiesta

The next day we spent enjoying the Irish countryside. I'll let the pictures do the talking:

Tissy and I representing the 412 @Wicklow

I'm too cute

Couldn't resist buying this little gem

Irish Sea

Whoever said, "don't cry over spilt milk," obviously never dropped their ice cream....I was devastated.

AND THEN WE WENT TO BONO"S HOUSE.

Where Bono parks his car

We didn't meet Bono, just his security guard, but nonetheless, it was still a pretty cool experience.

Ireland was amazing. Not only was stunning, but the company was perfect! The only downside to this adventure is that I got hooked on these shortbread biscuits that are nowhere to be found in Belgium, but I suppose I shall survive ...somehow.

SHOUTOUT to my mama!

Cheers,
Shayne

Ireland:Buses, Beer and the Dew

I’m part Irish, but I think it’s safe to say that 80% of the people I know are Irish too, so it never seemed like it was too big of a deal. Well after going to Ireland this past weekend, I’m definitely more in love with the quarter Irish part of myself than ever before.

Kiss me, Im Irish!

Everything about the country was great and it didn’t hurt that its an English speaking country. After a month of  having to Google translate everything I ate, bought and wore , it was nice to walk into a grocery store and simply  pick out sour cream and know It was actually sour cream and not some white curdled liquid that somewhat resembled the  food from home.

For the whole four days that I was there, there was a smile plastered across my face. I honestly felt like I was on a luxurious vacation. Luxurious may sound like an odd way of describing my trip by the way it began, but don’t let it fool you, I had an amazing time.

                I’m not sure if you have ever heard of the airline Ryan Air, because until I had decided to travel abroad I didn’t even know  it existed, but  now me and Ryan( were on first name basis these days) are very close buddies. This airline is offers inexpensive flights throughout Europe. You can seriously book tickets for 9 Euro! Sounds like a pretty great deal? The only catch is that Ryan Air flies out of odd airports at either the crack of dawn or at hours that your mother would prefer you be in bed, with the doors and windows locked tight. Due to these awkward times you're basically sleeping in the airport at some point of your journey if you fly Ryan Air . So for the first time in my life, in order to catch my 6:50a.m flight to Dublin, I took two trains and one bus to sleep in airport, on purpose.

Us at around 2AM

 It was quite an adventure, but I had 13 of my Loyola huis mates to keep my company and watch out for my stuff. It was kind of like a big sleepover, minus the popcorn, movies, and big comfy sleeping bags, but other than that, I have no complaints.

Once we arrived in Dublin, we took it by storm….

Enthusiastic bunch, no?

Okay ,well after we napped in the booths of McDonalds, we were ready to explore! Since we hadn’t really slept all that well, Meaghan, Tissy and Cait and I opted to buy a 2 day ticket on  a double decker sightseeing bus that allowed us to both see the city of Dublin and let our legs rest.

Our Route

This was a great idea! We were able to see St Patrick’s Church, the  Ha’ Penny Bridge, The home of Oscar Wilde, The Guinness Factory, Molly Malone's Statue, The Old Jameson Distillery, National Convention Center, St. Stephens Green and so much more.

National Convention Center

Molly Mallone

Look Familar.... copy cats

St. Patrick's Chruch

Ha'Penny Bridge

I hadn’t really done too much research on Dublin before I arrived, but I was pleasantly delighted with all the historical places that it had to offer. Every corner of the city screamed Irish and I was loving every second of it.  I could really tell how proud the natives were of their country. I was also excited to see how friendly the citizens were. Here in Leuven , the Belguims are dmittedly standoffish , but the Irish were handing out smiles and "cheers" like it was their job.

After our first hour and half tour we hoped off the bus for lunch. But before we chowed down, we made very important stop for two of my travel companions. All three of the girls that I was traveling with had all been to Ireland before and had already fallen in love with much of what the country had to offer, including the chocolate. My roommate Meghan is a self diagnosed chocoholic, so it came to no surprise that she had her eyes set on Flakes, a milk choclate bar, but Cait’s poison of choice were Double Deckers.

Meg's a Happy camper

Cait could not stop raving about how much she  loved this chocolate bar and how she couldn’t wait to get her hands on them. As she quickly inhaled the “best chocolate bar in the world,” I was just waiting for the moans of excietment...

FAIL

 It turns out she didn’t like it. She insisted that they must have changed the recipe . She was outraged that in the year since she had last laid her taste buds upon this once glorious chocolate divinity ,it had been changed. Cait was so mad that she even called her house in America to rant about her dissatisfaction.By the scene she was causing you would have thought she had just realized Santa wasn't  real or caught her parents playing the Easter bunny. It was hilarious. The funniest part is that Cait bought 6 more bars  so she could ship them to her family so they could taste the difference. Haha.

After the chocolate catastrophe we headed back to the bus to get to the Guinness Factory. I may or may not have fallen asleep en route to the Factory,but I was just resting up for the fun to come.

Looking fresh while trying to stay warm

I don’t even drink beer, but I still had a really great time at the Guiness Factory. We learned how the beer was crafted, about Arthur Guinness- the creator, and were able to taste the final product of course. Meg, Cait and Tissy are now certified to pour the perfect pint of beer, but I opted to play photographer for them and enjoyed my  coca cola later. Old habits die hard, what can I say.

Always a classy pair...

Overall, I had a great first day in Dublin, but ill be back to share the rest of my trip with you guys next soon! I didnt want to overwhelm you with too many pictures.

Tot Ziens,

Shayne

* Fun Fact: Unlike Belgium, Ireland has Pepsi products,which means they have Mountian Dew. If you know me, you know my love of the dew so I was in HEAVEN!!! When I came upon this rare European sight, the other patrons in the store must have thought I was crazy or just met Bono( I kind of, in a way, did meet him, but thats for the next post!), by the shriek of excitement that I bellowed out.

Sorry its upside down. I was just so excited I didnt even bother to turn my camera the right way !

Meet Virgina

Hello All,

(Gold star for anyone who knows the song that inspired my title)

I hope everyone’s week is going well and excited for the weekend. I'm about six hours ahead of you guys so I’m even closer to Friday!


This weekend, while most of the Loyola crew was livin' it up at Oktoberfest, a few us stayed here in Leuven and enjoyed the beautiful, although unusually warm, weather.

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Cait gettin' cray cray in Munich!HOLLA BALLA
Photo Credit: Cait Conlin

Since the Americans make up about 1/3 of the Huis and most of the Belgians go home for the weekend, it was very quiet. A little bit too quite, but we found ways to keep busy. I could tell you guys about my day trip to Antwerp, but ill spare you this time and talk about some food!

While my friends were chugging liters of beers and eating pretzels the size of their heads, I had the opportunity of sharing a meal with my new friend, Virginia (hence the title of the post). Virginia is from Madrid, Spain and she generously offered to cook Meaghan and I a Spanish Omelet. First off, if you know me well, you know that I never turn down free ANYTHING and secondly, how could I ever turn down an authentic, home cooked meal? It’s safe to say, as an avid food network watcher, I was quite excited about this meal.

At first I was expecting an traditional omelet, like the ones I, unsuccessfully, make myself. I was very wrong, but in a very good way, if ya know what I mean.

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Virgina working her magic!

Virginia’s authentic Spanish omelet consisted of eggs, onions and potatoes. No cheese or veggies? You know how some kids despise any food resembling a vegetable? I was a little bit different. For me, the more my food looked like it had been fished from the earth, the better! Although the omlete was missing my beloved grass looking legumes, I trusted Virginia and didn't ask questions. And as I watched Virginia make the omelet I realized that you flip the entire egg concoction - not just half of it. That’s my downfall in the whole omelet process. Flipping it in half is the biggest struggle and I always  end up with a  less than sunny  pile of scrambled eggs.. (Fun fact: My omelet's usually end up looking like a combination of my middle schools leftover meat surprise and the contents of my dogs stomach- not a pretty picture...)  Thanks to Virginia, I now know there are other ways to save my from my kitchen disasters.

The omelet turned out great! It was so delicate, light and fluffy. Due to the fabulous azure skies, we dined al fresco and I’m pretty sure our fellow Huis-mates were quite jealous of our meal!

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

·  1/2-3/4 cup of olive oil

·  5 medium baking potatoes( peeled, sliced and lightly sprinkled with salt)

·  1 yellow onion, chopped

·  5 eggs

·  Salt

· Red pepper (for garnish)

Preparation:

• Heat the olive oil in a skillet and add the potato slices
• Cook, turning occasionally, over medium heat for 5 minutes.
• Add the onions and cook until the potatoes are tender( Virginia said to NOT brown the potatoes)
• Drain onions and potatoes (Save the about 1/4 cup of the oil in skillet)
• Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk the eggs
• Add the potatoes, and stir to coat with the egg.
• Add the egg-coated potatoes to the very hot oil in the skillet, spreading them evenly to completely cover the skillet( Virginia dropped  a slice of potato in the oil, and when it sizzled, that when its ready for the egg mixture)
• Cook the mixture on low to medium heat
• Use a plate to cover the skillet and flip the omelet, while holding the plate (Be VERY CARFEUL- Virginia did this like a pro!)
• Slide the omelet back into the skillet on its uncooked side.
• Cook until completely set. Allow the omelet to cool, and then cut it into wedges.
• Add red peppers to make it bonitaaa :)<---the extent of my 12 years of Spanish lessons.

In case you're wondering what Meaghan and I contributed to the meal, we baked brownies. It’s a very complex recipe, but don’t be intimidated.

Recipe:

• Brownie Mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Water

Preparation:

• Mix everything in a bowl
• Bake for 30 minutes in an old school toaster oven since the Huis doesn’t have a real oven. #firstworldproblems

Alright, thats it for now. You should try this omlete and tell me what you think!


Tot Ziens,
Shayne