El Jorjé y los Montañas de Wicklow

This is a lucky blog post. I say that not because of the ole luck o' the Irish, but because the last post I just finished on Galway was alot of work; I almost quit the blog world.

We ate at Dunne's on Monday (everyone calls it "Kirby's store" now because of my great grandmother's Irish heritage and maiden name being Dunn (the 'e' was dropped when the Dunne's came to America). Dunne's Stores is everywhere here, but there are different types of them. The Dunne's we ate at on Monday is more of a mall type. It had a 2 story clothing area, house decorations, and then a food court section. There is also a Dunne's store that is more of a grocery store. I actually bought my groceries there this week as well finding it to have a larger selection of brands than the other stores I have been visiting.

On the way to the store I saw a man painting the ground. Magnifico!

The man is brilliant. Look at the details around the frames.

Friday, as I was walking home from work, I stopped to watch some musicians on Grafton St. There are always performers here with buckets out for change, and I have not stopped to watch or listen since the first day I arrived here. However, this particular group stopped me in my tracks. They were playing some sort of mix between Irish music and reggae and I couldn't ignore them. It was the best I'd heard since I have been here.... And so.. maybe impulsively, maybe not.. I bought their album. It's called Mutefish On Draught.

Here's the song I heard that convinced me to get the album (though it doesn't do justice to seeing the music be played):

(I only uploaded the first minute of it in order to not infringe on their musical rights : )

I had the urge to get dressed up and go out somewhere for dancing, but none of the girls were responding to my messages. It turns out they had gone to a bar after work with their PI in their lab. I was not brave enough to go out alone, so I finished the blog for Galway and cleaned my room. This seems like a lame Friday night, but my clean up days are Sundays. And last Sunday, I was in Galway, so I was desperate for laundry and a clean floor.

I also went to the grocery store to buy 4 ingredients. I was craving the deliciousness that the shop in Galway had provided (the last one that I write about). So I bought a large tub of plain greek yogurt, granola cereal, honey, and fruit. By Saturday afternoon, I was almost completely out of yogurt. That shows how much I love this meal.

Saturday, I woke up, ate more of the yogurt, and put on some summer clothes. It was extremely sunny outside, so this seemed appropriate. I walked to the Temple Bar Market where they sold fresh produce, as well as clothes, jewelry, and baked goods. I bought nectarines, a cucumber, tomatoes, and plums-- all of which were perfectly ripe. 

After sitting next to the Liffy River in the sun for a bit, I went home and prepared lunch. I've learned that I really enjoy cooking and trying new recipes. I have left overs in the fridge because I keep cooking new things instead of finishing the old ones. Currently, I have a home made vegetable soup, stirfry, and now boiled cabbage with ham waiting to be consumed in the fridge. 

Saturday night, the gang decided to have a potluck again. I cooked up some pasta carbonara and some stir fry and went down to their apartment on the 4th floor. Melike decided to treat us to some turkish rice. It looked like normal rice, but it tasted so much better than normal. Before boiling the rice in water, Melike mixed the rice with olive oil, water, and chicken broth. She said in Turkey, they typically cook an actual chicken, and then save the juice for the rice. We didn't have a chicken, so she made use with instant chicken broth. After letting the rice absorb the juices for a while, she boiled the rice in water, and added chopped carrots and peas. She placed a sheet of newspaper on top of the pan and the lid on top of the newspaper. She said this was to keep the condensation from leaking back into the rice. Very clever.

Melike talks about Turkey a lot, and she has invited me to come stay with her whenever I can. The more she tells me about Turkey, the more I want to go. It sounds like a really wonderful place. She speaks of it with a sense of unmistakeable pride and I like that.

After dinner, everyone wanted to go to a movie, but I was not in the mood. I stayed behind to talk to José who had his best friend in town Jaime (pronounced Hi-may). Jaime is a guy, and like José, is from Spain. We chatted in broken English (because his English was not the best) and he was eager to know if all the high schools in "OOOUH-SAH" (USA) were like what you see on TV shows like High School Musical, Gossip Girl, and Glee with football teams and cheerleaders. I also spent some time explaining idioms to him like "That takes the cake." He said there are many phrases like that that he just does not know the meaning of (so, you eh . . take someone's cake?). 

After Jaime explained his sexual orientation, he and José convinced me to go out with them to a gay bar called The George (to Jaime, The "hor hay"). As I spoke what spanish I knew (Vamos a la hor hay!), we made our way to the bar where we danced to American music and I tried to find Jaime's "type". 

Sunday: 

Up by 10 am, we all dressed in our hiking gear and packed our backpacks to take the Dart (the train) to a town called Bray. From Bray we hiked 8 km through a trail in the Wicklow Mountains along the ocean to another town (and a stop for the Dart) called Greystone.

weeds/cactus???

stopped on the beach before we walked into town

Great hike, great scenery.

We stopped at a little shop for some "country cooking" as advertised. This food was the opposite of country in my opinion, serving dishes like "mediterranean tart" and "spinach quiche". I opted for the mushroom soup and carrot salad and finished with a mocha and a peace of some type of meringue pie with kiwi and blue berries and whipped cream Mmmmmm.

We hopped on the Dart to head back to the apartment where I sank into my bed fast asleep before 9:30 pm. 

Starting week 5!!!