My week in food!

The past week has been a whirlwind of food for me, between celebrating the end of term at the language school and then in anticipation of my week ahead in secondary school, I really had no time (code for not bothered!) to do a supermarket run and think of dinners for myself and Bear so we basically ate out all week!! Spoilt I know....

Our first port of call was to the new restaurant at the top of Bray main street-  Mount Everest of Kathmandu. Having spent a year in Asia we had never tried any Nepalese food so we were intrigued. And I can report that we were pleasantly surprised. The menu was pan-Asian with some distinctive traditional Nepalese dishes while others were more familiar from India, China or Thai cuisines. The service was impeccable, the waiting staff can't be faulted, they were super friendly- topping up wine glasses and seeing to your every whim. Reminded me of being in Asia. The food was absolutely delicious, sumptuous flavours and an overall delectable atmosphere. The bill too, was reasonable and the best thing about it- they deliver!! 

Our tasty dinner was followed by a tastier lunch in Dundrum's Douglas and Kaldi who offer a fantastic gluten-free menu which, is great for me starting out on my gluten-free path. There's nothing like their tasty toasted bagel topped with smoked salmon, poached egg and hollandaise sauce, washed down with a smooth latte, to set you for a day of shopping at Dundrum Town Centre. For an added injection of Med lifestyle sit on the sheltered roof terrace on a sunny day. 

For dinner we returned to our usual haunt- Wagamamas. As always the service is impeccable though at early evening dining times it's packed and there's usually a gaggle of kids running around so if you fancy a bit of peace and quiet hang on until later or head for one of the booths. I had the fantastic chicken raisukaree (bonus points from the server for correct pronunciation!), an aromatic curry style dish with scented Japanese rice while, Bear opted for his usual katsu curry that always goes down a treat. 

Sunday, has always been our day of rest and our day of rest usually ends with a slap up meal in the Martello on Bray's seafront. I opted for the gluten-free calamari rings with a side of fries and Bear had steak, considering I have never cooked a steak successfully in our five years together, this was a wise choice to avoid chronic anemia. The Martello has an awesome outdoor area for the dirty smokers, excellent serving staff and some nice music to play us into a balmy Sunday evening. No one was thinking about work the next day. Including myself, lesson planning and staff meetings never crossed my mind.

A week of wining and dining with old friends

This past week has been a whirlwind of catching up with old friends- a catch up that was long over due in all cases, but thanks to varying, jam packed schedules, the plan has been months in the making.

My first port of call was to meet the wonderful Miss Katie whom I spent some glorious childhood summers with in the wilds of the Connemara Gaeltacht many moons ago. Despite being out of touch for over ten years we were transported back to our giddy selves upon spying each others grown up self. Katie, unlike myself, has been super busy globetrotting, climbing Everest and establishing a stellar career- if she wasn't so fabulous you'd hate her!! But we spent a fantastic summer evening in the balmy surroundings of South William Street's Dakota bar sipping (too many) glasses of Proseco and chatting a mile a minute to catch up with present day events- stopping only to nibble on some of the appetizers offered by Dakota's bar menu including nachos which, were generously slathered with gaucamole, tomatoes, cheese and sour cream as well as a tasty, crunchy bruscetta loaded with sundried tomatoes, rocket and garlic. I was nervous about going barelegged in a Massimo Dutti polkadot skirt and leather structured tee from River Island but the weather stayed warm enough to sit outside for the evening without even a cardi!

My next gallavanting trick was to Drundrum Town Centre with Bear to finally sit down and have a chat with Aimee and Brian, our long term friends who recently got married You can read about it here and just returned from a sunny honeymoon on the Baleric Islands. Our plan was to meet for dinner, take in the new Red 2 movie followed by some drinks, but due to Bear being delayed working his ass off on our new build (more on that later!) we were uber- late, dashing into Wagamamas at 8.30pm. Aimee is a fellow Shoe Queen and I despaired at having simply thrown on my old reliable Carvella flats (perfect for rushing to a dinner date!) and felt my patterned taper leg pants and cream silk tee (also a River Island find!) was a tad on the underdressed side when meeting with such glamorous company!

Wagamamas as always was delish, and I love practising my chopstick skills although, I tend to play it safe, ordering katsu curry or a chicken ramen dish but this time I ordered the tofu yasai pad thai which was delicious, Bear had his usual katsu curry and we shared a side of duck gyoza. The newlyweds were more adventurous with Brian ordering a dish on the strength of it containing a veggie that he'd never heard of and none of us could pronounce, though they intended to share a side of miso soup it proved to be a disappointment. Our Japanese inspired dinner was washed down with a round of beers and as the chat continued we soon realised the movie was not going to happen. After paying a reasonable bill, we headed to Cortinas to indulge in some cocktails in a distinctly Mexican atmosphere and I have to say, they have the best old-fashioneds in the southside of the city.

It was an early night for all as both Bear and I were due 'on-site' early the following morning to help my dedicated Papa to lay our foundations, however, Bear did let me sleep late and I joined the construction team closer to midday on Saturday bearing coffees and pastries for the men at work.