Humboldt Kitchen

The Aviva from our seats.

Following the early dinner at Fire, the three of us (M, S, and myself) headed down to the Aviva to watch Ireland and Switzerland play a friendly. S, despite my protestations to the contrary, insisted this was clear evidence of the trip being my agenda, and not M’s. Sure, on the surface it may seem that way, at least so far, but we’ve only 36 hours in.

Plenty of these were noted in the crowd of 35,000.

M and I

M and S

We had some halfway decent seats.

Halftime! M, S, and G.

By the way, the Aviva was given an exception to the Good Friday alcohol ban for the game, and Ireland won 1 – 0.

Photographic evidence.

Saturday’s up next, bringing some history and more great food, including dinner prepared by who other than me?

And of course, I brought the world famous card for the obligatory pic. Hail Hail!

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How drunk do you have to be to lose your damn teeth?

One thing you should know about Good Friday in Ireland: it’s dry, as in the pubs are shut and you can’t buy alcohol at an off-licence. Well, that’s not strictly true, as there are some exemptions, but in general you’re out of luck unless you’re staying in a hotel or at the races. The night before is typically pretty raucous, and people lose track of the strangest things. Unsurprisingly, this was across the street from Copper Face Jacks.

The morning agenda was straightforward: wander around Dublin a bit before heading out to Dundrum Town Centre to pick up groceries. Dundrum has a fantastic Nyhan Brothers Butchers and a Tesco for the essentials. Given the potential for the Luas strike to begin early, and my planning to cook dinner on Saturday, we thought it best to pick up supplies ASAP.

We met up with S for dinner at Fire, the fancy restaurant next to the Lord Mayor of Dublin’s residence. Since it was Good Friday, there were no cocktails, but they did a decent job with some special mocktails, and had a couple alcohol free wines that were much less like grape juice than I anticipated. Fire is an absolutely stunning space, and the food is top notch.

An Chanáil Mhór

Truer words were never spray-painted.

Gracie Barra in Dub?

Fire pass

FISH CAKE!

Potato croquette with goat cheese and beets

Fire interior

Shteak and Spuds

Cheesecakey thing

How I do dessert.

Easter Lily

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R decided to stream some cooking tonight. It’s probably the most honest depiction of what cooking at home is like I’ve seen.

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We left New York for Dublin Wednesday night, March 23rd, and arrived the next morning around 9am local time. I love the overnight flights; even though you’re not even in the air for 6 hours, you arrive in daylight, which perks you up enough to make it through lunch. After an afternoon nap, you’re wide awake and rested, and it feels like the right time of day.

I really only had one complaint about the flight: my screen kept rebooting so I couldn’t watch a film or listen to music. It’s not a big deal, since I’m typically armed with an iPad, Kindle, and Audible. I did learn that the Aer Lingus seatback entertainment screens run Linux, though.

But back to the plan. After arriving in Dublin, we headed to the apartment, dug the keys out from under the bin, and let ourselves in.

One of the nicer features of the place, believe it or not, is the fireplace underneath the big flatscreen. OK, so it’s not an actual fire, it’s a high def video of fire reflected onto a glass screen. It even has crackling and popping sounds.

So, after unpacking, it was time to head out to lunch. Searson’s of Baggot Street, a pub mentioned in Patrick Kavanagh’s work (it seems he spent some time there drinking with Brendan Behan, and practically lived there in the 40’s and 50’s), was close, and casual was the mood of the day.

Searson’s uses a bread originating in Waterford called the “blaa” — a soft, floury yeast bread. Searson’s developed the “blaaguette” for one of their sandwiches (chicken pesto); it’s essentially a blaa with a crunchier exterior shaped more like a traditional baguette.

Chicken Pesto “Blaaguette”

King prawn sandwich with Marie Rose sauce and bisque

After lunch and an afternoon nap, it was a walk around Ballsbridge with a quick stop at Baggot Street Wines for a growler from their home brew, some wine for tomorrow, and some local craft beer for dinner.

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