Taste of Dublin

This past weekend, Iveagh Gardens hosted the city's Taste of Dublin - a humongous annual food and drink festival highlighting some of the best restaurants and food businesses around in a local park.  Being foodies and...drinkies(?), we of course had to go with some of our pals here.  And it did NOT disappoint!

VIP access y'all!  That meant we had our own private tent, some champagne, some cocktails, and got to skip ahead in all the queues at the booths.  Woohooo.

Premise: you pay moolah to get a ticket (all different price levels), and then you [unfortunately] have to pay more to sample food and drinks, outside of what's included in your ticket.  But it was totally worth it.

Mumm Champange!  Mmm.

First stop: Pichet's booth for Mushroom Risotto with "Truffle Foam".  Not sure what truffle foam is but I didn't question it.  This was damn good.

More Pichet: Crispy Hen's Egg with Black Pudding.

Up next: Tandoori Chicken Tikka with Mint Chutney and Crispy Potatos from Jaipur.  I love Indian food!  In fact, I think I'll make some this week.  You should too.

Friends!  Autumn, me, Missy.

We (girls) also bought a bottle of wine and went to this cooking demonstration from local celebrity chef Darina Allen - the founder of the Ballymaloe Cookery School.  (Shout out to Mere's grandmother Joan Davis for even telling me about this place!)

And perhaps my fave: the Lobster Roll from Rock Lobster.  This booth had a line around the park and it was totally worth it.  So rich.  So buttery.  So delicious.

Ian, Tom, and Drew. 

Yummy pork sandwich from the Paris Bakery!  It took everything in him to give me a bite.

A band performed later in the evening that Drew and Tom quickly became obsessed with.  Smash Hits knocked it out of the park with their 90s hits and Drew now wants to go to every show.  You can see him with his hands in the hair in the middle of the crowd if you look close.  What a nut job.

Great evening, great friends.  Great red wine stains all over my teeth and mouth.

This was our first venture into the food festival scene here in Europe and you better be damn sure I'll be doing this again.  Such wonderful food, and wine, and time with friends!  Yay!

Alright, it's almost quittin' time and I'm off to find Michelle Obama.  She's here checking out her ancestry (huh?) and seeing Riverdance tonight near the office so...maybe I'll give her a warm USA/Irish welcome.  Peeps are freakin out.  See ya!