3 Girls, a Drew, and a Week in 500 Sq. Ft

Hello all!

This is Drew, reporting for guest blogging duty.  I realize it has been a while, but Lauren does such a great job that there hasn't been much additional for me to really say.  Well that all stops now!  As you all know by now, we had some visitors last week.  Some girl visitors.  And I have some hot sports opinions about being around 3 best friends who are females for a week that I thought I would share with the 50-84 of you who read this on a regular basis.

First, let me preface this by saying I had an AWESOME time, and this is not a negative reflection on our time together.  Granted, I do know Meredith and Molly pretty well, so it wasn't real weird for me.  However, for those of you thinking of coming that are of the female persuasion, don't let that stop you (cough cough, Kathleen).  Drew loves all kinds of girls, blonde ones, brunette ones, and even redheads.  Here we go:

1.  Girl talk is not so different than guy talk.  There is a surprising amount of 'bathroom talk/humor'.  Makes me feel right at home, and is something I can contribute to.  Shocking I know.

2.  If there is ever a lull in the conversation, these girls are quick to say something to the likes of 'So tell me the time you most ___', or 'what is the time you struggled with___', or 'if you could change one thing about growing up, what would it be?'  Here is another shocking statement from me - I don't like deep, emotional questions.  I would rather talk about the local sports team, or tell a fart joke.  So sue me.  Being with girls for this long does not allow you to side-step any of the tough questions.  I was forced to answer with a lot of 'what she said' or' hmmm, that is a tough one, I'll have to get back to you' and then hope they didn't circle back.

3.  Out-of-town visitors don't walk very fast.  Even Meredith, who walks a lot, doesn't walk as fast as we do.  When you have to get places by walking, I guess you tend to walk faster.

4.  Girls love to make excuses for not washing their hair.  Glad to know it isn't just Lauren.  (I'm probably in trouble now.)

5.  Girls shed.  A lot.  Lauren gives me a hard time for body hair being all over the tub, floor, etc., but 8 days with 2 blondes and a brown head is like walking around a barber shop.

6.  All guys in a foreign country (that speak English) may as well look like Prince William.  I can't count on one hand how many times I had to say, 'Ladies (and this includes Lauren), that guy is NOT attractive.'  All future visitors - there are attractive Irish guys, but there are also douchey ones.  I'm just saying.

Daddy's little girls.

All in all it was a great week.  No drama the whole time.  I think they probably enjoyed the fact that I had to go to work for 3 of the days, so they could do girly stuff and not have to worry about me.  All of the above being said, I would bring them back in a heartbeat.  My favorite parts of the week were each girl's arrival.  Watching Lauren's face as they got off the bus was worth the price of admission (cue tears for some of you).  Girls definitely also share special bonds that guys just don't have.  It was nice to have friends in town over my birthday and Thanksgiving, and I know how happy Lauren was the whole time.  Telling them goodbye was tough, but we will see them soon.  If you too would like to come visit, please let us know.  As long as we aren't going out of town that weekend, the more the merrier.

Well folks, that's all for now.  I'm sure you will all be at the edge of your computer chairs waiting for my next blog.  Until next time.

Parks and Tea

My pals left yesterday and it felt like a lesser version of when I left Dallas.  There were some tears.  There was an empty feeling.  There was sadness.  BUT that's only because we had such a great time together and had a better-than-imaginable week!  It was just nice being with people who know you inside and out and there was no need to be anyone but yourself.  Ah.  Friendship.

I've somehow convinced Meredith and Drew to guest blog, so stay tuned for that in the upcoming days/weeks.  I'm still working on Molly.  I've realized that my least favorite blog posts are the ones where I'm describing a trip or event in detail - saying things like "first we did this, and then we went here, and then we did that, and we saw this..."  These things bore me and I feel like they bore others.  But I've been getting in trouble for my lack of posts and people want the deets so I'm gonna try to blog it all without boring the writer and the reader.  I make no guarantees.  

On Monday, Moll and I headed over to Phoenix Park to do a bike tour after Drew went to work and Mere jetted off to London to check out their Yelp office.  I wanted to show Molly the papal cross and the greenery and the deer, but the bike place was closed due to "stormy weather" - but as you can see from the pics, they were full of it.  So we got on our walking shoes and took off.    

Papal Cross.

View from the cross on the hill.  Is this real life?  

I feel like a Hallelujah chorus should come on at any minute.

Usually the deer hang out right in front of the cross but they were mysteriously absent.  I was livid.  I didn't walk my ass two miles into this park with my visiting friend for her to NOT see the wildlife!  Luckily on the walk back out, we saw them.  WHEW.

Molly becoming one with the deer.

We then walked another 10 or so miles over to...where else?  Queen of Tarts!  Duuhhh.  We split a pot of tea and a sandwich and some desserts and had a delightful time, covering topics from friendships to careers to the differences between big dogs and small dogs.  Serious stuff, people.  Then I took her up Grafton and through St. Stephen's Green, where we soaked up the sun on a park bench and people-watched, and then I gave her a day in the life of Lauren Solomon by taking her grocery shopping.  Luckily they had everything we needed for our feast that night so she couldn't experience the frustration of having to travel to 3 different grocery stores to find what you need.  After a quick stop by the wine shop, we were home and ready to make Chicken Tikka Masala and Homemade Naan bread.  Moll did a great job with the naan and we ate it all.  Whoops.  Monday was a lovely, low key day.

Kneading that naan.

Meredith got back on Tuesday morning, and we wandered over to St. Stephen's Green again to soak up more sun and watch the Irish peeps before our next activity.

Glamour shots.

We had tea at the Shelbourne!  The Shelbourne is a beautiful classy hotel right across the street from the park and I've been wanting to have tea here since I moved.  I figured this was the perfect excuse!

Amuse-bouche: strawberry and banana smoothie!  Yum.

A sampling of tea sandwiches: smoked salmon, egg salad, ham and cheese, and cucumber.  REAL good.

Now for the good stuff: scones and desserts!  I can't even begin to describe all of the desserts but just know that they were amazing and we ate everything on those plates.

Ladies who lunch.

We stayed at the hotel for probably longer than we should have and I took the girls to a cute shopping area off Grafton to buy Drew's birthday presents!  Woohoo.  Then we headed home to rest and lounge, then met Drew for a drink at a pub by his office and discussed our strategy for getting Drew's name announced on The Ticket for his birthday.  This is important stuff, people!

Pubbin' it up.

We were all lame and tired after our two drinks so we went home to watch Love Actually and eat leftovers.  Two successful days with my pals down, several more to go!

Friends in Dublin!

My friends are here!!  Wooohoooooo.  Though I've been blowing up Instagram with pics, I thought I'd post some on here.

Mere got here bright and early on Saturday morning around 9:30.  She took the Aircoach bus in and we met her at the bus stop and made a scene with hugs and screaming and spinning around like kooks.  I think I told everyone my eyes were watering because of the cold but really...I was just happy.  Words can't express how happy, actually.

We brought her back to the apartment and sat around awhile, and then headed over to Junior's (by way of a tour through Ballsbridge) to get her an Irish breakfast.

Then...more walking around, and home to take a baby afternoon nap so we could all be ready to go that Saturday night!  We met some pals at Slattery's and Mere had her first Guinness!  We hung out there for an hour or two and headed to Paulie's Pizza to show her our go-to place.  It didn't disappoint.  Duh. And we all pretty much laughed the entire time...which has been a theme of this trip.

We wandered around Dublin's City Centre trying to find a fun pub to pop into for a drink and settled on Kehoe's (one of the pubs that says they serve the "best pint in Dublin").  More Guinness.

Then home to sleep on the air mattress!  Great day had by all.

Molly got in bright and REAL early the next day.  I set my alarm for like...6:25am and she texted right before my alarm went off to say she was almost at the bus stop.  Crap!  Drew and I frantically threw on clothes and ran to the stop in time to see her climb off the bus and run into my arms!  I think I pulled the  I'm-not-crying-it's-just-cold routine again but we all know that wasn't true.  Such happiness.  Seriously.

I think Molly was wound up and pumped up but we were all tired as can be.  Molly came in and jumped on top of Meredith and woke her up but then we promptly tucked Molly in with her and told her we were alllll going back to sleep for at least 4 hours.  And so we did.

Gettin ready for the day.

 Then we naturally took them to Queen of Tarts!  Yay!  I think they liked it as much as Drew and I do.

Spinach, Pecan, and Brie Tart.

Queen of Tarts is pretty close to Guinness so we strolled over there and took the Guinness tour!

There was a place at the museum where you could type out a message and they would display it all over the wall.  Meredith and Drew took full advantage.

We headed up to the top of the Guinness museum, the Gravity Bar, to have one while looking out over the city.  REAL nice views, yall.  Moll had her first Guinness and thought it was rather bitter.  Ah well!

Guinnesstache.

There's a pub here in Dublin called The Brazen Head, and it's evidently supposed to be the oldest pub in Ireland - established in 1198.  We'd heard good things but had never been, so we thought it'd be a good idea to take our visitors there after Guinness.  And BOY are we glad we did.  We ended up having one of the most authentic Irish experiences we might ever have here in Ireland.  We got drinks, sat outside a bit, and then wandered into a crowded room where there seemed to be some commotion happening in the corner.  The commotion turned out to be a table full of older Irish men with instruments, including spoons, and they rang a bell, quieted the ENTIRE ROOM full of people, and began playing songs and singing passionately.  Everyone was mesmerized.  They would stop and tell jokes and laugh and then they'd ask for everyone to be quiet again and would begin playing again.  An older man who appeared to be a regular there stood up and sang some slow sad songs that had everyone in the crowd crying!  I can't really explain much else about it but it was so special and cool to be a part of.  And I'm glad Mere and Moll got to see it and experience it too.  

We walked from The Brazen Head to Crackbird, one of our fave restaurants here, then stopped in a sweets shoppe that looked like a Willy Wonka/Apothecary type place for some goods, and headed on home.

Molly with a statue of Molly Malone, one of Ireland's famous "ladies of the night".  They have more in common than just their names, am I right?

Best friends on an air mattress!!

Meredith being a creep.

Day 1 was a huge success full of good times and a LOT of laughter and great conversation.  Drew and I are so happy and blessed that they're here with us for the week of Thanksgiving - we're hardly even thinking about what we're missing at home!  Except for Annie and Murphy because they're always on my mind.  I digress.  We're happy and blessed and thankful our pals are here and we're having a great time already!

Christmas Street Lighting

On Thursday, my pal Lauren and I (and her cute baby) decided to be festive and get a pastry from the Queen of Tarts and head over to see the Christmas Street Lighting on Grafton!  Grafton is the main shopping street in the City Centre and they've been putting lights up and preparing for Christmas for weeks and weeks.  Brown Thomas, the luxury department store here (kinda like a Nordstroms or Neiman's) also has their own Christmas window displays and usually has an international celebrity come and help unveil them.  I thought it was all happening at the same time (the lighting and the unveiling) but evidently the celeb and the windows were already out by the time we got ready for the lights.  Oh well.  It was still fun and festive and puts me in the Christmas mood!

Pear, chocolate, and almond tart.

Pretty!

Fa la la la la.

Personally...I think these window displays are a bit gaudy and look like they're out of the 80s, but evidently they're a huge deal.  So I'll go along with it.

Instagram.

I came home and immediately turned on Christmas tunes, which is usually against my policy but I couldn't help it!  The Christmas Season has come to Ireland and I'm gonna embrace my new culture!

Drew and I are running around today like frazzled chickens with their heads cut off trying to prep for Mere and Moll's arrival!  So so excited.  

Merry early Christmas and Happy Friday!

Creative Writing

I haven't written in awhile.  I've been feeling uninspired and I'm not sure why.  But I'm quickly losing readers so I gotta get back on it!  

Weekend review:

• Friday: Ryan Bingham concert with Missy and Tom.  Then pub crawled around to a club, a pool hall, and a schwarma restaurant.  All very fun and wonderful.

• Saturday: Stayed in bed til noon.  Met up with Missy and Tom and Lauren and Bryan and their new bebe for lunch and shopping in the City Centre.  That night, Drew and I attended a surprise party for another friend from the American Women's Club at a cute restaurant.  All very fun and wonderful.
• Sunday: Stayed in bed even later.  Went on a walk along the beach in Sandymount and soaked up the sun and warmth (it was a balmy 55 degrees and we were lovin it.)  Grocery shopping.  NFL and take-out with M&T again.  All very fun and wonderful.

On Monday, I attended my first go at the American Women's Club's Creative Writing group/class.  At the first meeting in August, a woman stood up and said she was interested in teaching a group/class and we'd be meeting next month.  I know it wasn't "official" and I really didn't know much about this woman's qualifications to teach the class, but I figured I'd give it a whirl.  Well...the meetings kept getting moved and we FINALLY met this week.

I decided to attend the "class", or gathering as it were on Monday afternoon.  I took the bus to Bewley's Hotel, deep in the middle of Ballsbridge, and wandered downstairs to the coffee bar/lounge area to see the turnout.  There were three of us: the kooky woman "teaching" the class, who is short and stout with a crown of crispy gray curls who actually seemed more like a nutty professor than anything; myself, and another petite blonde woman who I've noticed at some of the other meetings due to her high, child-like voice and her similarity to a Girl Scout troop leader.

We talked about why we were interested in the class and in creative writing (I said I just always wanted to write, even since I was little, and I didn't know what to write or how but...I was just interested.  And Jessie said she wanted to write a devotional/spiritual book for women living abroad and had already started working on it) and our kooky fearless leader told us about the writing class she took with Maeve Binchy and that she wanted to impart her wisdom and what she learned to us.  And hopefully one day get us published, as she knew a publisher here in Dublin.  Easy as that.  She had a million file folders and papers and managed to scatter them all over the table, and then spill her glass full of water all over said papers, and then ran yelling "HELP!  HELP!  I'VE MADE A MESS!" over to the counter, creating a huge spectacle.  And after that disaster, she proceeded to read us one of her short stories she'd written in her loudest voice, creating another spectacle, about a donkey living in a convent.  Three single-spaced pages full of this story - I shit you not.  I shifted uncomfortably in my seat as I gave apologetic glances at the people at the table next to us, who were also being delighted with this kook's story about June the Donkey.  AND, it turns out...this story was autobiographical because she actually used to be a NUN in England in her younger days!  Oh Lord.  Literally.

Our "homework" she decided to give us for the month was to write about our best life experience...and our worst life experience.  Oh geez.  Is that like the best day/worst day of your life?  Or best/worst period of time?  Or best/worst incident?  I can recall three decidedly very low points in my life, two of the three having to do with boys and heartbreak (one of those boys being the one I maybe ended up marrying, I believe), and I'm not really sure I want to rehash any of that painful personal information to this kooky former nun and the Girl Scout Bible study leader that is Jessie.  And my best life experience..?  I have no clue.  Wedding day?  (Cliche.)  Studying abroad in Spain?  (Too long.) What I'm doing now?  (Undecided but likely.)  UGH.  If it was something easy or low key I would share it with all of you and I guess with them but I'm just not sure I could do either.  Who knows.  We'll see.

Drew and I are still super busy preparing for our pals to come visit!  Yay!  I'm going to the City Centre tonight with a pal to watch them light up Grafton Street so I'll be back with fun pics.  And then it means I can officially celebrate Christmas and bust out the music and movies!  There's no stopping me now.

Alright, see ya!

Roast Chicken and Caramelized Shallots

After our trip to France (well over a month ago) I decided I wanted to make some Frenchy type food.  And I settled on a roasted chicken and some caramelized shallots!  I've never come close to roasting any type of fowl before and the thought of doing so intimidated me BUT...I'm overcoming my kitchen fears while living here so why not.

Pioneer Woman has a much better, more detailed description of the way she did this so feel free to check that out instead.

WARNING: This is not a low-cal meal.  This has tons of butter all over both items.  But it WAS a delicious meal so I can't be bothered.

The chicken Cast of Characters: a whole chicken, lots of butta, lemons, and rosemary.

It calls for 3/4 cup of butter.  As I can't really measure that out because everything's in grams, I just eyeballed it and threw it in a bowl.

Now zest a lemon or two.

And dump that in the butta bowl.

Take some rosemary and peel it off it's...stem?  And chop that up very finely.

And put that in with the butter and lemon too.

Now mix away!

Add some salt and pepper and mix that in too.

Now take the chicken, that you're completely unfamiliar with, and hold it awkwardly, trying to assess the situation and figure out what to do.

Place it in a roasting pan or shallow dish.  Or something.

And then begin to spread your lemony rosemary butter alllllll over that bird.

In every nook and cranny and crevice.  Don't be shy.

When that's done, squeeze the juice from a half lemon or two over the bird.

And then place as many lemon halves as you can in the...cavity..?

And put a sprig or two of rosemary in there too!  Why not.

And then put that guy in a 425 degree oven to roast for about an hour and 15 minutes.  (Though I think in hindsight I may have overdone mine JUST a bit.)

Now it's time to get started on the Caramelized Shallots!  I've seen Ina Garten make these pups on her show before and I've always wanted to make them...and boy were they GOOD.  Like SOOO good.  Make these immediately!

The Shallot Cast of Characters: lots and lots of shallots (about 2 pounds), lots and lots of butter (3/4 stick, again), parsley, salt, pepper, a good amount of sugar (3 tablespoons), and red wine vinegar.  

So...begin by standing at your kitchen counter (with your husband or a pal or whoever you can get to help) and peel those shallots.  This is a long and annoying process.  You're supposed to peel off all their inedible skin but leave the roots intact.  Booo.

Then melt your butter in a large saucepan, preferably one that's ovenproof.

(I don't have one so I just used this non-stick one.)

Then pour all those painstakingly peeled shallots into the pan o' butta.

Then sprinkle the 3 tablespoons of sugar over the shallots.

Stir around...

Then crank up the heat and let those pups brown up, while stirring them around with the buttery sugar mixture.  Letting them CARAMELIZE..if you will.

Ohhh yeah.

After they brown up a bit, pour in 3 tablespoons of your red wine vinegar.  And go ahead and add some salt and pepper too.

Stir those around a few minutes more and then...if you have an ovenproof pan, just pop it in the oven.  If you don't, pour them in an ovenproof dish and pop it in a 400 degree oven for 15 to 30 minutes.

You can try to time this where your chicken and shallots come out at the same time.  I happened to time it right for the first time ever!  Generally nothing I make is ready at the same time.

The skin and the rosemary look slightly...overcooked, but the actual meat was VERY moist and tender and flavorful!  Yay!

And these shallots....there are no words.  So sweet and rich and heavenly and delicious and yummy.

Serve it up with a salad and you've got yourself a perfect [semi-French] meal!  You can find the recipe for the shallots here and the chicken here.

Drew and I are off to see a concert tonight with some pals and have a low key weekend for the rest.  Happy Friday!