Wednesday, November 21, 2007

What we've been eating

Cork is known as a culinary city, and we did enjoy some nice meals there. In particular, our dinner at Augustine's Saturday night was quite lovely. I truly enjoyed my carpaccio with truffle oil, and Bill's breaded goat cheese was delicious as well. I had an extremely happy moment there--eating succulent beef, drinking a silky shiraz, being with some of my favorite people, knowing the money from our house sale was already in our account. Ahhhh.

Dad also had carpaccio for starters and Mom had pumpkin soup. The three Lambs (hey, I'm still a Lamb!) had duck, whilst Bill had venison. Our duck confit portion was so large as to be almost burdensome, but it was delicious. Bill's venison was good, but a bit mono-flavored, I believe he said. I had an ice cream trio for dessert, M & D shared a creme brûlée. Bill had...a lemon something? Can't recall. As is often the case, the appetizer was my favorite part.

Carpaccio with truffle oil, parmesan shavings and red onion/rocket salad







Breaded Irish goat cheese on a portobello mushroom, topped with pesto, microgreens and red onion pickle







On Monday, Bill and I ate lunch at Cork's English Market. Bill had a South African sausage sandwich and some spicy tomato soup. I had a roast beef and horseradish sandwich. All was yummy. For dessert, a fruit custard tart. The market is much more enjoyable on a weekday. We walked through on Saturday and it was a madhouse.

What else? Bill's recent creations include a lentil, sausage, potato and spinach soup, and we've had pasta and grilled chicken salad. We also ate a frozen pizza and McDonald's. I thought it would take about six months for me to darken the door, but in the absence of Wendy's, Whataburger, Sonic, DQ, and even Shortstop, a trip through the drive-thru on a rainy Sunday evening seemed like a good idea.

The drive-thru process involves three windows. Window 1: place your order with a person. Window 2: pay a person and get napkins and ketsup. Ask about change and be told to drive to the next window. Window 3: receive food from a person. Ask about change and be told change is given at previous window. Beg to differ and manager in standard short sleeve shirt/tie combo brings change. The Big Tasty burgers were okay, but we threw the fries away. And it's not because we've forgotten what Freedom Fries taste like, people. These were yucked.

Sunday for lunch Bill and I visited the carvery at our local pub. I had a very tasty cottage pie. (Much better than the shepherd's pie* we had in Kilkenny, Mom.) Perfect for a rainy, cold day when you need energy to spend the afternoon reading in bed. Bill had bacon-wrapped chicken.

We've enjoyed some baked goods from the SuperValu--a Bramley apple tart and a mincemeat pie. Mincemeat is showing up everywhere for the holidays.

We've also grown quite fond of bourbon biscuits, and are apparently not the only ones.

*Shepherd's pie is traditionally lamb, whilst cottage pie is beef

3 comments:

Heidirific said...

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If you are looking for a good massage, check out Melt in Temple Bar. That is where I get my massages and facials since they are cheaper than other places and use Aveda products. I think their website is www.meltonline.com

If you are outside city center, Aveda's website should help you locate a salon. Just to warn you about haircuts, though. There seem to be only a few styles that people have. If you want anything different, Toni and Guy are a little more cutting edge...

Also, if you want to meet some Americans, email me (and I can hook you up with other Texans if you are homesick).

Unknown said...

S&B: I can do this but not my e-mail! Enjoyed your food blog. We have had good food here. Big Scottish breakfast at the Thistle Hotel is carrying us all the way to dinner and only costs 8.95 pounds with our room!

Checked train agent and we leave Edinburgh tomorrow at 10:10 and arrive at Dublin Connolly Station at 19:25 after ferrying from Holyhead, Wales. We will call Bill for pickup at the Raheny station.

mom Gunter said...

Guess I'm just plain boring. I had oatmeal for breakfast, tomato soup for lunch and I just finished my supper which consisted of a baked potato and a tiny can of Bush's beans and a glass of water.