Baaaaack!

I got back from my big juicy trip on Friday and the jet lag has completely thrown me off. I fell asleep at 10 o'clock last night and woke up around 3am, read a little bit, fell back asleep and woke up again at 7 o'clock. This is not working well for me. I've been a little frazzled as Kyle and I now have to find an apartment to live in for July 1st and we both need to find jobs (or I need to pick up more hours at the restaurant I work at, time to start batting those lashes).

Let's not worry about those things and I'll tell you all about my trip. We started off in Ireland staying in a small cottage in a tiny little place called Ballinskelligs which is right on the southwest coast. The only thing in the town was a pub, which we frequented and met some pretty interesting folks. We were traveling with Kyle's mum and stepdad who also rented a car which Kyle drove like a pro on the left side of the horrifyingly bendy roads.

We took a few day trips to Kilarney, Cork and Valentia Island as well. Cork had a really nice market where we stocked up on french cured meats, some Irish cheese, olives, dried figs, anchovies in vinegar, organic cherry tomatoes and a frangipane tart, it was probably one of the best meals I had in Ireland. We visited Valentia Island twice and the second time around around we went on a hike up to an observation tower on the side of a hill. We decided to venture further and after walking though a pasture full of sheep (and sheep "debris) we ended up looking over the side of a cliff while laying on our bellies. We ended the day with some coffee and a rhubarb crumble at the nicest little cafe on the island and followed it up with dinner at a little seafood restaurant complete with screaming, ill-behaved children.

Guiness+damp+greenery = Ireland

From Ballinskelligs we drove up to Ennis were we parted ways with Kyle's parents and jumped in a train heading to Dublin. We spent a night in Dublin, had dinner at an awesome french restaurant and left the city super early the next morning and caught a plane headed to Seville, Spain.

The weather in Spain was a lot different (and in my opinion a lot better) than Ireland. We stayed in a sort of swanky hotel and as it turns out we arrived during the Seville Holy Week. The first night we were in town we saw a parade which we both thought was a funeral procession. Trying to explain it would be useless so I'm posting a video (that I found on youtube) so you have an idea of what we saw, I didn't have my camera on me so I didn't get any footage of the processions...I got lazy in Spain.



There is a band of just horns and drums in front of or behind the big sculpture that is carried along the procession path. Underneath the whole structure (a.k.a the "paso") is a team of men who carry it on their heads through town. It is kind of funny to see this huge, ornate object travelling though the streets with tons of little feet poking out the bottom. This video isn't the highest quality I could find but it has the best example of the music that we heard for two nights, I'm not sure why but whenever I would see one of these processions, and we saw 3 of them over 2 nights, I had an overwhelming urge to burst into tears.

The rest of Spain included a lot of eating and drinking. The top of our list was always Pedro Ximenez, jamon, cheese, bocarones, sangria, cruzcampo beer, olives, bread, more bread, flan, churros, espresso and anything else we could put in our mouths. I love the way the Spanish do things, they wake up early, have coffee and socialize, go to work, have siesta in the afternoon, go back to work and then eat dinner and drink after 9pm and stay up late. I'm getting hungry just thinking about all of this.

From Seville we rented a car and travelled along to Grenada and then ended up in a small town called Catell de Ferro which was right on the coast of the Mediterrainian ocean. We had a fabulous prix fixe dinner at one of the 3 restaurants in town and drank cheap wine on our patio (which I spilled all over the place, twice). From there we headed to Aguilas and then on to Murica to fly back to Shannon, Ireland and then Toronto. We were 15km away from the Murcia airport when we hit a wooded post that was in the middle of our lane on the highway and blew a tire on our rental car. Kyle changed the tire on the narrow shoulder of the highway while I watched on in horror thinking he was about to get flattened by a truck. We made it to the airport in one piece and then we found out that insurance doesn't cover flat tires....I'm still waiting for that charge on my credit card.

Now I'm jetlagged, happy to be back and I've kind of fallen in love with Toronto again, in a weird kinda way.

CB

The other day I was quite bored and stumbled upon a former cancer patient's blog called Lymph Notes (lymphnotes.blogspot.com). The author of said blog is a 50-something year-old man who lives in L.A and was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma a few years ago. I read through some of his posts over the weekend and found a lot of what he says applicable to everyday life. He was actually happy to be diagnosed with cancer as it gave him a chance to become closer to his friends and family on a deeper and much more meaningful level. It also gave him the opportunity to take some time off to reflect on his life and everyone involved in his healing. He approached his illness with a sense of humor which I completely admire.

In one of his earlier he posts he lists all the things that bring him joy and adds:

"Cleaning out old files yesterday, I found a list of things that I was proud that I have accomplished in my life. If you want a little joy, make the list. You'll surprise yourself. And you'll surprise yourself with the kinds of things that bring you pride."

I think everyone, rich or poor, healthy or ill should make a list like this and feel good about the things they have in their lives and the things they've accomplished. And that's my feel good moment of the year!

hungry/bored

orange meringue pie, salmon skin sushi rolls, macaroni salad**, sablefish, duck confit, bouillabaisse, patty pans, honeycomb, smoothies (no bananas), gin, french toast*, eggs benedict (hard poached), tuna sandwich, grilled chicken hearts with salt, lemonade, cider, maple syrup, jelly beans, creme brulee, chocolate covered strawberries (trashy but delicious), pumpkin pie, gulab jamun, peas, corn on the cob, ribs, cottage roll* (comfort food), rare steak, lasagna*, ice cream, brown sugar carrots*, yorkshire puddings, perogies** (homemade of course and perferably with some turkey gravy), cabbage rolls*, spaghetti with meat sauce, shittake mushrooms, pickled things, nachos with salsa, pupusas, sardines and anchovies, ice cream cake (also trashy but delicious), milkshakes, cheeseburgers, ceasar salad**, chicken wings, wine, pulled pork, crab legs with melted butter, brownies, peanut butter cups, mint chocolate girl guide cookies, mimosas, pizza hut (dirty), butter tarts**, pho, cold spring rolls with peanut dipping sauce, creamsicles, giant freezies, butter chicken, poori bread, martinis, fresh oysters, beets, scallops, skor chocolate bars, sweet potato fries, lemon tart, du puys lentils (when Av cooks them), blood oranges, gnocchi, head cheese, ritz crackers (either with cream cheese or...cheeze whiz, don't knock it til you've tried it), nutella (on saltines!), brussels sprouts, apple crisp with vanilla ice cream, "ice cream treat"**(a mum specialty), cupcakes, macaroni and cheese with hotdogs (throw a tickle of ranch dressing on there and you're good), peanut butter cookies, sloppy joes, sunchokes, zucchini bread, strawberry rhubarb pie, apple pie (make by Nana), punch**, fresh bread with butter or olive oil, bruschetta, fiddlehead ferns, mashed potatoes, coconut milkshakes, cookie dough, cake batter, pudding, octopus, grilled calamari, blood pudding, clam chowder, ussels, organic chocolate milk, sherry and port, broccoli (the way dad makes it with vinegar AND the way mum makes it as broccoli casserole), beef stew, bread salad, caprese salad, porkchops with apple sauce, lamb, serrano ham, pickled ramps, artichoke hearts, shrimp.....


*only if dad makes it
**only if mum makes it

working on it

I've really been slacking off on the blog front it seems.
Maybe on Monday or Tuesday I'll compile a great big list of things, throw in some photos, maybe a playlist or two and a few stories just to make up for my lack of commitment to this thing.

Get ready.