I was serious about going to the gym, and about drawing and painting, but I haven't done anything in the last week. Of course, I have very good excuses for this, which I'm going to go through now.
Last Sunday, we drove to Connemara (yes, I can hear the tune in my head ... "Terre brûlée au vent, Des landes de pierre..." - every time!) for a minibreak. We had decided that, after a busy family-oriented Christmas and New Year, we wanted a bit of time for ourselves. So we booked a 3-night stay in the Ballynahinch Castle Hotel in Recess. We had liked it so much in the summer, that we decided it was the perfect location for a winter minibreak.
While the weather wasn't perfect - this is the West of Ireland in the winter after all - we had enough dry weather to enjoy a walk on the beach at Dogs Bay and Gurteen Bay, near Roundstone (pictures in a previous post). And of course, the weather was glorious on the day we were heading back to Dublin. We saw some dramatic scenery in various weather conditions - mountains emerging out of the clouds for a brief moment, before disappearing again, perfect blue skies that bring out the orange colour on the ground, purple mountains in the dying light, waves on the lakes. Scenery that's not as easy to photograph as perfect blue skies of summer, unfortunately, but we took plenty of pictures all the same.
And of course the hotel was perfect. We had a river-view room. More modern than the room we had in the summer - Lovely bathroom, with a walk-through wardrobe and dressing area (with double doors leading through each - very Hollywood!); Nice big bed; Good central heating.
The food was excellent (the 3-night deal included 2 evening meals in their main Restaurant - well worth a visit). I had lobster one of the nights - I love food I can play with, and Brendan enjoys watching me wrestle with the claws. I had pan-fried scallops the other night. I can't remember what starters and soups were but all were good. Brendan enjoyed his lamb (cooked to perfection) and monkfish. And desserts, of course, were to die for - I had panacotta the first night (this is the only place I know that does panacotta - I'll have to go back to that recipe I found in the summer!). It was Baileys panacotta (but just a very subtle hint) with - wait for this - lavender coulis (well probably not a coulis - but Lavender! You would not have found this kind of food in Ireland 20 years ago!). Brendan had a simple but scrumptious flan one night and the special chocolate dessert on our last night, whereas I opted for a simpler, but nonetheless delicious, rice pudding with stewed plums.
And I had pan-fried liver for my breakfasts. I love liver, but Brendan doesn't. As he is the designated cook and I never think of asking for it, I don't get to eat liver at home! So, I enjoyed it all the more.
If you like good food, just book yourself a few days there. You won't be disappointed. Note that they are doing some refurbishment work in rooms on the 2nd floor. It's well managed and wasn't a problem while we were there. That's supposed to be finished by April I think. They're also talking about setting up a spa (though one of the duty managers said that she had been told to say "treatment rooms" rather than "spa". I guess they don't want to talk it up too much.) Well, I'll have to go back to check it out and report...
And we bumped into Alexis, who was there on her honeymoon. So I finally got to meet Pat, her husband. When I saw her first in the lounge, I just saw her in profile, and I wasn't sure it was her. But when we walked into the restaurant later that evening, I had to go over to their table and say hi (and thank God it was her).
So, I've only accounted for 3 days. What was I doing for the rest of the time? Well, I was sick. That's not very exciting so I won't go into the boring details of sitting up in bed all night to try and stop the coughing fits (and failing). Throat and chest infection - I don't know why I always think I'll be able to fight it off without antibiotics. I always end up needing antibiotics. Just as well I don't get sick very often.
I feel I have a lot of catching up to do. Plenty of things to paint and draw, and write about.
And of course, it will be back to the gym in the next few days, and back to yoga classes next Tuesday. I'm looking forward to it all (that and doing my P35s and P60s!)
PS: Pictures from Connemara to follow - I still need to sort through all the pictures we took.
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