Brooklyn

Slowly catching up on the books I've been reading in the last few weeks. Brooklyn by Colm Toibin is the last on the list. I'd never read anything by this author, so I really didn't know what to expect - I was worried it was going to be heavy going, but it wasn't one bit. It reads very easily, and yet the main character in it, Eilis Lacey, a young woman from Enniscorthy who emigrates to America in the 50s, has great depth and personality. It seems that a lot of decisions are made for her - going to America is not her choice, a job is found for her, and accommodation, but she complies, and, over time, once home-sickness has subsided, she starts to grow in confidence, and to enjoy her new life. But of course, she gets the dreaded call from home, and has to go back for a short while. How will she fit back into her old life? Ultimately, what life will she choose for herself? Or will she let others make the decisions for her, in Ireland or in New York?

I really got into this book - I found Eilis a very engaging character, although at times I wanted to tell her to get a grip of her own life, and stop letting others make all the big decisions. One thing I found particularly interesting was her feeling of disconnectedness (is there such a word?) when she came back to Ireland. It is home, everything is familiar, yet she feels a stranger there, not quite in phase with the pace and the people, and everybody seems to be conspiring to find reasons for her to stay. And as days go by, Brooklyn seems to drift further and further away, a distant, dreamy world.

I'm not sure the ending is the one I would have chosen, although it is the one I was hoping for, but it makes sense in the context of her personality. It seems quite fitting too, and loops the loop on the story nicely. Another one to add to MHBD's recommended books.

Rain Rain Rain - A bit of Sunshine - Then more Rain

Lots of rain this weekend. I thought we'd never get out - but then, out of the blue, we just had a gorgeous hour of sunshine, and it's really mild, so we headed off to Airfield for our constitutional. It was mucky, but very pleasant. And now it's looking like it will rain again. Time for a cup of green tea!

Busy Busy Run Run

I was in Belgium last weekend. Came back on a crazily early flight on Tuesday (I had to get up at four, for a taxi pickup at 4:30, my flight from Charleroi being at 6:45). It almost took longer to get across Dublin on the coach than to fly from Belgium - rush-hour traffic was very heavy at Whitehall and Leeson Street.

Brendan had a job waiting for me at 11, but, thankfully, it was really straightforward. Been busy since. And laundry fairy is handling double the usual volume this weekend, so I'll be glad to put my feet up this evening.

Jean Byrne - black dress with golden belt

Despite stiff competition from Siobhan Ryan, Jean Byrne still topped the Met Eireann fashion stakes last night, with a LBD adorned by a wide gold belt. Not the first time she wears this, but it's really classy.

American Wife

If you're curious about George W. Bush's presidency and about his wife Laura, but you're not into biographies, Curtis Sittenfeld's American Wife may be for you. It's a fictional account broadly based on Laura Bush's life. It's not presenting W. in the best of lights - basically a sploit but likeable young man from a wealthy family, who was unhealthily obsessed, even at a young age, by his "legacy". Laura, on the other hand, the narrator of the story, comes across as a principled and sound individual, who falls in love with W.'s charm and lust for life. Where reality stops and fiction starts, I'm not 100% sure, but according to Wikipedia she was indeed involved in a car crash where she ran a Stop sign, causing the death of a friend in the other car. Whether or not her grand-mother was a lesbian and whether or not she had an abortion, god only knows, but it makes for an excellent story, with plenty of interesting characters. It's not light, but it reads easily, and there are a few steamy sex scenes too!!

New Weather Girl - Siobhan Ryan

New Weather Girl on RTE Six One News last night - her name is Siobhan Ryan. She looked very serious last night, possibly a bit nervous. And she's upping the fashion stakes at the Met Office! Tiger print sleeveless dress and big black belt!

Crushed Berry Top

Lovely top on Jean Byrne last night - she carries strong colours well. 

Finally changed my profile picture!

Black top and black trousers VS Blue Dress

Jean, Jean, Jean, you were doing so well - lovely dresses all through the summer, with nice chunky jewelery, and bright colours that suit you so well.


And then, last night that black top with over-wide shoulders, tapering down to the waist. The rock chick look gone wrong doesn't work when you're presenting the weather. And it's top-heavy - the detailing is just too fussy at the shoulders. I also think that the black trousers look too casual.

- Versus -

Thankfully, you were back to a flattering blue dress tonight. And a gorgeous necklace too

Abstract Exercise #3 - Variation 1

Exercise #3 from Rolina van Vliet's fabulous book. This one is rectangles with dark spaces in between. I love the colours of it (and the photograph doesn't do it justice - the original had a blue cast, but this one looks a bit too yellow). I might paint a larger version of it (it's about 40x20cm). I have a large canvas that's begging me to use it.

Dandelions #3, #4 & #5

I haven't had much time for painting lately, but I've made time to create special birthday cards for three people lucky enough to have their birthdays in August (and I didn't think that David would like the flowery theme)

The Girl who Played with Fire

We went to the IFI last Sunday for the second installment of the Millenium trilogy, The Girl who Played with Fire. Similar to the book, it's not as tight a story as the first one, and some essential facts are not explained (like the type of gun that Zala was holding). I guess that it's assumed that anybody going to see the Swedish movie has read the book (or has someone with them who has). Still, one hell of a story!)

Blueberry pancakes

Brendan makes a killer blueberry pancake. It's so good we have to ration ourselves! Blueberries have been very abundant this year - they are even grown in Ireland nowadays. Apparently, a cold winter is what they need to thrive. I enjoy a few blueberries over my Oatibix in the morning, but their flavour is ten times better when cooked inside a pancake.

Talking of berries, we're planning to go to Airfield this afternoon to collect blackberries. I'll then make an apple & blackberry crumble! Happy Days (though not as sunny and warm as on Thursday and Friday - those 2 days were the best of the summer, warm, and with that perfectly gorgeous September light)

Handle with Care

Earlier this summer, Mary gave me the loan of Handle with Care, by Jodi Picoult, another story about a special child and her mother. Willow suffers from brittle bone disease. She is a very brave little girl, but the slightest bump or knock causes her bones to break. The bills are mounting, and a lawyer tells her mother she could sue for wrongful birth. A difficult decision, all the more painful as her gynecologist is also her best friend.

Still recovering from the disappointment of House Rules, I was not expecting much when I started this book, and, although it does follow some of Picoult's well-rehearsed themes, I thought it was a thoroughly good novel. I felt that Willow's sister's character (Amelia) was well developed and it was interesting to see her story unfold in parallel to the main drama. So it's with anticipation that I'll get ready to read my next Jodi Picoult - Salem Falls. And looking at her website, there are plenty more of her novels awaiting me.

His and Hers

I went to the pictures with Susanne a few weeks back - I really haven't had much time to write lately.

His and Hers is an Irish documentary, or rather it's a series of interviews with women of the Midlands, from the very young to the very old, as they sit in their kitchen or parlour and comment on the men in their lives, father, boyfriend, husband, son. It's very sweet, funny, and poignant too.

We both enjoyed it - even to the last little old lady who was talking to her son on the phone, she'd be telling him she was well, but at the same time she was worried it would be too much of a shock for him if she was to die suddenly. Not one bit worried about herself. Typical Irish mother! It's really about all the hopes and joys and sadness of an ordinary life. One note of warning though - not a single separation, divorce or wife-beating - according to His&Hers, all is rosy in the Irish Midlands.

Satay House

I've been meaning to write about Satay House, a Malaysian restaurant in London, ever since we got back from our Paddy's Day mini-break. We had been there last year, as it was very close to our hotel, and we liked it so much we had to go back. And it was just as good. I can't remember for the life of me what we had to eat (I can't even remember what I had for dinner last week), but I do remember I had a lovely dessert. I think it was the Sago Gula Melaka - tapioca pudding with palm sugar and coconut milk - real comfort food.

A customer of mine recommended I try the Ais Kacang next time I'm over. Some people call it "that ridiculous dessert" - apparently, it's got a bit of everything and 2 types of syrup and condensed milk and ice shavings, and sometimes a scoop of ice-cream on top. Do an image search for Ais Kacang in Google and you'll see what I'm talking about! But be warned, it's not for the faint-hearted. I think when I try it, I'll skip starters!

I picked one of the pictures that looked the most appetizing from this blog, which contains plenty of photos of exotic and wonderful foods from Malaysia and the world.

Food, Glorious Food

Been eating far too much lately.

We had Amy over for the weekend 2 weeks ago, and we took her out to the China Sichuan for an early bird dinner on Saturday night. At this point, I can't remember the specifics of what we ate - my main course was a lovely white fish, but it was all very nice. They had their front sliding windows open, and it felt lovely and airy. (it was a gorgeous evening after a beautiful hot day).Excellent meal. Plenty of other diners were there, enjoying good food at reasonable prices.

Then last Sunday, we decided to use the G-Club card I won at a competition at Taste of Dublin (by giving very honest answers to a Bord Failte questionnaire - basically telling them how awful and overpriced I felt food was when travelling around Ireland. It's true - dinner in hotels is generally quite good, if somewhat pricey, but finding a decent lunch when touring around the country is almost impossible - "homemade" soup out of a pack, burnt bread, flavourless chowder, etc.). With the G Club card, you can get special offers at a number of restaurants - generally 2 for the price of 1 mid-week. It's valid a year, and costs €75, so I'm delighted I got it for free.

We booked a Sunday evening meal at Montys of Rathgar, a Nepalese restaurant we had never tried before. I had a simple starter of vegetables deep-fried in batter with spices - tasty and mild. Brendan had a potato starter which turned out very hot and quite filling. I ordered a hot, sweet and sour dish with prawns - full of flavour and spice. Halfway through, I swapped with Brendan's milder lamb dish, as mine was getting a bit too spicy for me. The lamb was excellent. Brendan had ordered it hot, but if you avoided the deadly green chillies, it was fine. The meat was excellent, not always guaranteed with lamb, but it was perfectly cooked, and not one gristly bit in sight. Then, though I was already full, I decided to try one of the desserts - made with grated carrots, milk and cinnamon and other spices - the perfect comfort food. Really enjoyed it . Service was good, and the place was packed when we left around 8. Good value with the G-club card, but we could probably have eaten for the same overall cost if we had ordered from the value meal menu, which you can't get with the card.

Then, on Wednesday evening, we went to Indian Summer, one of our favourite Indian restaurants. One of Brendan's cousins, Paul, was visiting Ireland with his wife Meg, and we took them for a drive around the Dublin Mountains, with a walk in Powerscourt gardens. It was 6:30 by the time we got back towards Stillorgan, and a good Indian meal was the perfect way to end the day. Again, we ate from the value menu, available all week days, and the food was excellent. And it was packed like we had never seen it before.

Clearly the special value/early bird menus are drawing diners back out to all good restaurants.

But that's it. No more meals out for me for another few weeks. My digestive system can't take it any more.

Advertising

As I have more space, I've decided to put in some advertising in the side-bar. I hope you don't find it too intrusive. And please do click on the ads, and if you want to buy something, make sure to do it from the link on my blog, or I'll never get any commission! So far, I can't say I've found too many links for products that I like, but there is so much there that I'll have to explore it some more.

New Look

I've finally moved to one of the new templates - the advantage is that they give you more real estate to express yourself. I do miss the bright green, though. I will probably play around with the various options on offer over the next while.

Cookie Dough ice cream

I've only discovered Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough ice cream recently, on a cinema outing with Susanne. Well, I think it's delicious, and addictive. I've always loved raw dough - I still remember the taste of my granny's waffle dough (I didn't particularly like waffles, but the dough, I could eat by the spoonful). And of course I love the taste of Aine McAteer's chocolate chip cookie dough too.

Okajima Dai

Okajima Dai - he is a friend of one of the sons of my dear friend Shinobu. His music sounds very nice and I wish him a lot of success. (www.okajimadai.com if you want to see his website and if you can read Japanese - you can also use the Google translation tool).

This is from his MySpace which I found by clicking at random on the website, then on the blog!


岡島大：心の旅 ＠ 代官山 NOMAD

岡島大：公式 MySpace | MySpace Music Videos

Shiba dog

After watching Hachi, a dog's tale, we looked into the Akita dog who was the star of the movie. Brendan thought the puppy was absolutely gorgeous, and we found that the dog playing the puppy was actually a Shiba Inu, a smaller breed of Japanese dogs. Both dogs seemed very loyal and intelligent. What the movie didn't show is that the Shiba can be a handful in terms of obedience training, and that the Akita gets bored easily and can become destructive. Both breeds are very intelligent and loyal, but I think better left in the hands of an experienced dog owner. Anyways, the day we get a dog (not for a very long time, as we hope Willow has another 8-10 years to live), it will be from the cats and dogs home.

Polo

On our way back to the car after our visit to the zoo last Saturday, we walked by the Dublin polo club, and we saw that the horses and their riders were warming up. So we decided to have a closer look, as they started their match. We watched 1 chukka or 2, I'm not sure. I only noticed the bell once, but it felt a lot longer than 7 minutes. Quite an exciting game, when you can hear the sound of the horses' hooves and their quick breathing, as they go back and forth. It's only later, after we looked at the photos that Brendan had taken, that we realised one of the riders was a woman. I guess it's a mixed game.

Day at the Zoo

Having Amy with us at the weekend was the perfect excuse for a visit to the zoo. The weather was good on Saturday morning, so we headed out fairly early. After a quick stop at the Point Village big Wheel (more about that another time), we got to the zoo around 11:30, and it was already packed. As the day got sunnier and warmer, it felt like everybody in Dublin was at the zoo, most of them with prams and buggies! But I'm good at elbowing my way to the front of the crowds (good Belgian genes there), so we got to see plenty!

The new elephant area is excellent, giving the animals plenty of privacy, but also providing good viewing points for the crowds. And they've moved the giraffes to a nice big patch in the African savanna section, where you can get a good close look at them. Some of the younger giraffes were really gorgeous. Brendan's and Amy's favourite was the red panda, whereas mine was the tiger (the Sumatran tiger, if I remember correctly - we didn't get a picture of it, as he was behind heavy glass panels, so here is a link to the photo on the website. One of them was pacing back and forth really close to where the public was watching. I wonder, could he smell us, and did he think we might make a nice meal! What I liked about the tiger was the fabulous markings on his (or her) face. The red panda was also very active, and kept going over his (or her) territory, and marking it (just like a cat, a little lift of the tail and a shake of the bum).

Other highlights for me were the crocodiles (or aligators?) - one of them didn't move at all the whole time we were watching him/her. The 2 pythons in the water were pretty cool, if scary. And the sea lions show was exciting (but very crowded). And the gorillas, the penguins, the chimpanzes, the hornbill, the wolf, the bats, and the bongos (all of which can be found in the alphabetical list).

As usual, the food wasn't great, and there was lots of wasps in the eating areas (why don't they move the bins a little bit further from the table? Is it that they know that Irish people won't bother to throw things in the bins if they have to walk 10 feet to them?)

If you want to know more about elephant communication, check out this page.

Don't miss the penguin webcam (though right now it's just showing rain falling)!

I can't wait for the next of our nieces and nephews to come over so we have the excuse for another visit (though it's unlikely we'll go to the zoo with David - he's getting a bit old for that!)

Watercolour blog

Found this link on one of the websites I referenced a while back. Very interesting if you want to see step-by-step watercolours: http://www.ellenseasel.blogspot.com/ (I haven't had time to do any painting this weekend. I find I need a big block of time to get into it. This person here seems to be able to do a little bit every day!)

Hachi, a dog's tale

Amy was with us last weekend, and I decided to rent out a video. My pick was Hachi, a dog's tale - a movie about the friendship between a man and a dog, with Richard Gere. I thought, "hey, with Richard Gere, I can watch that"!

Well, well, little did I know it would be a sad movie (based on a true story), and here I was, half an hour from the end, in floods of tears - about a dog! I must be getting soft!

It's a slow and simple movie, but a lovely, if sad, story.

PS: I couldn't help adding this lovely picture (not of Richard Gere, but of the dog!). Cute or what?

Ariodante

Dublin City Council offer free lunchtime opera in their grounds at Wood Quay every Thursday in August. Opera in the Open, as it is called, is something we've only discovered last week, but apparently, it's been running for years.

Last Thursday wasn't the warmest of days, but we decided to head into town anyway, as we had a bit of time on  our hands.

The opera of the day was Ariodante, by Handel, not one I was familiar with. But I like Handel's sense of rhythm, so I knew we'd enjoy the music anyway.

It was colder than I had expected - a lot colder, and I was glad of my fleece and scarf. But one of the singers had a very thin short-sleeved dress, and I felt so sorry for her - despite putting on her coat any time she wasn't on stage, her arms were blue. That didn't stop her from singing beautifully, as they all did. I particularly liked the voice of the pregnant woman who was playing a man's part  - which is quite typical in Handel's operas  - not the pregnant bit obviously - Some of the parts in Handel's works were originally sung by castrati, a type of voice which cannot be reproduced exactly nowadays, so the castrati parts are sometimes sung by women (mezzo soprano or soprano, I'm not sure), or by countertenors.

Not only was it cold, but it was windy, and the page turner for the piano player had a tough time keeping the partition together. At one point, it looked like all the pages were going to fly away, but they were caught in time by the narrator (a very entertaining man, who told us the story at the start of each act - an important role, as there was no sur-titles, and we were only offered excerpts - it all had to fit into a one-hour lunchtime after all.).

All in all, a very enjoyable experience. I hope the singers didn't catch colds!

Jean Byrne - blue dress

It was a while since we'd seen Jean in a new dress - this one a lovely teal blue (I think!), with a good necklace. I think those strong colours suit her, and I'm glad she's not wearing her boleros any more.

Grey skies again

I hate grey skies

The Road

If you're in need of cheering up, this is most definitely NOT the book. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, is, to say the least, bleak. The story of a man and his young son travelling the road south in a post-apocalyptic world. The son was born after the event that changed the world, but we don't know what that event was. And we don't know how so many people died, and why all the trees are burning, and why there are no animals around. It's a world covered in ash, where it's each man for himself, where your survival probably means somebody else will die. But the 2 keep going, in the hope that life might be better further south, by the sea (although there is no actual reason to believe it would be any different down there).

And yet, there is love, this amazing bond between father and son. They don't say much, but you know that they have gone through so much together, and that they need each other to keep going. Indeed, how would such a world be bearable if you were on your own?

I thought it was excellent. I was really moved by it.

And I would like to see the film, although some of the reviews are not so good