Prawn Flavored Blog Post.

So apparently three blog posts a week is coasting, two is disappointing and one is simply unacceptable. At least according to Sam and Jenny. 

Which is shocking because they both know how lazy I am. 


Anywho, here is a forced blog post, if you pick up on any general contempt...you're very astute, good job.
So I recently found out that my sweet roommate Manon and her friend Leslie, both Frenchies, read my
blog!! I think that's very nice since I can never bring myself to read other people's blogs.

I tend to get bored.

So I'm always very flattered when I find out people are reading this blog and I was extra flattered in this case since Manon and Leslie speak English as a second language, and I'm sure it's a bit tedious for them to translate all of my colloquialisms.  




Well I've decided to dedicate this blog to food. 


One thing I've noticed about Ireland, and have heard is the same in England and Scotland, is their obsession with meat and cream. I had no idea, although it seems quite obvious now, that the simple, American dinner, meat and potatoes, is Irish. I mean I always assumed that was a 1950's, microwave dinner type of thing.

(Of course I knew potatoes were Irish, check the background of this page)



Anyhow, I have deemed this place the land of meat and potatoes, everything they make here has the addition of animal products in some form.

I went out for Chinese last night with an American friend, Zach, and he ordered vegetable chow mein, and I ordered vegetable curry. I've never had a curry like this. It was definitely vegan, but instead of a typical curried coconut milk sauce, my vegetables were in this weird sort of gravy.

Dear readers, if you could see the expression on my face while merely explaining this you would understand that this was not a good thing. I'm not a really big fan of gravy, I think it has it's time and place though (Time: Thanksgiving. Place: mashed potatoes.) and in my Chinese food, let alone a curry dish, is not one of them. 

Needless to say this was an Irish take on Chinese food, and I was the victim.

Zach and I were discussing chip flavors that we've noticed while here;


-Prawn
-Bacon
-Roasted Turkey
-Cheese and Onion

....just to name a few.

They have an obsession with Prawn flavored things here. I've noticed it in other forms besides chips. 

Also, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are an American thing. My Irish flatmate saw me making one and said, "Wow, you guys really do that?" 

Also, the peanut butter here comes in "American style". 

Zach was telling me that peanut butter itself is known as being very popular in America, much more so than the rest of the world.

I guess peanut butter is our marmite (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmite).


Last night Radhika and I went on a falafal hunt TO NO AVAIL.

We found this chain called "Abra Kadabra" that served falaf amongst hamburgers, french fries and tacos (they call themselves a "mexican restaurant"). BUT they don't have hummus, yogurt sauce, tahini or any other seemingly compatible sauce option for falafals. Nope instead they offer garlic sauce or barbeque.


I had been drinking a bit and when the man behind the counter said this i quite bluntly replied "Eww that's so gross"

and then there was a moment of awkward silence where I just stared at him.....I mean in retrospect I probably shouldn't have blamed this poor guy who, in his attempt at money making, unfortunately has aligned himself with such a sad excuse for a restaurant, but due to my mild intoxication these rationales were pushed out of my mind and replaced with disgust for the lack of cultural diversity evident in this country.

what the fuck is garlic sauce?



and who doesn't know that you eat falaf with either hummus, yogurt sauce or tahini?


needless to say Radhika and I booked it outta there and instead bought crappy pasta and couscous at the local grocery store.

So to sum up Ireland in regards to food. It's boring. But that's probably just because they put so much time and effort into developing their beverages, and honestly dear readers, when it comes to Irish drinks, I haven't any complaints.

Pictures!!

Before I start this post I'd like to explain my previous blog posting. I was going to delete it. It is the incredibly embarrassing product of my Pratt friends taking advantage of my enamored state by encouraging me to blog when I really just shouldn't have been anywhere near a computer at all. But after some thought I came to the conclusion that this is a blog about my Irish adventures, and anyone who thinks I'm going to come to Ireland and not drink is clearly a fool and they can go read another blog regarding ostriches or something. Also, not to brag or anything, but I am a pretty funny drunkard.

Moving on, 

So where I last left off I had just gotten to Trinity off my plane, we're talking Thursday morning. I didn't get internet until midday Saturday because, even though it's an ethernet connection, you still need a password and username, information that was given to us late Friday. However, you also need an out of date computer because it took a whole days worth of trouble shooting to configure my mac to the internet. A whole stressful, lonely, incommunicado day of downgrading my brand new macbook pro's internet browser. 

But, obviously, it works now. 

These are pictures of the park/street right next to my dorm. All of the streets in Dublin are about this width, which makes riding in the huge busses a bit scary, especially when they pass people in the same lane, which, I'm pretty sure is meant for only one car at a time. 

This is one of the views from my flat. If you disregard that ugly gray rooftop it's actually quite beautiful.

This was a strange little band playing in town centre. Fun fact, after I took this picture they followed me, playing their strange instruments and singing in gaelic, for about a block. Although it was only a block it felt like a lifetime.

These friendly leprechauns are always on this corner, right across from my school, every day. It seems like a pretty fun job actually, definitely warm (yeah, it's been chilly here).

  This is the view coming into town centre from the top level of the double decker transport. All of the busses here are double deckers and expensive considering I take it to get to school and back.
€1.90 a ride :O
It's a pretty nice ride though, nice way to see a good amount of Dublin.

These are just some scenic photos I took while walking into city centre/Trinity yesterday (about an hour walk). I love the houses. They're all very big and yet they have such a cozy feel. Must be all the red brick. 

I found an Asian market yesterday and was delighted when I saw their stock. As a vegetarian/vegan household, most of the grocery shopping/cooking my dad does is Asian. And this brand of sauces is a staple in our house. In the orientation for the international students they told us about an "American" candy store which only carries American products. They said that finding a comfort food that you would have at home can ease homesickness. I've seen tons of American candy here, especially kit kats, but this weird, Asian sauce stuff was what made me think of home. This little market is definitely going to be where I do most of my shopping.

So those are the only pictures I've taken so far. I'm still settling into this strange foreign land, and I promise there will be better ones to come once I get my bearings a bit. 

Goodnight dear readers,

love,

 Chelsea.