Thought for Food

poochie:

Did I mention I’m off to Ireland in April? And this is my first must-see stop: The Long Room Library Trinity College.  Doesn’t it look amazing, inspiring, incredible? Can’t wait to get lost inside.

It’s inspiring, it’s incredible, but sorry to say, you can’t get lost inside it. See those green ropes? You’re limited to a small section in the middle with the other folks on the Book of Kells tour.

Even as a student studying for my M. Phil in Anglo-Irish Lit I wasn’t allowed to so much as gaze at the deeper stacks. Though I was granted permission to pour through a couple decades’ worth of John Banville’s yellowing notes and corresponsdence in an exceedingly romantic stone reading room at the top of a narrow, winding stair at the far end of the Long Room. Dublin lives up to its legend, sometimes.

Lucky duck in her magical Louboutins. Bet you can click those three times and go absolutely anywhere.

PS: A story for you (was reminded of while chatting with Emily on Saturday): I had a pair of brown suede platform Louboutins. So hot. I inadvertently left them in Dublin when I picked up sticks lickety-split and moved to NOLA after Katrina. My ex said he’d send them to me. He did not. Some size 41 Irish bitch be wearing my shoes!

So let that be a lesson to you: vindictive exes and fancy shoes do not mix.

On a side note, I never thought I’d come back to the States for good ‘til I visited NOLA two months after the storm; what I saw there pulled me back and made me want to … I dunno … be an American again. There was no question in my mind that my then-boyfriend was not the man for me (nor I the woman for him) so the decision to break up with him was not difficult. What I don’t understand is how one person in a relationship can see things so clearly and the other still thinks marriage is down the road. No offense, but guys take a long time to catch on to things that are right in front of their eyes: basic compatibility, likelihood of everlasting excitement. At least in my experience.

Or maybe I just get bored easily. Which is true. But I think I’ve met the two things that can keep me interested my whole life long: a little city called NYC and a little man called M.

Everything I know about healthy living I learned from Irish bartenders: “gin’ll make you depressed, sure it will,”* and a hot port or hot whiskey will cure what ails you.

To recreate at home … combine 1 part port and 1 part boiling water or 1 part whiskey and 2 parts boiling water (approximately). Add a slice of lemon studded with cloves, sugar to taste (I prefer none), and, if you fancy, a cinnamon stick.

Take two and call me in the morning.

* They claim it’s because of the many botanicals and herbs that go into gin, a belief I don’t happen to share. But I do believe in hot port. I’m currently combating acute sinusitis with it. That and a 14-day course of antibiotics. And yeah, I know your so-called doctors say you shouldn’t drink on antibiotics but I’ve never heard an Irish bartender say that.

Related.

I didn’t know him. No one at the (after-after) party did. But that didn’t stop him from taking off his pants and underwear. Seriously. He was not wearing pants and underwear when this photo was taken.

You’re welcome.

In Ireland, they say that rain on your wedding day is a good omen.

Then again, what else are they gonna say?

(Photo by Yves Samuel via Snippet & Ink.)

“Down with this sort of thing” (via southpol)

Ah yes. The dry humor just don’t quit. At the Feb. 15, 2003 protest in Dublin against the Iraq War, I snapped a photo of a man carrying the same message.

Over the course of many Irish music festivals, I honed a rain-proof formula — wellies, slicker, hippy mini, teeny purse — that served me well for the rather damp Slow Food Grill-Off yesterday at Water Taxi Beach.

PS: Look at this amazing rain drop!

Happy Bloomsday! (via turnlizer)

He married a Nora and had a dirty mind. Yeah, I’ve fantasized about Jimmy Joyce, what’s it to you?

Video for “You Don’t Know Me” by Basement Jaxx (Via simko & Pierce Jackson).

I lived in Dublin off and on from 2001-2005. It was a wild time, lots of late nights that turned into long afternoons, lots of Basement Jaxx. We — and I mean my group of friends and the whole damn country — were at the top of the roller coaster. We just didn’t know it.