80 degrees and sunny in Dublin...this never happens

 

Today was an awesome day. 

I slept in, and when I did get up around 9, I made a wonderful omelet for breakfast.  The sun was already high in the sky, and it would be a picture perfect day...those don't happen often here.  I decided I'd walk around the beach, just a short distance form my apartment, and explore the surrounding bits.  In the afternoon I had planned to bake up batches of cookies and raspberry almond bars to take to work on Monday.  I now had baking pans, a little hand held electric mixer, and all the raw ingredients I need to start baking.  I couldn't wait!
I layered on the sunscreen, took out the sunglasses, packed up my purse and was ready to go.  On my way out of the apartment, I noticed the ruckus coming from next door, again, as a hoard of guys had moved in for the weekend.  I guessed they were there for a "stag party" ... bachelor party back in the states.  I thought a stag party sounded like much more fun.  They had music playing and were heartily singing along.  As I walked out the driveway of the apartment, I saw them up on the balcony having a good old time.  I called up, asking if the party ever stopped.  They said no, and that I should come up and join them.  "Maybe later," I yelled up, and off I went.

I walked down to the main street of Sandymount, musing at the little shops I passed.  The little micro economic bundles intrigued me.  You had your grocery store and your beauty parlor, a book store, little organic markets, some trinkety stores, which I loved to stop into, and then you had a handful of cafes and restaurants.  This little town also had a bakery.  It was called "The Butler's Pantry" and of course I had to stop in for a look.  The smell was heavenly as I went through the door.  They had coffee cakes, raspberry bars, a selection of muffins and cookies.  Then they had a variety of loaf cakes- lemon-poppy seed, carrot, banana.  I bought a chocolate chip cookie to see what a homemade cookie in Dublin would taste like.  I purchased my selection, chit-chatted a bit with the owner about baking in general, and was on my way. 

Sandymount is a very small little town, so not long after main street I had hit the beach.  I walked down and people watched.  EVERYONE was outdoors by now, soaking up the sun and loving the "heat".  80 degrees here is considered "a scorcher".  I took a piece of the chocolate chip cookie and nibbled it slowly to get the initial taste, then took a good sized bite to sum up the texture.  The cookie had great flavor, but wasn't chewy.  It was baked in a way that it was hard throughout, and with that, I realised that since being in Europe, I hadn't had a good, soft, chewy cookie.  Possible market need there....just sayin!

People walk on water in Sandymount.  It's actually in a bay, so there aren't waves on the beach at all.  In fact, the bay is incredibly shallow for a good distance out into the water, so you can walk in water that's not more than a foot deep WAY out against the horizon.  It does, in fact, give you the illusion that people are walking on water.  I wondered to myself if such a trick had been pulled on the Catholic Apostles so long ago.  But really, if the trick was that easy, everyone would have done it (back then) and it wouldn't have been a trick at all.  So I decided I hadn't solved the mystery of Jesus walking on water.  My mom would scold that that's because there is no mystery, he walked on water.  I love you mom. :) 

After soaking in a good amount of sunshine and people watching for a bit, I walked back home.  I was so excited to bake!  I pulled out the butter, sugar, flour...and then a big pot to mix it all in as I didn't have a mixing bowl.  No matter, I'd make it work.  I turned on the oven, which was a convection oven with a fan in it...did the temp conversion from Fahrenheit to Celsius, and started preheating.  I didn't have cookie sheets per se, so I lined the oven's baking trays with parchment paper and decided that would work. I wasn't too sure about the raw ingredients when I started mixing them all together. 
They were all different from what I was used to.  The flour smelled different, as if it would be used for bread, not desserts. The butter was a bright yellow, reminding me of margarine back home, the vanilla extract was a thick syrup...none of this looked right.  Still, I mixed away using my pot, my little hand mixer, and a lot of love.  I wanted to experiment with something other than chocolate chips, so I cubed up some Crunchies candy bar and threw that in.  If you've read my other blogs you know how much I love Crunchies.  They are honeycomb bars dipped in chocolate.  When the cookies came out of the oven and cooled, I took an excited bite....and let my eyes roll back into my head as I moaned approval.  The cookies were melt in your mouth fantastic with a rich, amazing buttery flavor I've never gotten out of a cookie back in the states.  I guess that butter is pretty amazing after all.  Putting the Crunchies in was absolutely brilliant.  The honeycomb bits had melted into sweet, chewy, almost toffee like bites, and the chocolate coating from the candy bar provided that little tang to compliment the amazing butter flavor.  WINNER!!!
I could hear the guys singing next door, so thought it would be nice to take them a plate of warm cookies. I went over and knocked. Nothing. The music was so loud I was sure they couldn't hear me. I stood there for a minute listening. They were actually quite good. I banged on the door again. The music stopped, and one of them came and opened it. He had a beer bottle in his hand, a mop of blond hair, and was pretty tipsy. He said hello and stared at me. 

I could hear the guys singing next door, so thought it would be nice to take them a plate of warm cookies.  I went over and knocked.  Nothing.  The music was so loud I was sure they couldn't hear me.  I stood there for a minute listening. They were actually quite good.  I banged on the door again.  The music stopped, and one of them came and opened it.  He had a beer bottle in his hand, a mop of blond hair, and was pretty tipsy.  He said hello and stared at me. 
"It sounds like you guys are having fun!"  I said.
He looked confused.  "We aren't botherin anything are we?"
"No, not at all."  I handed him the plate of cookies, which he took, but still with that confused look on his face.
"What are these fer?"
"I just baked a batch and thought you guys might like some."
"Well thank you."  Still confused...
"You're welcome" I said, turning to go back into my apartment door.  Their door started to close, and then another guy came back and opened it.  This one was wearing beach shorts, no shirt, aviator glasses, and also had a beer in his hand.  It was OK that his shirt was off, let's just say.
He looked at me, now going into my apartment door, and said:
"Do ye have a boyfriend?"
I turned, my hand on the nob, "No".
"Do ye want one?"
I laughed, "I think I'm fine for the moment".
"All right" he said disappointed.

I went back into my apartment shaking my head and smiling.

Since the cookies had been such a success, I started on my raspberry almond bars.  The office would be happy to have the goodies on Monday, and I could start my test group to determine if there really was a market for my particular taste for desserts.  When the bars were in the oven,  I made a massive pot of veggie soup, had some lunch, and plopped down on the couch to watch
Grease, as it was playing on TV.  They have a great old American movies channel here.  I dozed off and woke up an hour or so later.  I decided I was ready for another walk, so off I went towards the City Center.

 

As I walked, I remembered a couple people had told me about must-do pub crawls in Dublin, and I had been meaning to do one for a while.  What better night than this gorgeous summer evening!  I remembered that the crawls started around 7, which was perfect because it would take me a half hour to walk to the pub anyway.  I looked up directions to the one I wanted, and an hour later I was sitting with an ice cold beer, listening to wonderful live Irish music, loving life.