Back in Bangor, Having More Adventures - In The Kitchen!

So this morning, for lunch/breakfast, I had two sausages, an egg, a handful of chopped mushroom, and a slice of that homemade no-yeast bread with honey (I broke down and got honey yesterday). Fry the sausage, no biggie. Sautee the mushrooms in with the sausage, no biggie. But when I try to cut up the sausage before adding the scrambled egg, OIL SPLATTERS EVERYWHERE!!!!!!! A few burns later, I had the sausage cut and the eggs in, and everything was fine. Everything got cooked all the way through, it was yummy and delicious. Adventure for the morning was over.

Then I had a craving for Pigs in a Blanket. Not really a craving for that in particular, I suppose, just a longing for food the way Mom cooks it. And I got really excited because, due to making bread yesterday, I had ALL the ingredients for making biscuit dough! All I needed were the hot dogs, and those shouldn't be too expensive! They weren't, in fact they are a lot cheaper here than State-side. So I made a trip to Morrison's, got potatoes for tomorrow, salt, and then I found the hot dogs...

Hot dogs come in a can.

I don't have a can opener.

So when I got back I asked Anna, my Warden, if she had a can opener.

She also doesn't have a can opener. BUT! She spent five days trapped in a snowed-in car with her brother, and she knows how to open a can with a really sharp knife! So I pulled out my utility knife, and she opened one of my hot dog cans for me. By the way, the Warden's pretty awesome.

Back on track with my Pigs in a Blanket plan, and I hit another rock in the road. I don't have measuring cups. Fortunately, I have done enough baking with Mom, and I can estimate using a mug, a spoon, and my palm! The biscuit dough was yummy and wonderful, and I'm fairly certain I ate half a biscuit worth of dough. It was then that I realized that I was getting flour all over my shirt. My BLACK shirt. And it was only then that I remembered that I had an apron. I have resolved to use it next time I bake or cook.

I finally had the Pigs in a Blanket baking. I cleaned up all the flour while they were in the oven. Then they came out, and they were hot, and fresh, and smelled sooooo good.

Canned hot dogs taste like Spam. It took a couple bites to realize it, but that's exactly what they taste like. Spam.

This is the first difference from home with which I have NOT been pleased. Scenery difference? Bring it on. Money difference? Sure. But when you mess with the hot dogs...

Anyway, it's clean-up and dishes time. Byes!

--Kae

Lost in Dublin

Yup. I got lost in Dublin. We went to St. Patrick's Cathedral on September 6th, beautiful place, I said a prayer there and bought a St. Patrick pendant, and then...no one else from my group was there. Not such a bad thing, as our director had said we were free after the cathedral, so I asked the curator person for directions to the Orthodox church in Dublin, figuring that I could visit that church as well.


...turns out, there's TWO Orthodox churches in Dublin. I got directions to both of them, the Romanian and the Russian. I headed out towards the Russian one, and I thought I was going the right way. I asked for further directions from several people, who didn't know where the church was. Then, I saw a green dome in the distance! A beautiful, sea-foam color! I immedietely went up to an old man sitting by the river and asked what the church was. He mumbled something quickly and pointed me towards the next bridge down, which would take me straight there.

Not the Orthodox church. Very pretty, though! Then I saw another church in the distance, and went towards THAT one! It was a smaller church, brick, with a stone and metal fence. Church of St. Kevin. Not the Orthodox church.

By then, I had no idea where I was, so I started walking in the direction of the river. Then I met another older man, and asked which direction the Millenium Spire was (that was one landmark that I knew for sure). He said, "Oh, yeah, O'Connell Street! Ye go down this road a ways, just keep goin' straight, it's quite the walk."

He was right. It was indeed quite the walk. I asked other people for directions along the way, to make sure that I was still going in the right direction. Finally, an hour and forty minutes later, I made it back to the hostel. Thanks to St. Patrick for his intercessions on my behalf, and thanks be to God for getting me home.

It's Guinness time.

--Kae

Ireland - day one

Yup. I'm in Ireland, another one of my ancestral countries. So far, so awesome! We took the ferry across from Holyhead, made jokes about "Irish ferries", and the ferry ride in itself was worth coming to the UK. I've realized that the reason I get travel-sick is because I can't feel the movement of actually going anywhere (big cars, big planes, big boats) but as long as it's bumpy, as long as I can feel the movement, I'm fine (smaller cars, trains, small planes, small boats. So, I stayed out on the deck the entire ride. It was windy. Sea spray was everywhere. My glasses got so covered in salt that I couldn't see. The deck rolled underneath me like a large animal turning in its sleep. Unless I was walking or grabbing the rail, I was on the brink of falling on my bum. I loved it.

When we got to Dublin, we check into our hostel. I love this hostel. The rooms are comfy, the beds are great, I slept like a rock last night, and in the morning, there's a free breakfast that tops any continental breakfast in any hotel. They practically force food on you - eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, beans, cereal, coffee, tea, bread, fruit, juice - great breakfast!

Dublin itself reminds me of Chicago, the big, busy streets, horns honking, shops everywhere, and large buildings of historic value. The night life is all down in the Temple Bar district, where I just might end up going tonight :)

I've been in the UK for almost a week now, and I still forget that I'm in the land of Top Gear - they drive on the other side of the road! And because they drive on the other side of the road, crossing streets is very different. A lot of things are different here. Different, but somehow not scary or strange. Just different.

I could live here.

Top o' the mornin' to ye!

Kae