Tayto Fun

We (sans Lisa) went to Tayto theme park today. It was fun. I'll let some pictures do the explaining.

Donore is Literally Nowhere.

Lisa found this cute little town called Donore very close to the Newgrange world heritage site. In that town, she found a delightful Airbnb called the Old Dispensary. Delightful is an understatement. Donore is simple, small and quiet. This is exactly what I needed. Unfortunately, I'll only be here for one evening before I do a quick two-day trip home for some board meetings.

In the mean time, I will reflect on driving nearly 1600km in our van over the last 5 days, crossing all of Ireland twice. I will marvel that in this tiny little village, there is a brasserie next door that has superbly delicious food.

I will lose myself in a goat cheese salad that is simply divine and be disappointed that beef in Ireland isn't what I'd call steak-quality. First the cheese. If there's one thing the Irish do well (other than drink), it's dairy. Milk, butter and cheese (specifically simple sheep and goat cheeses). I have been and continue to be a huge fan of goat cheese and I've found that the goat cheese here in Ireland is a cortisol vortex tunnel. Creamy bite after creamy bite delivers one slowly and patiently to ecstasy. If you aren't a fan of goat cheese, I'll only say simply that your palate is busted; get it fixed. Some of life's greatest joys are warm goat cheese with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a fried goat cheese croquette.

Now, back to the delicate subject of the beef here. This might not make more Irish friends, but I call 'em like I see 'em. The beef here in Ireland is certainly of excellent quality, but the taste of the meat itself suits itself poorly for light seasoning and direct flame. There is a dull flavor to the meat here and it lacks that sharper taste of minerals that beef from America provides.

I know my meat and I'll take a U.S.A. cattle over this. Or to put it differently, I shall tilt more directly at Irish specialties: stew, fried foods and a variety of delicious seafood dishes including fisherman's pie.

From the Other Side of the Atlantic

Our first or second day here in Kerry, we tried to point to where on (below) the horizon home was. Next someone made comparisons between how Kerry's Atlantic feel compares to Cape Cod's. The comparisons were interesting with many similarities. While Ireland is significantly higher in latitude than Massachusetts, the share much of the same feel... better sunsets here.

Facing the ocean we get the same humidity, the same smell, the same types of little sail boats and quite a bit of the same attitude. Facing inland, however, couldn't be more different. The wholly inconsistent weather with far-too-regular rain and down-right-cold summer days result in a culture that drinks more and is, in my humble opinion, more optimistic than their American Atlantic-coast counterparts. Hospitality runs deep and good nature runs deeper here. The lush green and the heavy drinking combined with the small-community feel makes me think I might just be able to live here quite happily. The weather would pose problems, but I feel I could get used to it over time.