Facing those (writing) fears...

By popular vote (imploring of 2 friends), I have decided to keep the name. Whether I like it or not, it's me, and I still think it's catchy. But I have written a mission statement, which is different than the former mission statement of making this blog all about food and God. As much as my faith is important to me, trying to write about food and faith just isn't where I am anymore. Over the past two weeks, I've sat down so many times getting ready to write about what God's doing in my foodie life, and nothing came...so I promise to write in a way that is truly me, even if it means people don't agree, or don't like that I'm changing around the blog.

I don't see myself as selling out, just being true to myself...on that note, back to the reason for the blog, FOOD!

The past few weeks have provided SO many opportunities to write on a daily basis, and I'm sorry that I haven't. I don't know why I haven't...well if we're being honest here, yes I do...I worry that my food blog won't be good...."good" meaning entertaining, inspiring, encouraging, and above all, packed with foodstuff and stories that make people go "wow". I'm afraid that I'm not a good writer. I'm afraid I'm boring. I'm afraid people will read it and go, "Wow it's too bad she's not funnier/smarter/ (insert adjective here) in her writing". I'm afraid people will think because I'm an English major, I'm this awesome, intellectual, funny, witty writer. I'm afraid that it will be too much about my life and not as much about food. I'm afraid that my fears of what people think of me will take over, and I'll write with a certain person in mind (ie daily blogger who has the LIFE!) and I won't measure up...

So, I'm writing all those fears down, and publishing them on here, and putting them to rest. They're gone. Dead. Buried.

When I was at Palm Beach Atlantic University in FL (2005), before I transferred out, I took a great Creative Writing for Publication class. In the class we had to get serious about our writing, and actually send out submissions to literary reviews and magazines to try to get published. David Athey (phenomenal teacher) had us do this exercise where we took all of our rejection letters, passed them around the room, reading the responses as a group, then we all walked to the middle of the room and each threw a stack up into the air!!! It was so exhilirating and refreshing, and made us realize they didn't matter. What MATTERED, was that we get over the rejection and get writing again. Essentially, to let them fly out of our hands and out of our minds. And it worked. Soon, we were writing again and reading our words out loud, and sending out other batches of submissions. Some students were published; I'm still tossing up those rejection letters...

but it doesn't mean I'm going to quit writing. I love food, and I love writing. So I'm just going to stay true to myself and write about what I love. Eventually, I'll find my groove and my fears will disappear. They're still lingering, but the best way to get over those fears is to face them down.

Determined,
Shannon

New year, new name

Nope, I'm not getting married...I don't need a new name. I like mine just fine...but my BLOG does need a new name!

In 2007 I started http://www.andbemerry.blogspot.com/, based on my favorite Bible verse... eatdrinkandbemerry was already taken, so I settled on andbemerry. It was catchy. It was cute. But it's been 3 years. I'm not that cutesy person anymore. Last night one of my besties, Shirah, and I were talking on the phone and she asked if I had changed the name yet...noooo I say, ....hoping she would give me some inspired new foodie name, but she said "andbemerry is cute". Exactly. It's cute. But I don't wanna be cute. Cute isn't me. So my blog needs a new name.

After chewing on it for days and not coming up with anything "me", I took to my photo albums to glean some inspiration. I have a lot of pictures of drinks. I like taking pictures of cappucino. Just the look of a great big white mug of frothy cappucino sprinkled with freshly ground chocolate makes me smile (then go to Starbucks), so my blog should be named something that makes me and hopefully other people smile, right?

I like taking pictures of sweets, even though I wouldn't call myself a person with a sweet tooth. (I prefer salt) So over the years I have accrued quite a collection of bakery-item photographs.

I love cheese, of all kinds. Jarlesberg, Brie, Camembert, Saint Andre, Brillat-Savarin, and especially Port Salut...but do I want my blog to be all about cheese? Nah. Keep thinking, Shannon...

I love sitting in cafes, reading a good book like A Moveable Feast, and people watching. So my blog should also have that vibe. But still no ideas jumped out at me.

Then it hit me! My film collection! Surely I can find some inspiration there. Surely a title will just grab me by the cheeks. After casting aside Mystic Pizza and Big Night and Babette's Feast and Mostly Martha (all wonderful foodie films, by the way, and my favorites) ....VOILA!! It hit me, out of nowhere!!!

CANNOLI!!!!! It's one of my favorite foods to eat, photograph, and just admire. It's sweet, but satisfies my craving for cheese too. It's creamy and delicious, wrapped in a delicate pastry dough, and can be decked out with chocolate chips, nuts, you name it, for a unique flavor. I've always stopped to admire it in the bakery case of Italian bakeries before taste-testing then buying a 1/2 dozen to admire myself before eating whole. Licking your fingers after eating a cannoli may just be the greatest thing to do on earth. Yes, yes, yes, my blog must have the word "cannoli" in the title. Then WHAM!

Another revelation. The Godfather. Cannoli. You've Got Mail. Cannoli. A pattern is emerging. What is my favorite quote from The Godfather, so artistically injected into my favorite movie, You've Got Mail?

"LEAVE THE GUN, TAKE THE CANNOLI".... or for blog purposes....TAKE THE CANNOLI.

YES!!!! I love it. takethecannoli.blogspot.com. It's fresh, artsy, inspired by a great film, an amazing cheesy sweet I've always adored, tied to a fascinating culture I am inspired by (Italian). I could barely type the words into blogspot fast enough. I have a new blog name! 2010 is off to a great start, with a catchy new blog that surely everyone will read, and they'll all comment on how I'm so witty and splendidly creative. Take the cannoli! Inspired!

...Until I realize that there is already a http://www.takethecannoli.blogspot.com/. Noooo! How can it be? So I click on it and...it's not even about food! And it hasn't been updated since 2002! Even I can update more than that! What's more, there is no talk about cannoli in the one post "Taylor" has written, about being in some theatre production. Noooo. How can someone take an ingenious line and make it their blog name, taking away my perfect start to 2010? How?

Well, this is not the end of my search. Oh no. I WILL get that blog name. Even if I have to hunt "Taylor" down and hack into his blogspot account myself! I have posted a picture of cannoli I took a few years ago from Cafe Graffiti in Boston in the hopes that my e-mail will be gratefully received, and "Taylor" will be happy to relinquish his little spot on the internet so I might become a famous food blogger. Or at least a food blogger with that perfect name!

Stay tuned,
Shannon

Pizzeria Paradiso, take two

So on Tuesday Jeremy surprised me with the great news that he had Wednesday off! Do you know what this means? A day to explore Washington, DC. I mean, I explore it on my own fairly often, but it's always more fun with a companion...so Wednesday morning we headed out, with the first stop being the national monument. I've always wanted to see DC from above, and Jeremy had already seen it a couple years ago. So we took the metro in, and it was COLD! But nevertheless, I got my view of the White House, Capitol building, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, all the things I was excited about seeing...from like 550 feet above ground!!

After this, we were HUNGRY! Immediately, Dupont jumped into my head. I really like the area, and felt we had much more exploring to do. I really wasn't sure if I wanted pizza, but once we took the metro around for a while and finally got there (one stop farther than we wanted to go, oops) we were ravenous...and all Jeremy had to do was suggest Pizzeria Paradiso and bring back the fond memory of our first time there and I was sold. I had kind of wanted to check out some other places in the area, you know, try something new, but all I could think about was getting more serious about my food blog, and how you should really dine at a restaurant a couple times before writing about it...to get the full feel of the place. So with that in mind, and with Jeremy excited about some good pizza in his future, off we went. Again, we walked @ Dupont a couple times before we re-routed ourselves and realized we were walking in the opposite direction. We were on P Street, but headed toward the residential part, not where all the shops and restaurants were. So we turned around, walked through the little park and were on our way.

3:00 pm at Pizzeria Paradiso in mid-January was empty, except for a couple folks at the bar. Here are my notes:

Olives! Just as good as before, wish I could have more...they sure know how to get those taste buds all revved up for what's to come...

Drinks- for her, chianti classico 2003 that he ordered for me -great choice. dry, earthy, nice aftertaste
for him- delirium nocturnium beer, from belgium with hints of bananas and red wine! i took one sip but stuck with my wine

Wine still served in drinking glass, and beer served in a wine glass! huh? But I'm kind of liking drinking it this way. It's growing on me.

Appetizer- Crostino Formaggio di capra- which is: toasted homemade bread topped w/ goat cheese and prosciutto di parma for $6.95
Jeremy's reaction after one bite: "That's pretty serious." I think he likes....
Crunchy bread on outside but soft inside, great burst of basil and the prosciutto-goat cheese combo melts in your mouth.

Ambience: earth tones, firewood under hostess stand makes for a rustic feel.

Pizza special: The Little Italy- roasted broccoli rabe, tomato, hot sausage, mushroom, red pepper flakes
Not a huge fan of the broccoli rabe (pronounced "rob", thanks Jeremy or I would have called it "raybe" all day), but mushrooms paired with hot sausage was tasty. Spicy aftertaste. Like Atomica better

We'll have to head back there again for more of the different pizza combinations. Honestly though, each time we visited I left not wanting more of the pizza, but more of the olives!

Eat your pizza! (I ate mine)
Shannon

Pizzeria Paradiso (take one...early December 2009)

Happy 2010! I have relocated! Foodie greetings from Washington, DC!

In an effort to refurbish this blog and get it up and running again, posting more than 2 entries a year, I need blogging advice! What would make for a better blog? If you are a blogger, help! I need your input, so this can become more easily accessible, and a more entertaining read!

Now for the review: Pizzeria Paradiso, 2003 P Street, NW and at http://www.eatyourpizza.com/

This Dupont Circle pizza establishment is the perfect lunch or dinner after a day out gallavanting the city. My boyfriend, Jeremy, is a line cook, climbing those kitchen ranks, so a day off is much desired, and we're always on the lookout for a great restaurant (that is within our tight budgets)...enter Pizzeria Paradiso.

The first time we dined here was a Monday evening last December. We had spent the day touring the Smithsonian museums, and we were ready for some pizza! I had been carrying around a little DC travel guide since moving to the city, loaded with restaurants to explore, and had highlighted Pizzeria Paradiso namely because it is located in Dupont Circle, where I've always wanted to explore. So off we went. We took the metro from the Smithsonian/Mall area and easily found Dupont Circle, walked around the circle a couple times looking for the right direction of P Street, and found our place.

Straight out of my notes that early December evening:

Cute, quaint, and rustic. I love that they serve a mix of Greek olives in a little dish in place of bread, and I'm grooving on the eclectic crowd. The pizza place for DC hipsters? Roomy enough but not too large of a restaurant. Casual dress code. Bohemian-type servers (all sorts of piercings and tattoos ok here) with a slight air of arrogance...but it works.

Drinks-for her: Montepuciano red wine, for him: vodka martini, dirty

Wine served in a drinking glass!!!--ODD and I don't like it. Wish I could swirl it around and let it "breathe", as dad, J, always tells me to do. Umm, you definitely can't swirl wine in a drinking glass. It splashes and splooshes and it's just not the same. And turning it sideways...not happening. Not so sure about this...

Appetizer: Bruschetta--delicious, but not enough for $6.

Ordered the Atomica pizza (suggested from my little tour guide) which came with salami, mozzarella, tomatoes and what tasted like kalamata olives (website says they are black olives), and hot pepper flakes. First pizza came out looking burnt so we sent it back. Manager comes to table and says, "That's the way it comes" but we insisted he bring us out another pie. He was very polite. Jeremy was very polite too. I was not as polite, quipping, "My boyfriend works in the culinary profession" just to prove we knew good food, and when a pizza looks burnt, it probably tastes that way too. In retrospect, I shouldn't have thrown in that comment (Why do I do those sorts of things?), but the 2nd pizza was great.

Note: I don't usually send food back because of all those horror stories and e-mail forwards about what cooks do to your food (can we say Domino's???) when you send it back, but from my vantage point in the seating area I could watch like a hawk the cooks preparing our pie. No monkey business.

We will return.

***/*****
(Like I'm foodie enough to give stars!)

Next read: Pizzeria Paradiso, take 2
Shannon

I heart Saigon (Cafe)

The Saigon Cafe is truly great. It is located in a tucked-away-enough location so as to "hide" and stay small and quaint. It is family-owned, and they are pretty much the sweetest couple-with-son team in Charlottesville. It is directly behind Cville Coffee, so afterwards you can pop over for a quick espresso. And it's totally affordable! Tonight Linds and I dined out and our budgets are TIGHT. In this economy, splurging on dinner is just not ok. But Saigon is like the only Vietnamese in Cville so what are two hungry twenty somethings to do?

I cannot pronounce what I ordered and seeing as the kindly older gentleman chuckled as I tried in my oh-so-Americanized-wannabe-Vietnamese-accent to pronounce what I had, I will not bother here. But it involved beef. Broccoli. A rich, not-too-salty (but just enough) broth. Bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and that is it. Simple, and not overdone. Accompanied by fried rice...oh God take me now. And Tsingtao. Great beer from Qingdao, China. YUM. I even devoured Lin's extra fried rice portion. Real chopsticks, which shows they care. Humble atmosphere, a lot of Cville political folk and intellectual types, some UVA students (not the obnoxious ones though). I hope Cville doesn't discover this one. Just enough people so that it stays open in these rough times, but please let's not make it the trendy take-out place? Ugh that would be a crime.

Use your chopsticks,
Shannon

White Truffle Oil

So in an attempt to taste more exotic flavors in 2009 I used a Christmas gift card from Oil and Vinegar to purchase 1 deciliter of white truffle oil. Every town should have an Oil and Vinegar store! http://www.oilandvinegarusa.com/

No longer am I only a sampler of truffle oil. Oh no, now I am a buyer. Wut wut! It feels great. I have consumed more droplets of white truffle oil in the past 24 hours than I care to admit, but you know what? A new year calls for a celebration. I'm ushering in the New Year (9 days into it) with this tasty oil. Now if I can only work there part-time, I can maybe get the 30% discount and maybe have 20 little bottles of oils to experiment with. $14 per deciliter of white truffle oil may become economically impossible. On the other hand, it's Italy in a bottle. WORTH IT.

Anyone know of recipes using white truffle oil, just post them. So far I found one by Bobby Flay: Parmesan-Encrusted Portobello Mushrooms with White Truffle Oil.

Wishing there were more oil tastings in Virginia,
Shannon

New Year's Non-Resolutions

So it's the new year. 2009! Wow where have the years gone? Where have the pounds gone? I am happy to report I have lost 16 lbs and it feels good. I wasn't trying to lose, per se, but getting back in shape is good news all around. Getting to sleep by 1 am, drinking more water and less caffeine and ruling out coffee altogether (!!!) has not only made me lose some stomach baggage (too many Cool Ranch Doritos?), but I am also sleeping better. Sorry Starbucks. I still love your seasonal drinks (Grande Caramel Apple Spice, hold the whip)!

Unlike most New Year's seasons, I didn't write a list of "Resolutions" because if I do write out that list, they never come true. That's the one to-do list that never gets accomplished the way I would have liked it to. So, this year, no expectations. My mantra is "just do it". (Okay so picking up running again might have inspired a Nike quote or two.)

This year I have written a list of "foodie" goals. So far all I have is: be more creative with recipes. Meaning: use more items in the pantry until they are gone, instead of spending crazy money on groceries each month. This doesn't mean you have to scrimp on GREAT food.

For example, when you get Christmas money, don't spend it on clothing, spend it on FOOD!!! Good food. Delicious oils and vinegars and fruits and vegetables and herbs and spices.

Plant an herb garden. You can whip up anything with the right ingredients as long as they are fresh and non-processed!

Drink more water. At least 8 glasses a day, but try for more. I try for 10, and last year at this time, I was an avid Coke drinker. But after drinking so much water every day, you really do lose the taste for sugar! Every now and again I'll have a Coke with say pizza, but try to cut down by 1/2. Worked for me! (Tip: Add a lemon, lime, or orange wedge to your glass of water and it is more flavorful and fresh but still healthy...or do what one of my babysitting charges used to have me do...the only way she'd drink water would be with a black cherry dropped in first!)

Oops, I guess I do have a couple "resolutions".

Eat less processed food and less fast-food. Not to be confused with NO fast food. That's setting yourself up for failure... Because if you forbid yourself from driving through the McDonald's line, one day you just might cheat and drive through for a quick Coke to wet the whistle and end up ordering 2 Big-n-Tasty's, a large fry with extra packets of ketchup, and a vanilla milkshake (personal story). Then you have broken your sworn vows to the health cookbooks and health food gods and fruits and nuts sitting on the countertop at home and you have to start all over. No, I don't really believe in health food gods. But I do believe your body is a temple!

So until next time, don't worry about letting yourself down this year. If you know you will not truly hold to your list of 65 resolutions, just have one and keep it. Or don't even "resolve" to do something differently. After all, it's a new year. You should WANT to live better.

Ok, off to have a couple bites of Ben & Jerry's Karamel Sutra. It's that time of the month, give me a break!

Shannon

Wow. Again, it's been way too long. I don't know much about blogging in particular, but I like it. I like throwing my thoughts on canvas. The canvas I refer to here is the www. I am avoiding writing my thesis paragraph and annotated bibliography for ENGL 487W Senior Seminar on The Sonnet. The topic I have chosen is, what else but the (sensual) role of food and drink in Edna St. Vincent Millay's (favorite poet) sonnet sequence "Fatal Interview". I do not want to do research right now for that paper. It is like pulling teeth! I have to eventually some time tonight, because tomorrow not only is this assignment due, but we have to bring in 15 copies for each student to read and dissect over the weekend! Right now, though, I have decided to take a study break. I am thumbing through the concordance of my Bible particularly looking up the words "eat" and "drink". I would like for this blog to be more focused on eating and drinking as relating to faith, rather than just a review of food and drink in society. Here are the references so far: Ps 69:21. Proverbs 31:5. Is 5:11. Is. 60:16. Is. 66:11. Amos 4:1. Matt 26:29. Matt 27:34. Matt 15:23 John 4:7 John 7:37 1 Cor 11:25. 1 Tim 5:23. Gen 2:16. Gen 3:17. Ezekiel 3:1. Matt 6:25. John 6:52. Romans 14:2. Romans 14:21. 1 Cor 8:13. 2 Thess 3:10.

Yesterday I ventured to The Fraser Street Deli and was quite impressed. My drink of choice was The New York Drink, a fountain soda with added flavor. I chose Pepsi with vanilla. It brought to mind middle school days in Hudson, Ohio and Saywell's, the old-tyme drugstore complete with Soda Fountain. Ah, fond memories. You just cannot find that around here, correct me if I am wrong.

But at The Fraser Street Deli in downtown State College, for less than $10 (not including tip) you can order from a smattering of sandwiches, cutely named after Penn State and State College "celebrities". My choice, the John Amaechi, heated, (you can order it hot or cold) is a delicious concoction of freshly sliced Boar's Head deli meats like salami, ham, etc, dressed with leaf lettuce, a slice of tomato and a dressing I will have to look up on their website for details (http://www.fraserstreetdeli.com/). My bread of choice: ciabatta roll, which has become popular in restaurants at least from what I have seen in the Centre County, PA region. Not only does The Corner Room serve up sandwiches both hot and cold on ciabatta rolls, but Arby's as well. And apparently, The Fraser Street Deli. With the exception of a faux plate made of hard plastic and a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos (my "splurge" snack), the presentation of the sandwich was fair. Presentation aside, the taste beats out Subway or my favorite sub shop of choice in Charlottesville, VA, Jersey Mike's (the latter of which they slice the meat fresh, right in front of you). Accompanied with a crisp kosher dill spear, the sandwich is one to try again.

I think next time, though, I may go with the Paul Posluszny.

As far as at home, with this senior paper and a French composition gobbling up most (well, all) of my time, I haven't ventured into the kitchen save to whip up a morning omelette or a quickie dinner: English muffin pizzas. What's a hungry English major to do?

Eat your veggies...
Shannon

I'm Back!

Ok so I have been the WORST blogger in history. It has been 233 days since my last post, which was only my 2nd blog post in history. Therefore, I was the WORST blogger in history. But not any more. I have decided, whether or not I have any foodie expeditions of interest to report such as restaurant cavorting, pub crawling or the like, I will nonetheless publish a DAILY blog (for myself and my own pride; I'm not sure anyone knows of or if they do, takes time to READ this humble blog).

The past 8 months of nonblog have been paltry and weak. I know there's more to life than that kind of previous "living". But because I am sitting in Webster's Cafe instead of my African American Oral Folk Tradition class, and because I have 2 more classes to come today, I must slurp up my fresh hot chocolate (no-whip, I'm trying to stay healthy!) and pick at the very bean-y cup of chili I ordered, even though I cannot swallow beans. Just have never been able to chew the grainy, starchy legume. I wish I could; I just wasted a beautiful cup of nourishment. Ah well.

Be blessed,
Shannon

Back from Ireland

Apologies for the delay in writing. School finished up in May, I headed off to Ireland in June to participate in a Penn State Study Abroad program in art and literature, and got back July 5. So much to update on! First off, the cuisine of Ireland...you really have to search for the good stuff. Ireland isn't the best country for foie gras or the perfect crabcake. I'm sure if I had about five thousand more Euros I could have dined to my heart's content at any place on the Liffey that struck my fancy, perhaps finding the ultimate in dining experiences in Dublin. But I'm a college student, loaded down with loans already, so I declined on that front. The thought of maxing out a credit card on a certain il pomo d'oro in Dublin crossed my mind more than once, well, more than ten times, but I don't own one. And that's a good thing.

First off, Galway. Galway is located on the North west coast of Ireland, on the ocean. The food is mostly pub grub. I've yet to encounter as many pubs as I did in Galway. Mostly fish and chips, but a fine selection of Irish stew and of course, Guinness. It's everywhere throughout the island. To the Irish, Guinness might as well be water. Our first night in Galway, our profs took us out to a place called Monroe's Tavern. It was near the water (Galway Bay?) and I ordered the Irish stew, a thick and hearty concoction of beef, Guinness, celery, carrots, onions and more potatoes than I could swallow. Paired with a pint of Guinness, it was more than enough food for one person. I believe bread accompanied the stew, to sop up the leftovers. The helping was too big for me, as I was chugging Guinness for the first time (I'm no beer afficionado) and my stomach just couldn't handle it all. What I found in Ireland was that the portions are always heaping, unless you're at a bistro or cafe in Dublin, where the sandwiches can be petite. And Dublin is VERY expensive. There are sections, like Parnell Square, where I could get 10 mandarin oranges and 10 kiwis for 2 euros total, but at Dunnes Stores near where we were staying, a couple kiwis were 3 euros. And forget about five course meals in Dublin, unless you are the restaurant critic for The New York Times... where they pay your way. I do not hold Frank Bruni's position...yet, so I treat myself to places like il pomo d'oro where I can order a Salmon with Martini Blanco and saffron sauce preceded by bruschetta and followed by tiramisu, with Merlot of course (my wine of choice, regardless of what the film Sideways said about it. I am forever a fan of Merlot) for a mere 30 euros. Now that was a course worth the splurge. Out with a friend, we were able to go halvsies on the bruschetta and nibble on each other's main courses and desserts. Not a bad idea when in Dublin.

Allihies food was nondescript. The people and the village were both charming. The locale was breathtaking, with gorgeous sunsets over the Atlantic at 10:30-11:00 pm, elongating the day for literary and artistic pursuits (namely, photography). O'Neill's, one of the three pubs in the village, and the only one serving food, dished up a subpar Open Crab Sandwich with coleslaw, salad and a pasta salad. I took two bites of the open crab sandwich, which consisted of shredded crabmeat with bits of cartilage over a piece of wet brown bread. I asked for worcestershire sauce, a favorite of mine over a crabcake sandwich at home, and the server languidly brought out a little tartar sauce-sized dish of it, half full. I doused the crab with the little bit of sauce which ended up sinking into the brown bread, which, combined with the already water-soaked bread from the crabmeat, mixed to be just...yuck. The crab wasn't fresh, despite the location of Allihies...right on the ocean. No other fish selections were on the menu and there were no specials. A disappointing crab dish for my craving.

Dublin food which I already went into a little, was the most appealing. Obviously for a large international city there is more variety. What stood out to me most about Dublin's food scene was the ethnicities that were represented. You cannot go 2 blocks without running smack into a kebab shop or an authentic Indian cuisine. Also, Italian and Chinese places abound. And there's always that fish and chips (cod and french fries, to me) dive almost everywhere in Dublin. Not a big fried food person myself I opted for the fresh fish either grilled or baked, like at il pomo d'oro.

Also in Dublin a friend and I (the same one who went to il pomo d'oro with me, Alex) checked out The Purty Kitchen located in the Temple Bar section of Dublin, 2 streets parallel from the Liffey. A huge disappointment, food and service wise. I was scouting out Dublin for good crabcake places, but not one person I asked in the grocery stores/department stores knew of one, so it was off to an internet cafe to research. 2 euros later, The Purty Kitchen seemed the only place that even served crabcakes within my budget. I was looking forward to this dinner all week. Alex and I had planned for 6 pm, but ended up getting there at 8. We had walked from Mercer Court where we were staying, about 30 minutes' walk from Temple Bar. I had even mentioned the restaurant to the art professor on our trip, and she and her family showed up, to my surprise. Sadly, the crabcakes that a food blog on the internet had recommended, were awful. The chef went pepper-happy on this 2-crabcake appetizer, there were bits of what I could only describe as shrapnel throughout the one crabcake I had, and the crab was so slaughtered that I could not taste the lump crabmeat that I love. What followed was a meal of crab claws, 5 of them, garlicky and tasty, but very difficult to get to. I felt like a surgeon, prying the crab out with my tongue and fork. When I asked for a pair of crab crackers (you know, the nutcracker-looking things), the server I tapped walking by briskly stated that she's seen difficulty in getting to the crabmeat in the past, but the restaurant didn't own any crab crackers, but she could bring out a toothpick. I said sure and she proceeded to the kitchen, where she emerged with a glorified foot long toothpick; she wasn't kidding on the toothpick bit. I tried nonetheless to free some meat from the claw, but succeeded more with the bottom end of my fork. After much sucking and prying and tongue action (ok get your head out of the gutter) the crabmeat emerged shred by shred, to my sadness. Ahhh, where can you get good lump crabmeat these days? Obviously not in Dublin.

Well, this post ended up longer than I anticipated. I am sounding so negative and cynical right now and food is meant to uplift so I'll close.

Keep cooking and be merry,
Shannon