A thousand words before lunch? Yum. Lunch.
In the last of this years seasonal lists, I am thinking about what I ate and drank this Christmas. A word of warning, this list may not be for the squeamish.
“I have been eating for 67 years and I haven’t got bored of it yet!” D. Murnane Christmas 2003
I am going to take the eating season starting in earnest from 4th of December
4th December
Clontarf Castle
Warm up lagers
Soup
Turkey and Ham
Dessert
Coffee
Guinness
Gin
Boogie Nights
Overall (out of 5): 2
Can’t remember all that much about the food, other then I ate it all. The turkey was that kind of wet turkey you get when you’re catering for 500. Expensive, I’m sure, but you have to factor in band. The evening moved into the surreal when some old, and I mean old, pervert at the bar started bemoaning the fact that in his day he could get a Hand job (or a rub down & toss as he said) in Dublin for £10.
7th December
Dunderry Lodge
Warm up Kir
Seafood platter
Peasant
Tiramisu
Wine
Coffee
Overall (out of 5): 4
What a nice place to have lunch. Seriously. The seafood platter was great, fresh and smoked salmon, tiger prawns and crab on a bed of lettuce, with a slightly tangy vinaigrette, followed by very gamey pheasant. Yum! The tiramisu was springy and light. All washed down with a St.Emilion. Coffee good too!
13th December
Milanos
Caesar Salad
Pizza Jalapeno
Beer (nazurro adzero?)
Milanos. The pizza express guys have been doing it a long time, and doing it well. No more to be said
Overall (out of 5): 4
17th December
Salamanca. Tapas.
Warm up lager
Pate
Hummus
Parma Ham
Olives
Calamari
Chorizo
Asparagus
Spicy potatoes
Deep fried monkfish
Chocolate muffin dessert
Vino
Coffee
Gin and tonic(s)
Guinness
Overall (out of five): 3
Hmm. The normally great Salamanca had a few flaws this time around. The antipaste (or whatever antepaste is in Spain) were great, delicious olives, hummus, ham and bread. I chose wisely on tapas, the chorizo, patatas and calamari all good. The asparagus, chosen by Glenn a touch overcooked, but nowhere near as overcooked as the fish. Eugh! Fish fritter. The desert was crunchy, heavy and horrible. Still, Salamanca lends itself to being sociable, and the waitress did offer to replace the dessert with any other off the menu. Expensive, and a few miscalculations on the menu.
19th December
Barcode
Some Starter
Turkey and ham
Some dessert
Coffee
Wine
Guinness
Lager
Baby Guinness
Smirnoff Ice
Gin
As you may notice this night wasn’t exactly about the food. When it did arrive it was horrible. Good night though.
Overall (out of five): 1
22nd December
Eden
Warm up Kir
Pan Fried Pheasant
Veal
Ice Cream
Cheese
Coffee
Wine
This place is great. Expensive. But Great. For the second time this December, good gamey pheasant, complimented by a good choice of red wine (Fleurie), the veal steak was huge, on a bed of creamy lentils, spinach and carrot, with baby roast potatoes. Perhaps not the perfect compliment to pheasant, but there you go. I felt like ice cream, so had it, and good it was. Just the cheese left, but I found room. Excellent, expensive but worth it
Overall (out of five): 5
24th December
Party
Mushroom volavents
Salmon volavents
Egg Sandwiches
Ham Sandwiches
Cocktail Sausages
Pizza
Sushi
Mulled Wine
Baked Cranberry and Brie
Yum. Good fun too. Won at table tennis.
Overall (out of five): n/a
25th December
Dinner at the In-Laws
Lobster
Turkey
Ham
Roast potatoes
Carrot and turnip mash
Sprouts with onion and chestnut
Pine nut stuffing
Cheese cake
Mince Pies
Trifle
Cheese
Coffee
Wine
First time at the In-Laws for dinner, I made the starter (didn’t have the boil the lobsters thank God). Lobster with tangerine on a bed of lettuce with a homemade mayonnaise and a small dripping of honey and mustard dressing. Yum. Turkey and Ham, well cooked for the first time this Christmas. Special mention for Sprouts. Cheese and dessert excellent. Wine - Wither hills for the lobster, a D’Arenburg Ironstone pressings for Turkey and a sweet muscadet for dessert. I enjoyed it so much I ate seconds of everything
Overall (out of five): 5
26th December
Still at the In-Laws
As above. Yum
27th December
Back to my folks
Pate
Dips
Spiced Ham
Roasted Parsnip
Red Cabbage
Roast Potoates
Meringues
Lemon Ice Cream
Trifle
Cheese & Port
Wine
Coffee
Thank God for Food. Just great. Special mention for the parsnip. Yum.
Overall (out of five): 5
28th December
Still at my folks
As above, but with Beef and horseradish.
Never, ever, eat beef without horseradish. Great.
Overall (out of five): 5
Well, Still eating. New Years Day promises to be the last of it, or maybe the first of it! Bon appetite!!
Wednesday, December 31, 2003
Presents, filthy lucre.
I like giving presents. Seriously. I really enjoy the thinking about, the buying, the giving. I also like the receiving. I am human.
So am I better giver or receiver? Here is a list of what I gave and received, in no particular order. I like everything here, spoiled brat.
Gave
1 x mp3 player
2 x Flaming lips CD’s “Ego tripping at the gates of hell”
1 x Clive Cussler novel “Trojan Odyessy”
1 x REM CD “Singles collection”
1 x Dave Matthews CD “Some Devil”
1 x Schott’s food and drink miscellany
1 x Michael Smith biography of Captain Oates “I am just going outside”
3 x D’Arenburg wines (1 x Dead Arm, 1 x Laughing Magpie, 1 x Footbolt)
1 x Joanne Harris book “Blackberry Wine”
1 x Tracy Chevalier book “The Lady and Unicorn”
1 x Hanging Bird Feeder
1 x Creature Comforts DVD
1 x Pat Shortt DVD “Live and a bit dangerous”
1 x Ambrose Bierce book “The Devil’s dictionary”
1 x The Human torch action figure
1 x Fargo Special edition DVD
1 x Bird Table
1 x Indoor plant
1 x Body shop smelly box
Received
1 x Jumper
1 x Decanter
1 x Bottle of Cloudy bay
1 x Egg Fridge
1 x Penguin Dictionary Set
1 x Pink Panther box set
1 x Lyrics Board game
1 x Saints or Sinners board game
1 x Cocktail kit
1 x Executive table football
1 x Do it yourself snowglobe
1 x Donation to Trocaire
2 x Bo Selecta DVD
I like giving presents. Seriously. I really enjoy the thinking about, the buying, the giving. I also like the receiving. I am human.
So am I better giver or receiver? Here is a list of what I gave and received, in no particular order. I like everything here, spoiled brat.
Gave
1 x mp3 player
2 x Flaming lips CD’s “Ego tripping at the gates of hell”
1 x Clive Cussler novel “Trojan Odyessy”
1 x REM CD “Singles collection”
1 x Dave Matthews CD “Some Devil”
1 x Schott’s food and drink miscellany
1 x Michael Smith biography of Captain Oates “I am just going outside”
3 x D’Arenburg wines (1 x Dead Arm, 1 x Laughing Magpie, 1 x Footbolt)
1 x Joanne Harris book “Blackberry Wine”
1 x Tracy Chevalier book “The Lady and Unicorn”
1 x Hanging Bird Feeder
1 x Creature Comforts DVD
1 x Pat Shortt DVD “Live and a bit dangerous”
1 x Ambrose Bierce book “The Devil’s dictionary”
1 x The Human torch action figure
1 x Fargo Special edition DVD
1 x Bird Table
1 x Indoor plant
1 x Body shop smelly box
Received
1 x Jumper
1 x Decanter
1 x Bottle of Cloudy bay
1 x Egg Fridge
1 x Penguin Dictionary Set
1 x Pink Panther box set
1 x Lyrics Board game
1 x Saints or Sinners board game
1 x Cocktail kit
1 x Executive table football
1 x Do it yourself snowglobe
1 x Donation to Trocaire
2 x Bo Selecta DVD
A Traditional list
What are my New Years Resolutions? Hmm. A list
1. Be on time for work
2. Learn how to tune a guitar (reasonable goals, reasonable goals)
3. Learn the words to the national anthem
4. Read more
5. Lose weight (16lbs)
6. Go to Cork more
7. Fart less in my cubicle
8. Blog more from home and less from work
9. Unless it’s NYE
10. Be proper Bo, I tell thee
11. Build or buy a house in the country
12. Get my wife driving
13. Fix my R/C plane
14. Learn how to fly an R/C plane
15. Tidy my desk
16. Drink more coffee
17. Drink less coke
18. Stop threatening Phil Coulter behind his back
19. Play more computer games
20. Clean my fish tank once a week
21. Buy more fish
22. BlueJack
23. Grow my hair again
24. Shave my beard at least once
25. Work harder
26. Love my wife and fight properly
27. Go to the dentist
28. Play more scrabble
29. Be happier
30. Be an ambassador for comic books
31. Watch Hellboy
32. Dress better
33. Laugh more
34. Go to the Listowel races
35. Swim in the sea
36. Save
37. Don’t do anything overtly life threatening except smoke
38. Give up the smoke
39. Start painting again
40. Get involved in pointless competition
41. Organise a “fantasy six nations”
42. Write 1 less introspective list
43. Wear shirts
44. Write a children’s book
45. Convince someone else to illustrate it
46. Write an adult fiction book (not that type of ‘adult fiction’)
47. Surf the net less
48. Unsubscribe from Usenet newsgroups
49. Write more, blog more
50. Live
What are my New Years Resolutions? Hmm. A list
1. Be on time for work
2. Learn how to tune a guitar (reasonable goals, reasonable goals)
3. Learn the words to the national anthem
4. Read more
5. Lose weight (16lbs)
6. Go to Cork more
7. Fart less in my cubicle
8. Blog more from home and less from work
9. Unless it’s NYE
10. Be proper Bo, I tell thee
11. Build or buy a house in the country
12. Get my wife driving
13. Fix my R/C plane
14. Learn how to fly an R/C plane
15. Tidy my desk
16. Drink more coffee
17. Drink less coke
18. Stop threatening Phil Coulter behind his back
19. Play more computer games
20. Clean my fish tank once a week
21. Buy more fish
22. BlueJack
23. Grow my hair again
24. Shave my beard at least once
25. Work harder
26. Love my wife and fight properly
27. Go to the dentist
28. Play more scrabble
29. Be happier
30. Be an ambassador for comic books
31. Watch Hellboy
32. Dress better
33. Laugh more
34. Go to the Listowel races
35. Swim in the sea
36. Save
37. Don’t do anything overtly life threatening except smoke
38. Give up the smoke
39. Start painting again
40. Get involved in pointless competition
41. Organise a “fantasy six nations”
42. Write 1 less introspective list
43. Wear shirts
44. Write a children’s book
45. Convince someone else to illustrate it
46. Write an adult fiction book (not that type of ‘adult fiction’)
47. Surf the net less
48. Unsubscribe from Usenet newsgroups
49. Write more, blog more
50. Live
New Years Eve, New Years Eve, Fuck and Bollocks.
December 31st 2003. Last day of this year. Whilst playing Trivial pursuits over Christmas I was asked what date Victorians celebrated the turn of the century on. Well fact lovers, it was the 1st January 1901. My wife, before reading the answer, said “They did it properly.” But in 2000 the masses spoke, and while the thoughts of going along with the great unwashed makes you want to go “No, no you’re wrong, fuck off! you dim fuckers!” There is something about the guy, you know the type, who sits in a room going on about the rest of the world that just doesn’t appeal to me. As it is, New Years Eve, was then, is now, and will continue forevermore to be shit. It is de facto the worst night of the year. But it is getting better. I think this is more to do with me, then the night itself. Over the last twenty eight years I have tried many ways to combat New Years Eve. I use the word combat because it is war. Feel free to try these NYE remedies, but bear in mind they only brought me limited success.
• 18 pints of Guinness
• Sex with the wrong women
• Waking up to find your best friend about to take a piss on you
• Getting stoned as a badger
• Walking around Dublin endlessly
• Trying too hard to have a good time
• Swimming in the north sea
I say things are getting better this year because I am working, and because I am working I cannot go to Lahinch Co.Clare and try too hard to have fun. So I am going home, to my wife, where I will sit and drink champagne. My brother may come over on his way home from work, that’ll be nice. My friends will be in Clare, probably not fucking, as they know each other far to well for any of that carry on, my eldest brother, sister and parents will be in Toad having dinner, and my other brother will be celebrating his wife’s birthday at home. I like the sound of this NYE. It speaks to me.
December 31st 2003. Last day of this year. Whilst playing Trivial pursuits over Christmas I was asked what date Victorians celebrated the turn of the century on. Well fact lovers, it was the 1st January 1901. My wife, before reading the answer, said “They did it properly.” But in 2000 the masses spoke, and while the thoughts of going along with the great unwashed makes you want to go “No, no you’re wrong, fuck off! you dim fuckers!” There is something about the guy, you know the type, who sits in a room going on about the rest of the world that just doesn’t appeal to me. As it is, New Years Eve, was then, is now, and will continue forevermore to be shit. It is de facto the worst night of the year. But it is getting better. I think this is more to do with me, then the night itself. Over the last twenty eight years I have tried many ways to combat New Years Eve. I use the word combat because it is war. Feel free to try these NYE remedies, but bear in mind they only brought me limited success.
• 18 pints of Guinness
• Sex with the wrong women
• Waking up to find your best friend about to take a piss on you
• Getting stoned as a badger
• Walking around Dublin endlessly
• Trying too hard to have a good time
• Swimming in the north sea
I say things are getting better this year because I am working, and because I am working I cannot go to Lahinch Co.Clare and try too hard to have fun. So I am going home, to my wife, where I will sit and drink champagne. My brother may come over on his way home from work, that’ll be nice. My friends will be in Clare, probably not fucking, as they know each other far to well for any of that carry on, my eldest brother, sister and parents will be in Toad having dinner, and my other brother will be celebrating his wife’s birthday at home. I like the sound of this NYE. It speaks to me.
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
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