Traveling: Blarney Castle, Cobh, and Cork, Ireland

Posted on January 15, 2016 by E.M.

Travelling back South, on our way to Cobh, we stopped at Blarney Castle to kiss the famous stone. According to legend, kissing the bottom of this limestone slab gives you the give of eloquent speech. The castle and its gardens, such as the one dedicated to poisonous plants, are beautiful and you first walk up several flights of stairs, stopping at the different areas of the castle, and then up on top there is a guard that helps you lay down to kiss the stone. Yes, a little gross, but hopefully I didn’t get sick! Not sure if I did get the gift of gab since it’s been taking me so long to share all my Ireland adventures…

Blarney Castle

Kissing the Blarney Stone

: Blarney Castle

: Blarney Castle

: Blarney Castle

: Kissing the Blarney Stone

: Kissing the Blarney Stone

: Poison Garden

: Poison Garden

: Blarney Castle

: Blarney Castle Gardens

: Rock Garden

We then spent the afternoon exploring Cobh, a port town very important in history: it was from here that Annie Moore, the first immigrant to arrive at Ellis Island in New York, left from. It was also the Titanic’s last port of call before it sank. Cobh is not that picturesque, but it does have charming hilly streets leading to Colman’s Cathedral.

Statue of Annie Moore

Cobh

Colman’s Cathedral

St. Colman’s Cathedral

Huge jar of Nutella!

Cobh’s History

Cork City was a lot more cosmopolitan. Well, it is the second largest city in Ireland! The River Lee divides the city in half and the bridges are very pretty. There is an unimpressive English Market and lots of shopping, but Cork is well known for its restaurants. We had a beer tasting at Rising Sons Brewery where I actually learned a lot and by the end of it I could tell the difference between a Belgian beer (cloudy, unfiltered) and an IPA (more hops to preserve, bitter).

Cork City

The next day I did go for a run! From my hostel to St. Finbarre Church, only to arrive their and not be able to enter because I didn’t have any money for a “donation”. But the outside was pretty and the run along the river was well worth it!

Cork City

Rising Sons Brewery

Making beer

Rising Sons Brewery

Cork City

English Markets

St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral

Traveling: Ring of Kerry, Ireland

Posted on September 25, 2015 by E.M.

From Killarney, another famous coastal drive is the Ring of Kerry. Supposedly the views are better than the Slea Head Drive in Dingle Peninsula, but we wouldn’t know because the day was covered in fog.

Fog

We stopped in lots of small towns: Killorglin, where they have the Puck festival that celebrates a goat as king, Cahersiveen, that has the Old Barracks Heritage Center (Michael Collin’s Museum), Waterville, where Charlie Chaplin used to vacation, Caherdaniel, which is a tiny beach town and hometown of Daniel O’Connell, Sneem, where Charles de Gaulle vacationed, Macroom, Michael Collin’s ambush place, and many viewpoints that were covered in rain, fog, or mist throughout the day.

King Puck Festival

Ring of Kerry

Old Barracks

Caherciveen

Caherciveen – Old Barracks Museum

Waterville

Waterville buffet

Fish Chowder and Soda Bread

Ring of Kerry

Caherdaniel

Ring of Kerry

Sneem – Charles de Gaulle

Sneem

Irish Cheese

Sneem

Sneem treats

Fog

Ring of Kerry

Macroom

The best thing of the afternoon was actually the chowder and soda bread I had while waiting for the rain to pass, but finally, towards the end of the supposedly scenic drive, the fog dissipated and left us with the beautiful views of Killarney’s Lakes from Moll’s Gap and Ladies’ View.

Ladies’ View

Killarney Lakes

Bagpipe

The group

Wild red deer

Traveling: Killarney, Ireland

Posted on September 25, 2015 by E.M.

After being in small villages for the past few days, I enjoyed my time in Killarney, in County Kerry. Although it still only had 14,000 people, it had some neat attractions: St. Mary’s church (19th century), Killarney National Park (25,000 acres), and a lively nightlife (it has the most hotel beds in Ireland after Dublin).

Ross Castle

The town has a beautiful national park with lakes and the only wild red deer herd left in Ireland. One day I walked the many trails and the other I jogged for 6 miles. So happy I was able to keep running while on vacation. All thanks to the long summer days (although it felt more like winter since it was always so cold). Killarney National Park also has castle in the middle of it: Ross castle, from the 15^th century. The tower house is impressive, but unfortunately you can only go into the rooms with guided tours.

St. Marys” Church

St. Marys Church

Killarney National Park

Ross Castle

Killarney National Park

St. Marys Church

Killarney National Park

Wild red deer

Killarney National Park

Wild red deer

Killarney National Park was the first national park of Ireland and has many more attractions, some of them only accessible by boat. There is also Muckross House (again… guided tour, so I didn’t have time to go in) and Torc Waterfall, which is a pretty landmark in the national park’s many trails.

Killarney National Park

Torc Waterfall

Downtown feels very international with all the flags on main street, but the pubs are very Irish – live music was everywhere and people were partying and having fun. “The Grand” was the pub of choice for our group every night.

Main Street

The Grand

Traveling: Slea Head Drive and Dingle, Ireland

Posted on September 24, 2015 by E.M.

It was a beautiful day for a drive around the Wild Atlantic Way! Slea Head is a circular drive around Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry. The drive is pretty scary since the road is very narrow, but on a nice day, the views are spectacular.

Slea Head Drive

We stopped along the coast to visit some Beehive Huts, small little stone houses built by hermit monks probably in the 12^th century. From the road, you can view Slea Head, and the Skellig and Blasket Islands. We went on a short hike and rubbed our butts on a fertility stone for good luck and stopped by a couple of beaches, including Coumeenole where the movies “Ryan’s Daughter” and “Far and Away” where filmed as well as Inch Beach with its spectacular 7 miles of sand. Although some people were swimming and taking surfing lessons, I just enjoyed the scenery. The cliffs of this westernmost part of Europe are unbelievable!

Slea Head Drive

Beehive Huts

Slea Head Drive

Beehive Huts

Slea Head Drive

Skellig and Blasket Islands

Slea Head Drive

Coumeenole Beach

Slea Head Drive

Coumeenole Beach

Fertility Stone

Dingle Peninsula

Coumeenole Beach

Inch Beach

The small fishing town of Dingle is also very cute. It was very lively with families eager to see the mascot dolphin Fungie who sometimes show up at the bay. After exploring the many shops, I enjoyed a lunch at “Out of the Blue”, a seafood-only restaurant that has a changing menu everyday. I tried their oyster and a potato crusted Pollock with a glass of wine. Delicious! For dessert, I stopped at Murphy’s for the creamiest of ice creams.

Out of the Blue Restaurant

Fungie the Dolphin

Dingle

Bathroom sign in Gaelic

Out of the Blue Restaurant

Oyster

Potato-crusted Pollock

Murphy’s ice cream

Traveling: Rock of Dunamase, Adare, and Annascaul, Ireland

Posted on September 23, 2015 by E.M.

After leaving Dublin, we were off to the quintessential Irish countryside, which included ruins of a medieval castle, 360 degrees of green, and rain.

Rock of Dunamase

Rock of Dunamase is a small hill in the plains of County Laois, that has the ruins of a castle from the year 800. The views from the top are really pretty as the plains are green and the sky is misty, giving it an ethereal feeling. Although it’s mostly a ruin, the castle still has some of the walls and windows standing, so we can engage our imagination and think of all the fairy tales that could’ve taken place there – but it was most likely the site of many invasions too…

Ireland Countryside

Rock of Dunamase

Ireland Countryside

Rock of Dunamase

Our next stop was at the little town of Adare in County Limerick. It is a super neat village that has won the title of “Ireland’s Tidiest Town” in the past. There is a main street with craft stores and thatched roof houses as well as a nice park nearby. While walking along the river trying to get to another medieval castle, I was able to visit three different monasteries: Augustinian Priory (1316), Franciscan Abbey (1464), and Trinitarian Abbey (1230). Each one was very cute and well taken care of, but I was never able to get to Desmond Castle as halfway there I learned you can only go in with a guided tour.

Adare Castle

Adare

Making our way to the Dingle Peninsula, we spend the night in Annascaul. Our bus driver said there was absolutely nothing in this town of less than 300 people so we better just stay in our hostel and the pub next door and drink. That’s what most people did: bad bar food and more Guinness. But there was still light out at 9 pm, so I went on a jog – I soon found out Annascaul was much more interesting than anticipated. There are TONS of walking trails since the Dingle Peninsula is famous for its coastline hikes. There are several pubs and restaurants, so one didn’t have to eat bad pub food. And Annascaul is the birthplace of Tom Crean, the South-Pole explorer! There is even a rock from Antarctica on display and a pub called The South Pole Inn that used to be managed by Crean himself. Having just visited Antarctica earlier in the year, I felt Annascaul deserved more credit. Oh, and the sheep – there were sheep everywhere!

Sheep in Annascaul

Annascaul

Annascaul South Pole Inn

Annascaul Walking Trails

Antarctica Rock

Tom Crean Statue

Annascaul Walking Trails

Annascaul

Annascaul Hostel

Bad pub food in Annascaul

Annascaul Hostel

Annascaul

Annascaul Hostel

Running, Eating, and Traveling: Dublin, Ireland

Posted on September 8, 2015 by E.M.

And my big summer trip was… Ireland! It was a last minute trip as I had first planned on going to Mexico to save money, but then I couldn’t find a travel partner and drinking at an all-inclusive resort by yourself is not that appealing, so on 4^th of July I changed my plans and bought a flight to Ireland for pretty much the next day. I just figured that since I will have an Irish last name next year then I should get to know my future kids’ roots. Although the last minute flight was pretty expensive, I found a bus tour and hostels for the whole 2 weeks I was there and the trip ended up being very affordable.

: Liffey River

: Trinity College

: Dublin Castle’s Library

My first stop was at the capital Dublin. I arrived at the airport and took a bus that dropped me off downtown near this big silver spire called The Monument of Light. I knew my hostel was somewhere in the vicinity and I did have a map, but I am just horrible with directions, so all I did was walk around towards one direction and, just by luck, I found my hostel a couple of blocks away. I hadn’t stayed in a dorm for over 10 years, but as soon as I got to my room, my roommates were super nice. They were all a little older and staying in Dublin for a couple of weeks to learn English. Since I was off to explore the city right away, I didn’t see them again… until that night when everyone was snoring…

: My hostel

: Spire of Dublin / Monument of Light

: Spire of Dublin / Monument of Light

As I mentioned, a map on my hands is not much help, so I just walked and walked in Dublin until I got somewhere. Luckily, there are street signs everywhere, so first I found the Liffey river and all its bridges. The most famous one was Ha’penny Bridge. Then walking past O’Connell Street there was the compelling Famine Memorial and a replica of a famine ship that took Irish immigrants to the US. My goal now was to get to Trinity College since that’s where the Book of Kells is and that was the only thing in my must-see list of Dublin. Trying to find my way there, I walked a lot and passed St. Andrew Catholic Church, but I finally made it.

Liffey River

Ha’penny Bridge

O’Connell

Famine Memorial

Famine Ship

Street Signs in Irish and English

Trinity College, Ireland’s oldest university founded in 1592, is right downtown, but has a nice open campus. Its Old Library has over 5 million books and you can visit part of it any day if you are prepared to stand in line. It’s definitely worth it since the main room is beautiful with books from top to bottom and moving stairs. The most important document in the library is the Book of Kells. An illuminated manuscript written in Latin, it has the first four Gospels of the New Testament. Since it’s believed to have been made in Ireland in 800 A.D., it is a national treasure and very important to Christians. It comprises of almost 400 folios, but only 2 of them are displayed at a time to visitors. The pages were beautiful: the calligraphy work and the drawings were very well preserved for such an old book.

Trinity College

The Book of Kells – No photos permited

Old Library

My walking tour of Dublin continued and I passed Grafton St. and its many shops and street artists, and the parks Merrion Square and St. Stephen’s Green. I tried stopping at a 5 star restaurant to have lunch, but the hostess looked at me and said “Sorry, we’re closed for lunch today”… As I walked away, I saw some people seated. Maybe it was just because I was all sweaty and in yoga pants instead of being dressed up for a 5 star place? Luckily, Merrion Square was having some festivities and I had a burger from one of the food stalls. I then walked to the free National Gallery of Ireland to take a quick peak at the impressionist artwork they have there.

Grafton St.

Street Performers on Grafton St.

St. Stephen’s Green

Merrion Park

Burgers

Restaurant that refused me!

National Gallery

National Gallery Art Museum

Cool Irish Doors

My next stop was Dublin castle and its medieval surroundings dating from 1169. Really cool to have a medieval castle in the middle of the city, but inside there are 18^th century decorations since it has been the seat of the parliament for many years. The Chester Beatty Library is on its grounds, but I had to leave it for the next time I’m in Dublin as I had more medieval buildings to visit. Christ Church Cathedral was founded in 1030 and it’s absolutely impressive. The crypt is also very interesting with all the historical artifacts, such as a Magna Carta, the burial place of invader Strongbow and a mummified cat and rat. The last church I visited was St. Patrick’s Cathedral from 1191, which was also very beautiful. It still has the well used by St. Patrick to baptize his followers.

Dublin Castle’s Library

Dublin Castle

Dublin Castle’s Museum

Christ Church Cathedral

Strongbow’s burial sire

Christ Church Cathedral

Crypt of Christ Church Cathedral

Copy of the Magna Carta

Mummified cat and rat

St. Patrick Cathedral

St. Patrick’s Well

On my way back to the hostel, I found, by chance of course, the Temple Bar area. Lots and lots of pubs and live music, but since I’m not a beer fan, I just strolled the streets and watched the street performers. All was very lively! Although I had gotten back to the hostel at almost 10 p.m., I decided to add a run to my itinerary since it was summer and the sun was still out! I jogged for a few miles all the way to Phoenix Park on the other side of town. The sun was setting but the huge city park was still had some people walking their dogs. When I looked at my pedometer, it said I had walked for 14 hours, over 40,000 steps, and 16 miles! Well, I think I covered Dublin very well by foot on my first day there!

Temple Bar

Temple Bar Live Music

Phoenix Park

The next morning I met my tour mates and we took a bus tour of the city. It only lasted a few minutes and that’s when I realized Dublin is really small and that the only reason I walked so much the day before was because I kept getting lost! As a group we went to Guinness Storehouse, which besides a factory for the famous beer, it is also a high-tech museum. We watched them make beer, all the way from choosing the ingredients to bottling, shipping, and advertising. We had smell and taste samples and spent hours learning. Who knew a beer museum could be so entertaining! The last floor is where Gravity Bar is and had a 360 degree view of Dublin – that’s where I sipped on my one and only pint of Guinness for my Irish trip. I knew my trip was off to a good start!

: Guinness Storehouse

: Guinness Storehouse

: Guinness Storehouse

: Guinness Storehouse

: Guinness Storehouse

: Guinness Barrels

: Guinness Chips!

: Smell tasting

: Mini taste of Guinness

: Biking Fish Guinness Ad

: Guinness Oyster Ad

: Gravity Bar at Guinness Storehouse

: Pouring a Guinness

: View of Dublin from Gravity Bar

: Drinking Guinness with a view of Dublin

My last night in Dublin was devoted to eating. Not that Ireland is known for gourmet food, but I felt I had to try a Guinness stew and an Irish coffee, so I chose one of the many pubs with live Irish music to enjoy some dinner. The stew was okay and the coffee wasn’t very good since I don’t really like coffee, but I devoured the soda bread! The music, however, was top-notch.

Irish Coffee: Whisky and Coffee

Soda Bread

Guinness Stew

Live Irish Music

Running, Eating, and Traveling: Bay Area, CA

Posted on July 10, 2015 by E.M.

The fiance and I went to the Bay Area in June to see some friends. First we stopped by to see my friend J. who lives in El Cerrito. We had lunch at Bistro 1491 where I had a salad with duck comfit. Then we went for a walk by the Richmond waterfront where the Rosie the Riveter Museum is located. Very interesting part of history: we learned about Richmond’s role in WWII. J. and A. have a beautiful garden with artichokes, pumpkins, carrots, kale, etc. We grilled burgers and some items from the garden and had a wonderful time with them. We finished the night watching Game of Thrones for the first time to see what the fuss is all about. I will have to watch a few more episodes to see if I really like it or not.

Duck Comfit from Bistro 1491

Rosie the Riveter

Richmond

Richmond Waterfront

Restaurant near Rosie the Riveter Museum

Bison Burger

J.’s garden

Artichockes

J. and A.

Then we were to off to San Francisco for a couple of days, but the first stop was at Emeryville’s Public Market – one of the fiance’s favorite places to eat because of all the different world foods. To keep my running going, we went to Golden Gate Park, but upon seeing Ocean Beach, I decided to run on Land’s End trail because of the amazing views of the Golden Gate Bridge. The fiance just chilled by the beach while I did my 6 miles. The best part of the trip was the food, of course. With my friends J. and J., we went to a French restaurant called Chez Maman. It was quite the feast: roasted garlic, cheese, fries, escargot, ratatouille, mussels, and lots of wine. The next day we stopped by Zachary’s Pizza to pick up a couple of Chicago style pies. I don’t think 6 miles was enough exercise for all that food!

Emeryville Food Market

Golden Gate Park

Ocean Beach

Land’s End

Land’s End Trail

Golden Gate Bridge

J. and J. at “Chez Maman”

Escargot

Roasted Garlic

Mussels

E. and D. at “Chez Maman”

Running: Spring 2015

Posted on July 10, 2015 by E.M.

After Antarctica, I actually took a few weeks off and didn’t exercise at all. But with all the eating going on, I had to get back into it and it has been pretty enjoyable. I started with 2-3 miles at a time and now I’m up to 6-7 miles at a time, running 4-5 days a week. That’s an average of 25 miles each week and I’m so proud of myself! Of course having summer’s off as a teacher helps a lot: I’m able to walk the dogs every day, go on my runs in the evening when the weather is cooler and I even got back to yoga classes and my yoga course, which included a Sanskrit workshop with Shanti Shanti.

Beautiful Clouds

Shanti Shanti

Downtown River

Slick and Parker in Tahoe

Mt. Rose Waterfall

Tahoe from Mt. Rose

Tahoe Sunset

Passing storm

Besides running on the trails by my house, I have been going to the Truckee river downtown and when it’s too hot in Reno I drive to Tahoe to enjoy a cooler run and the beach. One day I even took the dogs on a 6 mile walk/run by the beach, but the next day Parker couldn’t even walk. I have been taking them on 3 miles max now. Hopefully I’ll do more hikes with them, like the one to Mt. Rose waterfall. The weather has been a little too hot for my taste, but I’m not complaining about the sun and the beautiful clouds. Better hot than rainy (well, better for me at least, not for the drought in CA/NV…)

Eating: Baked Turkey Meatballs

Posted on July 9, 2015 by E.M.

My favorite recipe of the Spring was this super healthy turkey meatballs. It makes so many that you can use them for different things or even freeze them. Because of the fiancé, this recipe has no eggs, but with lots of veggies and no frying, it is healthy, easy, AND delicious!

Turkey Meatballs ready to be baked

Baked Turkey Meatballs

½ tablespoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 cup grated carrots

1 cup chopped onions

1 cup mixed greens

1 cup tomato sauce

1 lb ground turkey

1.5 cups bread crumbs

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix it with your hands. Make golf ball size meatballs and place them on a cookie sheet with tin foil. Bake them for 40 minutes. For a crispier outside, bake them at 425 degrees for the last 10 minutes.

You would never know there are 3 cups of veggies in here!

Makes 24 meatballs of 65 calories each.

Eating: Chicken Marsala

Posted on July 9, 2015 by E.M.

The fiancé bought mushrooms the other day and when I asked what I was supposed to do with them, he said “chicken Marsala”. When I looked it up, I was thinking he was crazy to give me such a difficult task, but when I tried to make it, it was actually not too bad and I even flambéed for the first time! He totally approved of my chicken Marsala, even though I used white wine and brandy instead of Marsala wine.

Chicken Marsala over Pasta

Chicken Marsala (adapted from Tyler Florence)

2 chicken breasts (about 1 lb, cut into cubes)

Flour (about ¼ cup)

Salt and Pepper

¼ cup olive oil

10 ounces crimini mushrooms, stemmed and halved

1 cup chopped onions

1 cup Marsala wine (or 1 cup white wine + 1 shot of brandy)

1 cup vegetable (or chicken) stock

2 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 tablespoon cornstarch

½ cup chopped parsley

Put the chicken breasts side by side on a cutting board and lay a piece of plastic wrap over them. Pound with a meat mallet until they are ¼ inch thick. Put some flour on a dish and season with salt and pepper.

Heat oil over medium heat in large skillet. Dredge both sides of chicken in the flour and fry them for 5 minutes on each side. Remove the chicken to another platter.

Lower the heat to medium and sauté the mushroom with the onions for 5 minutes. Pour the Marsala wine and tip the skillet a bit in order to flambé the wine and cook out the alcohol. Add vegetable stock and simmer for a couple of minutes. Stir in the butter and return chicken to the pan to reheat. If needed, add cornstarch or flour to thicken the sauce, but Marsala sauce can be runny. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley. Serve over pasta.

Makes 4 servings of 375 each (without pasta).

Restaurant worthy meal

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Run, eat, travel, and more

By E.M.

Author Archives: E.M.

Traveling: Blarney Castle, Cobh, and Cork, Ireland

Traveling: Ring of Kerry, Ireland

Traveling: Killarney, Ireland

Traveling: Slea Head Drive and Dingle, Ireland

Traveling: Rock of Dunamase, Adare, and Annascaul, Ireland

Running, Eating, and Traveling: Dublin, Ireland

Running, Eating, and Traveling: Bay Area, CA

Running: Spring 2015

Eating: Baked Turkey Meatballs

Eating: Chicken Marsala