Blech!

The ugliest car I have ever seen is parked in front of our house right now. I can only imagine the douchebag who owns this thing.

UPDATE! He drove away while I was posting this. He must be a mind reader.

Chocolate really is the Devil

My friend and her 3 year old daughter gave up chocolate for Lent. It was definitely a struggle for both of them and by day 3 the 3 year old was asking if it had be 40 days yet. There was a little calendar on their fridge giving little tips and verses to get them through Lent. On one particular day it asked how many times Satan tempted Jesus in the desert. We read the little story in the bible and talked about Jesus refusing to get caught up in the evil.

Then it happened.

The Devil arrived on their front doorstep, presenting himself (is Satan a guy?) as some delicious home made chocolate chip cookies, straight from America.

I watched the two of them dance around trying to decide what to do with these cookies, while the Devil just sat there, tempting them, decorated with green sprinkles. That Catholic guilt had a pretty strong hold! Should they save them until Sunday (this was Monday) when the priest said they could have a treat? Would they go stale by then? WWJD? Jesus might be sad. Jesus died on the cross for us, we should not eat chocolate.

In the end, it was a draw. The devil was able to tempt the 3 year old, but my friend would not fall. I reassured her that the cookies could go in the freezer and they could just pull them out individually on Sundays.

Don't blame me if I have to eat some chocolate. The Devil made me do it.

"It's not as good as it used to be."

Sadly, this is a phrase you hear in Dublin quite a bit these days. Just before Christmas, the Irish Times announced that our favorite brunch place was closing due to the high rent. Chatting with a friend about this she said that they used to frequent it for lunch as it was close to her office, but in the past few months "it's wasn't as good as it used to be." I offered to take a friend to one of her favorite restaurants for her birthday lunch and she opted to go somewhere else because "it's not as good as it used to be." There's a particular pub we like to go to and if we're eating a meal there I always get the chicken goujons because they made the best ones. The last time I had them they were gross (I made Wes confirm this) and definitely "not as good as they used to be". The one that makes me the most sad ever is when my friend told me she's done treating herself to a scone at Keogh's every Friday because "it's not as good as it used to be". They used to have the best scones in the city centre and I would always recommend it to visitors. Waaaahhhh!!!!

What the heck, Dublin!?? Reduce the rents for these places so they can stop scrimping on quality ingredients and still make a profit! I need to get my scone on!

In rare news, Boojum (the awesome burrito place) has passed on the savings from their suppliers to their customers and reduced the cost of a burrito by 50 cents! It's an Irish miracle!

Pretty sure Hollywood isn't making a movie about this Ireland!

Yeah, these events aren't going to make it into any travel guides.....

I was walking along Nassau Street and heard this parade before I saw it.

Why? They had a band and everyone was singing a song about 'Free the Weed'. Catchy, no? This article was printed in the Irish Times today, so it didn't take me long to make the connection.  Chalk head shops as one of those 'really strange things to find in a Catholic country.' Fortunately, my day-to-day is not affected by this bit of legislation. Now, if something were legislation to close Marks and Spencer's Food Hall, I may have to hit the streets in protest, singing a song about freeing Percy Pig!

Wes sent me this picture today. You may need to click on it to read it.

I didn't take this picture, and I don't know who did to properly acknowledge them.

This banner was hung up in front of the now propped up Anglo Irish Bank* as a way of thanking them for bankrupting the country. I thought for sure it was photo shopped, but he said this is the real deal and in fact it's been done in the past. Not sure if it's better to be listed as a 'Traitor' or a 'Waster'. It's definitely not good times when the leader of your country is in the 'Traitor' category! I'll never know though....I'm one of the heros (sic)!

*I highly recommend reading this Wikipedia entry. I know, I know, you can't trust the validity of Wikipedia, but this is pretty accurate and it does give you a good background as to what happened.

A good day? Yes, at least it was for me!

I decided to mix things up today and head over to a local coffee shop to drink some chai and read my book. I guess I got pretty into my book because I looked up to see a gard, chatting with two guys and a woman. Seems the one guy saw the other guy trying to steal from the woman's coat which had been hanging on the back of her chair. Where the guy found the gard? I have no idea. It was all very subdued, there was no yelling and the drama was minimal, so a little disappointing really. At one point the gard wanted to talk to the witness and asked the perp to stand there and wait...so he did. What kind of a criminal are you!? The highlight was definitely when the perp got handcuffed and the paddywagon came and picked him up. I just wish there had been more yelling. Oh well.

I managed to get all the ingredients I needed for dinner in ONE shop. This is a miracle.

Then I stopped in my favorite Asian shop to pick up some bamboo shoots, which was really just a front for perusing their soda section. They definitely have the best selection of American sodas - Mountain Dew, Cherry 7-Up, Root Beer, Cream Soda. I will occasionally treat myself to a cool beverage, which I realize makes me sound like I'm 80 years old. Today's choice??

I thought about getting a bigger bottle and some vanilla ice cream to make a root beer floats, but I wasn't interested in seeing my husband's head spin at this crazy idea. Plus, that might have been way too much excitement for one day. 

No shoveling for me...

I can just enjoy the pretty pictures from Mom and Dad!