En route to Belfast and back to Dublin

I have finally gone through enough of my photos to prepare the post on the first city I visited – Dublin. We arrived in Dublin on a Friday evening and basically only had time (and energy) for a quick meal and sleep… we spent way too long in Heathrow. The reason this post mentions Belfast is because I took a train there first thing on Saturday morning, to visit my family, and I didn’t really technically see Dublin until after I saw Belfast. 

The train voyage to Belfast was simply stunning. While it’s difficult (due to dirty train windows or rain or reflection) to capture a decent photo from the cab of a train, I managed to get this one that reflects well what it felt like to travel through the rural areas of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The landscape was beautiful and had an eerie feeling with the sun, mist, fog and shadows.

 

I chose this photo as one of two for the city of Dublin, Ireland because it seems really reflective of the economic situation in the country as a whole. It’s a topic we weren’t able to avoid, whether in the pubs or at the parliament while we were working. While the streets below (this was taken on Grafton Street) were bustling with shoppers, students and tourists, looking up at this sign reminds you that there is still a looming debt crisis in the country and finding a job seems like a pretty difficult challenge.  

I took this photo while walking through St. Stephen’s Green, a park in Dublin. The park itself was lovely and this bird is just the best! I chose this photo simply because I really enjoyed wandering the several parks in Dublin. They’re well-kept, with lots of birds and trees and places to sit and relax.

 

 

Aside from the above photos, the whole city of Dublin was absolutely fantastic and was probably one of my favourite of the trip. There’s plenty to look at and do, eat, drink, etc. The culture and people were also equally fantastic and the hospitality we received made being in the city a pleasure. It’s definitely on my list of places to re-visit. I’m not sure if everyone who’s been to Dublin finds this, but I found the food to be sooooo very delicious and of a great quality. Maybe I just had really good restaurant luck, but regardless, I’m very impressed.

Stay tuned for a post-city-photos-post on the best dress shop ever, found in Dublin!

Back in Canada and it’s awesome (but cold)

Well I made it back to Canada yesterday after an extremely long and tiring day in the air. I have to say, I’m glad to be home. I’m happy to be with my other half, have internet, a nice bathroom, my bed… and my kitchen, of course. I had planned to update my blog to cover some highlights from my trip, but that proved impossible with the extremely high cost of internet in the UK hotels in which I found myself and with the extremely unreliable internet in Italy. I was also a little bit too busy eating amazing food stuffs and drinking beer and wine. Mmmmmmm. Must. Get. Fresh. Mozzarella.

Anyway, I took more pictures on my trip that would probably be considered normal, so I’ve decided to do a few posts on my favourite photo from each of the cities I visited.

More to come soon!

I think I’ll go to Dublin tonight

Well, the time has FINALLY finally come. As some of you may, and perhaps many of you don’t, already know, I’m heading to Europe tonight. That obviously means that my blog will, for two weeks at least, be a void of baking. This might be a good chance for me to fill in that 40% of non-baking related posts that my blog is supposed to have.

Anyway, this is just to say that I’m going to try to do a few posts while I’m away for those who may be interested but may not be talking to me on the phone or web.

Any recommendations on things to eat/drink or places to visit would be very welcome! I’ll be going to Dublin, Edinburgh, Venice, Florence, and Rome. I’ve never been to Europe, so any of you who have should pass on some tips O_O

Only 10 more hours ’till take off!

Chocolate chip cookies with mini peanut butter cups

Chocolate chip cookies are an obvious classic, but everyone’s recipe tastes and looks different. I made some chocolate chip cookies this week – it’s been a while since I’ve been making so many cupcakes lately – and I added mini peanut butter cups, in addition to milk chocolate chips, for some extra special deliciousness. I usually try, as I should with all things being baked, to be extra careful with how long these cookies stay in the oven. As soon as you seen a golden brown around the edges, they are ready to take out! This is just my preference, though. My other half prefers cookies to be crumbly rather than chewy.

I also tried a few things different with this recipe. I used dark brown sugar, instead of light. And for the part that calls for vanilla extract, I used a 1:1 mixture of vanilla bean paste and vanilla extract.

I’m not sure what I’d classify as my favourite cookie, though. I do love peanut butter quite a bit… And I do love white chocolate…

Your favourite?