Aer Lingus - An Airline to Be Proud Of

Last week I had to go to the UK.  As some of you know, I loathe and detest Ryanair.  The last time I tried to fly with them they annoyed me so much so I decided not to get on the plane. Instead, I bought a whole new ticket on Aer Lingus, taking me to the new Southend Airport (really lovely and so efficient), which was out of my way but it was a matter of principle.  

After that experience I decided I would never fly with Ryanair again, no matter what.  It came as a huge relief. I never have to get anxious again as I approach the airport, wondering what they might object to this time.  I understand all their rules but what bothers me is that they implement them randomly.  I went to the UK overnight once, with a carry on, which was perfectly fine on the way out but was objected to on the way back and I had to pay to put it in the hold.

Anyway, enough about Ryanair, or Ryan Devil Air, as my sister calls it.

All this meant I needed to find an alternative. I fly often to the UK to see my aunt who lives in Bedford, so Ryanair was the obvious choice as they fly into Luton.  I looked at Aer Lingus and decided to fly to Gatwick and take the direct train to Bedford. While this costs me a bit extra to fly and I have to pay more for the train and it takes a lot longer, my relief at not having to fly with Ryanair overwhelmed any qualms I had about the added expense.

This last trip served to convince me, if I wasn't already, that my choice was correct.  

I happened to sit beside a young man who turned out to be a pilot with Aer Lingus. His name is Keith Holland and he's 24.  We got talking and I told him about why I love Aer Lingus:

The staff are always friendly

You can carry a small piece of luggage AND a handbag on board. 

The seats are wider

The seatbelts are longer

They don't blare the loudspeakers trying to sell you stuff all the time

The colours are soothing

They don't toot their horns to tell you how wonderful they are when you land

They don't land like darts out of the sky

Etc.

He was really pleased I felt the way I did and told me that he had wanted to be a pilot since he was four when his uncle, who worked for Qantas, showed him around a 747.  He went through his pilot training in southern Spain and then applied for jobs all over the place.  Ryanair offered him a job but, luckily, before he accepted he went to see Aer Lingus and got through all the rounds of interviews and they offered him a job. Talk about being lucky!

What I loved about talking to Keith was his enthusiasm for not only his job but the company. He sang the praises of the CEO, Christoph Mueller, who he said had brought really good changes to the company, creating, for example, a five year plan.  He also spends time with the staff on the ground, listening to them and also finding out what he needs to know to do his job.  I was delighted to hear this because I believe that the way staff on the ground level behave is everything to do with how the people at the top behave.  The trickle down principle.  

As well as that, it was lovely to meet someone who absolutely adores his job. He said he is never tired of going to work, looks forward to getting up at the crack of dawn and enjoys every moment of it. 

I had a moment of envy that he knew since he was four that this was what he wanted to do and he managed to make it happen.  I wished I had been that focused so young.  It was inspiring to see his joy and enthusiasm and I expect he will continue on to a great career as a pilot.

For me, he epitomised why I love Aer Lingus and will continue to fly with them whenever it makes sense. 

More Lovely Surprises in Carlow - Duckett's Grove Craft Shop

Duckett's Grove

I have often cursed the dreadful state of road signage in Ireland and have two theories about it:

1. It's deliberately bad so you will be forced to stop and speak to a local to get directions, thus having real contact with the natives and getting the wonderfully colourful descriptions of how to get to where you want to go. 'Go for 5 miles down that road till you come to a tree on the left and turn there and go until you see a field with sheep in it and there you are'.

2. It's deliberately bad so you will get lost and discover something you'd never have found had you stayed on the road you were meant to.

I like the latter one better because it's how I came across Duckett's Grove by accident when I moved to Carlow last year and was looking for Brownshill Dolmen.  It was a fortuitous discovery as I have had many a great day there since. 

I will write more about Duckett's Grove and its fascinating history in another post.

This time I will tell you about the new craft shop and studios that have been set up there.

Waney Edge Bunbury Board

Twice a year, up till now, there has been a Craft Fair held at Duckett's Grove, in May and December. At the last fair, some carefully selected craftspeople also opened their studios for the first time. The new craft shop was also opened and features some really beautiful things, like the famous Bunbury Boards, gorgeous felted silk scarves and shawls by Nicola Brown, beautifully turned wooden bowls, delicate pottery in robin's egg blue and cream, divine hand knitted baby booties and much more.  It's a real treat to ogle it all and there are pieces there to fit any budget.

Nicola Brown stole

Yesterday, I bought two Bunbury Boards as gifts.  What I love about the Bunbury Boards is that you get an individual identification number so you can go on their website and see the history of the wood your board is made from and you can learn more about how they take care of their trees and husband them carefully.  They come in all sorts of sizes and shapes, ranging from €25.95 and upwards.

My friend who was with me bought two of Nicola Brown's gorgeous hand felted silk scarves, one in dark cerise for herself and one in lime green, as a birthday gift. At €40 each they are great value for something you can wear and enjoy for many years to come.

We went to see Nicola afterwards in her studio where she not only sells some of her products but also teaches felting classes.  I am so intrigued by the gorgeous things she makes that I have signed up for one of her classes this coming Saturday.  Watch out for a blog post about that too.

Walled Garden at Duckett's Grove

As well as the studios and the shop, there is also a lovely cafe, The Tea Rooms at Duckett's Grove,  serving sandwiches, cakes, biscuits and lovely coffees and teas. It has an outdoor seating area for when the weather permits.  After a nice bit of lunch you can wander through the walled garden, which is filled with gorgeous plants of all types. There is a further walled garden which was used as the kitchen garden for the house in former times.

Once you've seen the crafts area and enjoyed all there is offer there, it is well worth going for a wander around the grounds of the house.

Next time I'll tell you about the strange history of this house and the family that lived there.

Food Heaven & Hell

This is about food. I love writing about food. I suppose I am a 'foodie'. I like cooking it, eating it at home when I've cooked it and eating out, especially when I am abroad. You never know what treasures and new experiences you can come across.

This time it's about eating out in Ridgefield, Connecticut and JFK Airport in New York. 

I've been to Luc's Cafe in Ridgefield a few times. Always with my  cousin, Bill. It was his favourite place to bring people.  This time, I was there with all my other cousins, raising a toast to our beloved Bill who passed away in May. 

Luc's is always busy. It's become so popular that it's packed almost every night. And with good reason. Luc's, specialising in French food, was opened in 2001 by Herve Aussavis, who's from just outside Paris. The service is always good, although sometimes a bit slow when they are really busy. We don't mind that though because it's worth the wait.

A few of our party had the Dover Sole with Sauce Grenobloise. It comes with three choices but we always seem to opt for this one. Sauce Grenobloise is made with capers and white wine and adds a lovely acidity to the pan fried  fish. 

I had steak tartare, something I don't often see on menus. The last time I had it was in Brussels about ten years ago.  I usually prefer to get all the makings for it and mix it myself. You get it with a dip in the middle of the raw filet steak where an egg yolk sits and then you have the chopped capers, shallots, cognac and whatever else the chef deems suitable. In this case, it came ready prepared, which was OK too but I wasn't totally crazy about one of the ingredients, which I think was a sweet pickled gherkin.  Otherwise, it was delicious and came with crispy 'frites', proper French fries, in a little aluminium bucket and a delicious mixed green salad with the perfect French dressing. 

We all agree they should bottle that dressing.

Someone else had the baked salmon and declared it utterly delicious.  Another had the charcuterie plate, with saucisson sec, dried ham and other lovely meats with crunchy sourdough slices. All great quality food, well presented and well prepared.

We also had some lovely wine.  I ordered a Chablis, (sorry, I don't remember what it was!) which was as I said it would be: crisp, green, leafy and fresh.  They laughed about that!

Afterwards, some of us shared a small but divine chocolate mousse made with really good dark chocolate so it was rich and creamy. Heaven.  

Prices for main courses are about $25 and desserts $9.

As I was leaving from JFK to come back to Ireland, I decided to try out a place near the departure gate, called Buffalo Wild Wings. I love Buffalo Chicken Wings, with the tangy, spicy red sauce.  I generally don't like plane food so I thought this might be a good option.  I should have known the minute I went in that it wasn't going to be a great experience when the I noticed the music was so loud I was glad I didn't have anyone to talk to.  Why does it have to be quite so loud? I love music and it was good music for the venue but way, way too loud. Mind numbingly LOUD.

I ordered the chicken wings and the waitress asked me if I wanted them without bones! I thought this might be some novel thing whereby you didn't have to get your fingers covered in the sauce when you ate them but it turned out to be chicken breast meat, which I hate, covered in the kind of crunchy stuff you get at Kentucky Fried Chicken, which I also loathe.  The only good part was the tangy spicy sauce.  She also up-sold me a side salad, which was so awful I took one bite. It was mainly the dressing which was ghastly. Gloopy red sauce that was sweet and tasteless at the same time.  Once it was on the salad it was inedible.  

The only thing I really liked about the whole meal was the celery with blue cheese dip. I ate three pieces of the chicken and one bite of the salad.  I didn't have time to complain as I had to get on the plane so I just left it. 

What made it worse was it cost a lot too. 

$25 for the privilege of not eating horrible food.

If you do decide to ever go to one of these places, make sure you don't get persuaded to have the boneless wings. BIG MISTAKE.

Borris House and The Tea Rooms

Yesterday was the nicest day we've had in Ireland in a few weeks, at least along the Eastern side.  We decided to go exploring around Carlow and went off to Borris, a lovely, historic and picturesque town on the Kilkenny/Carlow border.

Our first stop was Borris House, the home since the middle ages of the McMurrough Kavanagh family whose ancestors were High Kings of Ireland.  Their lineage is extraordinary and if you'd like to know more, check it out here. 


We took the house tour given by Morgan McMurrough Kavanagh who was very informative about the house and its history. His most famous and interesting ancestor was Arthur McMurrough Kavanagh, who was born with stumps for arms and legs yet, due to his mother's insistence that he have a normal life, went on to do extraordinary things with his life. He spent a lot of time on his horse, in a specially designed saddle, as this was how he started getting around as a child.  Here's an article about him by the wonderful local historian and genealogist, Turtle Bunbury of Lisnavagh House (and Bunbury Board fame). If you don't know what Bunbury Boards are I highly recommend you check out that link.

Borris House is beautiful and well worth visiting. We spent quite a bit of time in the private chapel which is currently Church of Ireland but was Catholic to begin with. Apparently, the eldest son of the family would be brought up Protestant, so he could participate in all the rights of the British Crown, but the rest of the family were Catholic. Quite a complex history there.

The only thing we were disappointed by was that we did not get to go upstairs and see a bedroom and bathroom or two.  I really think they ought to add this to the tour as it seems to end abruptly and not as satisfactorily as I would have liked. For the €10 fee, I think they really ought to show a little more, although what they did show was really interesting. 

Borris House also hosts weddings and events.

Afterwards, we headed over to the new Tea Rooms, which are located beside The Step House, the most well known hotel and restaurant in the area and well worth going to.  The Tea Rooms opened at Easter and seem to be doing a bustling trade.  Run by a husband and wife from their home, they serve afternoon tea as well as other lunch and snacks items.  We ordered the afternoon tea and were served with beautifully made sandwiches, cut into fingers and with a wide variety of fillings like ham and mustard, egg salad and home made brown bread with delicious smoked trout pate sourced from the nearby Goatsbridge Trout Farm.

  

 There were homemade coffee and lemon cakes and delicious scones.  Each table is set with a different tea set, collected from markets and antique shops.  We got two large porcelain teapots with Assam tea (leaves of course!).  All in all we were delighted with it and at €24 for two people, we thought it was also good value. You don't need to eat again after that.  The only down side was one of the owners regaled us with disparaging tales of some of the people in the village. For all he knew, we could have been related to some of those people. It left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.

They don't take Laser or Credit cards so bring cash.  It's a lovely place, very clean and well presented and the food is excellent. 

What a Surprise Carlow Turned Out to Be - The VISUAL

I moved to Carlow in August last year mostly because it was handy for Dublin with the new M9 nearby and not as expensive as Dublin. Little did I know what treasures there were to find here. And I'm only beginning the great discoveries.

The VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Arts & G B Shaw Theatre

To make friends and meet new people I decided to check out The VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Arts as a friend of mine had told me about it.  I was enchanted the first time I went there for lunch in Lennons @VISUAL, the wonderful restaurant that is part of the building.  Not only is The VISUAL a remarkable space for art (being able to house the largest art works in Ireland because of the main gallery), there is also the 300 seat George Bernard Shaw Theatre, where I have since managed to see some of the best productions I've seen anywhere. More on that later.  At the time that I first went to The VISUAL they had an exhibit by the artist Sonja Landweer, a retrospective of her work over 50 years.  After the viewing, I asked if they needed volunteers and it turned out that they had a new volunteer meeting that following Monday.  I went along and signed up as an invigilator in the galleries and then got to spend many happy hours amongst all the beautiful art.

Glendalough - There's Magic in Every Leaf and Lake

As some of you may know, I grew up near Glendalough, just outside a village called Roundwood in Co.Wicklow. Glendalough was, in a sense, our back yard. We used to go there with our mother and set up a camp beside the river, build a fire in which we would put tinfoil wrapped potatoes so they cooked in the embers and Mum would set up a kettle over it to make lovely smoky tea. We would splash about in the river, explore the woods, sing songs and gambol about. Of course, nowadays you can't light a fire and you even have to pay exorbitant fees just to park near the lake. It makes me furious in a way. I went there recently and was so incensed that I had to pay some ridiculous amount of money to only stay one hour (you can't pay by the hour!!) and felt it was like having to pay to get into my own garden.  I left in a huff.  

World Wide Wed - A Moroccan Marriage

Originally posted on Tripping.com on March 29, 2011

Most non-Moroccans don't ever get to experience a Moroccan wedding so it was a real privilege to attend one and see what it's like. To be fair, this particular Moroccan wedding was not exactly typical because the bride was European so a lot of her friends and family attended, making the events slightly different than they might have been otherwise.

For the bride, one of the most fun parts is being able to wear multiple wedding gowns, or takshitas, and what gowns they are! They are made of silk and lace and come in layers of two or three parts. The dresses are made to order and each one is created using the traditional Moroccan sfifa, the braiding that is used on the edges and complements the colours in the fabrics. The more money you have to spend, the more dresses you get to wear. Aside from being very glamorous, it can be exhausting changing every hour or so.

The Temptation of a Swedish Christmas

First published on Tripping.com, a US website dedicated to all things travel related.

THE TEMPTATION OF A SWEDISH CHRISTMAS

I lived in Sweden for 5 years and still miss it now that I am no longer there. It's a country that everyone should visit. The summers are glorious, filled with light and greenery and the coastal areas are wonderful to explore. Bohuslän, which is the coast area around Göteborg, on the west coast, is stunningly beautiful with an archipelago of large and small islands. You might take your boat out to a small island; just big enough to have a small cabin with steps down to the boat and picnic there, swimming off the rock and relaxing.  People spend most of the time outdoors in the summer as the winters are so long and dark but, even so; winter is also a gorgeous time. With bright blue skies and deep snow, the outdoors in winter can be exciting and, if you like skiing and skating, it is a wonderful place to be.

Transported by Food - A Brief Culinary Journey in Andalucia

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Tripping

This is another delicious guest post from Maya Hanley. She has recently returned from a tumultuous Spanish journey. See how she made it through with the help the local cuisine. 

Our Christmas was off to an icy start with unexpected arctic weather and closed airports. Needless to say we were delayed in our arrival at Albuñuelas, only to find that the house we had rented was cold, damp and unliveable. Despite the late start (and later, my sister’s broken foot which ended the trip prematurely) we are very grateful for the new friendship we forged with the wonderful couple who rescued us, put us up and fed us.

David Crockett and his lovely wife Lorna own a B&B, a beautifully converted house in the middle of the village of Albuñuelas (phone: +34 6 3604 3596). David is an avid cook and thrilled us with his culinary delights, like paella with pork and spinach and Moroccan fish tajine. Oh, and lots of local wines!

The next day, we headed into Granada and searched out a place that looked appetising. Eventually, on the main street off Plaza Nueva, we found SECO, a restaurant featuring mainly seafood. It was lunch time so the place was crowded. One thing I have noticed in Spain is that most people eat lunch out, usually very quickly and efficiently. A lot of them will stand at a counter, have a beer and some tapas and head back to work.

Magic Carpets in Morocco

I know very little about Berber carpets. Do you? Well, I know a bit more now that I have been in a very rural part of Morocco (referred to as the 'Bled') and spent a day with an amazing Berber family, related to our family friend, Mohammed.  Mohammed has been a friend for 7 years and my sister, Luarena, has been up to his country family before, about 4 years ago.  Then, they had no electricity or running water.

They got electricity about a year ago and, of course, the first thing they did was buy a television! The running water is still not there but they have a lovely well with fresh water.  They also cook on open fires and made us some delicious pancakes served up with honey and butter. 

The drive up was long and arduous.  We stopped along the way for lunch in a small, clean cafe and then headed up higher and higher, round twisting and turning bends with long drops on one side. It was beautiful but you wouldn't want to be afraid of heights.  Along the way, we saw more and more Argane trees, which produce the wonderful,  health giving Argane Oil, now becoming more widely known outside of Morocco.  On several occasions, we saw goats in the Argane trees, munching on the spiny branches. They also use the tree as shade in the hot afternoon.