Drinks at Kennedy’s with my former classmates turns into a tipsy nighttime walk through City Centre turns into drinks and dancing at 4 Dame Lane. Untiss untiss untiss. Untiss untiss untiss. Talk of our novels, talk of our poetry, talk of our master’s portfolios; of marriage and children and Beckett and Hardy and confessional poets […]
Ireland
Things I Won’t Miss About Dublin and Ireland
Before I left for Italy last July, I wrote a list of things I’d miss about Dublin and Ireland. I can’t look at it now; it’ll make me too sad, reignite my technicolor fantasies of chucking everything and staying right here in my little bedsit, drinking Barry’s tea and dreaming of swans. Instead, I try […]
- Food Culture
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Cupcakes: Delicious, Ubiquitous, and Politically Correct
At farmers’ markets, cafes, Bewley’s, and bake shops; Ireland’s got the fever. They call them “cupcakes” here nowadays – not “fairy cakes,” like they used to. But, gracious, you wouldn’t catch someone using that dreadful archaic term nowadays; not since the Great Fairy Uprising of 2004. In the spring of that year, centuries of Irish-Fairy […]
Laundry Day
Laundry Day in New York City: the big schlep. Apartments don’t come with washing machines in the City, so laundry must be hauled — to the basement if you’re lucky, a neighborhood laundromat if you’re not. Here’s hoping a machine is free. Measure, pour, pay. Count ceiling tiles, thumb a book, head to the corner […]
- Food Culture
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Cadbury Creme Egg on My Face
Chocolatey, creamy, luscious: the Cadbury Creme Egg. Available in the United States for a only precious few weeks each pre-Easter season; gone as soon as the last church volunteer peels off his bunny suit. Wrapped in shiny red, yellow, and purple foil. Nibble off the top to reveal the sugary sweet creme inside; die of […]
Ciotóg
My family has rented a car – one big enough for the 5 of us and their suitcases. Roberto, my father, is frustrated when he can’t find the keyhole; it takes him a few minutes to realize that it will be on the right hand side, and so will the steering wheel. This is an Irish […]
Winter Break Snapshot
So much for the holidays. Back from Cork, back to Dublin, which has somehow been transformed into a Winter Blunderland. The rain turns to stinging hail turns to rain turns to hail again. And now we have snow, too – covering the rooftops and the sidewalks. It falls gently in the mornings and afterwards, the […]
Un-Turkey Day
Thanksgiving in Japan, 2008: The equipment: Two gas burners, one toaster oven, one microwave, no kitchen counter. The menu: Pan-roasted chicken, Maggie’s World Famous stuffing, mashed potatoes, canned corn, green bean casserole, gravy, dried cranberries, Mon Frere red wine. The Veuve Cliquot Champagne was a congratulatory gift from Nakata-san after Obama was elected. Thanksgiving in […]
Pops are to Potatoes as Biscuits are to Cookies
It is a 2.5 hour drive from Dublin to Cork and in those 2.5 hours, there are meadows and those meadows are full of sheep. The sheep come in various shades of cream, some with black faces and some with white. I’ve never seen sheep in pastures before, only in petting zoos, so I’m mesmerized […]