I have been on a mission since last November to track down and buy a new pair of jeans: it was until recently seemingly mission impossible.
In Which I Buy a New Pair of Jeans
Filed under Musings, Shops/Shopping
St Patrick’s Day
There are very, very few photographs on JAA that I didn’t take myself, however the image above of Brigid the Sheep reading a copy of the charmingly illustrated children’s book ‘This is Ireland’ by Miroslav Sasek is from Makers & Brothers (I have written about them here and here). I ‘borrowed’ the image, and I hope the brothers don’t mind, because I was totally smitten by it: heaven alone knows what that says about my inner psyche.
Filed under Celebrations, Ireland
Paris: Merci
Towards the end of February I went on a short trip to Paris. A very short trip. Just, in fact, for the day. It’s perfectly doable from Dublin as the flight time is just over one hour thirty; plus there is an early flight which leaves Dublin at around seven am and one that takes off from Charles De Gaulle airport after nine pm, so even taking into account the loss of an hour, this allows for a goodly amount of time in Paris without it costing an unruly amount of cash (ie: the cost of an overnight stay).
Filed under Interiors, Paris, Shops/Shopping, Travel
Frühjahrsmüdigkeit
I am often amazed at the bits of semi-useless information that lodge fast in my mind. For example, I came across frühjahrsmüdigkeit at a set of French classes I attend donkeys’ years ago, now in all honesty I didn’t actually remember the word, as I had to google it, but I did remember, quite well, the concept behind the word. If only the rules governing the use of the subjunctive in French were similarly super glued into my long-term memory!
Filed under Musings
Good Value Eating Out in Dublin: The Hot Stove
Note: apologies for the quality of the images – a smudge on my camera’s lens have left them blurry.
Light years ago, well light years in blogging terms, but in reality only last July (still a longish time) I wrote a post on good value eating out in Dublin in which I said that said post was the first in an occasional series but as it’s only now that I am writing a second post it’s obviously going to be a very intermittent series.
Filed under Dublin, Food/Wine, Restaurants/Cafés
Lately …
Lately I downloaded yet another photographic app to my iPhone: this is bonkers behaviour as I have an insane number of them on my phone already – many, correction most, of which I never use. However, when I read about Waterlogue on Garance Dore’s blog and admired the effect she achieved with it I was wholly smitten and bought it immediately. Waterlogue converts photographs into luminous watercolour paintings: I used it to transform a nondescript iPhone photo of a flower into the image you see at the top of this post.
Filed under Musings
Vulnerability
I imagine that if a group of people who know me were asked to describe me that one of the things that most of them would say is that: I am a private person. True. Yet, paradoxically I write a blog and it’s out there in cyberspace for anyone to read. Also true. But when I write a post I try not to mention anything I wouldn’t be happy to chat about with, say, a random stranger on a train.
Filed under Musings
Firehouse Bakery Delgany: Bread Making Class
Last Thursday week I went to an evening bread making class, held at the artisan Firehouse Bakery, in Delgany a pretty north Wicklow heritage village. The Firehouse Bakery is part of a foodie complex called ‘The Delgany’ and said complex has: a food hall; a restaurant; a flower and gift shop; and the aforementioned Firehouse Bakery which is a bakery cum café.
Filed under Food/Wine
How Should I Eat?
That is a question and three-quarters. We are bombarded at different levels, and on so many fronts, by information about food – from advertisers showcasing the wares of their industrial food-producing clients to a mass of TV programmes, and zillions of articles in newspapers, magazines or blogs about healthy nutritional and lifestyle choices.
Filed under Food/Wine, Healthy Living
Homemade Chocolate Granola
Will I, won’t I? Well, actually, I will: eat in a vegan fashion for four weeks that is, but just not at the moment. I had thought I might do so in January, but I have decided against. Truth be told, every time I contemplate a meat, poultry, egg, and fish free four-weeks (and these are just some of the food stuffs I would need to forego) I wonder might it be dizzingly difficult and would I have will-power wobbles and throw in the towel in the first week. Quite likely, so I need to get my head properly wrapped around the idea and suss out some vegan recipes before I give it a go.
Filed under Recipes
Just Add Attitude
Just Add Attitude 