Saturday, July 01, 2006
An Eventful Morning
Germany was playing Argentina last night in the world cup and my whole team went to the pub straight from work. I'm not normally one to go along to these social events on Fridays, especially not to the pub. It's not that I don't like the people I work with, but most Fridays I'm too tired to do anything after work. And the pubs here in Dublin - or at least the ones my colleagues go to - tend to be anything but relaxing. Noisy, packed with people and short of seats, they honestly only serve one purpose: To get people drunk as quickly as possible. Anyone who manages to sit in a quiet corner with a pint for hours chatting to friends or reading a newspaper has my deepest respect. In any case, I don't drink alcohol (apart from the occasional quarter glass of wine when I'm invited to someone's house) and I hate noise ("What is this person doing in Dublin?" I hear you ask...), so dragging my tired self to one of these events is just not worthwhile. But tonight was different. For one, I must admit, I have started to follow the world cup and am actually enjoying the games. Secondly, though, the sun was shining and the place we went to has a large terrace with plenty of seats that largely remained empty as everyone tried to huddle around the screens. So I had a glass of chilled Fanta and a chat with a group of girls interspersed with the occasional glance at the telly and really, thoroughly enjoyed myself. I wish days like these came about more often.In all my sun and footie enthusiasm, however, I forgot to get anything for dinner, and when I finally got home after the game a bag of Hoola Hoops was the only thing I was not too tired to dish up. Not exactly dinner, but somehow appropriate to finish an evening of shallow entertainment. No, let me correct that, it was the perfect finish to a great night out at the pub - even if most pub-goers would not call it that.
This morning I woke up well rested and determined to get all foodie again on the weekend. My first excursion took me no further than Meath Street. My formerly beloved fish shop had finally returned to its old glory again tempting me with organic salmon, scallops, Bonne Maman chocolate mousse and Ocean Spray cranberry juice, all for € 1 per pack/piece. I used to do a lot of my shopping at this bargain hunters' paradise, but then they stopped selling good food and turned to the likes of mass produced black pudding and ready made stuffing to subsidise their fish sales, so they lost me as a customer. I like to save money, but I would rather pay more and get good quality food than waste small amounts on rubbish.
But today I barely had enough room left in my bag for the ingredients for my next project that I went to get at the greengrocer's: Two experimental tomatoes. I have noticed that there are many different varieties of tomatoes on sale at a number of outlets across town and that their looks and prices vary greatly. I really wanted to find out, firstly, if there is any relationship between the three elements of taste, looks and price, and, secondly, where the best tomatoes are to be had. My little local greengrocer hat two different kinds - pale reddish-green ones for € 1 per kilo and deep red vine tomatoes, the price of which remains a mystery for he keeps them hidden behind the counter and makes you ask for them - that Lofty and I will later compare with those tomatoes that I can find at Temple Bar market and Fallon & Byrne. I can't wait to see what the result will be.
But before I can head out to the market I had to come back home to drop off not only my fish and veg, but also a box of Walker's crisps that I had picked up from one of the many Everything-You-Never-Needed-Shops for € 3. I don't know where these things come from. Some are out of date, but often they have things that are perfectly all right at a fraction of their original price. It's probably best not to ask. And now it's probably best to get down to Temple Bar before Jenny is sold out.
Christine at 12:23 pm
