It was Bubbel’s birthday few weeks ago. I personally could not wait. I think I looked forward to it so much more than he did, simply so that he could be that little bit less younger than me. The birthday was not until Thursday the following week, but I was so happy we were going to celebrate prematurely. Why? Well, here comes another fact about us; Bubbel is a year younger than me and he never misses out on the opportunity to remind me, that this is a fact, that will never change!
His birthday date is kinda’ romantic, though. He was born on the same day that my parents got married ( different year though, of course). Undoubtedly, a sign from the universe…
So we decided to celebrate in Dublin. We departed on Friday afternoon shortly after Bubbel opened his first present. There were three…
We left his little brother in charge of the house . He is yet another member of the family, who can easily point out my age. I let him get away with it though. Simply because he’s one of those modern geeky kids, who could use a MAC at the age of 2, was able to programme a game when still in a nursery and does not have to wear glasses to make himself look smart. I am not stupid. I know how to keep my options open. I never know, when I may need him to help me use a smart TV or operate a remote control… or create another blog… Technology goes fast these days – you need to be prepared.
I have always thought, that on your birthday you need to be spoilt and everyone needs to do the things you like and make you happy. Turns out, it’s slightly different where Bubbel comes from. It was actually the other way round. I was the ONE who was promised first class experience.
It was a sunny Friday afternoon and we were ready for Dublin! London decided to wave goodbye at us with the most beautiful rays of sunshine. We walked hand to hand to the station, ready to start our adventure.
Now, I need to warn you, if you are hoping for photos of Dublin right this minute, you better scroll down a little, as I cannot skip to the landing in Dublin part, without sharing my ‘glamour girl’ experience.
I told you before, that Bubble travels a lot. And as much as I hate when he’s far away , I do enjoy the benefits which come with my boyfriend – frequent flyer 🙂 We speed through fast-track service into the lounge. And the feast begun… Bubbel decided that I will celebrate HIS birthday with some tasty bubbly and little beautiful sandwiches ,which were melting in my mouth ( almost like us two on the train on this hot day earlier, just much more delicious of course!).
I was chilling on the couch and Bubbel was getting into the role of my content creator. Recently we have established, that if I am ever to become a successful blogger, I simply need to give up any attempts of taking photos. Photography, similarly to cooking and technology, is not really something I have been gifted to do. Bubbel thinks (and there is no malice in it) this is simply due to lack of certain brain connections. Either this, or lack of glasses (which I should be wearing but I refuse to) is causing this difficult to explain incapability of catching the moments on a camera.
As I was sipping Bubbel’s birthday bubbly and snacking those amazing, soft and chocolaty profiteroles , I suddenly thought, that this was a perfect scenery for a business deal agreement.
Between the sips and tiny bites, I have managed to get Bubbel to agree to the following; from now on, I will be responsible for writing and Bubbel will create content (at least until I am able to establish some sort of talent which will help me attract people to come back to our blog). There is a slight risk that I might have misunderstood Bubbel’s intentions but for now, I will just pretend that this is what we decided. And if Bubbel thinks otherwise, I am sure we can explain this small misunderstanding with lack of yet more connections in this beautiful brain of mine. My mind was at ease. I could chill. An hour later, we boarded the plane and flew away.
In just under an hour, Dublin welcomed us with its sunny smile and the language, which sounded like English, but somehow it’s not quite that…
We smoothly transited to the centre and in just a short time, we welcomed the Westin, our new home for the next three days. It’s really sweet and charming with it’s old decor look.
I love rooms with a view. Ours did not overlook the city but overlooked a very romantic bar lounge with a tall skylight. I was ready to explore. We dropped off our bags and head downstairs to the atrium bar with a five-storey high glass roof ,which makes you feel like you sit beneath a sky covered with stars. As you can imagine, my stomach was calling me.
I treated myself to a warm tea and some iberico ham baked crottin goat’s cheese with heirloom tomato salsa and truffle salsa. It was a real feast for the eye, not too mention the stomach. We drunk some nice warm tea and finished with cookies.
I was ready for bed.
But sleeping was not really very easy. And don’t get me wrong, our bed was sooo comfy and nice and the douvet smelled with this green tea. But I was too excited with the thought of what I knew was waiting for me in the morning. I woke up at a cracked dawn and moved from site to site carefully (not) to wake up my Bubbel. Finally he woke up. I swear, his little blue eyes had a shape of a porridge bowl and long thick eyelashes looked just like the fluffy eggs i was hoping we would be having shortly. We got ready and head to Balfes. Otherwise, I would simply just have him for breakfast:)
Balfes was just around the corner from our hotel. It had this slightly posh Parisian look about it and we felt very invited. The menu was just about right and had all our favourite things on there, plus, there was an element of surprise. I went for oat pancakes, cooked in coconut oil served with organic almond butter and bananas. Bubbel’s choice was much more traditional – he chose an omelet. I will let you judge for yourself but I think this was one of the best breakfasts I have had in a long long time…
With full bellies and happy heads, we head to explore the city. I did not mention at the start, but as both of us were injured (I had a bad eye and B was suffering from a bad knee… yes… I know this sounds tragically!) we chose the option of hop on hop off bus. This was fun. We watched the city from the top of the double-decker driven by Fred – apparently all Irish drivers are called Fred. Did you know that?
We saw the Guinness factory, the bridges (some very cool ones). We saw my dream come true place – THe Library of Trinity College. If you are a book lover and you want to surround yourself with books, more books and even some more of them, than this is where you need to go!
We explored the suburbs and finally ended up back in the center to finish the trip with organic ice-cream which we found in this gorgeous place called Gelato di Natura . These were nice….
Quick rest at the hotel and …mhm… surprise, surprise… More food. We had dinner reservation at the Mulberry Garden Restaurant. Hidden in the suburbs of Dublin, they praise themselves for producing the Irish food at its finest. The place is not too big but just about perfect to have a nice evening buzz without too much chaos and noise. They only open three days a week and their menu changes each week, which is amazing! We waited in the outdoor garden before we were ready to go to our table.
From that point onwards, I think we were, yet again, in a real food heaven. We started off with some home made bread. It’s actually amazing. Reminded me of the real polish bread you can get in a local bakery at home. This actually had a taste.
Then compliments from the chef; tuna tartar. Soft tuna meat with finely chopped tomatoes. I was building a base for my fish feast. I had seen the menu beforehand and I knew exactly what I was having. I was just hoping that B would go for something different, so that we could do the usual food exchange. The rules are simple: I try Bubbel’s he tries Knubbel’s. That way you end up having six dishes rather than three in one night!
I had Castletownbere Scallops with wild garlic Veloute ginger and hazelnut. If you tell me that this does not sound tasty, I don’t know what is wrong with you. Monkfish with Jerusalem artichokes, apple, chive and chicken was my main. The fish was tender and soft, the flavours danced in my mouth. This was simply delicious.
Bubble went for a veggie option; a slow cooked and smoke salsify with mushrooms and hazelnut and rump of Kerry hill lamb with asparagus, morels, burnt onion and oyster emulsion.
I have to say, I was so impressed. This was one the best dinners ever and it was presented so beautifully, you sort of struggled with the temptation of not eating it simply to keep the beauty on the plate.
The evening passed. We let the bellies enjoy some amazing pudding before we head back to the hotel. We were heading back to London on Sunday and had to get some sleep (we’re both injured, don’t forget!:)
I have to say, it was a bit hard to say goodbye to the city of Dublin. Where food is amazing, people are warm and kind hearted, all the drivers are called Fred and just like me, they want to always say: C’mere ’till I tell ya. Come here and I will tell you.. a story.
I had to laugh all the time. Fabulous! 😍