Christmas Concert @ Starlight

We went to the local Christmas/New Year's concert in Starlight. All I had was the regular camera to record this, and only audio for a short snippet. It's Strauss ---- "Also sprach Zarathustra". Or 2001 A Space Odyssey to you Kubrick fans ...
Enjoy ....

Italian Christmas Eve, part 2

For the last three courses .... grilled squid .... a little salt pepper olive oil - throw on grill for one, to one and a half minutes each side. Sooo good. Reminds us of great calamari we have had in the past such as at Miss Williamsburg Diner a few years back (highly recommend).

Then some grilled Tuna, following Giorgio Locatelli's advice on keeping it simple.

And lastly was some red snapper, pan seared. Simple. Tasty. Healthy.

Overall, we both felt that the sardines were the highlight. Thanks to Giorgio for the inspiration, and Aidan for the cookbook. It goes to show how much you can get from a good cookbook. For those looking to find it, here it is on Amazon.

Italian Christmas Eve, part one

So, we arrive at Christmas Eve, once more. A great custom that a friend introduced me to (Joel) is the Seven Fish Italian Christmas Eve meal. We take our own twist, and cook or eat seven fish over the course of the day.
This year we have
1. Smoked salmon with avocado and parmesan chips, a caper or 2, some olive oil and a drop of lemon juice

Next up was a Giorgio Locatelli recipe (thanks to the Locanda Locatelli chef's cookbook we received a few years back from our brother Aidan --- good job Aidan!!)
Sardines on Panzanella. Equally delish!

After that was an old faithful, Scallops cooked in a skillet with some butter and served with a white herb sauce.

Next up were some bluepoint oysters .... mmm ... taste the ocean ...

The beer was not Duvel, but Labatt's (the last of the Duvel was devoured a few days ago). The wines are courtesy of Chambers St Wines. Chablis was green, a little mineraly, but still quite fat or filling for a Chablis. The Puligny was marshmallow meets butterscotch/caramel and they all have their wicked way over and over again !!! mmmm !!!

Last but not least, is the newest addition .... McNulty.
All our male cats are named after Wire characters. And true to his name, what a handful the little rascal is ....
Here he is with his 2 sisters ... he's the little mite at the bottom center of the screen ...

Rubberbandits for Xmas #1 in IRL

Looks like RB will be #1 in IRL for Xmas. Funny, irreverant, crude video that was filmed in UL. Now of course UL (my ULma mater;-) and Milford parish are objecting.

"Following the massive success of the video for “Horse Outside” the Reverend Koenraad Van Guucht, the chaplain of the contemplative centre in University of the Limerick has said they are “less than happy” about the use of the space in filming the video. He said he “wasn't clear at the time of as to exactly the nature of filming". The video was also raised in the Milford parish newsletter which objected to the filmed of the video outside Milford Church. The parishioners and members of the community are said to be “hurt and offended by the video.” A spokesperson for the ‘Bandits said that no one had been misled about the video shoot. They explained that filming for the video have been carried out by a RTE (Ireland’s national broadcaster) and both the University of Limerick and Milford parish had given permission."

What's it about? That a horse is more of a chick magnet than some of the boyo's cars such as honda or subie. You see, there is car content here after all ;-)
According to IrishCentral (diaspora website), "A CNBCblogger seemed to pick the story up all wrong. They seem to think that due to the financial crisis we’ve all reverted to riding horses. Here’s what they said below:
“Are the Irish already getting accustomed to a more austere life? One of the most popular songs in Ireland at this very moment is about how owning a horse is superior to owning a fancy automobile. It may be that the message is resonating with the Irish people.”
Purrleeeeze. Stop the lights!

Ha Le Lu Ya

Ok, to get us into the christmas spirit, here is a good start

Pretty cool gift from my darling wife

I got a cool gift from Nikki, a few months back, and wanted to post it. She found this ceramic artist and asked her to do a custom job ---- integrate my car into a bowl. She sent a pic of my car, and the woman produced this bowl. I now use it to keep my keys etc when I arrive home in the evening. Cool, huh?

The reverse is also cool

Porsche Family Tree

Remember that I posted several months back about a porsche family tree promo?
Well porsche made a book, and gave it to the family, and send me a copy as they chose my story to be part of the promo. Pretty cool, no?
This was the letter from the VP of marketing

 This is the book

 A snapshot of the images in the book -- cool to see 356 super carrera with 917

 My story also found here

Moussaka (a.k.a. Da Moose)

You either do it or ya don't
Venus + Mars
Ying + Yang
What I am talking about is the naming of vehicles .... and we already have the Minx, and Gina (the lipstick lollobrigida), so when we replaced the rover (who funnily enough didn;t have a name other than "rovey") we named the car due to its color (surprise). Aubergine or Eggplant were not so favored on our naming charts, but Mossaka -- why not. Short form would be Da Moose, and hopefully she would live up to her name in winter with her AWD prowess. A 2008 328xi CPO car, it was found local to us. I had almost pulled the trigger on a 2008 R32 but it was red .... and i shied away from a red car ;-) Very happy with Da Moose so far.
Here she is on first day we got her .... camera phone pic

 And then with Gina .... different colors, made more different by photographing together

Ireland - The Cliffs of Moher

By now we were headed south of Galway, having picked up my brother Aidan, and on the road to see the Cliffs of Moher, a natural wonder of the gaelic world. Here, Nikki and myself pose with the cliffs in the background.

Next you see myself and Aidan. At all natural wonders of the world (such as Grand Canyon), I have to give Aidan a bearhug. Just goofing around. Wouldn't be the same without it.

Next while i am videotaping the events, someone .... to remain anonymous, is surreptitiously taking my picture ...

And what am I videotaping

Ireland - onward from Connemara

Here we find some ancestor's ... and this was the last of Connemara

Onward we went, south of Galway, to county Clare ... and headed towards the cliffs of Moher. Traversing Clare, you will cross the Burren, a bare landscape of plants and flowers that dot the rocks, until you reach the coast line where we preen for photo's.

And is it a bird? is it a plane? No. The forlorn figure in the background, is my brother, Aidan, searching for a quiet spot to pee. Remember we are on the coast ... howling wind ... which changes direction !!!

Here is an example of the rocky coastline. So beautiful. You have to go and visit. Really.

Next we see the 2 desperado's ... Aidan and myself.

After this we arrived at the famous Cliffs of Moher !!!

Ireland - more of the same as we head to Connemara

The local Whole Foods store, or what is left of it, after they ran out of organic eggs. These irish do like their eggs !!!

After a while, some of the locals take an interest ...

Now we start to delve into Connemara country ...

And this leads us to Delphi .... no oracle needed here .... jaw dropping beauty instead.

What more could you ask for, in a savage wilderness

Well perhaps its time to "Eat, Pray, Love"?

The Irish version of an ashram in connemara ... a church for travellers .... "Stop, Pray, Buy-A-Pint"

Ireland - the west continued

Some local traffic, although for the most part the roads were narrow but quiet

then the odd local castle or tower was visited

then we saw more beautiful and wild coastal views, this time Achill island, I believe

And for some more flavor, traditional cottage or sheds ... sort of like barns

and after all this coastal stuff, we then went to Sligo, where we missed our buddy Leonard (doing Yeats) by one day. Bummer. Sligo is the home of all things Yeats - Yeats festival, Yeats Summer school, yadda yadda yadda. We went to the museum at the Yeats Society in town, which is the red brick building on the left below.

After that, the only excitement left was seeing a belgian "cinquecento" in Ballina, on the way back to Stella Maris.

And lastly a windswept beach shot, taken outside the hotel, with me wearing my achill island cardigan. I had to buy something as we left 100 degree weather in NY to arrive in 50-70 degree weather in ireland, complete with wind and mist !!!

Ireland continued .... the west is alive !!!

Well, the focus of our trip now was in touring the west of ireland ... both Connemara, the Mayo coast and Sligo or Yeats country as it is better known (after WB Yeats).
First Mayo coastline .... gorgeous

And a video of the local area

 Next we enter the irish speaking area, or "gaeltacht" as it is known. No english spoken here !!

Conversing with the locals in Irish can be difficult, so better use the services of a reputable translator such as our 2 friends below

After that, a visit to the local wise man !!!

Then we see a pocket of resistance to big oil & gas. Apparently Shell is running a pipeline from offshore drilling rigs to land, but at very high pressure (something only done in the Niger Delta i am told, and thus quite risky, from a local point of view).
Here are various pics

After the oil & gas, we need a refill ourselves. Lo and behold, an old friend ....

We saw a Cayman in Ireland, about 10 boxsters (often with English registrations though) and 3 911's. That's more than I saw from coast to coast in the USA, when we made our trip a few years back.

Ireland - "The Vacation" - visiting the "wehshht"

Well, we just had a marvellous 10 days or so in Ireland. Home to see the folks, for their 40th wedding anniversary (Happy 40th to Denis + Brid), and to see the rest of the family. We also took the opportunity to discover ireland a little, and for me to retrace steps of old haunts on the west coast of ireland (or as we pronounce it, the "wehshht"), while for nikki, to learn something new and discover new places and see new things.
Here is a little bit of rain to start things off .... Ireland would be a great country, it was once said by a wit, if it had a roof.

Next we have green countryside. Oodles of it.

Next a local

Next a local town, perhaps Ballycastle, Co. Mayo.

And where would we be, if we did not include a church or 12 ;-)

After that, all that is left is to visit out accomodation for the next three nights .... a little hotel, on the ocean, on the northern Mayo coast, private and quiet with great food & service, run by an irish woman and her american husband, and a true treasure .... The Stella Maris hotel

From our window, we had an oceanfront view to die for ...

And a nice room to boot

That's about it for the debut to our tour ....