Hi friends! Thank you for your Dublin recommendations!! I will be highlighting a few in the links below, but goodness Ireland was so wonderful. Even though it was February and the weather around 40 degrees, it was -12 in Chicago, so Ireland felt like summer.
Now that I’m back in the swing of life, March has been a bear. My girlfriend and I are moving in June and the mental prep of moving is… there are hardly words for it. But! The sun is finally shining here pretty consistently and it was 70 degrees yesterday, which means Chicagoans are losing their mind in a good way. There is a huge Irish community here so St. Patrick’s Day weekend is one long party. We dye the river green (with vegetable dye, y’all I swear!) and have a LOT of breakfast alcohol. The South Side Irish parade is happening, too, it’s truly just a 36 hour keg stand. Tradition!
I hope your days get a little brighter every day, and here’s hoping for a good cup of coffee (with Bailey’s if that suits you!) on this fine Sunday. (Also, if a person named Anneliese is reading this, hello friend!)
• Let’s get into Dublin! We decided to split up our stays, and it was the perfect idea. We started our stay at Keavan’s Port hotel, and ended up in Glasnevin at a cutie home away stay. Glasnevin is also home to the National Botanic Gardens and Glasnevin Cemetery, which even in February is still serene and beautiful. I’m sure you’re thinking, wow a cemetery? But its history is not to be missed.
• Wherever we go, my girlfriend, Bre, tends to count the number of people I will know at any given place. What can I say? I am my mother’s daughter. Well, Ireland was no different. I hopped on Instagram to find my good friend, Taylor, in Dublin at the same time. We met up! We got dinner! There was beer!! And no one in my family was even the least bit surprised. We ate at Charlotte Quay and had the most incredible oysters with a shot of briny gin. We also happened upon a tiny Italian restaurant in Glasnevin called Dall’Italiano, run by one-man-show, Vio. He was the host, the server, the busboy, the chef, and the somm. It was the best food I’ve ever had. Get the panna cotta and have him pull you a shot of espresso. You’ll cry a little. (Instagram)
• We made the good decision to get out of the city center (this feels like a House Hunters buzzword) and head north to Giant’s Causeway and Belfast. As a writer, I cannot find adequate words to describe Giant’s Causeway. Perfectly hexagonal rocks all fit neatly together and stacked formed by consistent lava flow. How. How? It felt like being in Lord of the Game of Dragons. Just… every fantasy world mashed up together. (Britannica)
• Again, thank you so much for the podcast recommendations. Aside from listening to Telepathy Tapes, which – SO FASCINATING – I watched so many movies on the plane! Wild Robot (sobbed), Inside Out 2 (ha, more sobbing), and Challengers (whewww!). Now I have a podcast recommendation for you! We’re Your Girls is a new podcast from Taryn Delanie Smith. I don’t know if anyone here listened to Another Round from Buzzfeed (R.I.P.), but I haven’t been this excited to keep up with a podcast since that show. Taryn and Tiffany are my best friends. In the imaginary, safe way. (Instagram, Apple Podcasts)
• Paçzki Day came and went, and you know I got up at 3AM to go get my supply at Weber’s Bakery. This time I pre-ordered because my knees have aged out of standing in line. The strawberries and fresh cream always reign supreme in my book. (Joy the Baker)
• For anyone wondering why Chicago dyes the river green year after year, I promise there’s history there! But also, we’re nuts. Two things can be true. (WTTW News)
• Did you go through needing a green velvet couch phase? I don’t believe it’s a phase for me, I think it’s the best shade for a couch. Turns out, there’s an entire community of Black women bonding over owning this verdant piece of furniture. Please, count me in! (Apartment Therapy)
• How do you track your reading? I was an avid Goodreads user but have recently switched to StoryGraph, built and managed by a black woman! I love the graphics, and mainly that I can use a platform that isn’t Amazon backed. (The Guardian)
• Hello to my writers, I love you. This is a piece I come back to over and over when I need the advice – so, basically, every day. Getting wrapped up in the practice of writing often overshadows the writing itself. Breathe, and know that writing begins with forgiveness. (Substack)
• Joy went to Charleston and made Callie’s biscuits, and they refuse to leave my mind until I make them. And, friends, I’m going to let you in on a very real fact – Sunday’s are made for biscuits. They just are. (Joy the Baker)
• Speaking of secrets, Laurie Woolever, the assistant to two very iconic chefs, chimes in on her years in the food business. Her memoir, Care and Feeding is out now, and I can’t wait to read it. Working with both Chef Batalli and Anthony Bourdain, the stories can only be abundant and wildly different. (NYTimes Gift Link, Bookshop)
• This is genuinely all I’m looking for in life. Is that too much to ask?? I think not. (Instagram)
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