Monday, 27 July 2015
And Now for a Very Important Announcement..
Our little chicken is turning 24 and everyone knows what that means, right?
It means she was born 24 years ago.
To celebrate this important milestone, here's a list of things that make our Pips such an incredible person.
P is for Partners in Crime - no one is better company for illegal activities than Philippa.
H is for Hall and Oates - Maneater - she only comes out at night. Whatch out boys, she will chew you up.
I is for Idaho - one of the many states Philippa would like to visit one day.
L is for Ladies Loving Ladies - sometimes all you need is loving yourself.
I is for I don't know why we love her so much - I'm just kidding, she's fantastic and pretty and smart and a great friend.
P is for Partially Jewish - a secret only revealed now.
P is for Party animal - amongst other things.
A is for Ahhhhhhhhhh - words that come out of my mouth everytime we meet in person and hug.
M is for more - Pippa's favourite word and the cause of much trouble.
O is for Omnipresent - she may be in the other side of the ocean at the moment, but her presence is felt everywhere. Specially in our hearts.
O is for Omnipresent - seriously, she won't leave you alone.
R is for Red Wine - Philippa's weapon of choice
E is for Enigmatic - cheesemonger by day, sexy vulture by night. When you think you've seen everything...think again.
And now, let's all raise our immaginary glasses and toast this very good lady.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY PIPS!
Sunday, 26 July 2015
Oh hello.
Sunday, 12 April 2015
Boxty With Smoked Salmon, Caper Ricotta and Kale.
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Beach babe |
I walk in, donning my laundry day rig-out which is a pair of trackie bees, odd socks and a striking yellow sweater with the words 'worlds greatest grandad to be' plastered across the front- conspicuous is not how I would describe this look.
I go up to the lady carefully folding some undies and asks how 'the system' works, naively thinking that she works there. She doesn't, in fact, work there but explains it to me regardless with complicated and confusing hand gestures.
Having topped up my new laundry card, teaming with excitement and anticipation, I begin my mission.
I separate my clothes into whites and colours, which I realise I could've done at home with a helluva lot more ease.
I successfully get my whitewash goin'. Ah sure, it's all plain sailing from here on out....you'd think. Turns out I had used a 60lb machine instead of a 10lb machine. That's a solid $6.50 per machine as opposed to $2.50. At this point, I'm beginning to wonder if I've ever owned 60lb of clothes. Maybe if you add up all of the clothes I've ever owned?... But as you can see from the photo of me on the beach, it seems I had an aversion to pants as a child.
Card topped up for a second time, I realise I've already put the detergent into the second 60lb machine so I may as well swipe through another $6.50.
Garments removed from the washer, I then lovingly toss them into the tumble dryer only to find that my brand new card won't read in the slot anymore. Stressed out to the nines at this stage, seriously questioning all my life choices, I not so lovingly throw the sopping wet clothes in my laundry bag so I could get the hell out and get back to the safety of my own home as quickly as possible. As I crossed the threshold I decided that after hanging my clothes off every nook in my apartment I was going to make suman' delish to soothe my bruised domestic-goddess ego. And so I rustled up some Boxty with smoked salmon, caper ricotta and kale. Boxty is a traditional Irish potato pancake which is both easy to make and a great way of utilising any leftover mash. There's a rhyme associated with boxty that claims if you can't make it you'll never get a man...classic old wives tale from the old country. Antiquated as it is, I've never actully made boxty before which may explains my single status. Let's hope that this starch spell works and that my future beau won't ask me to wash his clothes. Boxty, yes. Boxers, no.
Half grated, half mashed and cooled.
3 eggs beaten
1 cup of milk
1 cup of flour
250g of smoked salmon
250g ricotta
Extra virgin olive oil
Capers
Salt and Pepper
Kale
A Wedg(i)e of Lemon to garnish
Mmmmmmm fried spudz |
Mmmmmm grated and uncooked spudz |
Boxty in the pan,
If you can't make boxty,
Saturday, 21 March 2015
Friends who drink coffee together, stay together
After some serious and stealthy planning on Ale's part, the three of us returned to our natural habitat - drinking coffee in a café together, almost... Clever Ale managed to buy both myself and Philly Willy (apologies for the nick name Philippa) a coffee in the countries he knew we would be in; Philippa's in NYC of course, and mine in beautiful Oslo, where I missed my dearest Ale by the skin of his teeth (roughly two days in non metaphorical terms). Ale is currently enjoying the cultural and foodie delights of Vietnam on his travels, but only after popping to America and Norway to fix his friends up with a caffeine hit - some serious competition now for the next grand gesture of friendship within this threesome...
Below is each of our personal accounts of the country-spanning-coffee-rendez-vous!
Ale
Oh Norway, home of beautiful fjords, Vikings, reindeers, the midnight sun and (allegedly) trolls. Norway, Norway, Norway, you beautiful, overly expensive Scandinavian country.
I recently spent 20h in its capital, Oslo, and I somehow made sure to miss every single one of the things mentioned above. The reason why my trip there was so short? I flew there from Dublin to catch a flight to Thailand. Super random, right? Well, it turns out that besides selling falafels for NOK100 (around €12), Norway is also home of Norwegian Airlines and its super cheap flights to the rest of the world.
I booked my flight to Oslo without knowing that, coincidentally, Emma was also going there on a skiing trip. Unfortunately she would only arrive a day after I had already left. It didn't seem fair that we would be on the same city and miss each other by a matter of only a couple of days. To compensate, I decided to prepare a little surprise.
I spent most of my time there snapping pictures of every building that I could (gotta please my Instagram followers) and searching for places to have a decent bite and a cup of coffee that wouldn't break the bank. After walking for one and a half minutes (I'm the worst person when I'm hungry, I completely loose my ability to make good decisions and literally will stop in the first place that serves food without coriander in it), I managed to find a cute little place to put in practice the second part of my plan before I headed to the Far East. You can read all about it in the girl's tales about how great of a friend I am!
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Ale's current position in Kuang Si Waterfall - I'll take a coffee instead thanks.. |
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Ale's present #1 |
Philippa
Not only did Ale prepare a surprise for Emma but the thoughtful and chivalrous stede did the same for his NY counterpart (me).
On the day of his departure from New York, with tears in his eyes (and yeah, tears in mine too, I guess) he handed me an envelope with a short message scribed on the front : don't open until the 27th of February. It took all my willpower not to tear it open on the spot. The date came around and alas, inside I found another cryptic message : go to your favourite coffee shop where you will find a coffee waiting for you which is on me. You're right,this one is pretty self explanatory. One thing troubled my mind however : how did he pull off this elaborate ruse when I was with him every waking second of his trip here? Or so I thought. Some of you may be aware, and some not so much, of the fact that I need to pee approximately 90% of the time. So Ale aka Mr. Stealth waited until the inevitable opportunity arose and set up this glorious surprise so that all three of us could share a cup of coffee in three completely different places on earth, yet again proving two theorems:
1) He is the world's greatest (sorry, R Kelly)
2) We are always only ever...A Mouthful Apart.
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Ale's present #2 |
Tuesday, 10 February 2015
The Biggest Apple
not so funny pizza |
funny pizza |
This post is brought to you with tiredness in our bones, pizza in our tums and the dregs of a hangover seeping from our pores.
What should you take from that sentence? Pizza. Always take pizza.
Please excuse the momentary lapse in our blogging over the past week. ALE CAME TO NEW YORK so we've been caught up in each others company and the spontaneity of this city. Ah bless. Let us give you a brief rundown on what's been happnan, what we've discovered,who we've met, and obviously what we've been eating!
What we've discovered:
1) People can be rude:
We went to a coffee shop in bushwick and asked, what turned out to be an absolute feckin' bitch, if we could use the seat she had her tacky bag on and she point blank refused to hand it over saying that her bag was actually really cosy on it. Shocked, appalled and without somewhere to put our bum bums so we were.
2) Sometimes it is ok to laugh at people:
Like people who don't give you chairs in busy coffee shops. You're not cool. You're rude. We've got it out of our system now and we're back to our friendly, loving, non-grudge-holding-stand-up-
4) Ice is slippy. Ale's arse has the bruises to prove it.
5) Canadian Bacon is hilarious. Especially at 4am in the morning.
6) Many/most of you probably know what the term 'All day' means when used in a restaurant. We didn't. So when the barista in a coffee shop said 4 coffees all day we naturally thought it meant we had free refills all day. Such silly billys.
If you don't know what it means you should Google it. We're still unsure how to explain it lucidly even though it is a very simple concept and one that we should have grasped after the third time it was explained to us.
7) Carrie Bradshaw's, Will and Grace's and Monica Geller's apartments are all very underwhelming in the dark.
8) How much does a pood weigh? Asked at Trivia night. No surprise that we didn't know the answer and that we didn't win.
1) HONY. Anyday now, he's BOUND to track us down, right?
1) An extravagant lobster roll at The Chelsea Market.
2) A pastrami, cheddar and apricot jam sandwich at The Chelsea Market.
4) Guanciale and Egg Pizza at Roberta's.
5) Tallegio and Mashed Potato Pizza at Roberta's.
6) Lil Stinker Pizza with added capers and egg at Roberta's
7) Burritos, burritos, and more burritos.
7) Egg's Neptune with hash browns at Kellogg's diner.
8) Egg's Benedict with sweet potato fries at Kellogg's diner.
9) Portobello Mushroom burger with goat cheese and sweet potato fries at...Kellogg's diner.
10) Stacks and more stacks of the most delicious pancakes smothered in Maple Syrup at...(you can probably guess it at this point) Kellogg's diner.
YES, we went to Kellogg's diner 4 times in 36 hours. And YES, we would do it all again.
always ask your server for a blurry picture |
friendship is always more beautiful in New York |
that's apparently what you do here |
Harlem, New York |
burger on face > burger in mouth |
"this is not what I ordered" |
immediatly after this picture Ale fell on the ice |
the F.R.I.E.N.D.S. building |
Grace Adler Design's |
our best shot |
not in the picture: side of bacon and toast |
The next chapter in our journey: OLSO AND SOUTHEAST ASIA.
Belt on, table up, windows open aaaaaand we have lift off!
Pip, Ale and Emma
Wednesday, 28 January 2015
Goodbye processed yumminess, It was a good ride...
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who needs friends |
So I know I sound all preachy and holier than thou with my new clean eating lifestyle, but let me tell you, I have struggled. Oh have I. This guy I know (i.e. my boyfriend) came to visit me in the land of the Riviera recently and I was all "I only eat this now" and "Do you even know what you're putting into your body right now" etc. etc. During my self affirming rants about the goodness of coconut oil in your food AND on your face I decided to take him to have the best croissant in Nice. Now, as I write that sentence I understand IT MAKES NO SENSE. Why did I choose to do that? Nevertheless, I did. And so I began to fully understand what it would feel like to be in Hell. The interaction after be bought the croissant went a little like this:
Boyfriend: Jesus, this is feckin' delicious
Crying on the inside Emma: Haha, oh yeah, looks class, yeah, I might have a handful of berries
Boyfriend: It's like crunchy on the outside and soooo buttery on the inside
Dying on the inside Emma: BUTTER? Can I smell it...?
It went on like this for a little while, it was painful. But I prevailed (okay...I had the end of the croissant...literally smaller than my thumb so it was fiiine...) Anyway, moving on from my shortcomings when it comes to buttery pastries.
This month is Juicin' and Jammin' It in January and I am making a yummmmy smoothie pudding clean dessert type of thing. It was originally meant to be a green smoothie, but as only two supermarkets in Nice have fresh spinach and I had no spare change to get the tram to either of these, I improvised...well not so much as improvising, rather I just left the spinach out. Sure look.
As I said, it was meant to be a green smoothie...which changed to a normal clean smoothie...and then when the final product came out I decided this would be a lovely pudding like dessert also. So, digest it as you wish, as a smoothie or a pudding... doesn't matter it's still deliiish and everything in it is clean clean clean.
Now, what we have here is a handful or two of frozen berries, a tablespoon of almond butter, chia seeds, bee pollen (new to this one...but heard it just really good for you, right so!), 3 medjool dates, 1 pot of non fat plain yogurt and a realllly ripe brown banana (freeze the banana beforehand for extra creaminess...probs better for the pudding option.)
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how brown is your banana? |
I lied... Step 3: Pour in fancy glasses and sprinkle with chia seeds and pollen (careful on the pollen though, it does weird things to your tummy if you're not used to it I'm told, I guess I'll keep ya'll posted on this....)
***CAUTION*** If you do not invest in a good blender, it will crack under the pressure (literally) and look like it pooed out your delicious smoothie.
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how rude |
Saturday, 17 January 2015
Delusional Dusk
Hi gang!
With 2015 in full swing we reignite our blogging torch with a fresh theme and culinary challenge for this month. We call it Juicin' and Jammin' in January. Our challenge is going to be to find the most bizarrre/strangest shaped fruit or vegetable and make juice or a preserve from it AND pick a song (or jam, if you will) that best describes said juice/preserve. Philippa is kickstarting this month with her post and her sincerest apologies for the amount of time it has taken her to gather her thoughts and actually string a few simple sentences together. Feast your eyes on her post below.
Ah January, we meet again, old buddy old pal. January, January, January. Christmas day seems like many moons ago at this stage, a distant cry, a hazy memory. It was a low key day here in New York. A light breakfast of poached eggs and salmon and buckets of coffee (top tip: give me coffee in the morning or I will die). We watched movies and cooked food (accidentally left it so late to order a turkey that we ended up with a 14lb bird...which I should point out we quickly finished cause we're animals), nattered (house full of 4 girls), skyped home to see just how much they were missing us (surprised they got through the day if I'm being honest...not really though. They were probably thankful the resident klutz wasn't there- I once broke a guitar that Santa left for my sister Paige a mere 2 hours after she had opened it. Soz.) Before hitting the hay we went down to our 'stoop' and asked an innocent passerby to take a picture of us so we could remember our first Christmas away from home. Say cheese.
Speaking of cheese, I am learning a shit ton in my job. It's great. The cheese is great. The people I work with are great. You're great for having read this far. Please do continue. Where was I?
Ah yes, January. January, January, January. Typically a time marked with hopeful promises of change, a chance for new beginnings, an opportunity to drastically reform one's life with resolutions such as hittin' the gymnasium on a regular basis, avoiding those devilish carbohydrates or givin' up the auld gargle. Well, I say NAY TO THAT. So instead of a healthy cleansing, vile-tasting vessel of mush, I present you instead with an alcohol fuelled cocktail that will fog all of your judgement and cleanse you in other ways. I picked ingredients inspired by different aspects of my life ( I didn't intend for that sentence to sound as obnoxious as it did ..lol?) Here they are along with the tantalizing tale behind each one:
Champagne- Flash back a few weeks to the eve of the New Year (also known as New Year's Eve). We had made grand plans to go out for dinner, have a few cocktails and polish off a bottle of bubbly. Glam, I know. But with work being so hectic and having spent the last few weeks burning the candle at both ends (wahey!), it seemed like a golden opportunity for a quiet night in (WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH PHILIPPA? I hear you ask). So, snuggled up in my jimjams (that's the jammin part of this post), armed with an ice cold beer and a delectable cheese board (see photo), I rang in the New Year in the borough of Brooklyn, far from the bright lights and commotion of the city. Shortly after midnight, I lay my head to rest on my fluffly pillow to awake early(ish) the next morning fully refreshed and ready for the year ahead. It took a solid two days for us to realise that the cork on the bottle of champers had not been popped. So, it rears it's fizzy head in this recipe.
Rhubarb bitters: I cannot describe just how cold it is here in any sort of magical way. 'Tis unmercifully bitter, as the fella says. I walked the highline a few days ago (cause yanno, it's always a good idea to go to higher altitudes when its cold) and I thought my face would fall off BUT New York did look mighty fine from up there (again photographic evidence provided below). I have started to wear socks above my ankles (an unprecedented yet necessary move). I have taken to wearing two coats and have contemplated buying a balaclava to protect my face from the bitter wind. I should add- I'm probably exaggerating. Apparently last year was worse but coming from a fairly mild climate, this weather makes me feel like Jack Dawson (when the ship went down...and he was floating in the icy water...and his lips were blue...) SO the rhubarb part of this beverage is an homage to watching Titanic whilst eating a warm rhubarb crumble with a mountain of whipped cream and a cup of tea in front of a roaring fire with my dogs (ma bishes if you will). You thought the tangled web of words I created wouldn’t make any sense, didn't you? Fear not, ramblings my game.
Raspberry Juice: I played a game with a gentleman in a bar recently (STRANGER DANGER) where we had to ask each other what your favourite such-and-such was and you had to answer straight away or you lost (yes, this is my idea of flirting). Anyway, he asked me what my favourite fruit was and I immediately screamed raspberry. I panicked. It's not my favourite fruit. Rhubarb is. Nevertheless, add raspberry.
Mint & Rosemary: Americans pronounce most things differently to us Celts. Like calling coriander cilantro and rocket arugula and pronouncing basil like baaayzil and droping the h when saying herbs BUT at least we can all agree on rosemary and mint.
Salt: for the rim of the glass- yes, a rim job.
Gin: The End.
Method: make it a double, barkeep!
And so the cocktail 'Delusional Dusk' is born/presented/poured/chugged/gracefully sipped.
Tune in next week for more shenanigans and remember kids, hashtag never ever drink and text.
Pip x