Chef Darian’s Blog

Galway

October 13, 2008 on 9:51 pm | In Ireland | No Comments

Well, not as good as I thought about keeping up as I thought I would be. I went to Galway for two days. Galway is located on the Western Coast, directly opposite of Dublin. It was a three hour train ride, first class of course. Anyway, the countryside was beautiful. I stayed at the Kinlay House near the train station. It was a youth hostile with about 200 beds. Great location – central to everything. I took a bus tour through the Burren and to see the Cliffs of Moher. It was the most beautiful place. The cliffs just drop, plunging into the sea. Very dramatic. The Burren is an area of limestone that has been stripped of trees and brush (a hundred years ago) and is just now starting to get back to what it was before. It takes so very long for trees to grow back and it is just only now that the brush is coming back. We happened onto some wild goats. There were castles all along the coast. Most of them in a state of ruin. Ireland doesn’t seem to, until now, keep up on its own history. Even the museum of natural history is in disrepair. It is currently closed as apparently, it is not safe for tours to walk around. Funny thing, they were going to move some of the Parliament there while their offices were getting work done, but it wasn’t safe.

Speaking of the Parliament, I was lucky enough to get a tour of the Parliament while they were in session voting on an Unemployment Amendment. I had dinner in their dining room followed by the tour. I went through the Upper and Lower houses…very cool. Then off to the bar in Parliament for a few pints of Guinness. I asked around and found that no Irish person that I came in contact with had ever been in the Parliament. Oh, almost forgot, I got to watch while they debated the amendment. Very cool. A little arguing going on. The sitting party blames the US for their problems, Labor blames the Irish. They said that the Celtic Tiger (economy) was so good the past 10 years, but what did Ireland (specifically the govt.) do with the money? They squandered it away. Anyway, it was finally nice to hear someone say that the United States is not entirely responsible for the World’s economic woes.

Well, enjoy and I promise to do better keeping up. I updated my website and will try and post at least one new recipe a week. Cheers, Darian