Last night Dan and I tried a new restaurant, Riordan, which was recommended for traditional Irish food.  I had a club sandwich, which had warm carved turkey smothered in cheese, and Dan got Shepherd’s Pie, which wasn’t what we expected (not being very pie like) but was very delicious and came with tasty veggies.

And today I feasted!  I had been looking forward to the Farmers’ Market all week, since I didn’t get to go last weekend because of my homestay.  So I hit it hard today, starting with another cocoa donut which was just as good as the first.  Then Dan and I split a pizza bagel (see below): a delicious bagel, topped with sauce and cheese!  Yum.  Then Dan got a burrito and I got pea and potato curry.  Both things were delicious!  I might have to go back again tomorrow. It’s interesting and awesome that such a wide variety of international food is available at the market!  Also sold is falafel, sausage, and crepes.

But for dinner, I cooked my first Irish meal–stew! I combined tips from my homestay hosts with a recipe I got from a library book, and it came out pretty good (and it was easy!). 

I combined a little less than 1 kg of small potatoes, chopped up carrot, half of an onion chopped up, about .75 kg of beef, and beef stock flavoring packets from the grocery store (or you could season it with parsley and things like that).  Put it all in a pot and let it simmer for 2+ hours. 

Serve and enjoy!  A note of caution: don’t eat bread with mold on it.  And try not to think about the bread you ate earlier today that probably had mold that you didn’t notice on it too.  Just drink the stewy goodness left at the bottom of the bowl without bread!

Some might use words like “bland” to describe typical Irish fare, but I like to describe it as “easy on the stomach” and “delicious.”  This is obviously the country I was meant to eat in because, in my opinion, nothing is better than potatoes (cooked in any of the million possible ways) or a solid meal of fish & chips.  Anyway, mildly seasoned stew was a welcomed dinner after the curry, burrito, and pizza spices finally settled down from lunch. 

Location: Galway, Ireland