Working, Living & Travelling In Ireland

Category: Co. Dublin

  • Dinner At Toscane Restaurant on Dame Street

    Dinner At Toscane Restaurant on Dame Street

    Hello Readers,

    I hope you are having a great weekend. I am just back from another great family get together in Dublin! This time my parents were visiting from Belgium, and we decided to meet up in Dublin. As our previous visit to Dublin was such a hit, we thought it was a perfect formula to repeat!

    Famiy picture Dublin
    The BonBells in St-Stephen’s Green The Bon referring to Bonjeaan

    You can read our previous visit in this post.

    Dinner At Toscane on Dame Street

    We went for dinner in Toscana on Dame street, we just can’t get enough of that place, and I am pretty sure we’ll be back again, later in the year. I didn’t get a chance to ring them to book our party ( there was 10 of us, including a few very good friends of ours) and booked our table via a little widget on their site. I received an email to remind me of my reservation, which I thought was awesome.

    Hailo or Uber?

    As there was the 6 of us travelling together, and the walk from the B&B to Toscana was just that little bit too far, I had to order a taxi. You may be familiar with Uber, which is the app I usually use, however on this occasion I wanted to order the taxi ahead, rather than order the taxi when I needed it. And this is something that Uber doesn’t offer, so I needed an alternative. A friend of mine had mentioned Hailo, so I thought I’d download that app. Once downloaded, I was able to enter my debit card details, and order a taxi in advance, and specify the amount of seats I needed, where I wanted to taxi and where I was going. The taxi arrived well in advance and dropped us off at the restaurant in no time. As my debit card details were entered in the app, there was no need to reach for my purse. And to finish it off, I was sent a receipt by email.

    Dinner at Toscana - Priceless
    Dinner at Toscana – Priceless

    After dinner, we went for one last nightcap in O’Donoghue’s, which is a short stroll from Staunton’s on the Green. I am a Cider fan and David loves Guinness,so I called this picture “His and Hers”.

    His and Hers
    His and Hers

    It was a long day, so fell asleep in no time!
    Hope you enjoyed reading this!
    Katleen
    PS.. Come back soon, I will start to publish my Small business interviews shortly!

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  • What’s that rattle in a Guinnes can?

    What’s that rattle in a Guinnes can?

    Hello Readers,

    In all the years I have been living in Ireland, I never really saw the widget in a Guinness can…. until today… I was tidying up earlier today and was about to crush a can of Guinness when I thought to myself, I really want to see what this thing looks like( and also find out why it’s in a can and what it does!).

    Just in case you have never seen a can of Guinness, it looks like this.

    A can of Guinness

    I recorded a very short video of a can that I was shaking, so you can hear the rattle.

    I then cut the can open.

    A cut open can of Guinness

    And this is what this “widget” looks like:

    a widget in a can of Guinness

    Now the reason there is a widget in a can of Guinness gets quite technical, so I did some research in Wikepedia. ( And whilst I was there, I donated 2 Euros to keep this service free, maybe if you are  feeling generous:) you can do the same.

    Some background:

    Draught Guinness, as it is known today, was first produced in 1964. With Guinness keen to produce draught beer packaged for consumers to drink at home, Bottled Draught Guinness was formulated in 1978 and launched into the Irish market in 1979. It was never actively marketed internationally as it required an “initiator” device, which looked rather like a syringe, to make it work.

    Some canned beers are pressurized by adding liquid nitrogen, which vaporises and expands in volume after the can is sealed, forcing gas and beer into the widget’s hollow interior through a tiny hole—the less beer the better for subsequent head quality. In addition, some nitrogen dissolves in the beer which also contains dissolved carbon dioxide. It is important that oxygen be eliminated from any process developed as this can cause flavour deterioration when present.

    The presence of dissolved nitrogen allows smaller bubbles to be formed thereby increasing the creaminess of the head. This is because the smaller bubbles need a higher internal pressure to balance the greater surface tension, which is inversely proportional to the radius of the bubbles. Achieving this higher pressure would not be possible with just dissolved carbon dioxide, as the greater solubility of this gas compared to nitrogen would create an unacceptably large head.

    When the can is opened, the pressure in the can quickly drops, causing the pressurised gas and beer inside the widget to jet out from the hole. This agitation on the surrounding beer causes a chain reaction of bubble formation throughout the beer. The result, when the can is then poured out, is a surging mixture in the glass of very small gas bubbles and liquid.

    This is the case with certain types of draught beer such as draught stouts. In the case of these draught beers, which before dispensing also contain a mixture of dissolved nitrogen and carbon dioxide, the agitation is caused by forcing the beer under pressure through small holes in a restrictor in the tap. The surging mixture gradually settles to produce a very creamy head.

    Here is what a pint of Guinness looks like when poured out in a glass!

    A pint of Guinness

    I hope you found this interesting, at least I am glad I have finally seen the rattle in a can of Guinness.

    Cheers,

    Katleen

     

     

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  • A Weekend in Dublin – Where to stay, eat and relax?

    A Weekend in Dublin – Where to stay, eat and relax?

    Hello all,

    I had started to write this post early November but never got to finish it.. so  I thought I’d finish it today, as just booked the same property  in Dublin again for a our next visit in January!

    Check out Hotels, B&B’s in Dublin Booking.com IE Just to be clear, this is an affiliate link. If you click on this link and decide to book a property, I get a small referral fee.

    So here you go.. this is what I had written …

    It’s back to school today, the autumn break has come to an end. But what an end…. We had the most beautiful weather, I would nearly say we had better/warmer weather on the 1st of November than on the 1st of July or the 1st of August. Even today is a fabulous day, and it’s just over 20 degrees Celsius.

    We are just back from a weekend in Dublin as we were celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary of my parents in law, and my husband David also had his 49th birthday.

    Where to book your stay in Dublin

    Finding a place to stay in Dublin is not that hard, and like everybody else we went to Booking.com IE to reserve our hotel. There are also other places I’d recommend you check out,  such as AirBnB, Homestay and Lidl-Breaks (particularly the last one has some great offers if you are looking for a hotel near the airport. The  golden rule really is to book as far ahead as possible, as prices go up very quickly!

    We were a group of 10 adults, so we needed a few rooms. Location was very important so we could easily get to the Grafton Street( Dublin’s South side shopping street). I say south side, as there is also a shopping streets on the North side called Mary Street & Henry Street.

    Staying at Staunton’s on the Green on St Stephen’s Green

    We choose to stay in Staunton’s on the Green, and really had a great stay.

    Stauntonsonthegreen

    The Boys testing out their beds!
    The Boys testing out their beds!

    Dublintrip 003

    It’s located on St. Stephen’s Green( it’s a big Square, with Stephen’s Green Park in the middle). I found the below aerial video on the website of St-Stephen’s green, I thought it was quiet good!

    The entrance to the park is pretty much across from the entrance of the hotel. Walk through the park and you are at the bottom of Grafton Street and of course the St- Stephen’s Green Shopping center. We spent some time in the park and met a retired German banker, who looked after wounded pigeons.

    Feeding Pigeons on St-Stephen's Green
    Feeding Pigeons on St-Stephen’s Green

    I would highly recommend this Guest House! Very friendly staff, clean rooms, coffee and tea facilities. Our room was in the front of the hotel, so we did have some city noises such as ambulances/Police sirens( it was also Halloween night, so lot’s of call-outs from the emergency services),  but they also have plenty of bedrooms at the back of the hotel. There is also a garden/yard at the back of the property if you wanted to sit down and enjoy the view ( okay or go for a smoke). We actually spotted a few squirrels!

    [booking_pluginbox id=”1074″]

    Breakfast is served in the dining room from 8-10. The hotel was completely booked out, and the dining room was jam-packed with people, so the noise levels were quite high! Nevertheless, the staff were all very friendly and helpful and tried to serve the guests as fast as they could.

    Hop on Hop off Bus in Dublin City Centre

    We went onto the Hop on Hop off Bus trip, and we had the greatest fun!!

    Our driver/guide was Damien D ( please remember his name!) and he provided us with the most interesting commentary, anecdotes and laughter, we really didn’t want to get off the bus at the end of the ride. We did get off and hopped onto another bus on our way back. The return trip was also interesting, but we got the recorded commentary, which was also very educational, but give me Damien D anytime!

    Dinner at Captain America’s on Grafton Street

    We had booked our first dinner at Captain America’s on Grafton Street and the meal was perfect.

    Dinner At Captain Americas
    Dinner At Captain Americas

    After a filling breakfast the next morning, we set off for a walk on Grafton Street and walked into Davy Burns, just off Grafton Street. Also check out Power’s Court Center, there are some really interesting eateries , such as Counter Culture.

    Counter Culture in Powerscourt Centre , Dubliln City
    Counter Culture in Powerscourt Centre , Dubliln City

     

    Dublintrip 128

    For our second evening meal, we reserved a table at Toscana on Dame Street.. An absolute treat to eat there, and no surprise they won last year’s award of for  “Best Grow It Yourself Restaurants in Ireland”

    Our weekend came to an end, and we took one last picture in St-Stephen’s Green.

    The Bells in St-Stephen's Green Park, Dublin
    The Bells in St-Stephen’s Green Park, Dublin

    We’ll be heading to Dublin again in January, and have booked in Stauntons on the Green again.

    Cheers,

    Katleen

     

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