Page 31 – From China Village

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies for Valentine’s Day

February 4, 2015

I don’t always get very excited for Valentine’s Day, but this year all the pinks and reds seem springy, so I’m going with it! I baked up some of these sweet heart cookies last week (and somehow managed not to eat them all up!). I used this recipe for Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies from Martha Stewart, but they weren’t quite as cinnamon-flavored as I had hoped. I fixed that by adding a little improvised cinnamon icing.

These cookies are on the crunchier side (and they go from done to burned really quickly), but I think if you took them out of the oven when they don’t look quite done they might be chewier. No matter what, keep an eye on them when they’re starting to crack and take them out earlier than you think you should. I used a cookie cutter to cut heart shapes while they were still warm on the cookie sheet, then I let all the parts cool before icing.

I used a standard icing recipe (1/8 cup butter, 2 cups powdered sugar, 2 tbsp almond milk because we didn’t have regular milk in the house, and 2 tsp cinnamon). I colored it with a few drops of red food coloring.

Festive and delicious!

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4 Ways to Beat the Dublin Winter Blues

February 3, 2015

Sunday night, as we drove back from Cork, the temperature gauge on the dashboard hovered between -1 and +1 Celsius. Luckily it was a dry evening or it would have been a harrowing drive. Just the day before, we got caught in a gusty freak snow squall on an otherwise sunny day, and there were iced over puddles in the parking lot when we left the hotel. Back in Dublin, the sun is shining today, but I’m skeptical.

There are hints that spring is coming, but we’re still a ways away from daffodils here in Dublin. For the next few weeks, while we’re still in winter survival mode, I thought we all might need a few tricks to beat the Dublin winter blues. I know I certainly do!

1. Get Some Fresh Air

It’s not always possible, what with the wind and the slushy snow and rain, but getting fresh air is an instant mood changer. A walk around the block, or even better, a stroll down a beach with a friend as the sun sets, can lessen the feeling of being trapped inside by the weather. We like to bundle and head over to Hole in the Wall Beach in Sutton for the best sunset views or Portmarnock Strand for a view of Howth head.

I also like to keep an eye out for the first green shoots in our garden, which always makes me feel like spring is just around the corner (even when it isn’t). We have paperwhites and hyacinths starting to poke through already!

2. Take the Glasnevin Cemetery Tour

This one’s a little quirky, but taking the Glasnevin Cemetery Tour is a fun excursion on an afternoon – and will perhaps remind you that things could be worse than enduring a Dublin winter? And you can even give yourself a reward at the end – a pint or two in Gravedigger’s Pub around the corner. It’s one of the cosiest around and they’re gaining a reputation lately for their tapas, of all things!

3. Make a date for the Lighthouse Cinema

With Oscars season upon us, we may as well take advantage of the good movies out. Make a date with a friend or loved one to have lunch and a movie at the independently run Lighthouse Cinema in Smithfield. Try Third Space, L. Mulligan Grocer, or Oxmantown for lunch, and catch one of their matinees.

4. Get Cosy

One of the things that has helped me cope with the dark, dark days of winter is to embrace the season as much as possible. I try to remind myself that it’s candle season (in the summer you can’t light candles until about 10pm!). On normal weekday evenings, we light candles at dinnertime and it makes the dark evenings much less dreary.

We don’t have a fireplace in our house, but my friend Ruth just did a great post on three of the best firesides in Dublin you can cosy up to with a hot drink. I can’t wait to park it in front of the fire at the Cobalt Cafe, a new-to-me spot!

And when in doubt, pick up a decadent hot chocolate. Here are my 5 current favorite spots for cocoa in Dublin!

Are you planning a visit to Dublin? These are great spots to try, no matter when you arrive! If you’re looking for a place to stay, try Expedia to book your winter visit.

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Latest Spectacles

February 2, 2015

A few weeks ago, I picked out new glasses. It was past time for an upgrade. Michael snapped a few photos while we were in Cork over the weekend, in the morning light overlooking the water at the River Lee Hotel.

I found my glasses at Specsavers in Swords and I’d recommend them – they have some of the best customer service I’ve experienced in Ireland and they’re very affordable. You can get an eye test €30 or a contact lens test for €20, which was much cheaper than I was expecting.

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Friday Finds

January 30, 2015

(Locks Restaurant in Dublin – on my list to try!)

Happy Friday, friends! It’s bright and sunny in Dublin today, which is a relief after yesterday’s soggy mess. Michael and I are heading to Cork tomorrow morning for the night to visit friends, play basketball, and attend a wedding fair for Confetti Magazine. Bet you can guess which gets to go to which! Think I’d trade, though, I’m not really the wedding fair type!

We have survived our first week of clean eating and we’re both feeling pretty good about it. We’ve had a few new meals that we loved and that we wouldn’t have cooked otherwise, but we’re looking forward to putting milk in our coffees again soon!

I thought I’d resurrect the Friday Finds post I got in the habit of doing last year. I found some really lovely and delicious things online this week and I thought you’d get a kick out of them!

This is the perfect pink.

Funfetti anything is fun, funfetti biscotti sounds delish.

I’m gearing up for Valentine’s Day and planning to make these nutella molten cakes with no-churn cheesecake ice cream.

A great reminder to stop striving and just be where you are.

Love these old Dublin travel maps on my Delightful Dublin Pinterest board.

Pumpkin salad with cumin yogurt and pomegranate seeds sounds so flavorful.

Have you seen these charcoal water filters? Genius and so sustainable.

The things happy families have in common.

The McDonald’s Theory of drawing great ideas out of the not-so-great ideas is what I use when I’m not sure what to write. Works almost every time.

Blue subway tile for the win.

Have a really lovely weekend, thanks for coming back here to hang out with me each week!

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Five Great Hot Chocolates in Dublin

January 29, 2015

Good morning from snowy Dublin! Well, snowy might be overstating it, but there were some soggy flurries and it is cold! What better time to talk about the best hot chocolates in Dublin? I’ve been on a hot chocolate kick this winter and these are my faves – for different reasons!

(I should also tell you that this is one of the most painful posts I’ve written in a long time. My love for hot chocolates – and every other kind of chocolate – this winter prompted Michael and I to take on a 14-day total sugar detox. We’re on Day 6 and I don’t think it’s a good sign that I’m still dreaming of hot chocolate!)

Here’s a little warning about Dublin hot chocolate. Not every restaurant or cafe is going to give you great hot chocolate, even if it’s on the menu. I’ve ordered it in places and ended up with the powdery mixed in chocolate you’d make at home. I think that’s disappointing and not worth the calories if you’re out and about in Dublin because we have so many delicious options for the real deal. Consider yourself warned!

Right, back to the task at hand.

Butlers Chocolate Cafes / Best hot chocolate for walking around

Butlers is kind of the holy grail of hot chocolate in Dublin. It’s an Irish chain with multiple branches throughout the city, so it’s almost always convenient. Which is much better if you’re a visitor than if you’re a local. If you’re a local, you’ll eventually land yourself in sugar detox time out.

I’m not a big fan of different flavored hot chocolate, like mint or chili, but Butlers does have those as well. The regular hot chocolate is made with their gooey chocolate sauce and hot milk, topped with whipped cream if you so choose. If you sit in (some of the Butlers cafes have space, some don’t), it’s served in a tall glass, which also isn’t my favorite. I think the better way to enjoy Butlers hot chocolate is in a take-away cup, walking around the city with pleasantly warm hands. If you’re a coffee fan, their mochas are made with the same gooey chocolate and they are divine.

They also have Butlers at the Dublin airport in both terminals, so I always grab one when I get through security as a reward for making it that far!

Brother Hubbard and its new Sister Sadie / Most chocolate-y

Brother Hubbard and its new south side location, Sister Sadie, wins the award for most chocolate-y hot chocolate in Dublin. I’ve written about Brother Hubbard before, and I still can’t get over how they manage to make hot chocolate so chocolat-y. It’s really rich, but it’s not overly sweet, which makes it drinkable!

It’s served with a little jug of already chocolate-y hot milk, and a mug of rich liquid chocolate that’s thinner than sauce but thicker than hot chocolate. You mix the two together yourself, sip and swoon. I know that word is over-used, but I think swoon is an appropriate response to Brother Hubbard’s hot chocolate.

Considered Cafe / Frothiest

I wrote about Considered Cafe only last week, and I’m still thinking about their frothy hot chocolate. I was offered marshmallow on top, but I declined, because sometimes Dublin marshmallows are tiny, crunchy pink things that make this girl who used to eat Marshmallow Fluff with a spoon very disappointed. So, no marshmallows. Verdict? Totally not necessary. They froth the milk so well and pour it so it looks like a gorgeous cappucino with a little tree design (photo above). Despite the good frothing, it’s still chocolate-y enough for me. I’ll be back!

Bean and Goose / Best bonuses

I mentioned I’m not such a big fan of flavored hot chocolate, but Bean and Goose in the Temple Bar Market in Meetinghouse Square is an exception. Sometimes Aztec hot chocolate, with lovely cinnamon flavor, or even whiskey hot chocolate, which some days definitely call for!

But what I love about Bean and Goose hot chocolate are the bonuses. First, they share a table with Wildflour Bakery (Kate made my birthday cake for my 30th and I wish there was still some left in the freezer!), their table is covered in 31 Chapel Lane Irish linen (which makes the best gift!) and you can take blocks of Bean and Goose hot chocolate home to make yourself.

Clement & Pekoe / Crowd Favorite

I have to admit this last hot chocolate I haven’t tried myself. When I go to Clement & Pekoe, I zero in on their cappuccinos or flat whites because they are one of the best in the city. But when I asked for recommendations on Instagram the other day, Clement & Pekoe was the crowd favorite, so I wanted to include them in this list.

French Foodie in Dublin recommended them in her list of the best hot chocolates in Dublin and it looks yummy and maybe a little cheaper than some of these options, but I’m worried about the chocolate factor. I like a really chocolate-y hot chocolate and this one comes with hot milk and a chocolate stirring stick. But seriously, so many people recommended it, and I trust Instagram friends, I do!

Now here’s the fun part. How about you all make your recommendations for your favorite Dublin hot chocolates and I can commence dreaming about them until this stupid sugar detox is over and I’m back to my life of indulgence! If you don’t have a Dublin favorite, you could share your all-time favorite from anywhere in the world, and wouldn’t that be an awesome chocolate-y list!

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A New Evening Routine

January 27, 2015

One of my resolutions for the new year was to stop taking my phone to bed, and that small change has turned into a new evening routine I thought I’d share today. I know it’s only January, but this habit seems to have stuck quickly!

On the night of January first, I was still in Maine, so I put my phone out in the hallway in my parents’ house, and crawled back into bed to read. Then next night? Same thing. A few times, when I woke up early with jet lag, I’d go grab my phone and bring it back to bed to read Michael’s morning email to me from Dublin (the best thing about being apart!). But sometimes I’d just get up and head downstairs to find some breakfast. It was almost too easy!

When I’m in Maine, I almost always wake up naturally after eight hours of sleep, so I didn’t need my phone as an alarm clock. But when I returned to Dublin and left my phone in the living room every night to charge, I needed an alarm clock. I brought back a boring white one from Target, the truly ugly-yet-reliable sort, but when I saw this mini minty one in Tiger the other day, I knew it was perfect. It’s so mini! It doesn’t have a light, and it’s not exactly exact with its alarm-setting capabilities, but it’s mini and minty and it makes me pretty happy.

Instead of going to bed and scrolling through Instagram and Facebook, I now find myself heading to bed earlier than I’m used to just to get some reading time in before I fall asleep. I just finished and enjoyed Tana French’s new mystery, Broken Harbor, and I’ve moved onto this book that’s been passed from my sister to my mom and now to me, called Beautiful Ruins. The third book in the stack on my night stand is one I’m looking forward to next, but that also just jazzes up my night stand. My dad’s murder mysteries are being re-released with beautiful new matte covers, one by one, and I’m going to start at the beginning. I was in high school the last time I read Deadline, the first in his Jack McMorrow series, and I’m excited to revisit it.

I didn’t think giving up my phone in bed would have such a big impact on my sleep and my general peacefulness, but it has. Plus, I feel virtuous instead of guilty going to bed every night! I thought it would be a little painful, but it was a quick rip of the bandaid that turned into an easy habit within a week.

Are you still going to bed with your phone? You should totally get a tiny, minty alarm clock instead!

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Handsome Man Style / Printed Bow Ties from Marthu

January 26, 2015

Two Christmases ago, my grandmother made bow ties for all the boy grandchildren (and the one in-law grandchild). I think my dad and my uncles ended up with them as well. It’s probably safe to say Michael was the only recipient who was terribly excited about his bow tie. He spent ages watching YouTube videos to learn how to tie them properly, and I now have my grandmother to thank for this new debonaire style season.

All that to say, Michael is a bow tie enthusiast. He has a whole collection – he even asked my grandmother to make him another one this year to match his basketball team color – orange! He’s waiting for the right occasion to break that one out (the might need to win something important in the next few months). Orange is very much not my favorite color, so this pixelated bow tie from Marthu at the Design House in Dublin makes me so much happier.

Marthu is a clothing company that is based in Dublin, and most of their clothing is made in Poland with French and Italian fabrics. They work with artists in Poland and France to put original prints and patterns onto their clothing. I spotted their bow ties in the Design House on Dawson Street in Dublin, and nearly picked one up for Michael for Christmas but I couldn’t decide on a print! After lots of back and forth, I landed on this one and it has become Michael’s favorite bow tie.

I snapped a few photos of him wearing his Marthu bow tie yesterday after church, relaxing on the couch with the Sunday paper. I love the way he pairs bold prints and then tones the whole outfit down with a solid sweater. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t consciously build his outfits that way, but they usually work out like that!

Marthu bow ties come in these sweet little matching bags, which I tried to steal but Michael has been using diligently to keep his favorite bow tie safe and sound in the jumble of his wardrobe. He even packed it in its little case and brought it to Barcelona with us! (I tried to take a photo of him wearing it in Barcelona, but it was on the tequila restaurant night and all those photos are a little blurry! 😉

I thought it was too funny when I got to the end of the couch taking these pictures…and nearly tripped over a growing pile of size 14 Converse. Six years of marriage and I still haven’t managed to get him to put them away!

You can find Marthu bow ties online or in the Design House – they’d make a fun little Valentine’s gift in a few weeks!

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Delicious Barcelona

January 22, 2015

One more post about Barcelona today, friends! This time, the good stuff: the food, drinks and coffees we snacked on around the city. In Michael’s travel planning post, he mentioned how he likes to have options for food and drinks wherever he is in the city we’re exploring. This keeps us from getting snappy with each other because we’re hungry and don’t know where to go for a quick snack or a bigger meal. Michael did this on our trip to Barcelona and it was a life-saver, as always.

First things first, let’s start with coffee spots. We made breakfast in our apartment each morning with eggs and avocados from the market around the corner. Then we headed straight for the coffee.

We tried Satan’s Coffee Corner, Mitte, and Cafe Ona. Satan’s Coffee Corner, the first two photos in this post, pushed our limits of hipsterness, if we’re being terribly honest. The decor was cool and the coffee was delicious, but the hipster level was through the roof. They seemed to serve only donuts, chia pudding and toast. They also had a big sign that said ‘no wifi, no decaf’, so there’s that. I did love that bright yellow bench though!

Mitte was much more my speed. I thought the decor was so pretty and different from what we have in Dublin. The coffee was Spanish style and very drinkable. Mitte has a little art gallery in the front and whenever we walked by in the early evening, there were lots of people having drinks and chatting.

We tried another coffee spot, Cafe Ona, and the coffee was really yummy and specially imported from Costa Rica. Unfortunately, all three were closed on Sunday, which meant we couldn’t go back for another try!

Now for tapas! We ate all of them. Here’s what we loved.

We stopped at Norte for a late lunch one afternoon, when the light was streaming in and glowing off the white walls. I wore my sunglasses inside it was so bright. Also, how sweet are the little posies of holly? Next year, my whole house is going to be filled with those little guys.

We tried this delicious white fish and lemony potatoes, which is a speciality of the region and we loved it. I ate all of the olives because Michael doesn’t like them and every time, I’m grateful I married someone with whom I never have to share olives. Yum.

The first night we arrived, the owner of the apartment we rented suggested a spot around the corner called Betlem. We tried to go back again but it was closed early on Sunday. From the minty branding to the pork belly with lemony potatoes, we loved this place. If Norte and Betlem moved to Dublin I would never cook at home.

One night we had to eat some salads. I ordered totally the wrong one, but Milk was cheap and cheerful and had yummy cocktails. There was actually an Irish Times cut-out on the wall from a review, which cracked us up. It was a little student-y but we were grateful for the vegetables.

Another night, we ate in Tlaxcal, a Mexican restaurant with really delicious tacos. Michael tries to find at least one place he can drink nice tequila in each place we visit, and I try to go with it since I won’t say no to a margarita, no matter where I am! I took no photos, but I’d really recommend it. You will need to make a reservation, though, at least on the weekend, because it fills up and the host wasn’t so excited about walk-ins even when there appeared to be tables free. It’s in the Born neighborhood, which is really fun to wander in the evening. Lots of shops and cafes and locals.

Finally, Michael found the coolest bar for after-dinner drinks on our last night. El Nacional is kind of like an upscale market filled with bars. It’s one large, high-ceiling-ed building with different bars each with a different vibe. Some of them are restaurants as well, but we picked the most Mad Men-esque section and ordered a few old fashioneds. Can you even get over that bar wall? Everything was lit perfectly.

So we clearly didn’t go hungry on our visit to Barcelona. We were pretty excited about the range of options that weren’t as heavy as I sometimes remember tapas to be. We had lots of patatas bravas, but there were lots of interesting and light vegetable options that helped balance them out. I think we’ll have a hard time not going to just the same places when we make it back to Barcelona, we enjoyed them all that much!

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Cosy Dublin Cafe / Considered by Helen James

January 20, 2015

There’s a new cafe on the block and I’m smitten with its utter cosiness! It’s called Considered and it’s taken up residence in a little spot in the Creative Quarter on Drury Street. I’ve been twice in the last few weeks and so far it’s been the perfect spot for sharing chats over hot chocolates with friends on winter afternoons.

Considered is both a cafe and a product line by designer Helen James. So you can buy her products in select Dunnes stores around the country, as well as in the Considered cafe on Drury Street. Helen has designed a really lovely (and reasonably priced) line of kitchen goods, like marble rolling pins and pottery canisters, aprons, tea towels, jams and sauces.

The cafe has a selection of soups and hot and cold sandwiches, lots of treats baked in house daily, and some pretty yummy hot chocolate. It’s not very large, just one big table and some bar stools looking out the window, but if you can nab a seat it’s really pleasant. Kind of exactly how you’d want your own kitchen to feel at home. Some day.

The cafe uses the little sugar and creamer sets from the Considered range, which is a sweet touch. There are bits of grey and pink everywhere, which is quite peaceful. The bar stools are a super place to people watch, as well. You can practically wave to the girls in the Irish Design Shop from your perch!

It’s well worth a visit if you need a place to warm up in Dublin!

Considered Cafe by Helen James / 42 Drury Street / Dublin 2

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This Is (Sometimes a Lot of) Water

January 19, 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKYJVV7HuZw

A few months ago, I read a post by Kate Arends on Wit & Delight that referenced the commencement speech by David Foster Wallace called “This is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life.” I watched it and loved it and saved it to the running draft email to myself with the subject line ‘Things that are great’. Because it is great.

Have you heard it before? It’s a commencement speech given at Kenyon College in 2005. The message – that we have the choice of perspective that can guard us against the mundane, everyday annoyances of the world – often comes flooding back to me. How about that for a pun?!

Have you watched it yet? It’s nine minutes and worth every second.

Okay, we’ll assume you’ve watched it now. For the sake of this story. But seriously, you should watch it.

Ten days each month, I make the trek to the office where I do marketing and online editing for a wedding magazine and an interiors magazine. I enjoy my work and the people I do it with immensely, but it involves a commute that I find draining. The office recently moved and the trek now involves a half hour train ride, followed by a twenty minute cycle, followed by a twenty minute walk. Somehow, since the office moved farther from my house on the north side of Dublin just before Christmas, that trek has almost always involved either rain or wind or often both rain and wind. And so many potholes and so much swan poop.

Unlike the references in David Foster Wallace’s address, which mostly involve the potential annoyances people provide in our day to day lives, the annoyances I face on those ten days are almost always natural. Some days I feel like I physically can’t keep cycling or walking against the wind or into the rain. Sometimes I just don’t want to keep dodging swan poop on the sidewalk and weaving in and out of people walking my way (did you know in Dublin there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to which side of the sidewalk you walk on? It’s a constant and exhausting game of chicken).

But I have taken to reminding myself: This is water. This is it. This is all we get. The every day is most of it. And my positive attitude against wind and rain and potholes and swan poop is my choice.

The irony hit me only this week as I was reciting this is water, this is water, on my way home after a long day, getting stung in the face with droplets of windy Dublin water.

***

If you really learn how to think, how to pay attention, then you will know you have other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, hot, slow, consumer hell type situation as not only meaningful, but sacred. On fire with the same force that lit the stars. With love, fellowship, the mystical one-ness of all things deep down.

You get to consciously decide what has meaning, and what doesn’t. That is real freedom.

The alternative is unconsciousness, the default setting, the rat race, the constant gnawing sense of having had and lost some infinite thing.

The capital T truth is about life before death, it is about the real value of a real education which has almost nothing to do with knowledge and everything to do with simple awareness.

Awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves, over and over, this is water, this is water.

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