Ireland, Part 4
This is the final installment of my Ireland trip. Click here for Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 for a recap! Day 9: Naiomi and I got up early on Day 9 and headed to Dublin. We dropped off our car at the airport …
Author: longdistancebaking
Ireland, Part 3: Belfast
For a recap on Ireland Parts 1 & 2, check it out here and here! Day 7: After staying up until 6am the night before for New Year’s, it was a little rough waking up and hitting the road at 10am. But with a four hour …
Ireland, Part 2
For a recap of Ireland days 1-4, check it out here! Then read parts 3 (Belfast) and 4 (Dublin) next!
Day 5: We got up early from Killarney and headed to The Cliffs of Moher, the number one thing on my list to see in Ireland. Thanks to some trusty research and our handy GPS, we took a chance and headed north to take a ferry across the Shannon Estuary. This shaved about an hour and half off our travel time plus we bypassed Limerick, which according to our travel book, Ireland was voted one of the friendliest countries in the world in 2008 but Limerick was voted one of the homicide capitals in the world. Suffice it to say, we didn’t mind bypassing the city.
We finally arrived at The Cliffs of Moher and it was the coldest I have ever been. It was freezing!! The wind was so intense it was hard to talk. Once we got to the cliffs though, I could have stood in t-shirt and shorts and not minded the cold because it was amazing! Pictures of the cliffs do not do it justice; it was incredible! We spent close to two hours at the cliffs before we headed off to Galway a day early. The drive from the cliffs to Galway was the most beautiful drive of the trip. We drove up the coast through an area called The Burren, an area made of limestone rock. It was truly beautiful! Also, Ireland is home to some of the prettiest cows. I know that sounds weird, but we saw cows grazing on the roadside during this drive and they looked so peaceful and happy. Yes, I could tell the cows were happy.
Day 6: We were originally only going to stay in Galway for New Year’s but drove in a night earlier from the cliffs and were able to stay in same hotel both nights. I highly recommend the Park House Hotel if you are ever in Galway- it’s wonderful! It was great because were able to get up early on Day 6 and drop off our laundry at the front desk and get an early start on the day. We went to the Galway Museum and learned about the history of Galway and walked around the streets to do some shopping. We stopped at the Thomas Dillons, the maker of the original claddagh ring. I splurged and bought a rose gold claddagh ring… I love it!
We stopped at this wine bar for lunch and oh my gosh. Best. Sandwich. Ever! I had a braised pork sandwich that was truly to die for. For New Year’s dinner, we went to the same Italian restaurant we went to the night before because it was soooo good and this place had the most amazing white wine. I need to search where I can buy it near me! After dinner we went to a traditional Irish bar and listened to live Irish music and rang in the new year. We met some Irish friends, sang some Irish songs, I was proposed to… It was very memorable and so much fun 🙂
Galway was amazing; a truly wonderful place to spend New Year’s. This marks the halfway of our trip and on Friday, we’ll take a look at Belfast!
Sláinte!
-Kelly
Ireland, Part 1
Cheers! I’m baaaack 🙂 Thank you, Steph, for holding down the fort and posting some amazing recipes! I was jealous that I could not make this Jalapeño Popper Dip for New Years. It’s seriously my favorite so if you haven’t done so yet, make it soon! …
Pomegranate Raspberry Fizz
Have I mentioned I’m sad the holidays are over? If not, you could come over and see my decorations still up. I have to take them down in phases or else I think I would go into some soft of post-Christmas-depression. To keep the holiday …
Lemon Butter Cookies
Well, the holidays are officially over. And I’m pretty upset about it. We didn’t get a white Christmas (yet drove 6 hours through the snow…), I had to defrost my car from freezing rain yesterday, and to make matters worse? No more holiday Starbucks cups.
The one bright spot that came this weekend was some fresh home-grown lemons from my boyfriend’s parent’s house in California. I haven’t seen the sun in days, but these sunny yellow lemons had me instantly thinking of summer.
He brought back so many lemons I just knew we needed to bake with them, but I’m also kind of all sugared out from the holidays. I decided to go with a lemon butter cookie recipe from A Teaspoon of Happiness for that reason. I find that butter cookies are the perfect mix between a shortbread and a sugar cookie; they’re sweet enough to still feel like dessert but not overwhelmingly sugary.
Now normally I don’t love shortbread and butter cookies for that reason, because they’re not sweet enough for my massive sweet tooth. But that’s where the lemon comes in. The tartness blends perfectly with butter and you’re left with a refreshing lemony tang.
If you need a bright burst of sunshine to get rid of the winter blues, you should whip up a batch of these lemon butter cookies. And then eat five in one sitting. Because that’s what I did.
~Stephanie
Lemon Butter Cookies (adapted from A Teaspoon of Happiness)
- 2 1/2 c flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp soda
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/3 c granulated sugar
- 1/3 c brown sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- Powdered sugar, for dusting
- In medium bowl combine flour, salt and soda. Set aside.
- Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Mix in vanilla and egg.
- Stir in lemon zest and juice.
- Gradually add in dry ingredients and stir until combined.
- Roll into teaspoon sized balls, then flatten with tines of a fork.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees, removing when just beginning to brown.
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar while still warm, then transfer to wire rack to cool.
2015: A New Year
How is it 2015?! I say this every year…but I really can’t believe how fast this one went. It was a big year for LDB! We traveled to Portland, Oregon together and attempted to eat our way through the city. We spent a beautiful weekend in Napa, …
Jalapeño Popper Dip
Kelly has been begging me to post this dip recipe. Partially because she thought you guys would love it. Partially because she wanted the recipe for herself. I can’t really blame her…cause this stuff is delicious! My cousin made it for Christmas Eve a few …
Monthly Musings: Oct/Nov/Dec
If you remember, Kelly and I originally started doing Monthly Musings here on LDB. Once a month we would post our current ramblings or fill you in on life. However as we’ve gotten more in the swing of things with creating and posting recipes regularly, the Monthly Musings have fallen by the wayside. We’ve decided they will now be more of a Quarterly Musings kind of thing. Or basically just whenever we want them 😉
This fall went by so fast, I can’t believe it! Though looking back through pictures I now realize why it passed so quickly: I was so busy! Every weekend was either traveling or a Boise State football game. My job switched to a normal Monday-Friday schedule (I had been working weekends the past two years) yet I could hardly tell a difference because I was constantly doing something.
October came with a trip to my parents in Eastern Washington, where we spent a rainy fall weekend picking apples and making our own apple cider. One of my favorite fall traditions!
Then came a combined trip to Park City, Utah with my girlfriends to celebrate a birthday and then to Salt Lake City, Utah to watch the USC Trojans play the University of Utah. USC lost and it was a quick weekend trip, but a very fun getaway nonetheless.
In case you somehow missed it on Instagram, I was a Crazy Cat Lady for Halloween. It was quite the hit, though things are getting a little out of hand. Cat birthday cards were the theme this year.
November brought my 26th birthday, which was celebrated with my girlfriends by wine tasting. You know you’re getting older when your only birthday request is that you do something that involves not having to socialize with any other people.
My parents and sister traveled to Boise to spend Thanksgiving with me here, and we were joined by my boyfriend, roommate and other friends who had to work the holiday. We then all went to a BSU football game and about froze our faces off. We won though!
December was a whirlwind of cookie baking, shopping and gift wrapping and before I knew it I was headed back up to Washington for Christmas. I spent four days at home and barely did a thing. It was so nice and just what I needed.
Kelly is currently in Ireland (!!!) and will be back after the New Year, so it’s just you and me until then! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are preparing for a fun New Year’s Eve!
~Stephanie
Whiskey Caramel Corn (Chewy)
As promised, I combined whiskey and popcorn. You’re welcome. Ever since I learned how easy it is to make your own microwave popcorn, I’ve been on a huge popcorn kick. It only seemed natural to make caramel corn as Christmas gifts to give out to …