Ireland so far...

Well it has been a busy 2 years in Ireland

We have been to 7 countries

We have made it to 30 of 32 Irish counties (missing Down in Northern Ireland and Waterford in the south)

37 castles in those 7 countries , 24 from Ireland...

Our time is drawing to an end which is bittersweet. It will be great to return to friends in family in Portland, but will be equally sad leaving the friendships we have made here.

We will return of that there is no doubt

Rob

Best food in Ireland by county

Well Ireland may not be a country known for its food but there is some good stuff if you know where to look. Now that we have made it through almost all of Ireland's counties here are some tips  on there to go for some top notch food.

Best pizza - Galway 

Best mussels - Galway
Best chicken curry- kildare ( our local in maynooth)
Best lamb shank - Donegal, runner up kildare ( the avenue - maynooth)
Best ice cream - Kerry (dingle)
Banoffie pie - Kerry ( dingle)

Dishes that are uniquely irish :

- Chicken curry -not a thai curry, not an indian curry, unique to pubs and chip shops. Also associated with chips (curry and chips)

- Lamb shank- not seen too much in the US , lots of sheep in Ireland means good wool and good lamb. This is simple meal, but when done right the meat falls off the bone

-Banoffie pie -  bananas, cream,  toffee, graham cracker like crust... There is some variability with how sweet toffee is , so for some this dish can be too sweet

Sticky Toffee Pudding- moist sponge cake,  covered in a toffee sauce 

Most of these are available in England also , but then there is some overlap between these islands.

What will I miss

Sticky Toffee pudding, Banoffie, chicken curry (we will be taking some curry mix home for this)

For the normal home staples

-brown soda bread (irish soda bread is nothing like soda bread made in US)

-instant coffee (one particular brand), I know sounds bad but you try it and it actually is good

-donegals catch- frozen breaded haddock (Trader joes sells some breaded Tilapia fillets we used for fish tacos, but the irish fish is better...)

-scones- the irish scones can be quite wonderful, and nothing like the starbucks scone in the US

well thats it on this one, until next time

Rob