In Which I Move to a Township Called "Scalp"

So here I am in Ireland! I would have liked to have written something sooner, but there are many things that have been coming up, including but not limited to: lost internet connections, cats prancing around the front door but then refusing to go out, gas stoves ceasing to work, hot water ceasing to work, etc.

I'll try and recount things from the start.

When I arrived in the Gatwick airport, I was overjoyed to see the healthy snack food haven I had fallen in love with last time I was in England, Marks and Spencer! Alas, I had to pass it by in order to check myself into my connecting flight, and in airports, you never know if you will see these same chains on the other side of customs... So once I got to the other side and learned that I had a bit of time to kill before my next flight, I eagerly started looking around the food court there for another M & S! However there wasn't one, damn! But wait! There's a Pret! My other beloved food chain from England! So I bought myself a lovely chestnut mushroom soup and fresh orange juice and wandered off to my flight area to see how much I could eat before getting on the plane. The whole thing, it turns out. Soooo good and healthy and better than plane food.

As the flight descended down into Dublin, I found myself getting rather choked up, as this is the first time I've been back to my homeland in 28 years. As I disembarked, I suddenly realized how many of my family's names (first, middle, and last) are actually Irish, which just made me more choked up, but ahem, enough about me and my emotions.

So I wandered out of the airport in search of the "Citylink" bus I've already paid for online ahead of time. I found it, but it was the "Express" (which doesn't stop where I need to), and the "Commuter" hadn't yet arrived. So I sat down at the bus stop to wait, but the bus driver came over and found me, telling me it would be there in about 15 mins, but I should really just wait on his bus until the other one got there, it was so cold and windy out. Which was true, it was very cold and windy, but it was nice that he cared. A very good first impression of Irish people.

So Brendan picked me up and brought me to what will be my new home for the next 3 months! It is very charming, this house, and VERY rustic. I thought there were 2 houses at first, but one is a shed. It's essentially a little cabin in the woods. There's a woodstove in the living room, and smaller ones in the music room and bedroom. Luckily there are electric heaters too, for in case of the woodstove not working. Crazy thing: we can, and do, keep milk on the counter in the kitchen, as opposed to in the fridge. Why, you ask? The answer is twofold. One, because the kitchen is cold enough to keep the milk cold. Two, because the fridge is about 1/8th of the size of a normal fridge!

The fridge is the one on top.

There is a shower in the bathroom, which is new; previously it had only been a tub. The first day I tried to use it, however, (yesterday), it wasn't working, so I decided to just have a bath instead. I figured anything was cleaner than me having been travelling for 2 days. So everything was fine, I was running my bath (the water here is a bit yellow, which isn't the most desireable, but oh well). But then, pretty close to the time when I was going to get in, it started seeming a bit darker than light yellow, and then I noticed that the water coming out of the cold tap was darkening quickly, resulting in pure dirt water coming out of the tap. Awesome! I'm going to be so clean after this! I didn't know how to fix this, and so just got in and had a bath anyway! Most of the pure dirt water was at the end opposite to my head, so I just worked around it. Judge me if you will. Cleanliness is NOT next to Godliness; if it is, why would He have created dirt?

So, soon after this we went into town, the town being Gort. I ended up at a health food store called "Open Sesame" which was Amazing. Here I am, in small town rustic Ireland, and guess what, fellow health nuts? I can buy mesquite and maca powder here!! And fake cheese and almond milk and RAW chocolate with superfoods in it! Going back to the cheese for a minute, there were 2 kinds, spreadable "Sheese" and one called "Cheezly" which is one of my new official favourite words. Then I popped over to the Super Valu, and they had a whole bunch of gluten-free pasta, breads and cookies there, too.

So pretty much, food in Ireland will not be a problem! I don't have to eat nothing but potatoes every day! I have had some soda bread and lentil and spinach soup, which was amazing and very Irish-seeming. Also, last night we went to a restaurant called The Gallery, which is very arts-friendly, meaning there was live music, art of the walls, and one of the tables was straight from an old hair salon from the 60's, pink and complete with those weird electric hair helmet things! And on Sundays they have a special where you get a Sunday Roast dinner followed by a "Vintage Classic Movie". They are also friendly to vegetarians! Vegans, even. I had a salad that was greens, quinoa, bee pollen, sea veg, roasted beets, and pomegranate relish. With a honey apple-cider vinegar to boot. (Ok, not quite vegan.)

Today has been a bit of a write off, as I slept till a quarter to 3 pm (After dismissing Brendan's questions about whether I might still have jet lag), and have developed a cold so am just trying to stay warm and have tea. I attempted to get outside before the sun went down, but only got about 5 minutes of it, so may attempt that again on Sunday, as I believe we are going into Galway tomorrow.

From Van to Vic and Back Again

Ok, I haven't written anything in a long time, so here's a recap of my most recent trip to Victoria:

Saturday -

I arrive in Vic. I eat some soup and bread as a reward to myself for having to take so much transit to get there. It helps. Then one of my very best friends, we'll call her Mr. A, and I walk around Hillside for awhile, eventually landing in the Moka House to indulge in some tea and cookies. Can it still be called indulging if you do it all the time? Maybe not.... Later that day, I accompany her and her band to the Cambie, a fairly questionable bar in Esquimalt that they were playing a show at that night. While other people set up equipment and/or socialized with people before the show, I, being the wonderful friends' band cheerleader that I am, sat by myself with a beer and a book. Why make friends when you can come to a bar and hang out by yourself? The best I could manage was to go up to some guy from one of the other bands and call him Yankee Doodle because he had a feather in his hat. And then all the bands played and it was a wonderful show.

Sunday - Mr. A and I decide to go for breakfast! We decide (read: I refuse stubbornly to go anywhere else) to go to Lady Marmalade, a new (to me) restaurant in Victoria that I've been wanting to try for awhile. I insist we must go there because they have a tofu scramble, and I'm "vegan" this week. (I'm doing a bit of a bad job of it). So we go there, quite a bit later, as we decided to make a bunch of home made juice before going. This involves a LOT of apple cutting, sorting out of apples gone bad, drinking cabbage juice of all things, and a broken down juicer. It couldn't take all the pressure. It was a very good restaurant, very tasty foods and drinks. I had a hot lemon ginger honey drink. Not tea, it was some kind of wonderful home made concoction. After breakfast we wandered around town for awhile. Then later my friend (we'll call her Mr. X) and I went for dinner. Mr. A had another bum friend coming to town to sleep on the couch, so she kicked me out, and I stayed at Mr. X's that night. We went to Pagliacci's for dinner, where I failed at veganism again, as there was fontina cheese on top of my pasta...oh well. Mr X and I have this strange tendency, when we go out for dinner, to get matching orders. Right down to the wine. It must be a waitress's dream. Or a cook's dream? I don't know, but I like to think it benefits someone somehow. Pesto pasta, red wine, another gastronomical (awful word I know) success. And then this guy came in and I was SURE it was James Franco. He looked so much like him, but no one made a big deal about it, you know? So that's your first clue right there. Because if it WAS James Franco, they would want to make sure to keep it discreet, right? But I knew. He was just sitting there, acting all casual waiting for his friends. I mean it HAD to be him, he was at Pag's, which famous people go to when they're in town. At least I've somehow convinced myself of this. So I asked the waitress if it was him, and she said she didn't think so, but of course if it was, she wouldn't want to go spreading it around the restaurant, you know? So then a band came in to play, and we had our tables shuffled around, ending up with us sitting RIGHT in front of the band, so we had a pretty good view, and even some conversations with the band, because well, we were right there with them. It was a Klezmer band, and it was just fantastic music! Then at one point James Franco and his entourage decided to leave, and just as they were all getting up to put their coats on and stuff, the lead singer gypsy woman ordered them to sit back down. In no uncertain terms, so they obediently did. It was clear she wasn't ASKING them. She said the trombone guy, "Trombone Nick" had his solo coming up, and they couldn't miss it. You could see the sweat on Nick's brow from all this new pressure. But he delivered, and it was awesome. We stayed till the band took a break, chatted some more with the band, and then left. It was a good night. And for the record, no, it wasn't James Franco. Just some guy.

Monday - I packed up all my stuff from Mr. X's and headed downtown to meet my dad and stepmom for lunch at Pluto's. It was pretty good, I had a salad, withOUT the cheese, because I am a vegan, you see. I went to see my dad's new digs, a nice cute little place in the heart of quietsville, Fairfield, and then it was off to see another best friend! Mr. L, and it would be at her house that I would live out the rest of my trip. A group of us had dinner at Mr L's house that night, which was lovely and it is nights like these that I will miss greatly when I go off to foreign lands....

Tuesday - In the evening I went and saw Peter Newman, an old friend of my dad's talk at Bolen Books. I've known him all my life, and wanted to say hi, and got in about a 30 second visit after the talk, so that was something, at least. Then after that Mr. L and I went to the Mint for drinks and pizza, which was very cozy and nice. Then the next morning when I woke up I realized, wait a minute.... there was CHEESE on that pizza!! And I'm a VEGAN. So, so bad at being vegan. I didn't even remember I was a vegan for a whole bunch of hours at once. Maybe I should write it on my hand...

Wednesday - Mr. L and I have a tofu scramble for breakfast (so far, so good, still vegan, except, wait, I had milk in my tea, DAMNIT). Then we walked around Oak Bay, because I feel it is an area of Victoria that I love but often neglect to visit. We start out at the Oak Bay Marina Cafe, where we have americanos (in which I am also breaking my "no coffee for a while" rule. In my defence, I hadn't had any coffee for multiple days before this). We walked around the water, and saw multiple gangs of birds, which reminded me of the gang scene in Anchorman, in which all the different news teams show up for a rumble. For some reason the pigeons reminded me of Ben Stiller's latin news team. I can't explain how my mind works; I can only report what happens. Then we walked around the boats, and saw some sea lions! At least I'm pretty sure they were sea lions. They were definitely cute. So then we wandered up to the road and walked along Beach Drive. Then a really weird thing happened. Mr L spotted a deer in someone's driveway, and so we looked at it, because it was cute, and then a bus went by, and then the deer was gone! Just like in the movies! So we figure (ok maybe just me) that he got on the bus. Then we saw an eagle, which was pretty cool and majestic looking, and then we walked by a playground of a private school, where some kids ran up to the fence and made fun of us and yelled stuff at us, because kids are jerks. And then, walking further along, we saw a kingfisher, which was really pretty. I'd never seen one before. And then we played on one of those 2-person wooden swings, where you sit across from each other, which was kind of scary and fun. I can sort of see why they would outlaw those things, which they essentially did, except for this one, for some reason. They used to be everywhere. Then we walked through upland park, because why not, and came across a woman in a wheelchair with MS who had stalled her vehicle and needed to use Mr L's phone. We talked to her, and she was a pretty independent lady, but I think she should probably get a cellphone. Her very own. A Cellphone of One's Own, is what it would be called if it were made into a movie. Then later we went downtown and went to Green Cuisine because it's healthy and vegetarian and we were hungry health nuts. And then we went to Habit for another coffee, because if you're going to break your coffee rule, you might as well break it twice! We wandered around the Empress and looked at the Christmas trees from different organizations, some of which were beautiful (Sotheby's) and some of which were weird with trucks and safety gear on them (I don't remember the organization, let's just say I was to distracted by the craziness going on on the tree). Then we popped into The Noodle Box to say hi to my brother, but he wasn't there because he doesn't work there. He works at the one at Uptown. Oh right. Then Mr. L and my dad and stepmom and I went to Rebar for dinner, and it was awesome and I ate too much, which you have to because of portion sizes. I don't make the rules. I just follow them, always. THEN Mr L and I met Mr A at the Hotel Rialto for fancy drinks with too much alcohol in them (so at least you're getting your money's worth). Much drinking ensued. The end.

Thursday - Back to Van.

Purgatory

That's where I am, for those who wonder. Back from one trip, still sorting out details of the next. Doing things now that I can only do while in Canada (paperwork, id stuff, etc..) Lying in wait, for some things. Perhaps that's just me trying to make this post sound more interesting. I'll update more when more interesting things happen.

Friday

So turns out I need to take it easy on the old sun exposure. We were out for dinner last night at the Green Goddess (of course I forgot to take my camera), and everything was fine until I suddenly felt too ill to go on. Like, I can't eat anymore, not because I'm full, but because I'm sick. And the food was fabulous! Fabulous, healthy, vegetarian food and I couldn't eat any more. In my defense, we HAD ordered too much food. We got the 5 course tasting menu to share, plus 2 other appetizers, and I mean, I just can't eat that much! And of course we never get anything to go, mostly because we have no fridge in the hotel. So anyway, I figure it was too much sun and sweltering during the day with not enough drinking of water, so today has been all drinking water and eating healthy and sleeping enough and the like.

Still in love with NOLA; I even saw my bus driver friend again today, it's like Cheers, but on a bus. And with no alcohol. Also, I decided to go to a yoga class today. So I found one on Magazine (of course, my favourite street). And then after the class, I found this flyer for a place that makes fresh veggie juice! The thing I haven't been able to obtain in NOLA so far! (Even at Whole Foods) So I was asking people how to get to it and this one very nice girl offered to drive me there. So she drove me there, and we did the bonding, and then I went inside and they were out of tons of ingredients, and the only guy working there was really slow (in fact I highly suspect he was very high), but I managed to get both a juice and a smoothie (in honour of my crazy healthy day). Then I met this other very nice girl in the lineup (we got to chatting since the guy was taking so long). I was asking her how to get back to Magazine, and was it safe to walk back there, since I hear so many stories of unsafe neighbourhoods. Anyway, she said it was fine, but that I could wait for a bus, which only goes every half hour, if I felt it was safer. So that's what I did, I waited for the bus, and man I was just on ALERT the whole time. Looking around, being very aware that every single person who passed by in their car was staring at me, politely rejecting one kind man's called out offer to drive me there himself. I really felt like prey, like I was somehow lower on the food chain having to be in such a high state of anxiety almost every time I wait for a bus. And it doesn't help with the buses only running every half hour. But I'm sorry $3 for a day pass is just a way better deal than taking taxis everywhere! So anyway I made it to Magazine, then started feeling heat stroke-ish again, so decided to make myself go right home to rest. So of course when I got almost home I decided I had to stop at this vegan-friendly cafe I went to once before, so I start walking towards it when I was intercepted by a friendly young black man named Frank, who was looking for a beautiful girl to call his own. But I had to break his heart by telling him I had a boyfriend, and that was the very end of our very short conversation and he turned around and walked the other way. I guess it just wasn't meant to be...

So now I'm back at the hotel and have decided to have a swedish massage, because I'm worth it, and it's in a few mins, so ta ta.....

Food, Primarily

I was wandering along Magazine street yesterday (as it is the street that I seem to wander along every day...), and I popped into this "Superfood Bar" place (hole in the wall). First I got an iced coconut water with green tea (the ice cubes were made of the same combo), which was lovely of course, and then I got this pineapple-basil-almond milk-coconut oil-VitaMineral Green drink, which was delicious! And then, not only did Joseph (the guy running the place) offer me a job, he offered to CREATE a job for me! And I mean, I AM pretty in love with NOLA so.....

It doesn't matter how inconvenient it is for my hair, or for anything else, I just love being in a warm humid climate. It's like walking along in a damp warm blanket that never cools down, as strange sounding an analogy as that may be. I love it! It goes so well with the mood of New Orleans too. Words to describe New Orleans: romantic, charming, and gothic.

Also at the Superfood Bar they had coupons for a free coffee at Hey Cafe, so I put that to good use. It was a cute little hipster place.

And then last night for supper we went to the Roosevelt Hotel restaurant Domenica, where the food was amazing, and the menu actually fairly progressive (veg. options, some buckwheat noodles), but everything was SO full of fat that we felt disgusting after dinner. What we had: kale (which we found out later had been cooked in meat fat, hence the heavenly bacon flavour; yeah I could have asked about it before I kept eating it, but you have to understand how tasty this kale was...) with reggiano cheese, cooked polenta with cherry tomatoes, and a cheese and meat platter with various tasty little condiments, like wasabied cherries and things. No I didn't eat the meat from the platter. Ok I know I've gone off on a food tangent, but the food I ate yesterday was seriously worth talking about. And it's my blog. I can do whatever I want!

Anyway, good day for food. Oh, and then after dinner we went to the Sazerac Bar, within the same hotel, where I ordered, of course, a sazerac. Which is actually a fairly popular drink in other bars in NOLA as well.

And that was yesterday.

NOLA part 2

Well, I ventured out and here I still am! I never thought I would actually be proud of myself at the end of a day for not being raped mugged or murdered... But I am. I went all the way to Whole Foods on Magazine St., and passed many adorable shops along the way, a few of which I mosied into, before wrenching myself away and forcing myself to stand at the bus stop so as to get home on time and also to stop spending money.

For all the fear that was instilled in me about how dangerous nola is, I met quite a few very friendly people. It's very very warm here during the day, but tends to have just about enough breeziness to make it bearable. I say just about enough because there were definitely a few moments when I thought I was going to melt into a puddle. I also popped into Cafe Carmo, which is only an 8 minute walk from my hotel, and where they have vegan ham and vegan pulled pork! I'm impressed. I knew nola must be more health-conscious than a lot of people give it credit for, and I was right. That's all for now.

NOLA

The travelling adventure has begun! I am currently in New Orleans (NOLA), and am feeling a bit trapped in the hotel room, as I seem to hear nothing but warnings not to go outside on my own. I'm having a bit of a hard time distinguishing which are "safe" areas and which are "do not walk alone" territory, and am afraid the only way I will find out for sure is if I'm walking around, safe here, ok, it's safe here, here, here, and BAM - just got mugged and pistol-whipped! Ok, NOT safe on THAT particular block, note to self..... And the thing that makes it extra scary is I have pretty much zero sense of direction and am likely, if someone warns me not to go east, to end up deep east for most of the day quite by accident. So anyway, I'm sure everything will be fine, ha ha, oh god... No it will be, I'll be fine. I've decided today to check out the New Orleans "health food" scene, so Whole Foods and a cafe that serves fresh fruit and vegetable juices are on the list, and we will see what happens!