Buddy is 2!

Two years old and big and bold!

Poor thing, we totally forgot it was her birthday :( And hadn't even bought her a present - not that she needs anything as she has absolutely EVERYTHING a little animal could possibly need or want.  So in the end, we just made a fuss of her during the evening,,,and then I heard Patrick telling his mom on the phone all about Buddy's age, how long we have her and where she was born (on the streets) etc 🤣

 

Spicy Margarita

I think I have posted before about my (new) obsession with Spicy Margarita's.  Friday evening after work I took myself off to First Flight where I enjoyed a fabulous time on my own - drinking this bad boy and eating wings and devilled eggs.  Only thing that would have made it more perfect was if Enid was there with me.  I instead, texted her and Ciaran, congratulating them on a wonderful new Pigsy show and sending them pics of my beverage.

I came home to find Patrick and his massive haul of Snapper - Lane, Yellowtail & Mangrove.  He had gone out fishing with our friend and dockmaster and they had gone to an excellent new spot. All of this fish was filleted and refrigerated and then fried up for Saturday night dinner.  With some leftovers for lunch today (Monday)! Delicious.

Pigsy - Lost in Thought

Pigsy - one of my favourite Irish contemporary artists - opened his latest exhibition in Ranelagh Arts on Friday just gone.  It was a massive opening night with a great turnout and tremendously good feedback about the innovative and immersive art experience that Pigsy has created. It really has to be seen to be believed, it is open for another two weeks so I really encourage you to stop by and view the art - and EXPERIENCE and LIVE the adventure in art that Pigsy has devised.

Click here for a Little taster of the Pigsy Augmented Reality world:

PIGSY on Instagram: “Layers of PIGSY art with an augmented reality dimension in these artworks. Explore and discover when the PIGSY show opens on 21st of April…”

 And of course there were sales: 

This guy has gone to a new home

In other Pigsy news, the All Ireland Squash finals were on this weekend.  Held on the main court of Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club under the watchful eye of Pigsy's "Squash Soldiers":

More time on water than on land???

This weekend I quite possibly spent more time out on the water than on land.  Well, almost!

On Saturday morning we went 10 miles out to the new spot that Patrick had learnt from the night before.  We were up and out at about 8.30am and in both our heads we would be home around noon or so.  Well, I could not believe it when we walked in the door and saw the clock showing 2pm lol. Time flies when you are having fun, eh.

Then Sunday morning we went out and checked our crab traps.  Which were a total strike out!  We gambled leaving them out for the final two weeks of the season - it tends to be very slow then - and it is becoming apparent that the gamble is not going our way unfortunately.  We will check them once more and bring the traps in at that point.

Early that afternoon I met up with a fun gang for brunch.  Celebrating Jennifer and Janine's birthday, plus Conch Republic Days - Megan, as Queen of the Conch Republic, is wearing her crown.

Why yes, that is a Spicy Margarita in my hand.

 

The plan for that evening was that we would go downtown for a little happy hour.  But the weather was so delightful and water so calm that we decided we would go out and do some more fishing - and take a picnic of sushi with us.  Mmmm.We got in literally as the sun went down, quickly cleaned the boat and flushed the engine and home.  Pretty beat up and exhausted as you can imagine! But a good beat up - what a great weekend.

Canada Day Preparations

 Our Canada Day party is still some time away but we have started planning for it.  One important detail is the "signature cocktail" I serve every year.  I have found the perfect one for this year!  It is red. It is rum based (living in Key West...I have a ton of rum in the house).  It was created in Cuba (hello, 90 miles away!). It is named after a Canadian actress.

It's the Mary Pickford!

Great weekend part 3 - Sunday

We were flip flopping over our fishing plans this weekend.  Would we do the big trip on Sunday or save it until Monday when we were both going to be off work?   In the end we decided Sunday was the day for us to go trolling.  We were particularly glad of that decision when we got up this morning (Monday) and saw how much the weather had changed - we were out for an hour or two and it was very rough, not the best to be honest.

But Sunday, Sunday was good!  Trolled for a couple of hours - it is tedious, hard work but the dividends are worth it.  We both caught a 19 inch mahi mahi.  A little small so throwbacks, but a good sign for the season ahead which starts in May. 

This was not THE fish we caught lol.  This is it's dad.

I may or may not have had a one hour nap with the cat in the afternoon. Hey, I am a firm believer in listening to your body.

That evening we went for a nice small dinner at the Southernmost Cafe.  And that was it! A good day!

Great weekend part 2 - Saturday!

After dinner the night before, Patrick got up early and cycled to the Perry to pick up the car. 

And then later that day we went off on the boat for our big adventure!  The Blue Angels were in town and Emily had chartered a catamaran for Joe's birthday to go watch the air show from the water.

We drove our boat up and hitched up to their big boat.  Gosh our boat looked TINY beside the big size of the catamaran.

Permission to come aboard!

Everyone except Patrick is in this photo! I called to him but he arrived seconds too late :(

Emily, Isabelle, Amy & Bandit.  Ziggy had been left back in the hotel with a minder.  I think the heat would have been all too much for her.

Alice gave me a gift of this swimsuit and although it was seasonally inappropriate (it's got a Christmas pattern on it lol!!) I thought the colours worked for the Blue Angels.

We spent a fabulous afternoon with friends.  The air show was incredible - suggest google some photos and videos! And afterwards Patrick and I went and checked our crab traps where we delighted to find a decent little haul (5).

 

Great weekend part 1 - Friday night!

A while back I posted a blog about a nice day at The Casa Marina marking our friend Emily's birthday.  Well this weekend was the turn of her husband Joe's 50th birthday celebrations!

The party started at the Perry Hotel in the suite that Emily rented for the weekend - it had a big wrap around patio so was great for a group - where we had drinks and appetizers.

We then moved to the restaurant downstairs.  Yes, Joe & Emily's new puppy Ziggy, came too.  What an adorable little baby.

It was a relaxed affair, everyone chatting and laughing over drinks and by the time the food came we were eating by lamp light.  You can't really see in the pic above but Patrick and I ordered a seafood tower to share.

18 Oysters, half a dozen clams, shrimp, tuna tartare, mahi mahi.  It was really great and we were pleased with our order. 

Read on for part 2!  Saturday.

 

Salmon of Knowledge

How good does this look?!

Patrick popped down to Faustos for his lunch and when he sat this beautiful piece of wild Scottish salmon he just couldn't resist.

A honey mustard lemon marinade completed it to perfection.

I love eating good salmon - feel so clean and healthy afterwards. Plus feel it is so good for brain power too. 

And of course, it tastes amazing!

 

Cooking at Home versus Eating Out

 

A quick scan of my recent blog posts for typos got me thinking... You might be forgiven for getting the impression that we eat out way more than we actually do??

For the sake of posterity and record, I would say that we cook at home 5 evenings a week and eat out for 2 dinners and 1 lunch (Saturday/Sunday) every week. Every now and then, we might eat out one more night during the week meaning cooking at home 4 times that week.

Today for example, we cooked up the lovely porgy we caught yesterday and made deliciously tasty fish tacos! 

Kaya Eats

Well anywhere that will serve me up a regular old mixed drink in a fancy glass gets my vote!  They use so many pinapples in their kitchen that they also use the empty pineapples as drinking vessels - and indeed will put any drink into a pineapple if you want :)

Hawaiian Pork sliders - delicious!

Tuna Poke Nachos with wasabi aioli - excellent!

Second time for me, first time for Patrick. 10/10 from both of us for Kaya Eats.

 

Bel Mare - la vita è bella

Oysters for our table to share.  

From Prince Edward Island - succulent and luscious.

And then for entree, something new!

I ordered one of the chef's specials, the "zarzuela".  Carribean lobster tail, Key West Pink shrimp, yellow tail snapper in a creamy madras style sauce.  Served with tagliatelle on the side. It.Was.Divine.  DIVINE

Oh, and drinks: I had a spicy margarita to start and then a glass of red wine - Orin Swift Locations CA

 

Saturday Yoga

Made it to the hot room on Saturday morning!

Not without a little push though, if I am completely honest.  On Friday night (yes, maybe after an adult beverage or two), I announced that I would "probably go to 9am yoga class".

Well, come Saturday morning, I think you can predict that I was not feeling as motivated.  Nothing to do with the adult beverages, I just struggle with getting to yoga, once I am there and afterwards of course I love it.

Patrick goes to me, "didn't you say you were going to yoga this morning?".  Well, once it is out in the open, it is very hard to admit that what you said before may have been a little enthusiastic compared to your mindset now.   So I WENT!  And yes, as always, of course it was wonderful.

 

Candid photography

 

So this is a fun photograph! 

One evening last week, we nipped across to our local Brady's pub, formerly Sally O'Brien's and formerly Shanna Key for a very quick dinner and drink.  Am happy to report that there has been a return to form and it is just as good, if not better, than old Shanna Key.  Yay!

While there we met Josh and Jenny.  We have been saying for a while that we must get together with them and Feliz & Bill for a little bite to eat and drinks.  Well literally the day before Josh, Bill and Patrick had been texting and talking about what we could do.  The suggestions that J&B were throwing out just didn't suit Patrick for one reason or another. So Josh, who is an awful slagger (Bill too), takes this incongnito photo of us and sends it to Bill and Patrick saying "thought this guy doesn't go out, huh?"

Ha!

They say a picture paints a thousand words.  But in this case, I don't think so.  This picture does not show how happy we are that Brady's is BACK.  And that we are here and ordering some nice munchies.  And that we have our favourite server with us taking our order.

But still. I do love a candid photograph that immortalizes a moment in time forever.  I do think that digital photography has ruined spontaneity and we have become a society where it is just too easy to "delete" in order to obtain perfection. There is beauty in the "What Is" - perfect or not.

Harvesting Stone Crab

We had the loveliest time last week spending time with visitors to the island.

I thought this photo was cute.  It's definitely a two person job.  I drive the boat to the trap, Patrick hooks it and pulls it up (heavvvvyy!!).  Then Patrick picks out the crab with the tongs and passes to me.  I hold it carefully so that it can neither cut or crush my fingers with it's claws.  Then remove the one claw and throw it back to the ocean to see another day - and to grow back it's claw!!! How cool is that.

 

Kaya Eats

Lovely afternoon spent by myself with a Spicy Margarita (obsessed), tuna nachos poke and an amazing *book.

*I am at the part of the book where she has just had Brendan Behan's baby.  Yes, really, this book is pure mad.

This lovely afternoon was spent in Kaya Eats and I thoroughly recommend it.  Their fish tacos contain half a pound of mahi mahi!