Filming fun

Last week was a lot of fun filming for a commercial for The Saint.  It will be used in various places e.g. the website, social media, booking sites and local tv etc.  

I even got Enid in on the act as you can see!

Pigsy film is go! Press play!

Pigsy from MKNDRWS on Vimeo.

I am proud to announce that after a successful run of film festivals internationally (Dublin, London, Galway & Bristol), Mike Andrews' wonderful short docu-film about my brother in law, Irish artist, Pigsy has been published online!

I think it is a charming little film by Mike - Pigsy is a beguiling character with a story to tell.  I'd love for you to watch it and comment below what you think!

Look after the planet for future generations

Small changes. 

A while back I said I was no longer buying liquid soap or shower gel in a plastic bottle. I'm on the lookout for a nice soap dish for the hand soap in my bathroom but this will do for the moment. 

Enid bought me these quirky bamboo straws! I'm using those or my metal one going forward Will be bringing one out in my purse so as to avoid single use plastic straws.

My theory is that better than a few people making major changes, that if we can get the majority of people to make a few small changes the impact will be felt.

If anyone has any other tips or suggestions of small changes you are going to make or something I could try out, I'd love to hear them!

Barbecue Tales part 13 - Lemon Fish

I have posted before about fish as part of my "Barbecue Tales" series.  We have cooked fish tacos, cooked fish in the fish basket, and cooked fish on the barbecue on foil (lovely and sumptuous!) Well today I proudly present to you fish cooked in the fishbasket which is lined with lemon.

But let me take a step back and tell you where all this beautiful fish came from.  Enid and Ciaran are staying with me, woohoo, and today we went out with the Salty Goat boat for a fishing day.  It was a great day and we all had success.  Enid caught the highest number of fish out of the three of us, I caught the biggest fish, and Ciaran...well Ciaran gave us a right old laugh when reeling in his very first fish which was putting up a great fight.  He battles and battles and then up comes the fish, the tiniest little tiddler ever!

I digress.  Back to the cooking.  So the lemon served three purposes - flavor of course, adding moisture to the already succulent fish, and kept the fish from sticking to the fish basket.  A win on all counts,

And of course there is nothing as good as eating fish that you caught yourself.  We had a fabulous dinner the three of us.  And afterwards we had scrumptious Key Lime Pie for dessert. Done and Done. Done!

Friday night, sunset sail

A sunset sail off the coast of Key West is one of the loveliest activities - whether you are here on holiday or here for a little longer ;-)

My recommendation is for a boat that I recently went out with.  The SV Argo Navis is a large elegant catamaran with just small numbers of guests aboard so plenty of room for walking about and exploring the whole boat.
And the food! The food! Carefully chosen artisan cheeses and breads for dipping in oil, balsamic flakes and chilis.  Dates wrapped in prosciutto, caprese tomato skewers... Beautiful wines and craft beers.  Small batch chocolate and strawberries.

The crew too. Fabulous, could not be faulted. Talented sailors manning the big sails and equally attentive to our needs staying on top of topping up the wine and passing out the delicacies detailed above. If you go on the SV Argo Navis be sure to say hi to Emile and tell him I sent ya!

Anyway, as they say, a picture paints a thousand words.  So here are a couple for you!

Derby day!

My first Kentucky Derby day and it was FUN!

Bit of light relief at work modelling our derby day head wear.  

If you are wondering about the crown I am wearing - it is owned by King Paul of Fantasy Fest and is displayed behind the bar in The Saint Hotel on Eaton Street.  

After work I met some friends to watch the race.  I had a lovely mint julep and my first ever Hot Brown which is traditionally served at the Kentucky Derby.  I can report that a Hot Brown sandwich is delicious!  The race itself was exciting and am sure you will have seen or heard about the "historic" result!  

Call me biased though, I will say I think the Grand National (English and Irish) are more exciting races.  

After the derby I had another event to go to - a casino night in aid of the Rotary Club of Key West. I pulled a Little Black Dress from the back of my wardrobe and off we went to the Marriott beachside resort hotel.  It was a fun event and a successful fundraiser which is always great.

The next day I may or may not have been the tiniest bit seedy aka tired.  When I got an invite to go to IHOP for a pancake breakfast/brunch I jumped at it.  Not something I would do every week but nice as a one off bit of a treat!

I continued the Kentucky Derby theme by wearing my new Woodford Reserve Derby tshirt to the IHOP.

I have no photographs but to finish out the weekend we ate grilled fish tacos made from the remainder of the fish from the last fishing trip.  It was funny, eating fish tacos and drinking cold Corona, totally unplanned, but perfect as it was Cinco de Mayo!!

I hope your weekend was as lovely!

Summer is coming...Summer is HERE??

Today marks the third day of what feels like Summer in Key West...aka as hot as all hell.

I am off work and my day is going like this:
* Lying on the tikki hut day bed dying with the heat
* Jumping in the swimming pool to cool down
* Lying on the tikki hut day bed dying with the heat
* Heading back into the house to the air conditioning
* Lying on the tikki hut day bed dying with the heat
And repeat

It's 3pm now and around 5pm I am thinking it will be time for a pre dinner cocktail.  Something with limes I am feeling - either a Pilar rum Cuba Libre, or a Caipiroska.

See here for my caipiroska recipe which would you believe was one of my very first blog posts back in March 2012. Hard to believe I have been blogging that long, just over 7 years at this point.  I do love blogging as a hobby and "as a result, or something to show (concrete output) for the time I spend on the internet".  And most of all, I love to think that at sometime in the future, maybe 2/3/400 years from now people might look at my blog just to see how an ordinary person lived her life, back at the beginning of the 21st century.  

In fact! 

In future when people ask me what I blog about, or what is the topic of my blog, I will tell them I am "chronicling the ordinary".  

Lol, or does that just sound like the most banal boring blog of all times??!!

Photo is from my blog post of March 2012.  

Before Instagram and filters on camera phones I would like to point out!!

Pigsy - coming to a sceen near you!

Yesterday Mike Andrews, documentary maker and videographer, made an exciting announcement. After major successes on the film festival circuit, his award winning film Pigsy will be going online at the end of May!  

There have been a lot of people waiting for this for some time so there is great excitement around.

In the meantime!
Click here to see the trailer for Pigsy.

One man's trash is another man's treasure

I've needed to buy an ironing board since I've arrived (but I've been avoiding doing so - housework bleugh 😎). 

Last week on the way home from work I find one left on the curbside looking for a new home. Yaaaaayyy!!

#reducereuserecycle

#ILoveKeyWest❤