Another item checked off the bucket list. Not just celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin, Ireland. It’s way more than that. I was born on St. Patrick’s Day and my favorite things are basically associated with it. Most of all green and four leaf clovers. You may or may not care much about celebrating your own birthday, but for me, it is a big deal. My usual birthday is spent in Epcot (my favorite park) at Disney World in Orlando, but obviously I couldn’t make it there, so I did even better. Dublin, Ireland. For years I always said one day I would celebrate it there and this was the year. It’s surreal, really. It only took me 26 years and I’m not saying that sarcastically at all. I never thought I would do it this soon.

Now to get into what actually occurred there. The simple version: Go to pubs and drink Guinness. Eat great food. Go to pubs and drink Jameson. Hail a taxi. And more drinking. When in Ireland…

The more detailed version is better because it has pictures. Let’s start with the meals, because the entire trip we ate AMAZING food. Ironically, none of our meals were Irish, but it’s a very food diverse city. However, just about every beverage consumed was Guinness, Jameson, or water. Arriving just in time for lunch we went to a pub 15 minutes away from our Airbnb called Becky Morgans. The menu had some great options, but I went with the one you would least expect on a pub menu. Chicken curry, with rice and fries. For those that know me, know I am half Jamaican, so when you see curry you have certain expectations. I knew it would not be the curry I eat back home, so I went in with no expectations. It was different, in a good way. A little spicy, a touch of sweet, and more of a soup to be honest. I like my rice with a lot of gravy, but that was too much and I couldn’t pour it all. Curry with fries is very unique, but it was also really good.

To my American, and perhaps some Canadian, readers… you all have either heard of or been to Johnny Rockets, right? Well apparently, they have a European chain called Eddie Rockets. This is where we went for our first dinner in Ireland. Burgers and fries, plus for me, a milkshake. They have flavors with European candy, including Ferrero Rocher, but I went Kinder Bueno White. Its creamy like the center of Ferrero Rocher, but no outer crunch. It was so good. The burger was great too, but the fries were even better. Looking back, I ate fries a lot this past weekend, but that’s normal for me. Potatoes are the best food on the planet, but maybe that’s because of my (new founded) Irish heritage that I verified while I was there, according to my last name.

Next up, more food talk!! Three of us went to brunch at Herbstreet and it was worth the 40 minute wait at the restaurant. We each ordered something completely different and it was picture perfect. I can’t describe the taste of their food, but I can tell you there were no complaints. Aiden ordered the breakfast of champions (cassava rosti, poached eggs, smoked salmon, avocado, rocket + lime). Diana ordered the eggos mexicanos, which (thanks to Google) was baked eggs, pulled pork, pinto beans, tomato habanero sauce, melted cheese, corn chips + avocado salsa. I went a little basic and went for french toast with muldoon whiskey spiced apple & clotted cream with fried eggs. I don’t usually go for eggs that style, but it seems to be the UK way so I stuck with it. As expected, the food was amazing. Brunch is my new favorite meal.

My go to choice for determining restaurants is Google. For most decisions actually, but especially food. Google took us to an endless sushi restaurant which we discovered, the hard way, was reservation only. Already far from home, I Googled another place and ended up with Fujiyama. It was meant to be. We were upset with no unlimited sushi, but dinner turned out remarkable. The menu had too many options, but in the best way, and we got a little of everything. Sushi, ramen, dumplings, miso, and fried rice. The service was great, the view was awesome, and the food!!!! …we need to go back. The fried rice came with fried egg, the UK way, and I will not eat runny yolk. However the rice was so hot it cooked it when I mixed it in. The picture quality isn’t the best and may be blurry, because I just wanted to dig in.

There’s one more meal to make your mouth water some more, but our last day in Dublin (also the actual day of my birthday/St. Patrick’s Day) was eventful in many, many ways. The top moment of this trip, tied with the extraordinary food, is our time at The Ink Factory. Why? Because I got the clover tattoo I have always wanted ON my birthday ON St. Patrick’s Day IN Dublin. (Another shout out to Google for this find!!) A truly great experience and one of a kind service from our tattoo artist, Sandor Konya. I can’t find an Instagram for him, but he’s on Google, look him up. (They aren’t paying me, I swear, but they should because I mention them a lot haha). I’ve been asked if I would want this tattoo years from now, which I’m assuming is because it’s a simple and common tattoo, but OF COURSE I WOULD. Tattoos are so controversial when it comes to it’s purpose and meaning. Seriously, how much more meaningful could this be? A green four leaf clover, which I have loved forever, was tattooed on me IN Dublin ON my birthday which IS St. Patrick’s Day. Oh and Diana got her first tattoo! I did not pressure her, she wanted it.

The last night was my basically my birthday dinner at another Google chosen restaurant. What grabbed my attention was the menu, chicken wings!!! I have been craving chicken wings so much I have chosen bringing Buffalo Wild Wings into the UK for my Cultures and Context course. This absolutely perfect place is called Fowl Play, which is so clever. The had a few events going on to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, including wing specials and all you can eat wings, which resulted in them running out of wings by the time we arrived but they redeemed themselves. Two of the guys got the very last wings of the night, but one of them gave me one and I’m speechless… best wings to ever bless my taste buds!!! The chicken burger looked good too with the melted cheese down the sides…yum. Diana and I split a platter which came with angelic rotisserie chicken, marvelous turkey sausage, and (just as most meals) fries. It came with wings, but since they were out, they gave us more chicken. This picture is especially blurry and I’m lucky to even have one because we dove into that platter and left dry bones. We are legitimately considering a day trip back to Dublin to return to Herbstreet, Fujiyama, and Fowl Play. This was the best meal of all, hands down, no competition.

After dinner we stuck around to play boozy bingo, where winner gets a free drink at the bar. Our table of ten people won the majority of the night. I never win anything, so I didn’t expect to, but Ben (the sweetest guy ever!!) gave me his bingo card when he got bingo (again) and let me call bingo. My free drink choice was Jameson Caskmates and it was SO good. The bingo host was hilarious the entire night, both offensive & corny jokes, and even stopped the game to sing happy birthday to me. It’s on video and the most embarrassing thing, in my opinion, but still glad it happened. This wasn’t a perfect weekend, but it is absolutely the best birthday I have ever had and there is no way I could top it. Thankful for everyone who was apart of the happiness in any & every way.

The moments between the eating and drinking consisted of exploring the town. I didn’t make it to any tours, nor go sightseeing, but I hope to return so that I can accomplish those things. And eat some more food, of course. Fun fact. There is no Uber in Ireland, because they don’t want it. The taxi’s already have an app and it would take away from their business. I hailed my first taxi, which I’m pretty excited about and got the hang of pretty quick. Most of the drivers were great and had full conversations with us the whole ride. During one ride the driver had us guess his age, which we all got wrong, but he got mine wrong too. Since I have been in Europe, no one has gotten my age right and have only assumed from 19 to 22. I can only be thankful to look younger, but I sure feel old hanging out with 20 to 22 year olds all the time. The main difference is my tendency to be the mother by checking in with the sick and constant headcounts in my head. As Lilo & Stitch says, “no one gets left behind.”

If you read this far, thankyouThankYouTHANKYOU. Sorry I made you hungry. If you want to drool over more food pictures, follow or subscribe to get updates on posts!