Cooking Irish can also be found at Pinterest and PETITCHEF.
Irish Journal Part Five:
By the next morning the rain had stopped, and I had yet to know it would rain 6 times a day on many days during our stay in Ireland. Miriam made us a breakfast of tea, juice [or what the Irish passed off as juice, more on this later,] cereal, sausage, and apples. The agenda for the day was to enroll Erin and Eli into school which was starting the new year that very day and go to the auctioneer [real estate agent] to find us a home. We first went to the Christian Brothers school St. Michael's and were directed to the principal who also taught fourth year which is grade 4 in the States. He spoke with us in the hall outside his classroom and said Eli could start right then and that he would be in his class. I was a little surprised by this and was not yet willing to let go of my nine-year-old son, so I said that tomorrow would be fine. The door to the classroom had glass on the upper portion giving us a clear view of what was taking place inside. It reminded me of a stereotypical scene in a movie about an English boys' school: sheer bedlam. I could barely hear Brother Brehaney above the roar of the students. They were all up out of their seats, running around, throwing things, standing on radiators, etc. I had to laugh, but when I looked at Eli I saw that he was terrified. His eyes were like saucers just staring at this chaos he would soon be entering. I really did not want to surrender my precious son to this insanity.
Then we went to Scoil Mhuire, the Convent of Mercy School to enroll Erin. It was hectic there as well since the new term was just beginning. We met with Sister Michael, the head Sister of Mercy, and she asked us to come back the next day. So we went and purchased Eli's uniform: grey slacks, powder blue long-sleeved, button down shirts, navy ties--his first real tie--and navy V-neck sweaters. He looked like Dapper Dan. Now keep in mind Erin and Eli had always gone to public schools in Delmar, Bethlehem Central School District, and they were not raised in a fromal religion. So enrolling them in religious schools was something of a daunting experience for them. Miriam showed us where the post office was, and I purchased my first stash of postage. I spent a fortune on postage during our stay as mail was my lifeline to my former life and former self.
Next stop was to find a house to rent. We went to two auctioneers and were told they would have places for us to view the next day, but there was one we could see that afternoon. We went to Griffin Park and saw the most disgusting rental--ugly, dingy, dirty, moldy. I was looking at furnished places, and when I turned the bedding down, there were bugs crawling all over. We got out of there fast. I suppressed depression and forced myself to believe something wonderful would be found the next day. We went back to the B & B, and Miriam made us grilled cheese for lunch. I can still see the huge chunks of raw onion inside the sandwich. I thought I might possibly vomit. I thought for sure Erin or Eli would, but they rose to the occasion and just took out the onions. I was proud of them. Miriam was none too pleased with us as I recall. I thought it was the Irish way of preparing a grilled cheese sandwich but later discovered it was simply Miriam's way. We went on a brisk walk, and Miriam showed us some of Trim. It was a charming town with the River Boyne slowly ambling its way through it creating many bridges and many opportunities for swan sightings. I would take many wonderful, leisure, peaceful walks along its banks over the many months of our stay. I always felt rested and renewed after these walks.
Miriam made Irish stew for dinner, and her husband Con [short for Cornelius] asked if I ate the skin on the potatoes. We were informed he was a local garda or policeman. I said that I did explaining the peel contained many nutrients, and his response was one of amazement. I found out why when I ate a potato and discovered the peel was filthy. I guess Miriam never developed the habit of washing the potatoes before baking them. Eli watched some telly--we were beginning our vocabulary transformation, and Erin talked to Miriam's daughter Grainne who was her age and went to Scoil Mhuire. Eli went to bed at 9 to be well-rested for his new school adventure the next day. Erin and I stayed up until 10 and drifted off trying to envision what the next day would bring.
Eli proudly displaying his new school uniform/September 1984
Next: Part 6 of our Irish adventure--Eli's first day of school, the fiasco of enrolling Erin into Scoil Mhuire, and starting the arduous task of finding a house to rent.
Irish Journal Part Five:
By the next morning the rain had stopped, and I had yet to know it would rain 6 times a day on many days during our stay in Ireland. Miriam made us a breakfast of tea, juice [or what the Irish passed off as juice, more on this later,] cereal, sausage, and apples. The agenda for the day was to enroll Erin and Eli into school which was starting the new year that very day and go to the auctioneer [real estate agent] to find us a home. We first went to the Christian Brothers school St. Michael's and were directed to the principal who also taught fourth year which is grade 4 in the States. He spoke with us in the hall outside his classroom and said Eli could start right then and that he would be in his class. I was a little surprised by this and was not yet willing to let go of my nine-year-old son, so I said that tomorrow would be fine. The door to the classroom had glass on the upper portion giving us a clear view of what was taking place inside. It reminded me of a stereotypical scene in a movie about an English boys' school: sheer bedlam. I could barely hear Brother Brehaney above the roar of the students. They were all up out of their seats, running around, throwing things, standing on radiators, etc. I had to laugh, but when I looked at Eli I saw that he was terrified. His eyes were like saucers just staring at this chaos he would soon be entering. I really did not want to surrender my precious son to this insanity.
Then we went to Scoil Mhuire, the Convent of Mercy School to enroll Erin. It was hectic there as well since the new term was just beginning. We met with Sister Michael, the head Sister of Mercy, and she asked us to come back the next day. So we went and purchased Eli's uniform: grey slacks, powder blue long-sleeved, button down shirts, navy ties--his first real tie--and navy V-neck sweaters. He looked like Dapper Dan. Now keep in mind Erin and Eli had always gone to public schools in Delmar, Bethlehem Central School District, and they were not raised in a fromal religion. So enrolling them in religious schools was something of a daunting experience for them. Miriam showed us where the post office was, and I purchased my first stash of postage. I spent a fortune on postage during our stay as mail was my lifeline to my former life and former self.
Next stop was to find a house to rent. We went to two auctioneers and were told they would have places for us to view the next day, but there was one we could see that afternoon. We went to Griffin Park and saw the most disgusting rental--ugly, dingy, dirty, moldy. I was looking at furnished places, and when I turned the bedding down, there were bugs crawling all over. We got out of there fast. I suppressed depression and forced myself to believe something wonderful would be found the next day. We went back to the B & B, and Miriam made us grilled cheese for lunch. I can still see the huge chunks of raw onion inside the sandwich. I thought I might possibly vomit. I thought for sure Erin or Eli would, but they rose to the occasion and just took out the onions. I was proud of them. Miriam was none too pleased with us as I recall. I thought it was the Irish way of preparing a grilled cheese sandwich but later discovered it was simply Miriam's way. We went on a brisk walk, and Miriam showed us some of Trim. It was a charming town with the River Boyne slowly ambling its way through it creating many bridges and many opportunities for swan sightings. I would take many wonderful, leisure, peaceful walks along its banks over the many months of our stay. I always felt rested and renewed after these walks.
Miriam made Irish stew for dinner, and her husband Con [short for Cornelius] asked if I ate the skin on the potatoes. We were informed he was a local garda or policeman. I said that I did explaining the peel contained many nutrients, and his response was one of amazement. I found out why when I ate a potato and discovered the peel was filthy. I guess Miriam never developed the habit of washing the potatoes before baking them. Eli watched some telly--we were beginning our vocabulary transformation, and Erin talked to Miriam's daughter Grainne who was her age and went to Scoil Mhuire. Eli went to bed at 9 to be well-rested for his new school adventure the next day. Erin and I stayed up until 10 and drifted off trying to envision what the next day would bring.
Eli proudly displaying his new school uniform/September 1984
Eli and Erin at Murphy's in Dublin
No comments:
Post a Comment