Ireland - Bright Colored Houses

If you don't take a time to really think about it, you probably just think "oh, what a nice color" when you look at the buildings in Ireland. Or you might not even bother noticing that these buildings are of different colors because you are dying to reach your target destination when you walk in the rain. Or when you're rushing to school.

Why are the buildings colored brightly? It's because everything around those buildings are grey. I'm not sure if these make any differences to colorblind people, but they do make a difference in my mood.

By the way, I didn't photoshop this picture. The surroundings of those buildings are naturally grey.

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Ireland - Baileys Chocolate Sticks

If you have some exposure to alcoholic drinks, you'd surely hear about Baileys. If not, Baileys is the mixture of Irish cream and whiskey. The first whiskey ever licensed was in Ireland, making Baileys a must-try thing when you're in Ireland. Of course, that is if you don't have any dietary or religious restrictions. 

You can purchase a bottle of Baileys in many countries, and the taste will still be the same. For me, I think it's cool to taste a product made in the country of origin. I'm rather weak with alcohol, so I don't really drink that much. I drink Baileys only when mixed with milk, or when combined with ice.

There are many Baileys-derived products out there. I've seen Baileys-flavored ice cream in Indonesia (not sure if it still retain the alcohol content), coffee mixed with Baileys, milkshake with Baileys... but I've never seen this product before:

I accidentally found these when I went to Dunnes Stores.

Again, I'm not sure if these chocolate sticks contain alcohol, but you definitely can taste the flavor of Baileys from the cream stuffing inside the chocolate sticks. Normally you can't really taste Baileys in most Baileys-related products, but I have to say that this one is insanely delicious. I finished the whole box in less than 15 minutes.

But one of my concern is that the packaging doesn't tell you its nutritional content. I don't know how much fats and sugars are in one box, but hey, indulgent foods are things that you know are nutritionally dangerous yet have high potentials to satisfy your soul :)

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Ireland - Cliffs of Moher

This post is long overdue. We went there the second weekend after we arrived in Ireland. Some of my friends went to the tourist center located close to where we are living (we are 5 minutes away from the city center!) and discovered a cheap tour package to the Cliffs of Moher with the Paddy Wagon. 

Before we reached the Cliffs of Moher, we stopped at the Bunratty Castle to take some pictures, and also to switch bus.

The castle was surprisingly quite... small. Well, it's is big if you compare it to a house, but I was expecting a bigger castle that looks somewhat like the Disney Castle.

Nevertheless, a castle is a castle, and I took a picture of it. The trip continued with a very comfortable bus ride to the Cliffs of Moher. There was a wi-fi on the bus, too, although the wi-fi didn't work ever since we transferred bus.

Since we were a little ahead of the schedule, the bus driver decided to stop by a beach close to the cliffs. I don't remember the name of the beach and there was no sign nearby that indicates the name of the beach.

It took us in total of approximately 2 hours to reach the cliff from Cork. The bus driver, serving as a guide as well, said that the weather in Ireland changes every 15 minutes. I was a little anxious because it was raining quite heavily on the way to the cliff, but the weather was perfect for sightseeing: bright sunshine.

You need to climb up a little bit to reach a nice view of the cliffs on the left hand side.

If you continue to walk further, you'll see a tower at the edge of one cliff on the right hand side. 

You can climb up the tower, but you have to pay 3 euros to climb it. I didn't mind paying for it since I probably will not come back to this place at least in the next 10 years. I didn't have any good pictures from above the tower, but my friend took a picture of me when I was up there. I keep forgetting to ask him if I could get the photo.

If you walked towards the left hand side (i.e. not towards the tower), you'll see a small path along the edges of the cliff.

I was a fool to listen to my friends' advice of "there's nothing else there" because apparently I missed the stone where a scene from a Harry Potter movie was taken. And it was actually my fault not checking in advance the key sights to see at the Cliffs of Moher.

We had about 2 hours to explore the cliff and an exhibition about the cliff (which I think is much less enjoyable than the cliffs themselves unless the weather forces you to be indoor). After that, we got on the bus, and we were brought to Boolin for a traditional Irisih lunch at Friz's Bar.

I shared a plate of roast beef with my friend, and each of us got a bowl of soup (seafood chowder for me, and vegetable soup for my friend).  The serving size of the roast beef was rather too big for the both of us. The food was great, especially because it's warm. I'm more surprised by the presence of cassava root in the mix of vegetables! I love cassava and I grew up eating a cassava root as snacks, so I definitely enjoyed my meal.

We took a picture outside the restaurant. I wanted to take a picture of the unique bronze chair, but I guess when girls know their friends are taking pictures, they tend to join. Myself included, of course :)

We made two more stops before we headed back to Cork. First, we went to the Poulnaborne to see the Portal Tomb.

When I heard the term Portal Tomb, I immediately thought of something that can teleport you to another world if you touch or enter the tomb. Well, indeed, you will be "transported" to the world of the dead because it's a tomb, duh.

The last stop we made was at a rocky beach.

There were other cars and coaches along the road, so I'm going to assume that this spot is a hot spot for sightseeing. The sight is indeed very beautiful despite being dominated by shades of grey. I didn't take a lot of picture here because it was really windy and you have to be pretty careful with your footing because you will be stepping on uneven rocks with irregular gaps in between.

The trip was closed by the presence of double rainbows over the water.

The second layer of rainbow was not really clear in the photo, but the bus driver stopped in the middle of the road after one of the passenger requested him to stop because she wanted to take a picture of the double rainbow.

The trip took almost the whole day, and I was consumed with fatigue by the end of the day to the point that I just wanted to grab a quick dinner somewhere close to our housing. Well, I had the best pizza in town (according to my high school friend who has been living in Cork for 4 years).

It was a really great day!

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Ireland - Polish food

It's funny how I started eating Polish food when I'm in Ireland. Well, it just happened that there was a groceries shop exclusively selling Polish food. The only Polish food I know was pierogi (which my American friend used to correct me because I said it wrong; she said it should be "puh-ro-gi" but later on Google Translate I proved myself pronouncing it correctly back then).

I looked around the shop and found so many things I don't recognize, and not all of them have English translation on the packaging. The funny thing I noticed about the names of Polish food is the abundance of the letter 'z'.

Koreczki sledziowe - marinated fillet of herring according to Google Translate

The herring fillets are submerged in chili oil and onion cuts. I asked the lady at the counter how they eat this, and she said just eat it as it is, and for each bite of the herring, drink 1 shot of vodka. Later on, my Polish friend reconfirmed this truth for me. 

Pyzy z miesem - dumplings with meat according to Google Translate
My Polish friend said there is no direct translation for these, so I guess dumplings would be of somewhat accurate translation although I'd prefer to call it dumpling balls because my perception of a dumpling is a pillow-looking dough with something inside. These are definitely ball-shaped.

Apparently, according to the same friend again, I did a bold and daring thing to combine the marinated herring and the dumpling balls into one dish. This is actually an interesting observation. As a person who knows nothing of how these food should be prepared, and as a person with some knowledge in cooking and a hobby in eating, I find nothing wrong with combining these two items.

This just showed how much culture affects our trajectories and and perhaps limits one's creativity. To me, it is logical to eat something as bland as these dumplings (the dough outside is made of potatoes and the meat doesn't have that much flavor) with something with strong flavor as the marinated herrings.

My friend then added a comment that I should try pan-frying the dumpling balls after boiling them, as suggested by the packaging instruction. I was about to pour vegetable oil into the pan, but I stopped after noticing that all the oil used in the marinated herring will be thrown away without being used at all.

I did an even crazier thing by frying the dumpling balls using the chili oil from the herring marinade. And on top of that, included some Indonesian sweet soy sauce on the plate and then sprinkled some fried garlic on top of the dumplings.

To be honest, at first my intention was to use the soy sauce and the fried garlic to decorate the plate. But after trying to combine the sour, kind of astringent and spicy and somewhat tender herring with the rather bland and chewy dumpling, perfectly caramelized sweet soy sauce and crunchy fried garlic, I found out that this combination is actually pleasantly surprising. And I bet if I serve this kind of dish and say "this is a recipe from a famous fine dining chef Mr. XYZ", people will say that this is a genius invention. Okay, I overdid it. I wouldn't call it a genius invention, but rather, a play on texture, flavor and cultural mash-ups of a crazy college student with no background in culinary arts.

A simple experimental dish done by a neophilic food consumer who likes to go beyond the average limit :)

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Ireland - 10 Surprising Things that I Noticed

I thought I would see continual grey sky during my stay in Ireland but for the past 2 weeks I have been enjoying the radiating light of the sun. Maybe I'm just lucky.

Beautiful morning scene right in front of my current housing

This is my first visit to Ireland, and none of my direct family member had been in Ireland before. Well, here are 10 things that I find surprising because of the expectations I held about Ireland before I came here:

1. Crossing the road anytime, anywhere is a common thing
By anytime, I mean as long as you think it is safe to cross the road. Most people cross at designated areas (i.e. the zebra cross or where there are traffic lights) but you can see people crossing the road randomly as long as the street is clear of passing cars.

2. It's 5 degrees C outside and ladies wear short skirts and high heels
I'm wearing a pair of jeans and I still crave for a cup of warm hot chocolate. Those ladies deserve a lot of praise. At least from me, who still complain about the cold weather despite wearing a pair of boots instead of heels.

3. Class starts 5 minutes after the scheduled time
Unlike in the Netherlands where classes start on time, you actually have to wait for another 5 minutes before the professor starts the lecture in Ireland.

4. Irish coffee is hard to find
When I was in the Netherlands, Irish coffee (coffee mixed with whiskey and sugar) was served in almost every restaurant. In Ireland, you're lucky if you can find Irish coffee in a coffee shop. Well, not the Dutch "coffee shop". A shop that sells coffee, yes.

5. Hollandaise sauce is everywhere
I assume that the name Hollandaise is associated to Holland, which is associated to the Netherlands. I found no dish with Hollandaise sauce when I was in the Netherlands. How ironic, Irish coffee is hard to find, yet Hollandaise sauce is commonly used in Ireland. And the reverse is true.

6. They celebrate 18th, 21st and 30th birthday
I found this flyer posted on a toilet door in a restaurant close to my housing. I still have no idea what the significance of 18th and 30th birthdays, but the 21st birthday is most likely associated with minimum drinking age.

Yes, I know taking pictures in the toilet is dumb but I still did it anyways.

6. North American food is almost everywhere
Philly cheesesteak, melts, hamburgers, chili fries, subs, burritos... you name it. I walked through the city center and found that there is at least one restaurant on the street that sells these kind of food. There is even one diner in town that has a retro American diner setting:

7. British accent... but maybe not really
It's a little hard to catch the accent of Irish people, but I think I'm getting used to it. I can understand what people say, but I can't reply them with the same accent. God knows what kind of accent I have. It's not Indonesian, not American, not Singaporean (a.k.a. Singlish). My accent is just... my accent.

8. Guinness tastes like some horrible Chinese medicinal herbal drink a traditional Chinese grandma would feed you when you're not feeling well... plus some carbonation.
When you're in Ireland, drink Guinness. Well, I did. I do not like it, and most probably I will not come to like it.

9. Almost all Irish people are extremely nice
But I was warned to be a little cautious about Irish men who are overly friendly to Asian girls in the bar. Otherwise, I think they have wonderful, pleasant, helpful personalities. You can read my previous posts about Ireland about how the I was saved by the Irish multiple times.

10. Horse meat mixed into beef is a very serious issue
We have a similar issue with beef balls mixed with rat meat in Indonesia, and I still think horse meat is better than rat meat even though I don't know how they taste. This issue was raised recently due to the rise in beef price. You'd see signs on restaurants serving beef products saying "using 100% Irish beef". At first I thought there is something special about Irish beef (like Kobe beef, perhaps), but I learned that they put these signs because of the possibility of horse meat being used to replace the expensive beef.

I promised to write a post about my trip to Cliffs of Moher, but I have a handful load of things to do right now and I have to manually upload the photos to Google+ instead of uploading them directly to Blogger because I ran out of space. Let's pray I can remember everything about the trip after 2 weeks.

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Random - Chibi Maker

The reason why I keep being active on Facebook is not because I like stalking people, but because you never know what kind of information you can find on the newsfeed.

Cute, dont' you think? Well, this doesn't really portray me except for my favorite red winter coat and my hairstyle, but you're always free to make up whatever character and style as you wish.

Try the program here: http://gen8.deviantart.com/art/Chibi-Maker-1-1-346025144

You can customize the hairstyle, clothes, accessories, and facial expression. And of course, you can choose the color of the item from the color selection.

Just for fun :)

More variations of mine:

Thank you gen8 for making such a cool program! ^^

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Ireland - Titanic Tea

I will admit that for 23 years I did not bother knowing that the famous Titanic ship was built in Belfast, Ireland. All I ever remember from the movie was Jack, Rose, and the iceberg. I think that is rather understandable considering that I watched Titanic when I was in 3rd grade and the Internet was still a sci-fi concept that has yet to realize. Well, at least in Indonesia. Years have gone by and I did not have a sligth interest looking at the history of Titanic until I came to Ireland.

I was on the way back from school, exploring different routes that I can take. Taking the usual route is sure comfortable and assuring, but I'm sure I'll find something interesting along the new routes. I ended up stopping by at Dunnes Store. It's funny how that store is just right across the river from where I am living right now, and I didn't really bother to check it out after 2 weeks of life here.

The supermarket in Dunnes sell uncommon brands that I don't see in TESCO, including this Titanic Tea.

As a person studying food science and technology, and as a student who is currently studying about marketing, it should be easy for me to realize that this product is just a play on marketing.

 

The packaging is more fancy than other typical tea brands like Lipton or Barry's paper box. With high quality, smooth and shiny aluminum packaging and of course the name 'Titanic', it is very easy to catch one's attention. I tried to look at the ingredients list, or any hints on the packaging that describes the flavor of the tea, but I couldn't find it. Most likely, if the flavor is not something highlighted on the package, this is comparable to any ordinary tea out there.

 

But the problem is, I don't know what kind of tea it is comparable to. So I bought this package for 2.89 euros. It is slightly more expensive than other tea brands, but 50 cents won't hurt to satisfy my curiosity. Afterall, this is going to be my first and my last time buying it because I don't think I can even finish 80 teabags in 2 months.



 

So, what's the flavor? I'm currently having a serious issue with blocked nose so it's a little bit hard to tell. My first perception of the aroma was 'woody', but when I asked my housemate to smell it, she said it has the same smell as Lipton Yellow Label black tea. That being said, I also can't accurately tell what kind of flavor the tea has, but my guess is that this tea is equivalent to a typical English breakfast tea.

 

I'm not entirely disappointed because although it's not a really good tea, it's also not a bad tea. Plus, now I know how it tastes and smells like :)

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Ireland - My new campus, UCC

Yes, this is my new campus for this period: University College Cork, Ireland. Hold on, this is a bar. Well, indeed, this is a bar. To be precise, it is a campus bar, and it is located on the second floor of the student service center. I don't have any classes held here (would be cool if there is some sort of beer appreciation class or something like that), but this is sort of my escape area on campus. They don't play loud music, the ambience is great, and they actually serve lunch (not fancy, but I'm looking forward to a plate of chicken tikka masala). I don't drink unless I need to when I socialize, so I most probably won't drink here during the day.

The student service center (left), where the bar is located. Ironically, there is a chapel right next to it (the building on the right) LOL

Inside the chapel. The design of the floor is kind of cool :)

First impression of my campus? HOGWARTS!

The view of the campus main gate from within the campus ground

The view of the campus entrance from the main gate

Well, I know, it's not that similar to Hogwarts, but our previous university before we moved to Ireland looks totally different, with building very far apart from each other, separated by grassy fields and trees. And bicycle lanes. Both are equally great campus, but the atmospheres are totally different. 

(And I don't think any campus in Indonesia or Singapore will have this kind of Harry Potter-ish set up).

What's more, the Quadrangle (the Quad, in short) looks like a perfect place to play Quidditch. By the way, they call it a Quad although it has only 3 sides enclosed by the building. Technically, you should have 4 sides, but due to financial issues (and some say it's because there was a disease spreading out in the area at that time so the students needed some air circulation), the fourth side was not built.

And when we entered a visitor's shop inside the building, I saw what would be perfect as the Quidditch uniform. LOL, ok, I'll stop relating everything around this campus with Harry Potter.

I can't remember the name of this room, but this room is the old library, where portraits of the presidents of the university are displayed. This room is sometimes used as an exam hall. 

Kinda cool and classic, huh? :D

Speaking of which, I just explored the library about two days ago. It's rather fancy: automatic gate at the entrance. Tap your student ID card and the gate will open. I often see this ID-card exclusive automated school gates in Japanese manga/anime futuristic school stories back in the 90s and early 2000s (of course in the stories there are also additional functions such as intruder alert system, face recognition system and such - I think it's a little too much security to be used in schools haha). Sorry, I kind of dragged this post into some sort of fantasy stories again, but I think it's amazing that what people thought in the past is being implemented in the present.

I found my mini headquarter on the third level of the library, around the multimedia area. There are cubicles installed with PCs equipped with SONY Bravia monitors (ooh la la!). I'm not sure about the monitor size but it's certainly big, and it has high resolution and good audio system. What's great is that you have your own space (people can still see you from the outside but it's better than sitting directly side-by-side in a computer lab) and the desk is pretty large. Such a great place to take a rest during lunch break: quiet and comfortable with a little bit of personal space.

And speaking of libraries, there is also a library called the Boole Library. If you are familiar with computer technical terms, then you would have guessed that it has something to do with the Boolean numbers. Indeed, the concept of Boolean numbers was invented in this university!

This campus also has an observatory, although the telescope can't be used any longer. Still, it was impressive.

What else am I missing? Oh, of course, the cafetaria!

When  I saw that sign, I was totally overjoyed. Why? Because when we were in the Netherlands, normal lunch means cold bread with a slice of cheese, and I'm not exaggerating it. Cold lunch is what considered normal in the Netherlands, and I am not used to that culture. By the way, unlike in the Netherlands, the locals think I'm Japanese instead of Chinese. One random man even said "You must be Japanese! You take photos everywhere!" when I took the photo above. No more stupid "ni hao" jokes (people randomly yelled nihao to you even though you're not from China) here!

There is also a stall that sells freshly made crepes, both sweet and savory types. Up on the third floor, they sell bagels and pizza. The price range is about 4 euros per meal - considerably cheap if you compare it to average student meals in the Netherlands for the same quantity (if you want to buy something that is not a cold lunch or non-authentic Chinese food).

And lastly, the sports center. Compared to UIUC's ARC (the main sports center) or even CRCE (the smaller version of the sports center), this one is still smaller. But what's cool about it is the Relaxation Spa.

The spa is free, of course ;)

Overall, I love this campus! 

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