Boats, Booze & Hangovers in Croatia | Part 1

Good morning world,

And what a lovely bright summers morning (if I can even call it that at 12°C) it is here in Cork!


I very rarely post at this time, but today I thought I'd be all organised and blogger-like. I've got the summer blues guys, and I'm yearning to be back in beautiful Hvar lounging on the rocky face of the Adriatic. You know, it's odd.. when one mentions they are travelling to Croatia on holidays many reply with, "Your going to Croatia? Sure whats there but only that pilgrimage place all the old ones go to!". 'Pilgrimage place' meaning Medjugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is in fact a completely different country.

Dubrovnik from above (Part 2)

Surfing on the West Coast | Lahinch, Co. Clare

It's not unknown that I am a big fan of the surfing culture. I'm only a newbie I'll have you know, and if you've read my previous post on the topic, you'll know where I stand in the matter. So I Went Surfing   

But two weeks ago one of my best mates and I took an ole' roadtrip up the west of the country, to county Clare. Whilst I'd been there before, I only managed to see a small portion of the eastern part of the county, the countryside. This time our sole focus was the coast, and with surfing a main priority of the adventure, Doolin was the ideal place for the craic, the site-seeing & the coast. Doolin is known for its traditional Irish music scene and in more recent years, Dusty the dolphin. We didn't manage to meet Dusty, but we did get a nice taster of the pub-life.

Yummy Crème Pâtissière Raspberry Tartlets

With no goodies in the house, and craving something fresh and sweet, Raspberry Crème Pâtissière Tartlets were a definite bake! If I haven't already expressed my love for baked goods, well I will now. I love pastries, desserts and all that yummy stuff!! So as you can imagine, I was totally excited to bake up a batch of these bad boys. Having never baked a Crème Pâtissière Tart, it was a new and fun experiment. So if your interested in how I made these little delights keep reading! 

They tasted beautiful by the way!

(I was so bummed with my final photo of the tartlets, all along I was using my Canon T3i to take pictures, and was so excited to get some use out of the camera for baking purposes. But sure didn't my mom take it on her walk so when the tarts were finished the camera was gone! And to add to that, most of the tartlets were eaten by the time she got home haha! So no new photos could be taken, but you can enjoy the impeccable quality of the process photos bellow :P)

J'adore | Summer Edition

Loving too many things this month but here's just a few items I long for!! 

Being super nice outside and all, I'm totally inspired by colourful items even though I'm generally drawn to black haha! Anyone else out there the same? I love bohemian fashion and also adore grunge (music and all, Kurt - you're my man). I suppose my love for grunge is probably partially the reason why I'm drawn to darker colours! 

So here we go, a quick run through of my summer wishlist!

Strawberrys & Cream

If you live in Ireland (or the UK) like myself, your probably as delighted as I am with the weather! It's not that usual for us to have a 'real summer', and by 'real summer' I mean - average day to day temperatures ranging from 20 degrees Celsius upwards! Actually what I mean by a 'real summer' probably stems from what I absorbed from the media and TV of what I perceived American weather to be like! Or even my experiences of weather abroad in countries such as Spain and Greece during the summer! But that's just unrealistic! I'm from the land of the pale and pasty!

But anywho I just wanted to share a few photos with ye of my awesome lunch, or dessert even! Who doesn't love strawberries? Especially during this time of the year when they are at their best!!! 

Little tip, if your travelling in Ireland this Summer and happen to be driving through Wexford, make sure you stop at the little strawberry stalls on the sides of the road and pick up a pundit or two. You won't regret it! Wexford strawberries are world renowned! Well haha maybe Ireland renowned..