Filed under: Dublin
I thought this was timely – sadly I don’t have any pictures but…
On Wednesday we all went to see the Irish animated films that have been nominated for Academy Awards at the Irish Film Institute. What was fun is that the 3 films had representatives there to say a few words about each movie. The guy from The Secret of Kells was great. He was French, he accent was pretty thick, but he was clearly so happy to have been nominated that you had to be excited for him! So first we saw Granny O’Grimm (posted below – I got it from YouTube, I didn’t bootleg it!). It is very funny.
Then they showed The Door – but it’s not for kids, so we left the theater. (The movie is only 20 minutes.) So we were hanging out in the lobby and one of the IFI directors sort of took pity on us and started talking to us. Then she suggested that maybe we’d like to see an Oscar – and she let us hold it! The Oscar belonged to Josie MacAvin, she won it for set decoration in 1985 for Out of Africa. The Oscar is pretty heavy although it feels as if it isn’t solid. I’m not a big movie goer or follower but I have to say every year when I watch the Oscars I wonder what’s it’s like to hold one. Now we know.
After that big thrill we watched the third movie – The Secret of Kells. It is a beautiful movie. Again, not a movie goer, but I was happy to see it on the big screen. Coincidentally, we went to see the Book of Kells just a couple of weeks ago – so we had an added interest.
Quick update – last night Patrick took the kids to see Alice in Wonderland and everyone loved it. I worked, but that was good too.
Filed under: Wicklow
Irish Grandma’s birthday is February 29 – but we celebrated on February 28. Fearghal sent me an email earlier in the week so say everything was arranged and he would pick us up at 12:30 on Sunday. He wouldn’t tell us where we were going. Some guessed the Roundwood Inn; but I thought that was too obvious. What none of us expected was the Gordon Ramsay restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton in Wicklow.
First, the hotel is beautiful! The setting is amazing. The restaurant a lower floor so I was amazed to see how wonderful the view was- you overlook the Sugarloaf Mountain. Apparently in the summer they have lunches out on the veranda. On Sunday they let the kids run around a bit out there between courses.
The service is stellar, as you would imagine. The girls tried to sneak from the bathroom to the table without anyone opening a door for them. I think the succeeded once. The food was wonderful. I had red pepper risotto for starter, tuna for mains and raspberry financiers with apple ice cream for dessert. We started with an amuse bouche of soup and a ton of bread. And we ended with a few trays of petit fours. We should never need to eat again. My favorite was the dessert. The apple ice cream was tart and was such an unusual but good blend with the raspberries. Also Kate got cookies and milk and shared so I got my chocolate fix too. It was a spectacular meal and Fearghal was so generous to invite all of us. We would have understood if he only brought Irish Grandma.
Gordon wasn’t there – but that’s OK we enjoyed the serenity of no one yelling. It really is a very relaxing place. We could get used to the lifestyle. Aine announced right away that she would be happy to live in the hotel. Lily gave Irish Grandma a rosary that she had made, which was very nice.
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