Wine & Cheese Event in Leeside 7

Pretty food, pretty clothes.

Our guests!


Our wine and chocolate! (I forgot the flash...)


Our food!

Anna and I hosted our ten closest visiting student friends for a culinary celebration, dressy attire highly recommended. (My own adherence to this recommendation, sadly, is undocumented - it was a very cute dress, though.)

Pictured: unfamiliar but delicious European candy bars in bite-size pieces; apples and pears paired with gorgonzola and blue cheeses; baked brie with raspberry preserves served with crackers; bruschetta (guess who?). Late arrivals included spinach quiche and samples of two unidentified cheese wedges (buyers lost their receipt) and one wedge of gouda.

It was the first time we had all been together since celebrating Katie's birthday more than a week before, so it was a good time. We all enjoyed putting together our respective dishes, ingredients mostly purchased at the English market, where the cheese vendors are generous with free samples to help buyers settle on something they like. Megan and I collaborated on the bruschetta, made this time with Chevre, the French variant of the Italian goat cheese I typically buy, and it was a very good and less expensive substitute.

The gathering marked one of the last times we will all be in Ireland simultaneously. Next Wednesday Megan, Hailey, Emily Kate and I leave for Belgium. We are spending one day in Brussells, two in the beautiful Bruges, and then returning for another night in Brussells before flying back to Ireland Sunday. I'll attend my two days of class, and then leave again Wednesday for my solo adventure in southern Spain. Again, I'll get back Sunday, there's no class Monday (National holiday!), I'll go to class Tuesday, then Wednesday leave for Germany! I am very excited to see Aunt Terry and potentially cousin Kim, and I'll have good company in Megan and Anna on the trip there and back.

Time has passed slowly over the past two weeks. I'm unaccustomed to this amount of spare time, after spending the last two years working multiple jobs, taking more classes than necessary, and participating in horse judging. While the lull is nice, it also gives me a little too much time and space for melancholia, a state in which I try very hard not to indulge myself. What I'm learning on this adventure is that I am essentially at home at, well, home. Though I feel I've adjusted well to the new routines, appreciate all the city life has to offer, and am passionately in love with the ambience and beauty of this country, I will be happy to be back in Kansas come December.