Boston!!!

Im only just back to Montreal from a weeks stay in Boston. It feels like my home away from home, the first city I ever lived in when I left Ireland for the first time as a petrified 21-year-old, for a three month stint with a J1 visa.
After the torturous 10 hour bus drive from Montreal, I arrived at south station only to find the jeans and shirt I was wearing were absolutely not weather appropriate. I got on the T and thought to myself, jeez some things never change. The T always has a very distinct smell of rubber, no other subway in the world I have been on smells like it. Secondly, the view going over the Charles river on the redline, its one of my favourites. It had been over two years since my last visit but walking around the subways and Boston was like I had never left, my brain remembered every corner and every turn.
It was a week full of antics. I met a neighbour from hometown for lunch. I stayed with my best friend Aoife and her partner Kim and tried my best to drive her nuts, I succeeded. I walked around downtown and passed my favourite pizzeria in the North End. I took a pedicab around the city, my driver was the best ever. I went to see a Red Sox game, kayaked, biked, played basketball, went clubbing, celebrated July 4th, went swimming in Walden pond, played with my friends dog, Beezus, played with Aoife and Kim's cat, Toby, got eaten alive by mosquitos so bad that my ankle swelled and looked like I broke it and finally I watched the munster final in PJ Ryans at 8.30am while sipping on Bulmers. Phew all of that was a mouthful. Best of all, was meeting up with the many friends I have all over Boston.
Boston, I will be back, see you around Thanksgiving!!!!

Christmas in Montreal

This was my third year spending Christmas in Montreal. I hope that next year I get to show you Christmas in Ireland. This year I was very well organised. We had our tree up since Mid-Dec, which we usually get from Parc Lahaie, $48 for a 6 foot beast. I had all my Christmas shopping done in November and I had posted all my gifts to Ireland on time. My only worry now was feeding the family over Christmas.

On Christmas Eve, we celebrated according to our three-year-old tradition, with lamb curry, potato bhorta, daal and rice. We watched some movies and hung out, pretty quiet and cozy on our end.

And so, Santa came that night and left a slew of presents under the tree and filled our stockings to the brim. Our cat Jinho loved his new empty boxes and piles of wrapping paper. After breakfast we decided to open our prezzies and I can safely say we were all very happy. Mom and Dad, I know I have mentioned this a million times already but I love my new plates, what a present!

Here Farah is playing with her new Iphone lens called the Ollo Clip.

Upal laughs at his caramel popcorn card from his girlfriend Maya. Although he is addicted to that stuff.

New Years Eve comes a little too fast after the christmas buzz. We had a pizza party at home. I made 5 pizzas. I used Jamie Oliver's pizza dough recipe and it was an absolute hit. It was simple and smashing. Farah took the pizza photos below with my new Christmas lens. I was too busy making the pizzas and being covered in flour to do anything else.

After dinner, we played Cards Against Humanity, which is a bit like Apples to Apples...but not at all!

Epic cheese pizza

This one was a lot tougher because it was gluten free and not as stretchy as the others.

Homemade white wine and garlic sauce.

Jinho must be doing something cute!!

New Years Day started with what we Irish call "The Cure". I know, I know, I will get an awful lot of abuse from home because there are greens on my plate. What can I do, I needed to make some space in my fridge. I think I will be forgiven once I say that I cooked them in bacon fat. I literally cannot remember what we did that day. Possibly lounge on the couch the entire day.

Photo: Farah Khan

Little Women's Christmas is a little tradition we have back home and its still very big in Kerry. Farah, Fiona and I, headed to our favourite brunch place, Maison Publique. We sat at the bar as usual and had amazing service from Alex Cruz. Farah and Fiona both got the pancakes with bacon, while I got the boudin (black pudding) and eggs. Phil also sent us a present from the kitchen, a gorgeous reuben sandwich. Again, another delicious meal. Seriously, they get everything right.

A few shots of our neighbourhood from our walk home. The snow has since melted, because the weather decided to hit 10C, although this week it's been reported to go as low as -20C.

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