Address to a Haggis

There are far more au pairs living in Co. Kildare than I originally thought, and we've started meeting at a pub on Monday nights in Newbridge - usually for a pint (or a milkshake), a catch-up from the weekend, and plan-making for the next. 

Two of the au pairs I've recently met, Rebecca and Sarah, are both from Scotland...they only met here, but funnily enough only live 30 minutes apart back home. 

This past weekend was a big holiday for them, so they decided to share their tradition with us!

Scottish poet Robert Burns, who we would know most commonly for his poem Auld Lang Syne, is honored on his birthday, January 25th, known to the Scots (and increasing across the UK) as Burns Supper.

I made hor d'eouvres of puff pastry, brie, apples, and honey.

 Sarah and Rebecca, as the hosts of this event, prepared the Haggis, Neeps, and Tatties, or mashed turnips and boiled/roasted potatoes. The rest of us, as guests, came bearing hor d'eouvres and desserts.

the spread...pre "piping" of the haggis

 The spread was endless! Cheese ball, puff pastries, shrimp dip, crisps, chocolate cookies, carrot cake cupcakes, red velvet cake, muffins, pavlova, Scottish shortbread, Scottish tablet, and of course, the main event, the haggis.

The Haggis!

 Sarah recited the Selkirk Grace,  taught to her by her grandfather (a true Scottish bloke, kilt and all, according to Sarah) and Sarah and Rebecca regaled us with tales of Burns Suppers past - such as the time Sarah's grandfather, during the Piping of the Haggis, (where the haggis is brought to the table accompanied by bagpipes), and the Address to a Haggis recitation, used a sword (instead of the typical sharp knife kept in the host's sock) to split the haggis end to end. Sarah's grandfather ended up cutting through the haggis, through the plate, and then through the table.

neeps and tatties, awaiting the haggis

Sarah then gave a small toast to welcome everyone to the supper and hopes that everyone would enjoy the meal...raise your Irn Bru...and dig in!
Surprisingly, the haggis was delicious! I was well aware of what I was eating (sheep's heart, liver, etc.) but since the girls had already cut the haggis open to serve it (no one saw the sheep's stomach luckily) it was easier to just imagine you were eating a tasty, herbed mince!

Toast to the Haggis, with Irn Bru

After all that food, several drinks (and a few drinking games), I actually had to lie on the hardwood floor to recover! Cue to me, Lisanne, and several of the others sprawled across the floor and couches through out the house in various states of food coma.

Haggis...with Neeps and Tatties

We drank and ate well into the night and then tucked into sleeping bags and air mattresses to sleep off all the calories we consumed. Having never experiences a Burns Supper before, I don't have much to compare it to, but I'd call that a successful evening!

What was left of the cheese ball

Oh, and Friday I chopped my hair off! What once fell to well below my boobs now hangs right below my collar bone. And I love it! Host mom keeps telling me that 2014 is my year of change and that all these little changes I'm making will have a very big effect on who I end up being at the year draws to an end. So here's to Robbie Burns, great food, new friends, and big changes in the year to come!

Happy Christmas from Ireland!

                                             

 This year I celebrated my very first Christmas away from home! Unlike most of the other au pairs, it was just far too expensive (and far!) for me to fly home for Christmas, so I opted to stay here and celebrate as part of the Gorman family! That meant helping find the perfect Christmas tree down in Calverstown square, decorating the house for Christmas, hanging stockings, and sharing lots and lots of my own Christmas traditions and stories with the family - like the 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' poem (or A Visit from Saint Nicholas) by Clement Clarke Moore and this adorable old cartoon that I grew up watching every Christmas with my sisters!

Mulled wine is Christmas in a glass.

Anny had the best idea for getting the kids into bed Christmas Eve...we told the kiddies that the Sandman acts as Santa's helper on Christmas Eve and travels around to all the houses, where he rings a bell to alert all the little children that it's time to go to bed so Santa can come leave presents. And guess who got to be the sandman??

That's right, while the kids were slipping into their pj's and brushing their teeth, I crept outside till I was underneath the bathroom windows and shook a huge golden bell till I thought my arm was gonna fall off! Totally worth it though - I could hear the gasps and mad scrambles from the other side of the window. And it worked like a charm! Patrick and Lily almost never sleep through the night, but they both slept in their own beds all night.                                             

Lily on the Christmas train at the Kildare Christmas Village.

My new Irish boyfriend.

Anny and I also found time to bake loads of Christmas cookies for the neighbors (most of whom are Padraig's aunts and uncles) and go to Padraig's work Christmas party with the kids. 

Making Christmas cookies!

Christmas morning!

James is more concerned with the paper than what's inside it.

Christmas morning was everything I hoped it would be for the kids. Patrick and Lily are just getting to the ages when Christmas is really exciting for them (especially Pat, I think it's all he talked about after Halloween) and we tried to make sure they got the best experiences out of it all, like seeing Santa at the Kildare Christmas Village and sitting on his lap, visiting all the family and neighbors to drop off cookies (and stop in for tea and Christmas cake), and of course, watching The Snowman and the Gruffalo!

Curracloe Beach!

 We spent Christmas day with Anny's side of the family, which was lovely - Anny's brother Jim prepared what can only be described as a feast, and even though they're all strict veggies, they made roast beef! I loved it, naturally, and Padraig and Anny's brother Brian seemed to really enjoy themselves as well.

Gorgeous New Years Eve.

St. Stephen's Day (or Boxing Day in the UK) was then spent back at home with Padraig's side of the family and I made an adorable funfetti birthday cake with green and blue icing for Padraig's nephew Jack, who turned 4 on Christmas Day. We ate tons more food, opened gifts (they all got me something, which I was not expecting at all!) and drank LOADS and LOADS of wine. Apparently St. Stephen's Day is supposed to be filled with drunkenness.

New Years Eve was much more relaxed, with a stroll on Curracloe Beach and an attempted picnic, which actually got rained out. But the beach was beautiful (albeit a bit chilly) and it was nice to get out of the house. We celebrated at midnight with glasses of champagne and a really intense game of scrabble.

All in all, a fabulous holiday season :)

Back in November...

Back in November, I received the best surprise EVER...a visit from my sisters Charlsey and Michaela!

Lazy breakfast at the Gorman household, pre-Thanksgiving dinner

These 2 nerds didn't tell me ANYTHING till the week before! They were set to arrive Thanksgiving day, so we decided to treat the Gormans to a full American-style Thanksgiving feast on Friday, November 29th, and Michaela's 20th birthday!

Anny and I left the kiddies with Nana Kathleen for the morning and made our way into Dublin to pick Charlsey and Michaela up at Dublin Airport, where lo and behold, I almost got deported!
Apparently, some lines got crossed between the Irish Embassy in Chicago and the customs agents at Dublin Airport and they thought I was living and working in Ireland illegally...which I'm not! Luckily, the customs agent thought I was a pretty genuine person (who had nearly had the pants scared off of her) and he helped me sort everything out. Yay for not getting deported!

Back at the Gorman household (post naps and showers), we turned the kitchen into our American Thanksgiving prep station:

• One large turkey, seasoned with lemon, garlic, onions, and sage, then cooked to perfection - a la Charlsey 
• One ham with cloves and honey mustard glaze
• hashbrown casserole, corn pudding, roasted Brussels sprout, turnip casserole
• cornbread stuffing
• Gingersnap cheesecake
• sweet potato pie
• hand crafted construction paper Pilgrim hats and Native American headdresses 

...and goodness knows what else! We made so much food we had trouble fitting it all on the table. But we definitely enjoyed eating it!

The Pilgrims and the Native Americans breaking bread!

After a truly lovely Thanksgiving, Charlsey, Michaela, and I had a girls weekend in Dublin - we did it ALL. Toured the Guinness Factory, where we poured our own beers, wandered through Dublinia, the Viking Museum, toured Christchurch Cathedral and Dublin Castle...basically all the touristy sightseeing you'd want to do if you came to Dublin.

hostel via hostelworld.com

Walking through Dublin Castle

Chimney Cake - YUMMM

"'Tis but a scratch!"

I loved having my sisters here with me, and even though we text nearly everyday, being with them in person is incomparable. We laughed like loons, we got on each others nerves (A LOT), we ate tons of food and captured every minute of it on camera.

I can't wait to see them again (hopefully soon!) and Lily and Patrick ask about them every week - "Briana, where are your girls?"
"Are they in 'tucky?"
"Are they coming to stay with us again?"

Clearly, my sisters made quite the impression. It was a great family weekend and a great way to welcome Michaela to her 20's.

2014: A Year of Change

Happy (three weeks late) New Year!! Hopefully your 2014 had as great a start as mine...which took place in IRELAND!

The Dublin Wall of Fame in the Temple Bar District of Dublin

That's right, I'm currently living and working in County Kildare, Ireland as an au pair to three lovely little kiddos, ages 4, 2.5, and 1 year. January marks month three of #aupairlife and I couldn't be happier! County Kildare has a HUGE network of au pairs from all over (mostly western Europe, though there's another girl here from CA - USA represent!) and together we've been exploring the cities, shopping, planning trips, and adjusting to Irish life.

Patrick, James, and Lily

I left my beautiful bluegrass state of Kentucky late October (Oct 23rd, to be exact) and flew Aer Lingus straight into Dublin. My host mom Anny, (technically, my employer, but I've basically been accepted as an older sister into the family) was working in Galway (ahh, the lovely coast!) at the time of my arrival, so her brother Jim collected me from the airport, treated me to a welcome breakfast at Avoca www.avoca.ie, and dropped me off at the house in quaint little Calverstown.

Galway coastline

The Gorman family (or, my Irish family) is dad Padraig (pronounced "poor-rick"), mom Anny, Patrick (age 4), Lily (age 2.5), and baby James, who celebrated his first birthday in November. Then there's Nana Kathleen (Padraig's mom, and a wonderful lady who let's me stay with her at her house in Naas when I meet up with the other au pairs for a few pints), Nana Lily (Anny's mom, who is hilarious and apparently asks everyone about their teeth when she meets them), Anny's brothers Brian and Jim, Brian's boys Kieran and Evan, and Padraig's sister Aisling, her husband Kiearn, and their kids Amy, Cian, and Jack. Anny actually has LOADS more siblings (she's the ninth in her family) but I've only had the pleasure of meeting the others once or twice. Her brother John and her niece Scarlet were here for New Years and basically if this family isn't the most fascinating family in the entire world then we need to redefine the word fascinating. I'm talking travels to India, Africa, Antarctica, Australia (to name a few); published authors and sheep farmers, and pretty much all around renaissance-men, jack-of-all-trades types.

Ha'Penny Bridge in Dublin

One big change: the family is vegetarian/pescatarian, so no meat. No meat?? I'm from Kentucky where we raise our own beef cattle! Talk about an adjustment...
But I'm actually loving it! Anny is a healthcare practitioner, so everything we eat is pretty much great for your body, full of nutrients and protein and  superfoods power. Oh, and she's an amazing cook. No complaints from me or my tummy :))

Life has been an adjustment, but 2014 is my year of change. I've steadily working on my resolutions:

• write more everyday (getting back to this blog was a part of that)
• take time to catch up with a close friend at least once a month
• stop biting my nails (how did I become 10 years old again??)
• send out 5 resumes over the course of this year to 5 very different, very challenging, once-in-a-lifetime, can't miss opportunities

Here's to 2014 and making it my best year yet :)