Il Valentino

One of my favourite things to do is try out new places to eat and drink in Dublin. In the past couple of years I've almost made it into a hobby (a rather pricey one!). There's something really satisfying about finding a new and amazing place to eat and sharing it online and with my friends and family and trying to convince everyone that they need to try it out. 

For a few years now I've frequented Il Valentino bakery and café located in one of my favourite areas of Dublin- Grand Canal Harbour. Bread and pastries are freshly baked in store every day using the best ingredients from all over the world to making it like an authentic Italian/French bakery.  

There are very few places like this in Dublin where you can get the same fresh bread you'd get on holiday in France or Italy. I adored going to the Boulangerie every day when I was in Nice last year and getting a fresh baguette and croissants so Il Valentino brings a little bit of that tradition to my home town. 

I usually order one of their gorgeous coffees and something sweet. Their eclairs are unbelievable (I love the Pistachio and coffee ones). They also have proper Italian cannoli (a recent favourite of mine), a selection of sandwiches made with their fresh bread and made to order cakes (which I haven't tried but they look delicious!).

Next time you're in the area you have to try this place. Now that the weather is kind of getting nicer I recommend getting your order to take away and sitting on the benches facing the harbour, it's such a nice way to spend an afternoon away from the busy city centre.

Tell me some of your favourite places to eat in Dublin. I'm hoping to feature more of my favourite spots to eat on the blog so I'd love to know what yours are.

Emma x

Seaside Saturday

This past Saturday Donnacha, Kate, Eric, Simon and I visited my family in Skerries. We went to Stoop Your Head (Stoops) for lunch. Their seafood chowder is the best. Afterwards we joined my aunts at Olive for coffee and dessert. These two are some of my favourite places to eat in Dublin county. If you're ever in the area, I can't recommend either highly enough. 

The sun shone for the first time in ages on Saturday, long enough for us to be able to sit outside and eat lunch. 

I just wanted to say a quick thank you for all the lovely comments on my last post, it really made me so happy to hear from you all. 

How was your Easter weekend?

Emma x

Twenty Six

I had hoped to to a more thorough Birthday in photos post with photos of me doing my hair and make up etc. but top be honest I just got caught up in the excitement of the day and forgot for the most part! He's what I managed to remember to take photos of- delicious breakfast made by Donnacha, flowers from my friend, pear, almond and chocolate tart in Queen of Tarts, presents and cards and dinner in Cortina's. 

So that was my birthday. I also had a cocktail party the weekend before and I am never letting Donnacha make me a Long Island Iced Tea again! I was off work last week too which was an extra treat, I badly needed a break from the Summer sale madness. For some reason I seem to take a break from blogging when I'm off work, I'm happy to be back at it (not so much work though)!

How are you all?

Emma x

Wednesday

Here are some things I did today.

1. Ate a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel for lunch

2. Watched Return to Oz after seeing this pendant on Zara Taylor's Facebook

3. Listened to Josh Tillman (of Fleet Foxes)

What did you to today?

Emma xx

With Scarves of Red Tied 'Round Their Throats

These are my last set of photos from our trip to Cork. I found this river when I was out walking and went back to the house to get Donnacha because I wanted him to see it so we took some impromtu photos as it was too great a location to pass up. The water was so loud and fast, I was kinda scared standing on the river bank. I took off my headphones after the second photo but I thought I'd show you a photo of me wearing them anyway because I'm always wearing them when I'm walking around Dublin if I'm on my own and it's something you haven't seen me wearing here before. I'm also wearing one of my favourite scarves!

My second gif! Do you like how the water behind me is moving!

Here's the contents of the package Katie sent us. It was such an awesome package, she wrapped everything up in cute wrapping paper and newspaper which I loved and sent us brochures about events in Nashville in an attempt to tempt us over there. We'd be over in a flash if we had a spare grand lying around! :(

Here's my 2011 PaperBlanks Diary I got in Chapters the other day, I also went pen shopping (I have a bit of an obsession!) and got a gorgeous black fountain pen that writes so smoothly. I've already written my blogging schedule for February into it.

I made the most delicious salad for lunch today. It had baby spinach leaves, toasted almonds (which I made myself), celery, yellow peppers, tomato, avocado and red onion with honey mustard dressing. Me and Kate ate the leftovers for dinner when she got back from work (She's working on the maternity ward on placement for college for 9 months and stays with us some nights because she has to get up super early). Last night she and her fiancé Eric came over and I made us nachos and ravioli for dinner and we watched two documentaries, one was called Catfish and the other was called Confessions of a Superhero. Both were really interesting stories, I recommend taking a look if you're into that kind of thing!

Can't believe tomorrow is Friday already! Only one more week til I have more holidays! The NBC shows are back tonight so I'm really looking forward to watching them after work tomorrow. We're going on a double date to see The King's Speech tomorrow night too so I'll let you know what I think.

Have a great Friday!

This is a great music video and song;

Em xx