This particular Duke has been a long time without posts here and I must first apologize for my sloth. I’ve been one part lazy, two parts frenetic and then one part vacation, which I’ll hereby relate.

Myself, Mrs. Duke & the Mother-in-Duke just returned from a groovy jaunt to Ireland where we cruised around checking out the sights and pillaging keg and sea alike. It turns out Ireland’s a damn cool place; beautiful and very old. And they have beer…lots and lots of beer. Who knew?

Anyway, here are a few shots from the trip & I promise my fellow Dukes I’ll be more regular in my posting. At the very least I promise to be more vigilant and regular in my beer drinking and, if there’s one thing Ireland taught me, it’s that diligent, copious application of the suds will inevitably lead to great things.

Hook Head light…13th century lighthouse that purports to be the oldest continually operating in Europe

The colors in Ireland are pretty stellar

First Guinness on Irish soil…mmmmm

Your average goaty Irish road

The cliffs of Insanity…errr Moher

One of only one or two memorable meals had, and easily the best. Seafood restaurant named Boluisce in Connemara. The proprietors Bairbre Brooke & Monica Mac Gabham run a lovely little restaurant with top-notch vitals, a fine wine list and an extremely tasty Guinness tap system. of particular note was the unholy combination of local Galway Bay oysters and Guinness. We were previously unaware that Galway Bay oysters are akin to Kumamotos in creaminess. Combine that with the fresh Irish Guinness and you have the stuff of dreams.

Also awesome was the rough brown bread served with the meal. It was an excellent compliment and, I imagine, would be fantastic for breakfast toasted and slathered in butter. Here’s the recipe:

Aran Donn

1 1/4 lb Wholemeal Flour
4 oz Bran
2 oz Brown Sugar
1/4 oz Bread Soda
1 lt Buttermilk

Method

Sieve the bread and mix all the dry ingredients together. Add the buttermilk and bind thoroughly. Turn out into three greased 1 lb loaf tins. Cook for 45 mins at 400 degrees electric or gas mark 6.

Local

Regional lobstermen…note the tiny open boat and the north-west coast’s notoriously wild seas. Crazy.

Where they’re fishing

One every trip we try to find at least one place truly magical. On this trip it was this place, The Green Gate in Ardara in county Donegal. Easily the coolest place we found, run by a charming older Frenchman named Paul and as secluded and authentic as it is beautiful.

The view out front of Ardara Bay

Ireland is a little known magnet for good surf and we stumbled into a fine afternoon in Bundoran. You can’t get a real feel for it from this, but there were 6′+ A-frames rolling in and it made for an awesome, if freezing, afternoon. Nothing 5 Guinness couldn’t fix!