Happy 4th of July!!

4th of July or 4th July...one of the few days that are actually said the same way in the US and in Ireland. Today Shaun and I slept in, kind of, well we were up at 6am and the sun was so bright it looked like it was half 8 (8:30) at least.  So on our way out we get a surprise...Mike's home early from work!!! His boss let him go home because of the holiday and because he's pretty nice so Mike was able to come along with us to the city center. 

So today on the Cutaia's adventure we explored the English Market in the city center. The weather has been so nice we had to walk there. It was amazing how many people were out and about in the city at 1pm...doesn't anyone work around here?? I just wouldn't expect so much traffic on a Thursday in the afternoon. 

What a cool little place. All kind of FRESH food...meats, eggs, bread, cheeses, fish everything. It's a small little place with lots of stuff packed in every corner. The thing that we were most impressed about is selection of meat. There were at least 5 butchers there...I mean REAL butchers. Like they have a 1/2 of a cow in the back and they will cut you whatever cut you want (as long as they have it). I mean this is nothing like your local Stop & Shop or Kroger or Whole Foods or whatever, these are real butchers with fresh meat!  Even at the meat counter they will cut the meat per your request. The selection was amazing too, all the cuts, beef tongue, tripe, beef & pig tails, pig feet, chicken liver & gizzards...everything. We just enjoyed looking around at all the meat shops. We picked up some beef patties at one place, italian sausage at another and lamb balls at a 3rd place...had to get a little of this and a little of that (as Nini would say). 

There is one thing that I'll need some more time to understand and explain but there is this white and black pudding at every meat counter. Now you would think this is a real pudding, like Jello Pudding or something but its not...it's a sausage!  The white pudding is made with oatmeal and the black pudding is made with blood. Now I've actually tried them both and they are not bad. I prefer the white pudding over the black one but Mike won't try either. I think it's more to do with texture than anything. Anyway, they eat this as part of breakfast...we didn't get any this trip...maybe in a few years ;-) 

We also stopped at like an olive bar place and got a little this and that. Everything is so fresh (have I said that yet?). The olives tasted like they were just picked in Monday and stuffed with garlic on Tuesday and ready to sell Wednesday. Everything was all out so you can pick what you wanted, didn't have to take a jar of olives if you didn't want to, we really liked that. Mike wanted to make a cameo today so he was willing to be in the picture...this is us at the olive bar

So next we went to get some bread for all the little what nots that we got. There was a nice bakery with fresh bread, bread made daily and all the left over bread at the end of the day gets donated to a local charity...how nice. Well the guy behind the counter was so nice, he was helping us pick a bread and he was telling us that his favorite bread was already sold out and the only loaf left was his...he even gave us a piece of his to try...that doesn't happen very often in the states. So we know next time we need some bread we will be going there, but we have to get there early because the selection decreases by the afternoon. So the last place in the market was the seafood section. There is one large area with all the the seafood and one of the popular places to get good quality seafood is from K O'Connell. They have everything and fresh of course.  

These fish butchers or fishmongers if you're more proper than me filet your fish right there...so cool. 

There was a lot of sardines and anchovies but I guess that's due to the Mediterranean influence. 

We had a nice time at the market...can't wait to go back again soon. 

The little snack that we made from our trip to the market...

This place could be dangerous...food  was so good. 

Mike made dinner, what they call a summer BBQ but it was more like a summer stovetop but it worked. Also, Mike wanted everyone to know that he took this picture and that he is contributing to the blog...so cute.  

Hamburger with Italian sausage and Doritos!!

Although we are over a thousand miles away from our family we got the chance to FaceTime with them today and to see the BBQ that they were cooking. It just made us miss home a little more :-(. My family was all together at my sisters house and Lino was having a great time with Nini & PopPop in NY and didn't want to be bothered with talking to his parents...it's ok.  

On the 4th we usually have a bunch of friends and family over and BBQ and play volleyball in the backyard. Or before kids we would go to Chicago for the Taste of Chicago and hang out with my Uncle, Aunt, cousins and GG (my grandma). Guess we will have to come up with a new tradition while we are here. We hope everyone had a great 4th!  While purse was very non traditional it was great to spend the day with Mike & Shaun. 

Sending our love across the ocean ❤