The Food

     Our breakfasts are had at the hotels and so far, they have all been extensive, buffet style, with plenty of variety.  As you would expect to see in America, there are scrambled eggs, sausages, potatoes (McDonalds-style hash browns, or restaurant style wedges), pastries, fruit, jams and jellies. What the Irish call bacon is what we consider ham slices. Sadly, I have not seen any Nutella, a breakfast treat I have enjoyed on prior trips. Unlike in America, breakfasts also feature platters of deli meats and cheeses (salami, etc. and soft  brie-like cheese),  brown beans (yuk), tomatoes (stewed or baked), sautéed or steamed mushroom slices, and little brown or blond muffin looking-things that I've since learned are black or white pudding.  Warning: in the same way that sweetbreads are not bread, these are not pudding.
     As I've hinted previously, our pre-ordained lunch stops have been at pubs or small eateries that feature fried everything.  Fish and chips (fries), burgers and chips, cheese sandwiches, and seafood chowder.  The only greens appear as pitiful garnishes to these bounties of cholesterol. The lack of greens carries over to dinner (again, at our hotels), all of which feature three courses:  appetizer, main and dessert. One night I ordered a goat cheese / pear salad as my appetizer.  This turned out to be an enormous piece of crusty bread with melted goat cheese over the top, with a canned pear half and a couple of dandelions languishing on the side. Tasty, but hardly a salad. You can understand my joy when yesterday, on my rebel trip to Galway, I found a Mixed Greens restaurant for lunch.
     Our Galway restaurant was heavy on the potatoes.  Each dinner entree featured a decorative swirl of green-tinted mashed potatoes, as well as shared side dishes featuring two more types of potatoes.  On Wednesday night, they were scalloped or boiled.  On Thursday, they were mashed, or diced with onions and cabbage.  Other sides are typically carrots, parsnips or beets (do you detect the pattern?  root vegetables!)
     As you know, I am not a big beer drinker (bring me the wine) but at the pub last night, I couldn't bring myself to priss out with a pinot grigio or cabernet, or even a lighter beer like Heineken. I asked our guide, Bob, what was the least intense beer I could order without embarrassing myself.  He advised me to order a shandy beer, which turns out to be a glass of 1/3 lemonade (!) and 2/3 beer. I ordered it (the tender did not laugh) with Smithwicks (the W is silent) as my beer choice.  And I have to concede that Bob's advice was sound.  It was a little sweet, but a way for me to drink and enjoy darkish beer.  
     I've noticed that pubs and restaurants are stocked with barware for each of the beers  / ales they serve.  Thus your Smithwicks will be served in a Smithwicks glass, your Guinness in a Guinness glass, Beamish in a Beamish glass, and so on.  Plenty of my tour-mates have been enjoying Guinness every night and truly, a properly drawn Guinness is a vision to behold -- rich and creamy mocha looking toward the top, then darkening in degrees toward the bottom of the glass.  Bob, who clearly likes to hoist a few, later said "people think I drink a lot but really, they're all shandy beers."  Uh huh.  Nice try Bob, but I'm not buying it.

Breakfast fare:  "Bacon"  Bangers and Black/White puddings

Breakfast fare:  beans, mushrooms, tomatoes