My last day...

Ahhhhhh...my last day of work...I'm free! Cafe Paradiso invited Amy and myself for a special dinner celebrating my last day of work. All expenses were paid by the restaurant...lucky for us! Woooooooooooooo!

The inside of the restaurant. For those of you who saw the other restaurant post, Une Table Au Sud, the dining rooms are completely different. Cafe Paradiso is very small and quaint but very chic considering it is a Cafe in Cork. (Good alliteration huh)

Snacks: the equivalent of an amuse-bouche. Sesame seed tuile, sambal roasted cashews and marinated olives...dericious...

...complimentary glass of Prosecco, Amy's favorite course...

...small onion tart with goat cheese, very nice way to start the dinner...it's not about size but taste...

...sushi course with tempura vegetables and metal chop sticks. I felt like a robot sent from the future to save Amy MacAlpine from doom...

...delicious rose...

...our wine connoisseur complementing the wine; notes of harmony, sunshine and jubilee...

...haloumi salad with homemade damson chutney; very nice...

...sorta like a deconstructed spanikopita...

...maple glazed king mushrooms and black kale gnocchi...

...spicy tofu, soba noodles and lemongrass sauce...

...this was possibly my favorite course. Also very pretty and seasonal, fava bean and fresh sheeps milk's cheese stuffed artichoke with beet gougere. Really good and very flavorful...lots of food still to come...

...lemon sorbet...

...gooseberry tart with creme anglaise...also my favorite...if anyone knows someone with gooseberries in Canada please let me know...i would love to get my hands on some of those...

...isnt she lovely with the pale moonlight. Quite a striking individual...

...finally the last course; olive oil and chocolate mousse with praline. This was the course that pushed Amy over the edge...

...mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

...Me and the kitchen brigade. Not as good looking as the french team in Marseille but just as nice and friendly. The Asian dudes were our token dishwashers and hilarious...I challenged both of them to a judo match, and they denied. In case you don't know I have trained in the deadly arts...my Hands Are Lethal Weapons...Hiyaaaa!

It was a great learning experience and the kind of food I really enjoy. Honest, delicious, flavorful food. Amy got sick that night because of all the food....seriously she was up all night puking while her prince charming was snoring beside her and didn't hear a thing. Isn't she lucky?!?

Johnny and Shannon.

Our friends Johnny and Shannon are currently living in Ireland, so we spent a weekend with them in their current hometown Galway and they spent a bank holiday weekend with us in Cork. A bank holiday happens on the first Monday of every month....lucky Irish, they have at least one long weekend every month...but chances are it will be raining.

It's official, Galway's cutest couple...posing at the 'postcard' picture part of Galway.

Shannon and Marc, at the beginning of the coastal boardwalk.

There is a wall that you're supposed to kick at the end of the promenade walk (for reasons unknown, possibly to laugh at tourists kicking walls??)....we weren't sure which wall that was, so we all kicked this one...

...and then Shannon came up with these great pics...

...look out ninja Marc, I'm gonna get you!

...great Ninja form...

Galway is a pretty town with a nice pedestrian area that we explored the next day with Johnny, and also this archaeological dig...

A couple weekends later they were in Cork. Ireland just happened to be having a heatwave that weekend with temperatures soaring to 24C! Unfortunately that only lasted Saturday, but we got some good patio sitting in and saw a Gospel concert along the river. The next day we all took the train to Fota Wildlife...here's what we saw...

Marc with our roommate Maarten.....any idea what this animal is?? (Do not confuse Marc with his crazy lion/bear hair as the 'animal')

Johnny feeding the ducks...Shannon taking great pics...

Our favourite duck, David Bowie.

On our way back to the city....and for one last dinner before we said au revoir to our Canadian friends!

Check out this video, it's a monkey with a bowl!! Sounds boring, but when you see a little monkey running around with a bowl like he just found a pot of gold is pretty cute.

The Chef's tour (by Marc).

At Cafe Paradiso, we use a lot of produce from a very friendly farmer called Ulton. He supplies the restaurant with all kinds of fun things like kale, salads, beans, etc. He is our "Anthony John" of Cork. The chef at Cafe Paradiso decided to bring Amy and I for a tour one sunny afternoon at the famous farm...
This is yours truly in front of the restaurant...

...a stunning view from the farm. It's on top of a hill where you can see acres of farmland and the ocean...

...we love dogs...

..their custom built wood fired oven, quite a sight...

...miniature apples from there orchard...

...beautiful, colorful swiss chard...mmmmmmm...he has the best tasting kale

...cute little zucchinis. Almost ready for the picking...

...chickens are used only for the eggs and not the meat...

...Glory, the head chef, drove us to Novohel Cove. It's a picturesque area off the beaten path that only locals know about, lucky us...

...a view from the top of the cove...

...wooooooooooooooooooooo...

for the first time ever, Chartrand! Panaroma style...

..aye aye captain Amy...

...very fortunate to get such a nice day...

...she then drove us to Timoleague. There was an abbey there for tourists like us...

...like a creature sent from the heavens...

...it's official. Ireland's cuttest couple...

...a beach nearby where tons of people were surfing, walking and swimming...still a little cold for that...crazy irish weather...

...this is the chef's garden at home...she made us dinner and let us look around her place...

...mmmmmmmmmmm...

It was a great day and thankfully sunny...a la prochaine mes amis.