Irish Breakfast Tea

 The thing one can find sometimes, away from England. During my last time in Québec, I found a box of Twinings' Irish Breakfast Tea. Twinings is everywhere here, but I cannot remember any Irish breakfast blend. It's all about English Breakfast (well, of course). As my parents don't have much tea, I bought a box. What I did not drink there, I brought back here, so I had my last teabag of Irish Breakfast tea on Saint-Patrick's Day. To be honest, my palate is not sophisticated enough to taste the difference, but apparently it is stronger than English Breakfast. Anyway, I'm just glad I could drink something Irish for breakfast, on that special day.

Paddy for Saint Paddy's

 I went to a local pub today for a drink and more to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day. There was only one pub somewhat decorated for the day, so I went in that one. I asked if they had any Irish whiskey to go with my pint of Guinness. They had one: Paddy. The barman was enthusiastic about giving me some, I mean he was surprisingly really happy about it, as if I was the one keeping tradition alive or something. So I had some. End of the story. But I have another anecdote about today: I did really well at work today. Like, really well. So my wife said: "Today you truly had the luck of the Irish." Which deserves to be a great unknown line.

Corto Maltese en Irlande

Comme c'est la Saint-Patrick pour encore quelques heures, une suggestion de lecture, une aventure de Corto Maltese d'Hugo Pratt. Je parle bien entendu de Concert en O mineur pour harpe et nitroglycérine.Vous la trouverez dans Les Celtiques.Je la plogue à chaque année.

Bushmills for Saint Paddy's?

 "McNulty: Can I get a Jameson?
Bartender: Bushmills OK?
McNulty: That’s Protestant whiskey.
Bartender: Price is right, ain’t it?
McNulty: Make it neat."

Well, first thing first: happy Saint Patrick's Day to you all. I will make time to drink today and, at some point, I might even accompany my usual pint with a shot of some Irish spirit. It might be Bushmills, even though it would be ironic to drink a Protestant whiskey on the day of a Catholic saint. But when we went to Belfast, we visited their distillery briefly. Could be a nice way to remember the trip. Oh and for those who don't know where the exchange above is from, it's from The Wire. You can watch the scene here. I've been wanting to say the reply next time they offer me some in a pub. Haven't had the chance since the local Irish pub shut down, but maybe today is my lucky day. Luck of the Irish, as they say.

La Saint-Pat au Cambio (rappel)

Tout d'abord, joyeuse Saint-Patrick à tous. Ensuite, veuillez noter pour ceux qui vivent au Saguenay que le Café Cambio la célèbre.Détails sur leur page Facebook, j'imagine.

Guinness (the crisps)

Tomorrow is Saint Patrick's Day, so I am preparing myself to it. I bought a few pints of Guinness and... and, well, that's it so far. No food for the special day. The Irish make the best crisps (see my post here). And you may be aware, if not please keep it in mind for tomorrow, that Guinness is also a flavour of crisps by Keogh's. I discovered them when we went to Belfast. There's Guinness and Flame Grill Steak, which I tried, and Guinness and Oyster, which I did not, because I didn't know it existed. Anyway, these crisps go well with, well, a pint of Guinness. I hope I can find some tomorrow (you never know).

An Irish Harp for Saint Paddy's?

Well, Saint Paddy's Day is coming and I thought it was about time that I blogged about it this year and prepare for it. Because as I am typing this, I haven't purchased a single Irish beer and I haven't really prepared anything for the 17th. Shame on me. Anyway, I will head on the nearest off license asap and sort things out. It struck me that there are more than one brand of Irish beer available. I drank this beer in Belfast, but I know I can buy Harp here too. Although I have strong opinion against drinking lager on St Patrick's Day and I still can't get my head around the very existence of Irish lagers, they exist and I could maybe add them to the drink menu. Just maybe. Like at the end of the evening. I will see what I can find.

La Saint-Patrick au Café Cambio

Pour les Saguenéens qui se demandent où célébrer la Saint-Patrick, j'ai une bonne nouvelle: : j'apprends sur la page Facebook du Café Cambio qu'ils vont fêter ça en grand. Cool. Je savais qu'ils l'ont soulignée en 2024 et, j'imagine, l'année suivante. Mais il semblent vraiment créer une tradition. Bon, ce ne sera pas celles du défunt pub irlandais ici ou celles de Liverpool, mais quand même.

Un ours en "forêt"

J'ai pris cette photo en 2024 à l'Ulster Museum de Belfast. Vous connaissez sans doute ma fascination pour la taxidermie, j'ai donc passé beaucoup de temps à regarder des bêtes empaillées, comme cet ours. Sur ses deux pattes, il a l'air presque vivant et, si on ne voyait pas les angles de la photo d'arrière-plan, on le croirait vraiment en forêt. C'est ce que j'aime aussi des animaux empaillés: avec le bon décor, on se croirait vraiment dans un autre environnement.

Catholics VS Protestants (Derry Girls)

 Has anyone here watched Derry Girls? I'm late to the party, but I discovered it recently on Netflix and binge watched it with delight. Really enjoyed it. The sitcom first caught my attention during our trip to Belfast last year. There was this chalkboard a the Ulster Museum, which I thought was funny. It was taken from the show. In context, it's absolutely hilarious. Anyway, you can watch it here. But I cannot encourage you enough to watch the full series.

I wish they had elected an Irish pope

Well, habemus papam. I don't know how you are feeling about this, but the former Catholic that I am, now atheist, still wishes they had elected an Irish pope instead. Because of this sketch from Irish comic group Foils Arms and Hog. They sure make a very compelling argument for it. Maybe the next one...

Écureuil roux

J'ai pris cette photo à l'Ulster Museum de Belfast. Un peu parce que j'ai toujours aimé la taxidermie, mais aussi parce que j'aime les écureuils roux et qu'ils se font rares dans la vraie vie. Maintenant, on ne voit que des écureuils gris. En fait, je ne me rappelle pas en avoir vu des roux à l'état sauvage depuis mon enfance. Il y en avait un qui venait faire des tours chez nous parfois. Mais c'est peut-être une fausse mémoire: peut-être que c'était aussi un écureuil gris. Je demanderai à mon père, il a peut-être une photo de la bête.

Fish & Chips for Good Friday

Today is Good Friday. I always loved Good Friday: it's a holiday, it's generally a relaxing day and it means that I can, ahem, fast. By fasting, I mean stuffing my face with fish and chips. Since I live in England, it's not Good Friday without fish and chips. I often enjoy more the Good Friday meal than what we have at Easter. I had these ones last year in Belfast, at the hotel restaurant.

"Pro tanto quid retribuamus"

 Photo prise lors de nos vacances à Belfast il y a un an. C'est le blason de Belfast avec la devise latine de la ville: "Pro tanto quid retribuamus". Traduite en français par moi même et de mon mieux (je suis un piètre latiniste), cela veut dire: "En retour de tant, que pouvons-nous redonner?" Connaissant l'histoire trouble de la ville et de l'Irlande du Nord en général, c'est une devise assez ironique. Comme c'est le cas de bien des devises latines, à bien y penser.

Tim Hortons in Belfast

Okay, so you might be interested to know (or not), but we found out that there is a Tim Hortons in Belfast. We saw it last year during our holiday there. The question I asked myself seeing it is: haven't they suffered enough already? For my wife, it was a no brainer: we had to stop there. For some reason, probably because she is British and an Anglo, she finds Tim Hortons very appealing, as if it is both familiar and exotic. For me, it's a chain that gives rubbish adverts (the Québec ones are notoriously abysmal) and is grossly overrated.

Black and Green

You may forgive me to come back to Saint Patrick's Day. It was only yesterday and I haven't completely taken it out of my heart and mind until next year. It is my favourite holiday this time of year. Anyway, yesterday on social media, I was sharing this picture from 2015, with the pint of Guinness and the disgusting looking pint of lager with green colouring. I first saw green coloured beer in Montreal, I found it disgusting then, I find it disgusting now. So I wrote: "General principle on Saint Patrick's Day: wear green, drink black. (No but seriously, who thought green beer was a good idea?)" I think it deserves to be a great unknown line.

Valid Reasons to Celebrate Saint Paddy's Day

 I found this meme on social media yesterday and I wanted to share it here today. I am not Irish, but I may have some Irish ancentry, maybe. I do enjoy a Guinness. I also visited Dublin once in my life and have been wanting to go back ever since. I tried Tayto's more than once and enjoyed it. So yeah, I think I'm legit.

Drapeau irlandais

 Depuis le début de la journée, j'ai écouté de la musique irlandaise en regardant les photos de notre voyage à Belfast l'an dernier. Je me sens vaguement irlandais aujourd'hui. Je sais, ce n'est pas vraiment original, tout ce qu'il y a de pseudo-irlandais se manifeste lors de la Saint-Patrick, mais je pense avoir un peu légitimement le droit. Parce que selon l'un de mes oncles maternels, nous avons des ancêtres Ulster Scots, donc d'Irlande du Nord. Alors j'ai un certain attachement pour le drapeau irlandais.

Luck of the Irish

 Happy Saint Patrick's Day everyone! It is one of my favourite holidays, not only because I have many fond memories of of many Saint Paddy's, since I started observing it in Montreal nearly 30 years ago, but because I love Ireland and the Irish people. I took this picture during our holiday in Belfast. Not the most original, but I do find it fitting to start the celebrations with a friendly leprechaun and a pot of gold. I wish all my readers the luck of the Irish.

Smithwick's for St Paddy's

Saint Paddy's Day is tomorrow and I thought I would blog about Irish beers. I took this picture during last year's holiday in Belfast.But I drank Smithwick's countless times before, during my first year at uni here in the UK specifically, but also in Montreal from time to time. Ironically, I kind of stopped after a while. I just can't seem to see Smithwick's anywhere round here. Or maybe I was channelling my Irishness more then? It certainly was a big part of my earyly twenties. People tend to forget that there are other Irish beers than Guinness. If you don't like stouts, or you rather have something different for variety's sake On Saint Patrick's Day, I suggest this one.