brown bread ice cream

Happy Saturday! You made it to the weekend! You’re a superstar, and I’m super proud of you! Today's post is my 31st post in a row, meaning that I have blogged for a month straight (assuming you don't go by February rules). Although I truly miss working 12-14 hour-long days on HBO's Mare of Easttown, it's been wonderful to pivot and use this time to complete so many wonderful online classes, to write about my international adventures, and to launch my campaign to potentially be the next Maxim Cover Girl. If you didn’t get a chance to read yesterday’s post - “American vs. European Cell Phone Providers” - you can catch up right now by clicking here! Also, if you didn’t get the chance to vote for me to be the next #MaximCoverGirl, you can click here to vote or click here to read about why it’s important to me (and then vote!). You can vote once every twenty-four hours, and I’d be so grateful for your support! If you’re all caught up, well then buckle in, kiddos! Today’s post is going to be a food-heavy one! If you’re not hungry right now, you might be by the end of this post!

One of my favorite things about visiting any new city is exploring and trying local food. Although, as I’ve mentioned before, Ireland is not necessarily known for their food (besides a few traditional dishes, pub culture, Guinness, and its dairy products). Possessing that knowledge is what makes finding a great place in Dublin so awesome. I’ve written before about the best Mexican food I found in Dublin, and right now I’m going to let you in on the best vegetarian food I found while living there. Although I also enjoyed my experiences at K.C. Peaches, it was indeed Cornucopia that stood out to me. It’s not just good vegetarian and vegan food… it’s straight-up delicious food period. One of the first times I found my way into Cornucopia was with another young woman from my Masters program on our first day of classes (yes, that's me in the photo at the top, posing like a Kindergartener on my first day of Masters school in my flat). We each got our food, found a table, and chatted about what brought us to Ireland, and, more specifically, to our Masters program. I had a bowl of soup with fresh Irish bread and a salad, and I believe she had a small soup and salad, too. I still think about the various dishes I’ve had at Cornucopia. Their soups and salads are all fantastic, and their vegetarian curry is a surprisingly flavorful hit with customers. I don’t think there’s anything on the menu I didn’t like, and I tried nearly everything over the course of a year (minus any dishes with almonds, which looked like some of the best to be honest). Cornucopia was also one of the only places early on where I could find (locally-made) kombucha, so the California girl in me was obviously excited for that, too.

One of the other best parts about Cornucopia (besides its incredible food and absolutely charming interior decorations that make you feel like you’re at home) is that it’s located almost directly across the street from Murphy’s Ice Cream. Murphy’s Ice Cream is quite possibly the best ice cream I’ve had (gelato and ice cream are two separate, different things). It’s all made in Ireland using Irish milk, and my favorite flavor of all is the Brown Bread ice cream that’s made with real bits of Irish Brown Bread. If you’ve never had Irish Brown Bread, I assure you that it goes perfectly well in ice cream, though you might be inclined to think otherwise. I think I took almost every single person who visited me to try Murphy’s. And if they didn’t get to try it, they absolutely heard about the wonder and magic that is Murphy’s Brown Bread Ice Cream. Basically, I'm sure Murphy's Brown Bread Ice Cream will pop up in future posts, so you've been given fair warning.

Are you a creature of habit like me? When I find a restaurant I like I keep going back, and, admittedly, I tend to order the same thing. Please tell me I’m not alone in this habit. Isn’t that why we have favorite restaurants - because we have favorite dishes that are our go-to staples? If you have a go-to restaurant or go-to meal that you love, I’d love to not only hear about it, but I’d also encourage you to perhaps treat yourself to some take-out tonight (and send me a picture so I can drool over it/decide to indulge based on your recommendation). If you have a favorite and do end up treating yourself, let me know! Subscribe in the e-mail submission box below and reach out, follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and reach out to me on the “contact” page. I’m so happy you're here and that I’ve been getting a lot of really great, fun-to-read stories, questions, and feedback from a community all over the globe from all different chapters of my life (and from new friends I can't wait to meet IRL one day)! The other stories of people’s travels that I’ve gotten to read via e-mail, text, tweet, DM, etc. recently bring me such smiles, and I am so grateful for all of it! I hope I get to hear all about the crazy stories you’ve been thinking about as we’ve been on this virtual journey together, and I'm excited to hear about (and hopefully see some pics of) your special go-to dishes! Especially during this time of uncertainty and pandemic, it's important to surround yourself with things and people (via video chats) AND FOOD OBVI that bring you joy; we're all in this together. I couldn’t do this without you! So THANK YOU! From the bottom of my heart, truly, thank you.

And please, I would really appreciate your daily vote for me to be Maxim Cover Girl 2020. Click here to vote!

Sincerely,

Johny

P.S. - If you want to catch up from the beginning on this series of adventures, here's a cheat sheet to the posts (in order in which they were published):

1. Won't you join me?

2. grateful for starbucks and sandymount strand

3. Once Upon a December in the National Gallery

4. plant a smooch for that gift of gab

5. may the 4th be with you: Dingle style

6. cinco de mayo: the best Mexican food in Dublin

7. pizza in roma

8. mussolini’s window and the philosophers’ metro stop

9. father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife

10. it's the vatican, not the vatican't

11. spoiler alert: i did not lose my hand

12. more pizza and gelato and Neptune, oh my