Be Irish for a Day - Saturday, May 26, 2007

We woke up early and met up with Shane and some other folks and headed off in a van for the Irish countryside so that we could "Be Irish for a Day"! The trip was superb. We first stopped at Trim castle for some quick site-seeing (apparently, scenes from Braveheart were filmed here). Then we headed to Causy farm, where we were greeted by the incredibly friendly farm family. Our first activity was making Irish Soda Bread. Then we learned all about hurling and even got to play a few 1:1 matches against each other. We also learned to make rope out of straw and had a jump-rope competition. The highlight of the day was trying to herd sheep. Afterwards, we sat down to a hearty Irish lunch, eating our soda bread with cheese, meats and salads, followed by the most delicious scones we'd ever had.

We moved on to learning how to play Irish drums, and how to do an Irish jig. And finally we had a tractor ride to the bogs to see where they dig up turf for fuel. We were also treated to the true Irish experience when it started pouring rain.

After we returned from the event, we treated Jane and Greg to Pearl. We shared the foie gras appetizer (again!), still searching for a foie gras that could compare to the one we had in Venice. Ray had the fillet (yes, yes, again), and it's still the best steak he's had. Theresa had the black sole.