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IN DECEMBER, WHEN I have some head space and a break from the daily grind, I reflect upon the unusual trajectory of my life. As I say to friends, neighbours and colleagues, if you had told me in 2000 where I’d be living and what I’d be doing almost a quarter of a century later, I’d have questioned your sanity.
On this occasion, though, after a whirlwind of analysing extraordinary elections and ahead of making a family trip to Washington, DC and my cherished hometown, I am basking in a bit of relative peace and quiet. My thoughts have been revolving around just how good this country has been to and for me.
I was extremely lucky to have had an Irish passport since I was a boy and luckier still that Professor Gerard Quinn took a chance on a young, disenchanted Boston lawyer in search of a new career and offered me a one year fellowship to teach legal research and writing in Galway, my ancestral home, in 2001. The rest is history. They couldn’t get rid of me.
In addition to these and other similarly weighty considerations, I have been pondering more trivial subjects. Like everyone, I have my own peccadilloes when it comes to food and drink, plenty of which – I am reliably informed by my wife – render me eccentric or a total weirdo. Following 12 months of writing about American and Irish politics, I thought this might be a fitting moment to sketch out a few of them and invite the ire of the readership.
First, I much favour corned beef over bacon. In Massachusetts, it is instilled in us that people in Ireland eat corned beef, cabbage and spuds on a frequent basis. That obviously is not true. Bacon, which is entirely different to the greasy, crispy stuff we have in the United States, is the meat in the national dish.
On the flip side, some here insist that they grew up without even having heard of corned beef and never saw it for sale. I don’t understand how. It is available in all supermarkets and butcher shops, and it is a staple item at many carveries. My father-in-law said that it always was.
At any rate, nothing beats the flavour of a perfectly cooked slice of corned beef, ideally with a little sliver of fat at the edges and accompanied by a healthy dollop of English mustard. It is complemented well by potatoes and veg or is excellent in a white bread sandwich. I do enjoy bacon, but if given the option, I will go for corned beef 95 times out of 100.
Second, and this is a close call, I slightly prefer Murphy’s to Guinness. This will probably come as a shock to Darren Cusack and Co at Mulligan’s of Poolbeg Street, Emma Rice and the crew at Wicklow Golf Club and the staff at several other hostelries which I frequent and where I rapidly consume gorgeous pints of Guinness. Yet, I am a huge fan of the sweeter caramel/coffee scent of the stout of the south.
On visits to Cork, I do my best to get into the Hi-B and the Welcome Inn to drink a couple of fantastic pints of Murphy’s, prior to an invariably outstanding meal at Market Lane. I am yearning for it all as I type. A trip to Cork is definitely on the itinerary.
Third, and this one is no contest in my humble opinion, O’Donnell’s crisps are vastly superior to what may be the quintessential Irish brand, Tayto, which countless emigrants home for Christmas surely couldn’t wait to start munching on from the minute they deplaned. I am not saying that Taytos are terrible; they are decent, and I eat too many of them if they are put in front of me.
In taste and in substance, however, they do not compare to O’Donnell’s. On the latter feature, this delicious product derived from Seskin Farm in Co Tipperary is full bodied with a great crunch. Taytos, conversely, can be flimsy and verging on soft.
With respect to the former element, there is a litany of amazing varieties – running from the traditional Salt and Vinegar and Cheese and Onion to Ballymaloe Relish and Cheddar Cheese and Fire Roasted Buffalo Wings. It’s a bad idea to buy a large bag because they are very hard to stop devouring. They don’t last long in our house.
By now, it may be crystal clear as to why my better half and two sons often describe me as a strange individual. Their defamatory accusations aside, I am confident that many of the more sophisticated among you concur with my choices. And no matter what you’re eating and drinking on these lovely, lazy days, I hope you have a wonderful 2025.
Larry Donnelly is a Boston lawyer, a Law Lecturer at the University of Galway and a political columnist with TheJournal.ie.
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Thanks google. Thanks for starting a world where people walk around recording each other. I will never wear these.
Should read.
“Silly Virgin Atlantic press release, amounts to vast amounts of free advertising”
Minority Report meets Skynet
Time for infrared necklaces for everyone so you can protect your identity.
Welcome to the world of tomorrow
I’m a tech geek at heart and this technology is really cool BUT people have to be realistic and open there eyes, this is potentially one of the worst things to ever hit the self’s, privacy as we know it will be gone and our kids will never no what it is! Once its gone it will never come back, Scott Barry style
Fyi tech geeks tend to have good grammar and spelling.
The thing I’m dreading most about this technology is women walking down the street behind me checking out my sweet little ass.
It gives them the capability to perv on me when I’m not even around!
Yeah because you can’t walk around recording people on you phone this last ten years.
Good one Adebayo.
Big difference in phone recording and these glasses. A few examples, your on a beach with your toddler and some stranger starts pointing a phone at your child filming them. If your a vigilant parent your going to notice this and one way or another put a stop to it and make other people aware of a potential pervert in your midst. Beach full of people lots wearing glasses any sicko can now do this unnoticed. Burgler scoping out your house standing with phone risk of being seen. Burgler walking slowly along with glasses on no problem. Taking cash out at an ATM using card in shop etc person with glasses good chance they can zoom in on your pin. Seriously dangerous piecof technology in the wrong hands and that’s aside from everyday invasions of privacy.
Soz, only seeing this now as you didn’t hit reply. Walking around with a phone outstretched pointing in someones face since 2004 isnt something I have seen too much of, in day to day life, like transactions at a till etc but hey maybe I haven’t been paying attention.
PIN numbers are so last year love! We have fingerprint scanners here in Brazil now no need for a PIN number so don’t be worrying!
*On all ATM machines
I foresee (sorry!) terrible eye problems down the line if these become the norm.
I remember these from ‘Beyond 2000′!
Welcome to the future. Bare in mind that the airlines have been the test bed for realtime transactions and date analysis since the 1960′s.
I like Virgin Atlantic. I flew here via London from SFO. Treated like a human being. Wonderful staff. Comfortable seats (and I’m 6’4″, 210lbs). The other airlines should pay attention to VA. They know how to treat people.
The glasses? Couldn’t care less. The terminal is plastered with cameras anyway.
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