Last summer I catered for the film ‘A Nightingale Falling’ which was made by Mixed Bag Media here in Offaly. I loved doing it as it allowed me to experiment with things other than canapés and corporate lunches and also made me embrace the discipline of working to a budget ( not an easy task for me!)
I delivered meals to the cast and crew twice a day for three weeks and was fascinated by the work on set. After what I know was a year of very hard work for the producers, Martina and Garret, the film premièred at the Galway Film Fleadh last week. Of course we had to go along to see it ( and watch out for Hey Pesto!’s name in the credits…)
The CT and I are big fans of Mini-breaks so it didn’t take much persuasion to make this outing into one. We booked into the centrally located Meyrick Hotel on Eyre Square where we received a wonderful warm welcome and then we set out to find somewhere for lunch. Funny how food is a such an important part of our trips 🙂
Wandering down Shop Street we decided to try McCambridges and thankfully got a table rather quickly – the queue was down the stairs at one stage! I had the vegetarian mezze with a chilled glass of Albarino and he went for the Ciabatta with Chicken and chorizo. The highlights of the mezze were very good hummus and divine black olives – my only quibble is that I would have liked more crusty bread with it. The CT wasn’t too happy when I started stealing some of his toasted ciabiatta. Honestly he gets very possessive about his food at times!
Inspired by the pottery table on our I went in search of Judy Greene’s fora customised Hey Pesto! cutlery holder and then it was time for afternoon coffee. Following a twitter recommendation I went to Ard Bia Nimmos at the Spanish Arch. I liked that the waitress asked me would I like one shot or two in my americano – two of course! Also I’m not a big cake fan but when I saw their lemon slices I knew I had to have one …..
The lemony taste was so good – you know the taste that just gets you at the back of your tongue? I need to try and make these. I was also delighted to see our own ‘Pigs on The Green‘ listed on the menu here.
Back at the Meyrick we settled into our lovely suite (thank you Paula 🙂 ) and tried out the Canadian Hot Tub – a rather surreal experience , looking out over the city while hoping that the seagulls weren’t going to join us!
Time then to doll ourselves up for the film première and head to the Town Hall Theatre. We both thoroughly enjoyed the film – a beautifully crafted production about two sisters during the War of Independence based on the novel by PJ Curtis. It was fascinating to watch scenes that I had seen in production and see it all come so seamlessly together. Yes I was a little starstruck! And as for the man who nearly blocked my view of Hey Pesto!’s name in the credits – he will never know how close he came to being pushed !!! If you get the chance to see ‘A Nightingale Falling‘ do!
We had to race back to the hotel to make our dinner reservation and huge thanks to the staff who accommodated our tardiness. We didn’t delay too long as there was some sort of important football match to be watched – Argentina and Holland I believe… but he did remember to order the wine!
The CT had work to do Thursday morning so I ‘slummed’ it in the Spa where Cynthia gave me a relaxing and restorative pedicure 🙂
Before leaving the City of the Tribes we had to try Eat at Massimo’s and it didn’t disappoint! We both chose the pork and chorizo burgers with duck fat chips and homemade ketchup. The CT reckoned he should have taped my noises of appreciation so you’d know how good they were! I loved the presentation – especially the little sauce bottles. Rather than wine I opted for the Stonewell cider which complemented the burger perfectly and which could well become my new summer drink of choice.
We both really enjoyed our trip to Galway and hope to make it back again soon – thanks to everyone who was so helpful and friendly and particularly the staff in the Meyrick Hotel who looked after us so well.
So now it’s back to reality and time to plan the next ‘min’ which is looking like Kilkenny in early August.
PS If you’re in need of a lemon fix after reading this why not try my lemon drizzle cake ?
Hey Pesto! 