shepherd's pie

For the past few days the weather here has been so nice. I know that me saying this will mean that it will pour tomorrow but honestly the weather here right now is perfect. It's cold and you need a scarf and jacket, but its perfect weather to walk around in. I went shopping yesterday to celebrate the nice weather and bought a pair of black boots with heels and a really nice wool coat, both of which were whoa on sale and I ended up getting them both really cheap. ish. I mean, it is Ireland and the euro-dollar conversion is a bit steep. But whatev.

The other night a group of us got together to go out to our favorite pub, which is a few blocks down from our house. I love the pub scene here. Everyone is really friendly and chill and every once in a while you end up at a pub where live music is being played. I think next week sometime I'm going to go hunt down a live session.

Last night my roommate and I went to this fitness class offered at the gym. It was pretty fun but mostly it just involved jumping around awkwardly to sweet 80s dance music. What was really awkward, though, was that directly on the other side of our huge wall-sized window was the rugby team practicing outside. So while it was fun to watch the rugby team practice, I'm sure they were more amused by watching a huge group of girls making a fool out of ourselves in time to rhythmic dance tunes.

Today for lunch my roommate and I went to a nearby pub that serves homemade food for pretty cheap. I got Shepherd's pie, which I'm pretty sure is a traditional Ireland/England/UK dish. I'm kind of in love with it right now. Apparently it's like minced meat inside? I have no idea what that means or what it was, but it was ground/corned beefish? No idea but it was so good. I went and googled an Irish food website and got a recipe that I thought sounded like the one I ate and I'm putting it below. When I come home I think I'll cook it and see if it tastes right but the recipe looks pretty good so I'm guessing it's probably pretty close.

1lb Minced Lamb or Beef
1-1½lb Mashed Potatoes
½ pint Stock
1 Onion
1 Large Carrot (Optional)
2oz Cheddar Cheese (Optional)
Cornflour
Salt and Black Pepper

Pre-heat oven to 180°C: 350°F: Gas 4.
Finely chop the onion and dice the carrot, if used.
Fry minced meat until lightly coloured and remove from the pan and drain well.
Add the onion and carrot, cooking gently until the onion is transparent and season to taste.
Return the meat, add the stock.
Add a little cornflour mixed with a few drops of water, stirring well.
Bring to the boil and stir until thickened.
Transfer the mixture into a casserole dish.
Cover the mixture with an even layer of mashed potato.
Cover and bake for 30 - 40 minutes.
Uncover and sprinkle with grated cheese and bake for a further 15 minutes.
Alternatively, bake for 30 - 60 minutes, remove from the oven and sprinkle with grated cheese and place under a very hot grill.

Serves: 4-6

Tonight I'm going rock/wall climbing at the campus gym with the Mountaineering club. Apparently this Sunday we're going hiking somewhere with waterfalls so as long as I can get myself out of bed at 730 I'll go and take probably take way too many pictures (weather permitting).