Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker

As I got off the bus today, pleased with myself that I am starting to understand the bus routes, I headed to my first stop, the butcher, you know, the butcher who showed me his meat last week.

So he asked me how much pork belly  I wanted and I told him it was just for me, so he cut me, what turned out to be 4 ribs and then cut it again, telling me as he wrapped the now two packages that I could freeze one.  The pork belly here is sold as the pork belly we get in NY plus the ribs that we don’t get.  So tasty. I did marinate it for a few hours in a Korean style marinade (but I keep the skin dry).

I then headed to the baker, Cupcake Couture.  Their cupcakes are to die for.  It puts the overpriced, oversweet, over chemicaled cupcakes of the specially places in NY, in their proper place, much like Crumbs Inc., RIP.

This small place has only two showcases of baked goods and they don’t try to be everything to everyone.  They pride themselves on “All goods are crafted by hand in front of your eyes in the open kitchen”.  Umm, I wondered why the guy serving me had a chef’s uniform on covered in flour. If you ever come to Ireland, come soon and I’ll take you there and you too will know heaven.

The last stop, not the candlestick maker, but the electric shop where I exchanged the three ton transformer that had stopped working when I plugged it in the first time.  Maybe it was only 40 lbs., but I had walked to the place on Saturday afternoon, only to discover that these people have a life.  Pretty much all shops are closed by mid-afternoon Saturday.  Let’s not even talk about Sunday.  Anyway, it’s nice being in a culture that values everyone’s time off, I told myself as I trudged back to the boat on Saturday.  But today they were so nice; didn’t make me feel guilty for wanting to return or exchange it.  I hate returning things, even when they don’t work.  Much like my father, who while I was growing up I thought was too timid; my mother was the exact opposite, who would insist I take her to buy whatever only to return it the next week.  That was harder than crossing the ocean.  But the combination made them good parents and they knew to always have a united front in front of the kids; even when they argued!

So I finally have my electrical issues sorted out.  The Vitrifrigo fridge and freezer are now on 240v shore power and the boat batteries are charging my cell phone and computer, but not much else.  So, now leaving the boat will be less traumatic and I am going to the territory of the Angles on Wednesday.

Author: Richard on Dauntless

I’m an eclectic person, who grew up in New York, lived overseas for many years and have a boat, Dauntless, a 42 foot Kadey Krogen trawler yacht. Dauntless enables me to not only live in many different parts of the world, but to do it in a way that is interesting, affordable, with the added spice of a challenge. Dauntless also allows me to be in touch with nature. As the boat glides through the ocean, you have a sense of being part of a living organism. When dolphins come to frolic, they stay longer if you are out there talking to them, watching them. Birds come by, sometimes looking for a handout; sometimes grateful to find a respite from their long journey. I grew up on the New York waterfront, in the West Village, when everything west of Hudson St. was related to shipping and cargo from around the world. For a kid, it was an exciting place of warehouses, trucks, and working boats of all kinds: tugs and the barges and ships, cargo and passenger, they were pushing around. My father was an electrical engineer, my mother an intellectual, I fell in between. I have always been attracted to Earth’s natural processes, the physical sciences. I was in 8th grade when I decided to be a Meteorologist. After my career in meteorology, my natural interest in earth sciences: geology, astronomy, geography, earth history, made it a natural for me to become a science teacher in New York City, when I moved back to the Big Apple. Teaching led to becoming a high school principal to have the power to truly help kids learn and to be successful not only in school but in life. Dauntless is in western Europe now. In May and June, I will be wrapping up the last two years in northern Europe, heading south to spend the rest of the year in Spain & Portugal. Long term, I’m planning on returning to North American in the fall of 2017 and from there continuing to head west until we’re in Northeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, where we will settle for a bit. But now, my future lies not in NY or even Europe, but back to the water, where at night, when the winds die down, there is no noise, only the silence of the universe. I feel like I am at home, finally. View all posts by Richard on Dauntless