What was supposed to be nothing more than meeting my good friend
Robert – who is like a brother to me – in Dublin, Ireland to celebrate our
birthdays in December, turned out to be something of an excellent
extravaganza. Robert is the CEO of Clive Christian, "the world's most
beautiful kitchens" according to their monthly ad in Architectural
Digest. He had a meeting in Dublin that happened to fall on my birthday
2 days after his. He appears to be a stuffy, British guy with his
finely tailored 3-piece suits with Hermes ties who speaks the proper
"Queen's English", but his biggest claim to fame is that he was a
'roadie' for ABBA back in the 80's. Depeche Mode, another rock band from
that decade was playing in Dublin at the time, so that's what we decided to do
for our birthdays.
Word got out and next thing
I knew, six of my closest girlfriends signed up to come along. It is no
easy feat to organize a trip with six women, traveling across the big
pond. However, I had some things working in my favor. Being a 'stewardess'
for 20 years, I have a bit of seniority and get 8 buddy passes per year
to give to whomever I want. Don't get excited as they are not free and you have to fly
standby. Thanks to a fancy computer program I have to see the bookings
and the fact that few people travel to Ireland in December, the odds were
stacked in my favor. It was amazing that we all managed to get Business Class
seats coming and going.
I had the week
meticulously planned. Arrive in Dublin, nap for 4 hours, meet at a pub
for lunch. I had every restaurant and day planned with free time in the
afternoon. Things like a night at St. Patrick's Cathedral to listen to
the choir sing Christmas carols. One day was an early morning of
renting a car, driving the countryside to Kilkenny in the south to have
lunch. Because who wouldn't want to be in the south of Ireland for no
other reason than to have lunch. The very end of my list of things to
do was to get the Lily Obrien's sticky toffee chocolates in duty free
at the Dublin airport.
My friend Angie, who is
a world class shopper and wanted to do nothing but shop, said to me one
day, "Have you been to Brown Thomas and had the Ladurée macaroons?"
Brown Thomas is the equivalent to Neiman Marcus in Ireland. I was
thinking 'macaroon,' the sticky coconut things? I was not interested and quite wrong.
Where
have I been? Have you had a macaroon of this sort? Tiny little
wafer/meringue like cookies, all different flavors and probably the
most decadent morsel I have ever put in my mouth. The selection of
flavors is better than any ice cream store. My favorite was the Sticky Salted Caramel.'
Ladurée originated in Paris and is a small
franchised company with gorgeous boutiques. Turns out that Robert had
to come to Dublin for a meeting with Johnny Collins who owns the
Ladurée franchise in Dublin. They sell 12,000 macaroons in a good week for 1.5
euros each. I came home with these beautiful boxes of the delicacies,
which I had good intentions of giving away as gifts, but they were so good I ended up eating
more than I shared. It was my birthday trip after all.
Laura grew up in a small southern town in Georgia on a cotton and
pecan farm where life centered around family, friends and good food.
She has lived in Atlanta for 20 years and has been a Flight Attendant
for a major airline for 18 years, traveling the world in search for the
next best meal.
