Overheard in Panera

I've had a hectic few weeks trying to make up all of the work I missed while in Ireland. But luckily I am entirely caught up, so now I have more time for Waterbury restaurants again!

Today I had an hour to kill, so I went to Panera to grab some food and use the internet. Unfortunately it was not working, so I mainly listened to other people's conversations while munching on my creamy tomato soup and tomato, basil, and cheese panini combo (yum). Here were some of the highlights...

"So I says to her, 'Get a job?! But you're married! How can you have a job when you're a wife?!'?"
"Well, what are you gonna do? It's what all the girls are doing these days."
-2 women well into their golden years

(flirty) "No, I swear, my wife is gonna be out of time next week... She's not gonna find out, you're panicking... Come on, just come have lunch with me and we'll talk about it, I miss you."
-man on phone

"Well I'll tell you what...he's got a grill on his balcony and that's totally illegal in an apartment building like that. I'm gonna call the cops. That'll show him to mess with me!"
-an eccentric middle aged woman

And my all-time favorite:

"Nice sandwich..."
-Perhaps the single worst pick-up line I've ever heard in my life, by a 20 something male to a young woman who way out of his league. I practically choked on my food, but she clearly did not think it was as funny as I did.

Foods of Ireland

Scott and I got back from our 11 day journey through Ireland, which was absolutely amazing. We were really surprised about Irish food. I had always heard it was boring, but we had some of the best meals of our lives there. I even bought 2 Irish cookbooks, so perhaps some recipes will come soon. Here are a few food photos from our trip! (Sorry for the bad quality, we didn't have lighting or tripods.)

I wish there was an Irish restaurant in Waterbury!!!!

Potatoes! (of course)

A fabulous quiche

Guinness

A traditional Irish breakfast with both black (aka blood pudding) AND white pudding.

The world's nosiest cattle

Onions

Jameson whiskey

Irish coffee, delicious!

"Garlic Cheese Chips," probably not the best decision but we had a few pints

Irish Potatoes

Breakfast spread

Soda Bread

Traditional Irish Breakfast

Bangers and Mash

Kilkenny Ale, a new favorite

Steak

Scott and his shrimp cocktail chips

Pint of Guinness at the Guinness Factory

Barley, a key ingredient in Guinness

Dublin meat market

Market in Dublin

Market in Dublin

"Happy Snacks" after a night of heavy Guinnessing

Fish and Chips

Famous Fish and Chips

Afternoon tea

Dublin Coddle

Bangers and Mash...SO good

Smoked salmon and brown bread

Fried Brie with a fruit chutney was a popular appetizer in Ireland

Guinness

Creamy Guinness head

By the way, the two cookbooks I picked up are called Irish Cooking by Biddy White Lennon and Georgina Campbell and Irish Food and Folklore by Clare Connery, and they both look like pretty good representations of the foods we saw on our trip. Anyway, we're back, and will dive back into the Waterbury food scene soon!

FYI: Waterbury's Brass City Brew Fest is coming up! Click here for more info.