Jemma Eat Ireland

Although I love travelling,  I hate having to travel for work. Usually it involves getting up at the unholy time of before 8am and then rushing through airport security in business clothes. I end up spending the whole day feeling slightly out of it from lack of sleep as well as constantly having my mind on getting back to the airport in time.

So you can imagine my joy when my work told that I was being sent to Dublin to attend a conference.  Actually, instead of being a Grumpy McLumpy I decided to look on the bright side and used it as an excuse to bring my lovely boyfriend some of his home comforts from the Emerald Isle, which can be quite hard to get here in Scotland. He wrote me a list and I spent the day explaining to everyone that no, I wasn’t staying overnight and that the little suitcase I was dragging around was empty and ready to be filled with Irish contraband.

I managed to nip into Tesco en route to the airport and got everything he was after. Although I did get some funny looks at the self service checkout when I started packing everything into my suitcase!

He was pretty happy with the haul!

Tasty Irish Yumminess

What we have here is;

2 x multipacks of Taytos. These are basically the Irish national crisps (if such a thing exists). Legend has it that when Ryanair commuter flights to London first started, there were loads of popping noises as the plane took off; due to the amount of Tayto bags on board reacting to cabin pressure.

2 x packs of King Crisps. These are similar to Taytos, but a bit… posher, I suppose. They’re less greasy.

2 x boxes of Barry’s Tea. One premium (red box), one regular (green box). This tea has a cult following, and is definitely stronger and more satisfying than Tetleys. I noticed a box on display in Mellis’s cheesemongers on Victoria Street, so this could be a new source to keep my man satisfied in future.

2 x rolls of Clonakilty black pudding. This is a bit different to Scottish black pudding in that it’s oatier, like haggis. It’s produced just down the road from where my boy used to live so he was very pleased when I managed to nab some as he thought it might be difficult to find (although they sell it in the supermarket like it aint no thang).

This was about all I could fit in my Ryanair sized hand-luggage (I had to squeeze my hand bag in there too once I reached my gate) but I managed to get everything James asked for.

I’ve never lived anywhere aside from Edinburgh, but I can imagine that if I move to another country there will be a few things that I’ll miss. Particularly an Irn Bru and haggis roll after a heavy night on the Brewdog!