Pizza, Plays and Train Delays

I'm a poet and I don't know it. Yesterday, as it was my wonderful mum's birthday, her and I headed up to Dublin for the day. We booked tickets to go see Peter James' The Perfect Murder in the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre about a month ago and we also had a voucher for Milano's so we decided to do both on the same day. I haven't been to Dublin in yonks so I was excited to go up again.

We got the 9 a.m. train which meant we arrived in Dublin at 12 p.m. It's quite a long old journey but I love taking the train - it's  great to sit back, relax and just collect your thoughts for a few hours.

When we arrived in Dublin we started walking to Stephen's Green as I really wanted to find Antoinette's Bakery. Antoinette's Bakery do dairy free/vegan/gluten free cakes and treats so I was really looking forward to trying  a few. However, Google Maps just would just not co-operate so we ended up getting lost and stressed. In the end we decided to have lunch in Milano's first as we were closer to it and then try and find the bakery.

It was our first time eating in Milano's as it is really pricey for what it is: pizza and pasta. I also found out Milano's is Pizza Express in England, not really sure why it's under a different name in Ireland. 

I chose the Pianta pizza - a cheeseless pizza topped with artichoke, rocket, spinach, pine kernels and chilli oil - and mum went for the Amore pizza - topped with chorizo, olives, rocket and goat cheese. I thought it was great they offered a cheeseless pizza option! My pizza was gorgeous. The dough was perfect and the artichokes and pine kernels added such interesting flavours. I'd never tried artichokes before but they were delicious. Mum enjoyed her pizza too - we both practically waddled out the door we were so full!

Milano's also offer dairy free sorbet but I was so stuffed after eating my whole pizza I didn't have room for dessert.

We finally figured out how to find Antoinette's Bakery which turned out to be just a short walk away. When I walked in I got so excited when I saw they had vegan cupcakes! The girl behind the counter also informed me they had vegan snickerdoodles and doughnuts. I chose a peanut butter cupcake, a glazed doughnut and a cinnamon sugar doughnut. They also had some other divine looking goodies but they weren't dairy free so I had to steer clear of them unfortunately. The prices were fairly reasonable for a specialist bakery so I'd definitely recommend you check it out if you're in Dublin and in need of a treat. The cakes were absolutely delicious, you'd never guess they were gluten free/vegan - I scoffed all of them in the one day. Oops.

It was then time to walk to the theatre to see the play. We did a fair bit of walking yesterday so hopefully my pizza/cake won't go straight to my hips just yet! When we arrived  we were told we'd be upgraded as our seats were up the back. We got moved down nearer the front which was great, I'm blind as a bat anyway. I wasn't really sure what to expect from the play - I haven't read the book version but mum had and she said it was good. It's a crime book so I didn't expect it to be as funny as it was - it had me laughing out loud the whole way through! Shane Richie and Jessie Wallace (Kat and Alfie from EastEnders) were the two main stars of the show and they were both fantastic. I did think Jessie overacted a little bit as she was very loud and over the top but part of that was her character. The supporting actors were also brilliant and the sound, lighting and set were spot on. There were a couple of jump scares too which provoked a few screams from the audience (mostly from me though)! An excellent plot twist rounded off the play. It was unlike anything I've seen before and mum and I thoroughly enjoyed it, I'm delighted we went.

I don't really watch EastEnders but my mum does sometimes. As it was her birhtday we hung around the stage door freezing our arses off to see if we could meet Shane Richie. Sure enough after about 15 minutes he came to the door. We managed to muscle our way up to him and he wished mum a happy birthday and we both got our pictures taken with him. I look like a constipated mongoose in my pic but sure nothing new there.

After the show we took a leisurely walk back to the station. We popped into Marks & Spencers to get some goodies for the train ride home. I was surprised to see how many of the 'food on the go' things contained dairy - even the sushi had cream in it! I tweeted M&S and they very helpfully said they'd see what they could do. In the end I went for a sundried tomato and orzo pasta salad, some crisps, ginger beer and carrot sticks with hummus. I love M&S food, it's divine. One day I'll have the money to do my weekly food shop there. Hey, is that a flying pig? ;-)

We also treated ourselves to a Starbucks before we went to the station because you can't miss Starbucks when in Dublin! I wish we had a proper one here in Sligo - although I'm sure my purse is thankful we don't. We ended up being delayed by over an hour on the train ride home as a poor lady collapsed on the train so an ambulance had to be called out. I had to shake my head at the fact about 6 people crowded around her just looking at each other and not doing anything. A fight nearly broke out because a drunk man tried to perform first aid on her while she was conscious! I was appalled none of the Irish Rail staff were first aid trained and there are no security guards on the trains as it is - that could happen to anyone and the ambulance took so long to arrive you'd dread to think what could happen. Hopefully the lady is okay. On a brighter note we got a free tea or coffee to make up for the delay - woohoo.

Apart from that we had a lovely day out and it was great to break the week up. I'll have to revisit Dublin again when I have more money - and more time! Thanks for reading as usual and roll on the weekend.