Marcas’s Review Blog

They have done a good job on the decor, you forget you’re in the concrete and glass desert that is Central Park in Leopardstown.

The staff are very friendly and helpful.  The only Pa-nang on the menu was lamb.  Mary loves the former but not the latter, and there was no trouble asking for prawns instead. 

My green chicken curry was quite spicy-hot, leaving little room on my tastebuds for other flavours, but I can’t fault them, I need to build up my spice tolerance.  But strange to say, the peas and chunks of greenpepper and peas were a bit out of place and off-putting.

We didn’t entertain desserts, they were those prepared, even gimmicky ones.  

What with a starter, main and a glass of house wine each, the bill came to eur70 for the two of us.  So while some things didn’t click, overall it was good - others must like it, because the place was packed. 

Speaking as an amateur tramper, the Táin Way Map Guide from East West Mapping is excellent.  You could do worse than pick up this colourful and informative guide in the local Tourist Information office in Carlingford. 

Use it to choose one of four “short local walks”, designed as D-tours off the Way itself.  They range from an hour (a tramp around town) to 4 hours, or 12 kilometers.  We choose a 3-hour trek via the glacial Maeve’s Gap, including an alternate route up the summit below Barnavave mountain.   

Just don’t say “We were in Maeve’s Gap last weekend”, because people like Conor Byrne will say “I’m sure you were”. 

Anne turned round and said “I’m dying to see what you say about this one on your website!”.. yes, with exclamation mark.

And Michele beat me to it by asking “Can I see your programme?.. see can I find out what that was all about...”.

And then we all got to discussing, I thought Bobbie was going to turn out to be the treacherous one, but did you notice that Teach hocked his watch...

All very allegorical... lots of dysfunctional rantings... undercurrents of human communication, friendship, betrayal and trust cast in “you know, I came, what are you saying, will it rain today, do you think?..”... Waiting for Whom?.. earthy swearing and a shop trashed... the prodigious power of the human mind bent on stealing a nickel.

You see this review is a bit disjointed... all these “...”... not much happening, you would think... you may be right, you know?..

...but stick with it, let it seep into your mind, and mature, place yourself in the shoes of each of the characters in turn, including those off-stage. I think you will be rewarded.

I think a lot of us missed... some of us missed... it took me a while to settle in, and I missed of lot of the introductory plot between Lady Sneerwell and Mr Snake. I thought her ladyship’s role was not woven well into the rest of the play, leaving her to return at the end to tie up loose ends, rather than drive the plot.

But considering this play was written in 1777, some 230 odd years ago, think of its influence since... did it influence Les Liaisons Dangereuses?.. all of Wilde’s social comedies?.. and what about Big Brother?

The set and lighting were excellent, giving an Alice-in-Wonderland feel to a period piece, down to the choreographed scene changes.

And here’s Eoin’s quote of the evening: “Certainly a little mortification appears very becoming in a wife”.

Ready set gossip!

I’m not a hi-fi/music system buff, but I did buy what seems to be a nice CD/radio thing from Yamaha, and I’m hoping that my louder voice tagging will help me to find other reviews about it or similar, and hence make the best use of it.

I admit that aesthetic design comes into it... elegant without being pretentiously minimalist. The remote control is a bit fiddly with its small keys.

The unit is sold as a DAB receiver, which is just this week being trialled by RTE in Ireland. Must try to find it, and report back!

Where I bought it, it came with NX-E300 speaker system. Anyone know if these are in fact any good?

My summary says “it plays CDs”... which is at least better than my old Philips multi-CD system, which did to CDs what old tape decks did to cassettes - chewed them.