Beef and Guinness Pie

Last night on our way into the city, a group of us met some local students from Dublin City University. Excited to be the ones who knew the territory, they eagerly showed us around. We went to a pub called Bruxelles off of Grafton St and had a blast talking to them and learning more about the University and the culture. I learned about Gaelic football, a mix between soccer and rugby and found that there is a large stadium close by that hosts games of this sort. When I announced I was from the University of Pittsburgh, I saw the eyes of one of the boys light up. He told me that he loves watching our basketball team and will stay up at night to watch the good games despite the large time difference. I could only laugh to myself with this news, for experiences like this one make the world seem much smaller.

This morning after mass I met Father Joe, a very cute Irish man who was eager to meet me and learn about my experience in Dublin thus far. It was a cool experience and was really the first time that I've felt like I'm included here on campus. We are going to have a speaker come in on Tuesday and talk to us about opportunities to join clubs and societies here on campus. (They use the term clubs for any kind of sports organization and societies for other campus groups.)

We used the day today to get organized and relax. Realizing that our time in Dublin is short, we have been trying to use every spare minute to see the sights and experience all that we can. It was a nice change of pace to just relax in sweatpants and catch up a bit. After some time at the gym, we got ready and headed into Dublin for dinner. My friend Melissa had mentioned earlier this week that she tried Beef and Guinness Pie and for the life of me I could not get that idea out of my head. That was all I wanted to eat. Tonight, we set out to have our first real taste of Irish food. Our destination was Madigans, a pub on O'Connoll Street in the City Center. The group found a table and squeezed in.




We were quickly disappointed. We were given menus and all decided to try the Beef and Guinness Pie. Strike one occurred when the waiter told us he was out of the pie. Our sighs of disappointment could be heard from across town. Unwillingly we all decided on other entrees. Strike two was the waiter announcing to us that the power was out in the kitchen and they could not serve us food. When we decided to leave, we asked for directions to the other Madigans in Dublin, determined to get this pie. Strike three came flying at us when we found out the second kitchen was closed as well.

We found another restaurant down the street named Murrays which luckily served our Beef and Guinness Pie.

Melissa and I were thrilled to finally have the pie.


Up close at our dinner!

I'm not sure if I was just craving real, warm food or if the pie was actually incredibly delicious, but I left feeling very full and completely satisfied. We all headed back on the bus to DCU. We have a field trip tomorrow for our History Class so more will be coming about that soon.