Lifestyle Loves: Travel, music, food spots and more we recommend from August
The Limerick Greenway, Electric Picnic and a local pottery workshop feature in our picks from August
I'm training for a road race and find audiobooks a brilliant way to get me through the long runs. I've just re-listened to Fiona Scarlett's brilliant Boys Don't Cry as I knew the pacey, compelling read would keep me engrossed. I am currently enjoying The Coast Road, Allen Murrin's debut novel with a simple storyline that's keeping my mind off the mileage.
I have an aunt who used to live in France and returns every year to shop in the sales. Having just returned from a long weekend in Bordeaux I now understand the appeal. Bordeaux's shopping district is alive and well with international favourites interspersed with really cool French brands. Taking a stroll around Galeries Lafayette, that quintessentially French department store, revealed dozens of bargains in high-end brands. There are cheap flights with Ryanair too! (Top tip: Beige trench coats are big news for autumn!)
A gang of us recently headed to Finland's archipelago to celebrate a friend's special birthday. Deep on Pettu, a small forested island an hour from Helsinki, our gorgeous waterside rental had its own sauna, hot tub, jetty, rowboat, barbecue and huge kitchen and living space. Offering pure escapism, we stocked up at the supermarket en route and spent 3 magical days, wrapped in nature, while walking, swimming, chilling, eating and dancing. Found on Airbnb, do a search for summer cabin Scandinavia and prepare to be inspired!
I went to a pottery workshop with some friends in Mallow this month hosted by Orla O Visual. Part of Cork Craft Month, the 90-minute class was so relaxing and great fun, a brilliant way to clear a hectic mind and focus on what's on the table before you. We put words and phrases into porcelain, with enough time to make at least two pieces each. Orla was so welcoming and guided us all through the techniques. Our pieces should be back from firing soon and I can't wait to pick them up and see the finished result.
An entire cucumber. Like half the internet it seems, I've been intrigued by TikToker Logan's videos where he shows how he cuts and prepares a full cucumber and uses it as the base for multiple meals. I like cucumber anyway so I was happy to give it a go and some of the recipe combinations will be staying with me. He's @logagm on TikTok if you want to try any.
Living in Cork's lovely Northside means tasty spots like St Luke's Wine Tavern are right on my doorstep. Located next to Henchy's on the crossroads, the Wine Tavern has been a favourite for years but I've found myself heading there more frequently lately to meet friends for food. I have some coeliac pals and they rave about their gluten-free options. Go for a meat a cheese board nd a glass (or bottle) of your choice, you won't regret it.
Myself, my husband and our daughter took a trip to the Limerick Greenway during August. We cycled the 20km from Ardagh to Rathkeale and back, through what I can only describe as rolling countryside. Although the morning started off hazy, the sun burst through about 10 minutes into our cycle, making it that much more enjoyable. Our five-year-old daughter was delighted with herself when she completed the 20km round trip, and in fairness the section we were on would be suitable for any level of cyclist. We will definitely be back, and we might even up the difficulty level a bit by choosing one of the other sections.
I’ve been binge watching Apple TV’s new sci-fi series Sunny, for two reasons: one, I love anything set in Japan, and two, the show is based on a book written by a friend of mine – Colin O’Sullivan. I read Colin’s original novel The Dark Manual years ago when it was first released and I loved it, so I wasn’t too surprised when he said Apple had set its eyes on it. There are some differences between the book and the show, but I’m loving the whole vibe Apple has created. The cinematography is amazing, and Rashida Jones is so well cast. Pitched as a dramedy, there are elements of darkness and grief, as well as lighter moments, all wrapped up in an overwhelming feeling of mystery. The whole time I’m watching it I am also bursting with pride for my friend, which definitely adds to my enjoyment of the show.
After tackling every other room in our house, I finally got around to re-decorating the master bedroom this month. It has been knocked down the priority list a couple of times and had essentially remained unchanged for the past 17 years. The black and white ‘modern’ look from all those years ago hadn’t aged well. I’ve changed it completely for a forest green colour. I’m complementing the deep green walls (and ceiling) with a wallpaper from Graham & Brown. It’s a little on the pricey side per roll, but I’m keeping it to one feature wall, and after 17 years I think I’m owed a little luxury!
Three years after its creation, Seanchoíche finally made it to Cork City this month and I was first in line to grab tickets. The popular storytelling event gives anyone who would like to, a chance to share a story, a piece of poetry, a monologue, or a personal anecdote. Each evening has a theme and out of the two evenings in Cork, I attended 'Strangers'. From tales of struggles during the covid-19 pandemic to Palestine folktales, it was an evening that could only be described as inspiring and heartwarming.
Sumaki on Parliament Street in Dublin, opened in 2021 and with it, brought the Sushi Burrito to Ireland. I've indulged a few times since it opened, but it wasn't until I visited Dublin this month that I truly perfected ordering the Mexican and Asian fusion dish. Like any burrito bar, you choose either a seaweed wrap or a poké bowl. Then you choose your protein, your fillings, and your sauce. This is my official petition to bring the dish to Cork.
I love a quaint wine bar more than the next, especially when it's hidden inside a bookshop by the sea. Prim's Bookshop in Kinsale is mostly known as the quirky independent secondhand bookshop but did you know that it opens as a wine bar in the evenings? A wine bar that occasionally hosts musical evenings and other such cultural events. With its mood lighting, ambient music, and hundreds of books on hand, it's up there as one of my favourite wine bars in Ireland.
BamaRush or RushTok is back on our TikTok feeds and once again, I'm in deep. Every year since 2021, I've been transfixed by following young college students go through the process of sorority recruitment at the University of Alabama. The girls who partake in Bama Rush-tok typically will document their days, the outfits they wear to each event and a glimpse into the rush process as they try to join a sorority chapter. And trust me, the process that can get rather intense. The more they post, the more hooked you get on their journey. It's almost like rooting for your favorite team - 'Oh I hope Morgan gets into Kappa Gamma'. It's a Netflix documentary waiting to happen and I'll be hooked to that too.
As mentioned in last month’s Lifestyle Loves, I was on the hunt for some second hand/vintage pieces for Electric Picnic. The festival was two weeks ago now, and these are the outfits I went with. The first was a vintage Kani baseball jersey, bought from Big Smoke Vintage in Merchant’s Arch, Dublin. I paired it with a white T-shirt and denim skirt. For day 2 of the picnic, I actually had a root at home and found my dad’s retro Manchester United jersey. This was the most complimented piece all weekend! I wore it with a tulle skirt that I had found in a charity shop a few months ago. Finally, for day 3, I wore a slip dress I found in the sale section of Big Smoke Vintage with a white T-shirt under it and a vintage leather waistcoat from Depop over it.
Myself and my boyfriend received a voucher for The Westbury hotel and decided to put it to use in August. I had never been in the hotel before, only in the adjoining Balfe’s restaurant, and was, as you can imagine, obsessed. Every little detail of the hotel is so impressive, even the smell throughout the hallways! We went for dinner in Wilde, another onsite restaurant, and had a gorgeous meal. We felt very bougie.
Did you know I went to Electric Picnic? Allow me to talk about it once more. August was a month of concerts for me, with EP kicking things off. Just three of my many highlights: I was really looking forward to seeing Kojaque and he did not disappoint. Kneecap were great - I still have the bruises from the mosh pit to prove it. I really enjoyed Blindboy's chat with Garron Noone - full of the usual wit and wisdom of Blindboy with the giddy-dry humour of Garron. I went to Niall Horan then on Saturday, August 24, which was a decent gig. I was most excited, however, for Blink-182, who played Royal Hospital Kilmainham on Tuesday, August 27, after their last gig was cancelled due to health issues with Travis Barker’s wife, Kourtney Kardashian. It was great to see the original lineup for the first time - and see that they still very much act like they did 20 plus years ago. I may have only been two months from being born when Enema of the State came out in 1999 but it was a bucketlist gig for me that I can now tick off.
Short n' Sweet. It's been the summer of the pop girlies, and Sabrina Carpenter's latest album release is the cherry on top for me. From 'Taste' to 'Bed Chem' (rumoured to be about our very own Barry Keoghan) this record just makes me want to dance and sing around the house. I was lucky enough to score tickets to see her in the 3Arena next year, and I can't wait.
Keep It Tight. I sat down with Emma Doran earlier this month for a chat in Weekend. I was already a big fan of her live comedy, but I hadn't yet subscribed to her podcast with Deirdre O'Kane. After meeting her in person (she's sound as pound, by the way!), I got stuck in and it's well worth a listen. It feels like eavesdropping on the ladies having a good ol gossip/rant/vent at the table next to you in the coffee shop.
Depop. I have a love-and-hate relationship with this app, but over the summer, I've got some great bits on it including a pair of Lucy & Yak dungarees I'd been yearning over for ages for less than €50, and much of my Brat-inspired outfit for EP. I also sold the dress I wore to Taylor Swift in the Aviva on there to another fan who rewore it at Wembley and sent me a lovely message afterwards. I'll be taking this energy into #SecondhandSeptember.
Anam glitter eyeshadows. Irish brand Anam sent me some of their lovely glitter eyeshadows to test out earlier this summer, and they have now been happily roadtested at Beyond the Pale, Taylor Swift, Electric Picnic and Coldplay, as well as plenty of Office Days when I was feeling like a hit of glitter might provide a dopamine boost... They've passed the test with flying colours, and the fact they are biodegradable is just the cherry on top. So far they are only available in taupe, gold and teal shades, but I am hoping for a glitter palette down the line that might include some more colour popping shades perfect for next year's festival circuit.
Coldplay at Croke Park. I got to see some incredible live music this month. I thought I'd be writing about Raye at EP, who truly blew me away, but the gig of the month has to go to Coldplay at Croke Park. As a Taylor Swift stan, I can't quite give them gig of the year, but they came very close...
Not my first time seeing The4OfUs but it was my first time visiting the Lee Rowing Club for a gig. The shows also included John Spillane, Reggie for President, Mór Disco with Stevie G and Angie, and The Frank & Walters and ran throughout August. Hopefully there will be more soon. It's a small venue but with doors to the balcony thrown open and a bustling bar at the back, it had a really fun vibe. Organised by The Good Room at St Luke's who have a good track record for events. And The4ofUs were in great form too.
The Perfect Place has bitchiness, fashion, aspirations, home renovations... and loads of drama. It's by Amanda Cassidy who used to work right here. I mean it when I say you won't know who is a victim or who is a baddie here (though it's possible to be both too). Throw in social media issues, lashings of croissants, sunshine and dark secrets and you've got a real sparky read. Give it a go.
The Long Table on MacCurtain Street was a real hit — the weather played along too and it was a warm and dry evening as 400 people enjoyed cocktails, wine and great food at a table laid out along the length of MacCurtain Street. Everyone was in great form and seemed to be enjoying themselves. I can see this 'table' having to be extended in coming years as more and more people want to join in the fun.
Brand New Retro ( brandnewretro.ie).
Two realisations have crept up on me in recent years.
Number one: the current 'cool' moment that Ireland is having in music, film, television and fashion is the sum total of a century of socio-cultural progress, setback, adaptation and response, equally rooted in both our own culture and our experience of the global phenomena of recent decades.
Number two: in the latter came the kind of easy and consistent exposure to American and British cultural and linguistic tropes that, as a side-effect, made it easy for various actors to try and import the highly charged, exploitative rhetoric and emotive communication styles of Trump, Farage and their ilk.
What's a fun way to possibly take one's self out of the equation? I theorise looking at Ireland and her diaspora as a standalone set of cultures, traditions and conditions - sitting alongside wider events and movements in the wider Western world rather than a direct part of them.
Enter Brand New Retro, a long-standing online archive of Irish pop culture that preserves and spotlights Ireland's old world of magazines and lifestyle journalism, encompassing everything from the homespun glitz-conduit that was the Spotlight family of showband-era music mags, to the endearing (if not slightly chilling) Hiberno-domesticity of ads from period issues of Woman's Way.
As Ireland finally seems to have endured the peaks and troughs of adolescence as an island and a duality of states, and looks to the future with a new confidence, it's worth remembering that we are generators of, and not reactors to, the vagaries of international pop-culture.
Dublin Community TV ( dctv.ie, YouTube).
While it's all well and good to be caught up in the whirl of streaming blockbusters and live events that have been happening all this summer, I often turn to community media for a sense of grounding, and a reminder of what broadcasting and journalism can really do for people, their families and their communities.
While Cork Community TV broadcasts on Virgin Media and via its website, Dublin Community Television's daily YouTube live-streaming is an accessible way to take in community-made documentaries, arts and educational programming, that makes for an entirely unique kind of 'slow' streaming - from recession-era music bellwether The Parlour, to the noughties nostalgia of adult literacy programme Read Write Now.
A way, perhaps, to sate the longing for a public-service broadcaster focused entirely on that mission statement.
CRAOL Player ( Radio.ie).
On the topic of community media, I recently stumbled upon a gem - DCTV man Brian Greene's other consuming passion, specialist website radio.ie. Among the manifold marvels therein is his Tune player, providing access to countless digital radio feeds from all over the world in one spot - including a comprehensive rundown of publicly available radio and digital audio services from Ireland.
Hit the options button and select CRAOL under Filters, to tune out the commercial stations and pirates, and be provided with a list of member stations from Ireland's community-radio association - from the documentaries and rich music offerings of UCC's 98.3FM station (fka Cork Campus Radio), to the slice-of-life fare proffered by Bere Island Community Radio.
Rory Gallagher Music Library, Grand Parade, Cork ( corkcitylibraries.ie).
While the discourse around the great guitarist's legacy at the moment focuses on the fate of his trusty Stratocaster, it's worth being mindful of the other great civic legacy that bears his name - the music library at the back of the City Library on Grand Parade.
Don't let its sometimes-sedate pace and presence fool you - under the tranquil exterior is a treasure trove of music and sound from all over the world on CD and vinyl, a reference library of books and sheet music including beginners' material in a range of disciplines and genres, and live events including Cork music hero Albert Twomey's album listening events and a Saturday-afternoon trad session that's open to players, singers and listeners of all abilities and none.
Worn X Bred 'Ní Fáilte' T-Shirts (€30, wornxbred.bigcartel.com/).
In light of recent, terrible events - and their further human cost to people that come here to seek refuge from war and hunger - it's worth remembering that such division and fearmongering was the driving factor behind how our predecessors as Irish people were sometimes received when it was their turn to seek faraway shores.
No doubt the words 'No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish' are seared onto the brains of generations of Irish emigrés, and Dublin design house Worn x Bred come through with a reminder of our shared humanity, taking the trope and turning it around on those who would perpetuate the same exclusion and hurt.
Available in white and green in an open edition, and printed to order, all profits from each sale will go to local charities helping to end direct provision and to help those seeking refuge in Ireland including Nasc Ireland, MASI and New Horizon Athlone, as well as local LGBTQ+ projects that help young people feel safe in local communities.
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