One of my new year's resolutions is to write more about the county that I now call home and its surrounding areas. I feel that since I have stopped getting lost and have explored it over the last year that I can finally talk about it! Meath isn't that far from Dublin, but as soon as you leave Finglas and hit the N2 motorway you are soon surrounded by rolling hills of green fields or in the spring the most beautiful vivid yellow of rapeseed. I was a bit apprehensive about moving so far away from the city where instead of
being surrounded by easily accessible and much loved places to eat I had to search to find a nice restaurant, a lively pub or a good food market. While we live in the countryside it is easy to get to Navan, Ashbourne and Drogheda if you have a car and I was delighted to discover that there are loads of great places to eat in the area.
One of the very first places I visited when I moved here was the Brown Hound Bakery in Drogheda after reading a post by Donal Skehan. While it is based in Louth, it is only 20 minutes away from us so there have been many repeat visits and I even did a baking masterclass there too with dessert maker extraordinaire Robert Thompson. This was a fabulous class where I learned a lot and even made the sherry trifle from scratch for Christmas Day.
 |
| Sherry Trifle |
 |
| Amazing Pavlova |
 |
| Rustic Berry Tart |
Between various visits and bringing boxes of goodies home to sample, we have tried nearly everything the Brown Hound Bakery has to offer. We usually go for the petite sizes as they are enough to give us a good helping of what we want without overdoing it.
 |
| Take home goodies |
From the Mr James Carrot Cake, a moist cake with creamy lemon zest and cream cheese frosting to the Brown Hound, a rich chocolate cake covered in chocolate and topped with meringue to the Rustic rhubarb and apple tarts and monkey bread it is hard to choose a favourite. Though if I was forced, I would have to say no matter how much I eat the Chocolate Paradise my love for it is never ending!! It is a rich & moist chocolate cake topped with a mountain of sweet caramel, coconut & pecan frosting and I even got a giant one for my 30th birthday. I was tempted not to share!
 |
| My 30th Birthday: A huge version of my favourite cake! |
The Brown Hound also do really great sandwiches. They are made with scones or as the Americans call them, biscuits. I have seen a few people look a bit sceptical when they hear what they are made of but don't be, they are delicious. My favourite is the Crab, Crayfish and Prawn in a plain buttermilk scone while the boyfriend has a liking for the Chicken in the Parmesan and Chive scone, going as far as to describe it as the best chicken sandwich he has had in ages!
 |
| Crab, Crayfish and Prawn |
So if you ever find yourself in Drogheda or are just passing through, take a detour and discover food that makes me very glad I now live in Meath!
Brown Hound Bakery, 2 Bryanstown Centre, Drogheda, Co. Louth and you can find them on Facebook here.
You know you have had a good meal out when you wake up thinking about it! Well that's what happened to me this morning after a fantastic meal out at the La Dolce Vita event at Jack's Railway Bar & Restaurant in Kells. Jack's is run by the lovely Martin and Victoria, a young dynamic couple from Lithuania who took over the restaurant in January. Martin looks after the bar while Victoria expertly manages the front of house. In the kitchen is Aurora, originally from Italy, and having run her own restaurant in Navan for years knows what the customers are looking for when it comes to food. 
I’ll admit it. I’m a wine drinker by nature. In my twenties I would never have chosen beer over wine. This is probably down to the fact that I found most of the beer on offer too heavy, too fizzy or just plain disgusting. Then I went to Brussels and was shown the error of my ways! On my return I started to seek out what Ireland had to offer and bang on time too since we are now in the midst of a craft beer revolution. 
