“Self-care is knowing your emotional triggers and not surrounding yourself with people who deliberately provoke them.” ~ Unknown
I was going to finish up about the Balsam Mountain Inn – there was one final chapter – but seeing as it’s St. Patrick’s Day, and my DNA says I’m at least 5% Irish (County Cork specifically and more than 5%, according to 23andMe) I thought it best to salute the ancestors and cousins with a hearty Éirinn go Brách and share a story about last Monday’s dinner at Shenanigan’s Irish Pub in Adams Morgan.
Catherine and I had finished our first day at the National Humanities Alliance and wandered off for dinner. Suddenly she gasped, “It’s an Irish Pub!” The smell of stale beer met us at the door, and its authenticity offered us a seat. We confessed later that neither of us would have ventured in alone, as it was clearly a working man’s bar. The smell alone suggested women rarely traverse this green terrain. Still, we pulled up our big girl panties and settled in for a pint and supper. The fish and chips were not terribly authentic, but Catherine’s bangers and mash …her eyes rolled back in her head as she downed the lumpy potatoes and gravied sausages. Catherine’s mother is 100% Irish and knows authentic Irish food when she tastes it. The barman was stunned when we asked for food, and we weren’t quite sure why until we discovered he was also the cook. We felt mildly bad for him. After we ate, Catherine asked him to play The Waterboys, a British-Irish band founded by Scotsman Mike Scott. Our barman, cook, and waiter now turned DJ and obliged. From that moment, his rock and roll playlist was diverted to Irish-flavored folk and rock, which drew a “yea” from at least one bar fly. We savoured the Guinness and listened for a while, watching some workers leave and others take their place. It was time to go when a too-talkative woman and her husband came in. They, too, asked for food. Our poor barman disappeared once more into the bowels of the kitchen. I hope he had a good night’s sleep. We sure enjoyed our time with him. I’d go back, even by myself.
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