Home cooked meals and J.J. Mahoney's Irish Pub

I was missing this summer's Ireland experience hardcore, so I asked the Mums and her man-friend, Jeff, if they'd mind getting together for a good old-fashioned home cooked meal for our Sunday get-together. They obliged with a recipe in mind: Jeff's famous Lemon-Herb Whole Chicken with Herb-potatoes and carrots. I was hyped. Having a home cooked meal reminded me of how much I missed being together as a family, and how much fun it is to have a real conversation over a self-prepared meal. With only few hours to prepare, Jeff and Mums got to work in the kitchen while I wrote about Aristotle and the virtue of Mildness. Eager to empty my mind and fill my stomach, I waited while the two made magic happen in the kitchen.

Watching these two go to work was incredible. They didn't get in a single fight the whole time, which is pretty hard to do in any kitchen setting with multiple people fumbling all over eachother:



Jeff's famous Lemon-Herb Chicken:



With a full stomach and a burning desire for celtic music, I headed out with Kerry to J.J. Mahoney's Irish pub located right by Bella Bottega. The fiddles could be heard fifty yards away, I was hyped again:



Stocked bar (this is only half):



One of four HD plasma screen TV's placed throughout the bar and restaurant, and the other half of the bar:



The X-Box 360, FREE TO USE BY THE WAY, with wireless controllers (I think that's the new X-Box standard):



Going to J.J's after the home cooked meal was the icing on the cake for me. I went home afterwards, blasting Flogging Molly and the Dropkick Murphys and thinking about my drunken misadventures in Dublin and Galway with my boy Dolsie. If you want a glimpse into a culture that is on the other side of the Atlantic pond, definitely hit up J.J's soon. Although the bar caters to the higher-end crowd, it definitely exudes the aura of a nicer location on Grafton St., Dublin. Stocked with a full bar, a DOPE menu (with things like a sauteed tofu pita and beer'd up mozzarella sticks) , all the Guinness you can stomach, good company, a REAL dartboard (none of that plastic shit), and an X-Box 360, J.J's is a spot that you should take your best mates to after the rugby game or football (soccer) match to get together and share some real time together. That's the lesson for today, kids: time. Spend it well. You only have so much of it in your life until the well runs dry. Spend a little bit of it at J.J's. Cheers.