Last year at this time, I was visiting with my sisters in Ireland. The one who lives in Dublin decided to host an American Thanksgiving dinner for her Irish friends. It turned out to be no easy task!

Kristen & Maureen Gill, hostesses extraordinaires!

For one, my sister had to special-order a turkey from the butcher, since they are not commonly eaten in Ireland until around Christmastime. My other sister from Chicago brought over 2 cans of pumpkin, which were badly damaged in transit. Next up, we could not find any round pie tins! Turns out we had to make 2 square pumpkin pies instead of one round one. To make our mother’s/grandmother’s homemade stuffing, we went  late-night grocery shopping and cleared the shelves of white loaves of bread. I think they thought we were crazy buying 8 loaves of bread, and nothing else!

Check out these decorations that my mom sent over. I think she must have had these left over from the 70s! Gotta love the accordion turkey and pilgrim (with evil shadow on wall). Ha!

The evening turned out to be great! There was no great dining table upon which to eat, but everyone got a full plate of American-sized portions, and washed it all down with some good Irish whiskey. It was a great “first” Thanksgiving for a lot of people…and I’m so thankful that I had the opportunity to share in this experience.

May all of you have wonderful thanksgivings, wherever in the world you are celebrating. And, if I learned anything from my Irish experience, it’s that a post-dinner whiskey with friends is sometimes all you really need.

Adventure on,

Kristen

May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night, and the road downhill all the way to your door.

“Sláinte!” (meaning, “to your health”, in Irish)

The Mouse on the Barroom Floor
Some Guinness was spilled on the barroom floor
when the pub was shut for the night.
Out of his hole crept a wee brown mouse
and stood in the pale moonlight.
He lapped up the frothy brew from the floor,
then back on his haunches he sat.
And all night long you could hear him roar,
‘Bring on the goddam cat!’

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone!

Kristen

Irish singer Lisa Hannigan transports you to another world with her surreal voice that is two parts angelic, one part sass. This duality is reflected in her clothing, as tonight she outfits herself in bold red tights and boots on bottom, with a soft blue and white flowered dress on top.

Gavin Glass, Lisa Hannigan, Donagh Malloy

She has a softer sound and attitude compared to her female counterparts Feist or Cat Power, and plays diverse instruments, such as an old harmonium (bought in NYC, and which desperately needs some love “Is there a harmonium doctor in the house?”) and a mouth piano. Her voice, quite literally, puts you at ease.

Lisa is accompanied by 4 other band members (Gavin Glass, who had a well-received opening act, Donagh Malloy, Shane Fitzsimmons, and TomO), who play guitar, stand up bass, drums, banjo, horns, and mouth piano, amongst other instruments. At one point, the tour manager came out to play the xylophone.

At times I could close my eyes and feel like I was on the corner of a Parisien street, with the sounds of accordion and Lisa’s sweet, sweet voice like a birdsong. In “An Ocean And A Rock” when she sings “Let’s get lost, me and you” you want to take her up on the offer.

Other favorites were “Pistachio” and “Lille”, and my own personal favorite “I Don’t Know”. They ended the night with an encore of an Iron & Wine cover, “Until They Cut Me Down”, which started slow but crescendoed to a rocking high.

After the show, the entire band came out to talk to their fans, who were most appreciative. Every now and then a band comes along that is truly able to take advantage of the ambience and play to the good sound quality of the Triple Door. This was one of those bands.

Lisa Hannigan can lull me with her lullabies anytime.

Check out:
http://www.myspace.com/lisahannigan
http://www.thetripledoor.net