Tag: Ireland

• Book Review: The Confession of St. Patrick

  Every year I resolve to read more spiritual texts and every year I fail. This year, once again I resolved to do so and God gave me a helping hand. Last Thursday, after morning Mass, I ran into our parochial vicar outside the church. He mentioned that he was working on a research paper as…

  michardillo

  May 6, 2025

  books

  captivity, conversion, faith, Genesis, Ichthus Publications, Ireland, shamrock, slavery, spiritual text, St. Augustine, St. Joseph, St. Patrick, The Confession of St. Patrick, tritheism

• Book Review: The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Woods (a/k/a Evie Gaughan)

  The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris is my second book by Evie Woods, although I am a bit confused whether #2 is the chicken or the egg. I loved her first (?) book, The Lost Bookshop. It was the perfect blend of a dual timeline, half contemporary and half historical, with a dash of…

  michardillo

  January 11, 2025

  books, Essay, food

  afternoon tea, Ann Napolitano, bakery, baking, book-review, books, bookstore, British, chocolate, coming of age, Compiegne, contemporary-fiction, cystic fibrosis, Dear Edward, dual timeline, English, Evie Gaughan, Evie Woods, fiction, food, France, Goodreads, grief, Harper 360, HarperCollins, hello-beautiful, historical fiction, Ireland, Irish, literature, magical realism, NetGalley, novel, Oprah, Paris, reading, Romance, tea, The Lost Bookshop, The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris, Within Arm’s Reach, writing

• Book Review: The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

  Although I just returned from a week in Ireland, and two weeks in France, we were nowhere near Paris, due to the Olympics taking over the city. While the southwest of France where we exclusively traveled on this trip was beautiful, I do wish I could get to Paris for two things: more French food…

  michardillo

  August 19, 2024

  books, Essay

  books, domestic abuse, dual timeline, Evie Woods, fairy godmother, France, institutional abuse, Ireland, magical realism, Paris, reading, Ruth Reichl, Shakespeare and Company, St. Stephen’s Green, The Lost Bookshop, The Paris Novel, Tumbleweed, writing

• Book Review: My Favourite Mistake by Marian Keyes

  First of all, my feelings about this book are mostly due to my own mistake, and as an avid reader with thousands of books under my belt, I have to admit it is a rookie mistake I shouldn’t have made. This is my first Marian Keyes book, and although I’ve seen her name and numerous…

  michardillo

  August 12, 2024

  books

  family dynamics, fiction, Ireland, Marian Keyes, NetGalley, NYC, Penguin, reading, series, sisters

• Travel for Beginners

  I know almost nothing about soy sauce. I know I like to dip my sushi rolls into it and I know that the colored tops of the soy sauce bottles on the tables in Asian restaurants denote whether the soy sauce is regular (red) or low sodium (green). I know it is one of the…

  michardillo

  February 7, 2016

  books, Essay

  A Moveable Feast, A Week in Winter, Africa, Asia, Asian, Bangladesh, Baton Rouge, Beryl Markham, British, Circling the Sun, Ernest Hemingway, Europe, Hadley Richardson, Ireland, Irish, Kenya, Kirstin Chen, Louisiana, Maeve Binchy, Memphis, Monroe, Nell Freudenberger, New Orleans, Paula McLain, pub, reading, Singapore, soy sauce, Soy Sauce for Beginners, St. Jude Children’s Hospital, The Newlyweds, The Paris Wife

• Buttered Toast

  Buttered toast.  Buttered toast and a cup of steaming café au lait.  Buttered toast and a cup of English Breakfast tea, with a paper-thin slice of lemon floating delicately on top.  Buttered toast and a cup of homemade chicken noodle soup.  Heck, buttered toast all by itself.  Two ingredients.  Simplicity in itself. Comforting.  Delicious. For…

  michardillo

  January 12, 2015

  Essay

  breakfast, British, butter, Ireland, London, Scotland, tea, toast, toast soldiers, tradition