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Soup and Celebrities

Apologies to my readers, but there'll be no soup this week or the next as the spouse, the younger offspring and I are heading away. The spouse has suggested some gadget or other that will enable to see how many people are reading this blog. I know that at least one other person is - MH - otherwise I might not have bothered writing anything before we go.
My older offspring is staying at home and last night left out a list of ingredients for a low-fat seafood chowder he wants to make while we're away. I must check The Soup Book and see what recipes there are for seafood chowder. I love seafood chowder and if I see it on a menu anywhere I will try it out. It's never the same in terms of ingredients, thickness, added vegetables, seasoning, etc, so I always think of eating seafood chowder in different locations as a part of a big seafood chowder adventure. I've eaten it in Dublin restaurants, in pubs beside fishing ports in Co Donegal and Co Clare, further in land ...

Why do celebrities always know where I am?

This last week has been quite dramatic! There were highs and lows at the office, the spouse turned 50, and ... wait for it ... I was in a restaurant in Dublin last Thursday and guess who came in? SAMUEL L JACKSON, DIONNE WARWICK and KEITH DUFFY (BOYZONE). Seven of us from the office were in the restaurant for the "early bird" menu to celebrate one of the girls' fiftieth birthday. The early bird menu is cheaper and is on offer from 6-8pm and is aimed at a pre-theatre clientele, but once one of the girls came back from the loo and said, "I think I've just seen Samuel L Jackson," wild horses wouldn't have shifted us out.
The celebs were there in relation to a fund-raising event for an Irish autism charity. We got to hear the speeches, I asked Dionne to wish the birthday girl a happy birthday (and she did), and we all waved at Samuel and he waved back and smiled at us. Then as we were leaving we spoke to Richard Corrigan, the Irish celebrity chef. So having arrived for the 6pm meal, four of us from the original seven didn't leave until about 1am.
The spouse and I are having a party in April. As I said to my colleague, the only way I can top her 50th birthday celebration is if Michael Jackson himself rises from the grave and does the Thriller routine at my party. He'd better bring his own disinfectant.
The reason I wonder why celebrities always know where I am is because I'm always seeing them (well, fairly frequently). Last week I was in Manchester and Keith Duffy was on my return flight. I saw him and Ronan Keating at Heathrow airport a few years ago, just before there was any mention of Boyzone reuniting. I was behind them on a travellator, so I ran ahead of them and looked over my shoulder just to check that it was them. And that was the second time I saw Ronan Keating. The first time I saw him was in an upmarket department store in Dublin. I noticed his child's buggy first, as my younger offspring was still at the buggy stage, and thought, "Nice buggy!" before I realised who was pushing it.
Postscript: I'm wondering does it add to Samuel's aura of cool to be mentioned in a blog about making soup?

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