St. George's Market
My friend Maeve hosted a Sylvia Plath retrospective on February 11th, marking the 50th anniversary of Plath's death. I stayed with her over the weekend, and I hope I acted as a foil to all the stresses that come with hosting an event single-handedly! Not that she needed the support, an impressive crowd filled the large lecture hall in the University of Ulster lecture hall. In fact, it was the only Sylvia Plath event on the island of Ireland. So congratulations to Maeve for pulling it off so successfullly. She had some engaging speakers, from Plath academics to poetry students, and she gave some impassioned speeches of her own. Maeve is big on promoting Plath studies, removing the layers of myth that come with biographical readings of Plath.
A selection of Plath books donated by the publisher Faber and Faber, especially for the Retrospective.
This time last year my only experience of Belfast was from the motorway. Thanks to Maeve for introducing me to the sights and sounds of the city, I've grown to love the place! When I was up last Spring I visited Titanic Belfast and The MAC.
Due to the trouble in the city before Christmas, local businesses have been running the Backin' Belfast campaign to combat the bad press surrounding the city over the past few months and to encourage people to visit Belfast and support it's vibrant local businesses, who were hit badly by the decline in turnover over the Christmas. On twitter they've been using the hashtag #backinbelfast to offer discounts in local restaurants, as well as printing it on t-shirts and other merchandise.
Vegetarian paella - not sure why there's two forks, I wasn't going to share!
Lily Pink Bakery treats
No visit to Belfast is complete with a visit to St. George's Market. There I visited Belfast blogger, and friend, Claire at her stall - The Lily Pink Bakery, where she sells a popular selection of delicious cupcakes.
The place was buzzing, we skipped breakfast and decided to get brunch at the market. I had vegetarian paella, Maeve and her pal got burritos. Finding a table is a bit of a challenge in the mid-morning, so you do a bit of ducking and diving, but you get to enjoy your food at the end of it! All our food was very tasty and fresh!
One of my favourite stalls at the market is the Blue Door Studio where a mother and daughter team make these very contemporary, quirky birthday cards. I bought a gin one for my desk, for the days I need cheering up (there alongside Tavi's First Kiss Zine from 2010)! The illustration is taken from an original pen and ink drawing by Sarah Majury and you can buy her work from her Etsy shop 'White Hart'.
I wandered around the stalls for a cheeky browse, they sell everything you could think of under the lofty Victorian roof of the market. Cakes, jewellery, retro clothing - an abundance of locally made crafts and goods, and it heartens me to see the place so bustling with people eager to buy local. I'd love to see something similar in Sligo, or the North-West. Though, Belfast has the population to cater for it. I do remember enjoying a similar market whe I was in Leeds in the autumn.
Lovely copper studs from Beadmag.
I purchased these lovely copper star earrings from beadmag, made in Belfast, at the Silver Trilogy stall (I assume its a collective of 3 jewelry sellers). Now I have much less money, I'm not inclined to buy cheaper bits of jewellery from high street shops. I cleared a lot of my trinkets out in January. I'd rather buy items made from more quality materials when I can afford it. Copper is very expensive now, but I thought these were good value for £10! I love how you can see the indentations in the metal.
My top purchase was this hot chocolate from the O'Conaill stall. They've recently set up shop in Belfast. Their flagship and only other store is in Cork, and has been high regarded for many years now. As I giddily waited, for my dark chocolate drink to be prepared, I jokingly expressed my dissatisfaction at being stranded in the middle of the two best chocolate shops in Ireland, over a 3 hour journey each way! I don't know if the poor fellow running the stall has any sway in the company, but I was insistent that they open a store in Galway at least! There's plenty of greedy chocoholics in the West!
Find out more about the #backinbelfast campaign here.
Maeve of The Plath Diaries has become a close personal friend of mine, and this weekend I had the pleasure of staying with her in Belfast once again. We've got very similar tastes and outlooks, so our wanderings around Belfast were most amiable and relaxed!
Myself and Maeve
Once I'd diposed of my backpack at her flat we went for a walk around Queens University and the park there, bustling with people enjoying the unusually warm weather. After sharing some heart to hearts we went to a ~cool coffee shop, Common Ground and caught up some more. I finally got to see the Queens Film Theatre, and its setting was not at all what I expected. It is linked to the university itself, being part of the QUB Drama and Film Centre and is cosily nestled in a beautiful Georgian house. I can only say that next time, I'll include a trip to the cinema in my visit. The evening that followed was unplanned and of course we ended staying out until the wee hours, I having bought a £4.75 bottle of red to accompany dinner.
Interior of St. George's Market
The next day was exciting as I had been looking forward to seeing Claire of French for Cupcake, who had recently secured a permanent stall at St. George's Market, with her independent bakery Lily Pink Bakery. I think one of the positives of this recession that some people are finding fulfilment in alternative means of employment and Claire is pursuing her dream, and I couldn't be more pleased for her. She works so hard! In fact I'm devouring one of her best sellers, the red velvet cupcake as I type.
Claire at her stall
Claire's beautifully iced cupcakes
Maeve & I outside the iconic St. George's Market gates
St. George's Market was a joy to wander around, independent businesses all plying their wares, from independent artists to leatherworkers, the stall holders were as engaging as the ware of their stalls. I bought a very delicious vegetarian burrito from the father and son team of Sol Catering (I believe that was the name but I can't find them after googling), as well as a Flax Fox Designs postcard illustration of the iconic Harland & Woolf shipping cranes "Samson and Goliath", that I'd seen on my list visit, to Titanic Belfast. She had a lovely range of quirky prints and beautiful tea towels, I wished I could have afforded to buy more.
(Also for Game of Thrones fans, there were some Stark children about while I was there, in fact Claire seems to have her photo taken with a different cast member every week!)
"Samson and Goliath", Flax Fox Designs
A leisurely hour or so later, we meandered through the streets of Belfast, making our lazy way toward The MAC, a recently opened contemporary arts centre in the heart of the city.
Gavin and Maeve, unconciously making good poster candidates for the gallery!
(Gavin's picture)
Rather decadently, instead of making our way up through the galleries directly, I was somewhat awed to see a long, well stocked bar opposite the reception desk. No generic gallery cafe, not for Belfast! The painfully chic black booths were organised along the red brick interior walls. We made our orders at the bar, what better time than now to try out "the hair of the dog" hangover cure. As we later made our way up through the galleries, I recognised Mark Garry's handiwork:
Mark Garry, The Permanent Present, 2012 (Gavin's picture!)
As we resolved that because I was "on holiday", we made our way to a favourite bar of Maeve's, and probably beloved of tourists, I don't know if there's an Irish equivalent for the word Americana, but this place was literally wall to wall of Irish bar paraphernalia. I liked it though, it was laid back with its snugs, mirrors, copper topped tables and wooden benches. It didn't feel forced, more like they had been accumulated and acquired over time.
Gavin & I, that was the first outing for the rather wonderful 1960s lurex suit I have had in my wardrobe for a number of months! It recevied loads of compliments at St. George's market, a different environment to small town West of Ireland though!
The 'Duke of York' Irishy bar (the English name puzzled me too, but its Belfast) was down this lovely wee alley with punters taking the opportunity to drink in comfort on the gaily painted red benches outside.
Dali looking over the aforementioned alley
Dinner next, and we enjoyed a curry in the delicious, it was very quiet when we were there which seems such a shame because I really enjoyed my meal. This blissful day ended, I'm not ashamed to say, with a tired Maeve and myself watching When Harry Met Sally, squeeing over our favourite scenes. Feels good to watch it with a fellow fan, rather than introducing it to an indifferent friend!
A really beautiful Catholic church that we passed on the walk home
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P.S. I have been neglectful of the blog as of late and not for the first time, there's so much to say and I scribble enthusiastic notes in my notebook, hoping one day to turn them into a tangible post, then I quickly loose confidence... and nothing.
The blog will be poorly attended to for the next number of weeks, but more of that soon.
