The Man from Mosel River

I love the Irish and of course Ireland.

When Noreen Seward, the president of the St. Patrick Society in Jakarta (www.stpatricksjakarta.org), opened the annual St. Pat’s Ball last Saturday and invited the odd 500 invitees to all be Irish for the event, Margit and I joined in wholeheartedly, as always, I might add.

What a night this was. The food at the Jakarta Ritz-Carlton Hotel was extraordinarily good. It consisted of the following dishes:

– Donegal Tuna Tartar with Fried Capers, Sticky Rice and Avocado Coulis
– Orange Campari Sorbet
– Duet of Irish Tenderloin with Mustard Seed Crust and Stuffed Chicken Breast ‘Pratai Calisle’ and Root Vegetables
– Apple tart with Vanilla Custard
– Coffee, Tea or Irish Coffee
– Petit Fours

The wines, a white and a red, were provided by Vin + Wine Boutique and were solid French wines from Bordeaux. After midnight a potato and leek soup was provided.

The entertainment was Irish dances and later an Indonesian pop band played contemporary tunes and brought everybody in the room to their toes.

Six well distinguished Irish dancers of a group called ‘Celtic Rythm’ performed spectacular Irish dancing. They came all the way from Dublin (thanks to the support of Etihad Airways, the National Airline of the United Arab Emirates). The four women (Linda Masterson, Louise Corrigan, Anne Collins and Laura Harrington) and two men (Christopher Mckenna and Kevin Curran) did a great job in enthusing the crowd.

Moreover, two groups of young dancers, all trained by Alison Forrow, also showed their skills. It was lovely to see those 8-9 year olds dance the traditional dances. They were so serious and diligent. What a delight.

We made it home in the wee hours of Sunday morning, enchanted, exhausted but utterly happy. Cheers to St. Patrick.