Paddi used to run a restuarant called "Seventh Heaven" in Galway city for 12 years.
Galway's loss is our great find.
On one of our weekend's of Buddhist teachings, we had over 45 people here to listen to the teachings of the Buddha by Geshe Michael Roach.
Paddi prepared a self serve buffet style vegetarian feast for the 45 people.
And on another weekend, when she heard it was one of the girl's birthday, she surprised us all with this beautiful home made cake.
On a week long course in 2004, Paddi surprised us again by announing
that she was preparing a Greek style meal for the evening, and that we should all dress up in toga style or some other party fashion.
The food was amazing, the atmosphere festive, and Paddi even had some Greek music playing in the background ;-)
Even the men got well into the atmosphere, donning sheets and garlands
and generously posed for Dave's digital camera.
What is it about a toga, that makes a man irrestistable ;-)
And the bold Paddi herself with her daughter Julie taking desserts out of the fridge.
Although these festive parties don't happen all that often, one thing that one is sure of is the amazing food that Paddi serves up.
Over the past year Paddi has been including much raw food such as freshly sprouted mung beans, sprouted alfa alfa, (& many other sprouted seeds and pulses), lighter type foods for summer, and her usual feasts of nut roasts, and her famous Indian style buffet.
I usually describe the food at the Burren Yoga and Meditation Centre as being of restuarant standards.
But time after time, guests have said that they don't know any restuarant that serves vegetarian food as good as Paddi's.
Tell me more about the delicious Vegetarian meals
And when we go out during our 7-day courses we sometimes drop into the Holywell vegetarian restuarant in Ballyvaughan which serves excellent pizza's, pasta and the best of coffee and home made ice cream.
Ok, if you want to abstain from food, that is fine. None of the meals (or the deserts) are compulsory ;-)
The tea rooms in Ballyvaughan have a beautiful garden out the back which is a great sun trap in the Summer.
Another lucky birthday girl....
And another well satisfied group patiently waiting for a photo before they begin their meal ;-)
