Faces of Galway 39/100
Meet Anna from New Braintree, Massachusetts
It's not every day you meet someone in Galway who has cooked for Aerosmith and Britney Spears, and members of the bands; Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. Meet Anna; a lady of many talents and an opportunist who can steer her life in whichever path she wants it to take, and there has been many!
Anna was working as a cook in restaurant in Barre when Ritchie Blackmore from Deep Purple came in for dinner. He came again and again until eventually Anna named a chicken dish after him. Ritchie was recording an album in the famous Longview Farm studios and thought Anna's food was lovely. She seized the opportunity and visited the studios to see if they needed a cook. Anna was hired straight away.
Anna is also a culinary historian who can be credited for bringing the 'pigs on spits' back into our lives. She spent years travelling up and down the east coast of America cooking banquets for people. Everything was cooked on fire and no electricity was used. Once she had prepared the food she would then put on her ballgown and serve it up to the guests. The experience was theatrical, because Anna also likes acting. She recently acted in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
After 9/11, Anna and her husband no longer felt safe in America so they decided to move to Ireland, where her husband is originally from. After a brief time travelling along the West Coast, Anna came across the town of Kinvara. She loved the setting. She remembers seeing the castle and the harbour and instantly wanted to live there. She hoped her girls would one day attend the college and she would work in the cafe at the harbour. One year later and she had achieved this. Anna still loves Kinvara and loves how close it is to Galway city.
Nowadays Anna is focusing on writing and she has a series of cozy murder mysteries which are based along the Wild Atlantic Way. From everything else Anna has achieved it seems like it's only a matter of time before we can buy her novels in our local book store.