Posted on Dec 29, 2005 in Food Books, Read, Return to Ireland | 2 comments

The Bridgestone 100 Best Restaurants 2006 & The Bridgestone 100 Best Places to Stay 2006 by John and Sally McKenna ****

The Bridgestone 100 Best Restaurants 2006 & The Bridgestone 100 Best Places to Stay 2006 by John and Sally McKenna ****
With 15 years of eating and sleeping the length and breadth of the country in a tireless quest for the best of the best, John and Sally McKenna have it down to a fine art. This year’s editions of The Bridgestone 100 Best Restaurants and The Bridgestone 100 Best Places to Stay are as wonderfully...
Read More
Posted on Dec 27, 2005 in Read | 0 comments

Nigel for Christmas

Now that the turkey has settled, the Cranberry Sauce eaten and the crackers pulled it’s time to get round to reading through the pile of Christmas books, top of which is Nigel Slater’s The Kitchen Diaries. It was difficult, but I managed to hold out till Christmas to get my hands on it. My...
Read More
Posted on Dec 23, 2005 in Food for Friends, Storecupboard Specials | 4 comments

Cranberries at Christmas: Cranberry, Orange and Port Relish

Cranberries at Christmas: Cranberry, Orange and Port Relish
The best thing about being back in Ireland is Christmas in winter. Somehow – although my readers from the other side of the world may not agree! – cold long nights and short wet days make me feel Christmasy. It’s that whole feeling of getting indoors and battening down the hatches for the...
Read More
Posted on Dec 21, 2005 in Eating Out, Lovely Lunches, Return to Ireland | 0 comments

Ladies who lunch @ Café Paradiso, Cork

Ladies who lunch @ Café Paradiso, Cork
After my appetite had been well whetted by Denis Cotter’s A Paradiso Year: Autumn and Winter Cooking, I decided that it was time to return to Café Paradiso itself and last weekend I went down to Cork. All my nights were tied up but Saturday lunchtime was designated Paradiso-time and who better to...
Read More
Posted on Dec 19, 2005 in Do | 2 comments

Winter Food on radio

Back at work in Ireland, I have access to a much faster internet connection than I was used to – meaning lots more scope for radio listening! I’m still tuning in regularly to Eat Feed but it is particularly nice to discovered an Irish radio show called Winter Food. It’s presented by Slow...
Read More
Posted on Dec 17, 2005 in Cookery Books, Read | 0 comments

Zarbo Zest by Mark McDonough ***

Zarbo Zest by Mark McDonough ***
New Zealand cafés do fantastic salads and whenever my tastebuds need a kick and I’m looking for an unusual salad recipe, I turn to former café owner (now cookbook writer) Julie Le Clerc or one of Mark McDonough’s Zarbo books. Zarbo is a popular Auckland-based delicatessen, fresh food store and...
Read More
Posted on Dec 15, 2005 in Do, Return to Ireland | 4 comments

Rachel Allen on RTÉ

Rachel Allen on RTÉ
After all the debate about Rachel Allen, I felt that I just had to watch her show! Last night I was home alone at my lovely friends’ house (being a bag lady makes you realise how good your friends are) and I decided I was going to take the plunge and actually turn on the television for myself. I tuned...
Read More
Posted on Dec 13, 2005 in Do, Return to Ireland | 4 comments

Chocolate from Limerick

Chocolate from Limerick
While I was meandering around the Galway branch of Sheridans on my recent trip to the capital of the West, I came across some beautifully packaged chocolate from a Limerick company called Cocoa Bean. The blocks first caught my eye as I thought they looked more like gorgeous notebooks than chocolate bars....
Read More
Posted on Dec 11, 2005 in Do | 3 comments

More chocolate testing

More chocolate testing
A couple of days after I arrived back in Ireland my foodie cousin called round with a thoughtful bag of kitchen basics for me. Pasta, rice – my favourite basmati – olive oil and balsamic vinegar, a bottle of wine and, piling luxury upon practicality, two bars of Green & Black’s...
Read More
Posted on Dec 9, 2005 in Cookery Books, Read, Return to Ireland | 1 comment

A Paradiso Year: Autumn and Winter Cooking by Denis Cotter

A Paradiso Year: Autumn and Winter Cooking by Denis Cotter
To my sorrow I must admit that I have only once eaten in Denis Cotter’s award-winning Café Paradiso restaurant in Cork. But that one time, nearly ten years ago now, was mostly memorable for my first taste of polenta. My sociologist student friend felt it was deeply ironic that I should be writing my...
Read More
Posted on Dec 7, 2005 in Do | 0 comments

A trip to Galway

Last weekend I was in Galway to visit the Schoolfriend and her husband and, almost as importantly, to see their new kitchen. They had moved into their house some time before I went to New Zealand but the kitchen remained to be sorted out. I heard that this had been completed while I was away and last weekend...
Read More
Posted on Dec 5, 2005 in Read | 0 comments

Jenny Bristow: A Taste of Sunshine **

Jenny Bristow: A Taste of Sunshine **
Northern Irish cookery writer, radio and UTV television presenter Jenny Bristow has chosen to concentrate on Mediterranean food in her latest book, A Taste of Sunshine. With an emphasis on variety, simple ingredients and cooking meals from fresh raw unprocessed ingredients, Jenny comes firmly down on the...
Read More
Posted on Dec 3, 2005 in Do | 6 comments

An unexpected treat

An unexpected treat
I have always been a fan of Bonne Maman’s delicious range of jams and preserves. It’s the taste and lovely runny texture that sold me – no surprise that it bosts 45g of whole fruit per 100g of jam. In distinctively shaped jars, topped with a homey-looking imitation-gingham lid, I have...
Read More
Posted on Dec 1, 2005 in Cookery Books, Read, Return to Ireland | 9 comments

Rachel’s Favourite Food for Friends by Rachel Allen

Rachel’s Favourite Food for Friends by Rachel Allen
First there was Myrtle Allen who was responsible for raising the profile and quality of Irish food through her work abroad and in her country house hotel at Ballymaloe. Daughter-in-law Darina backed her up, beginning the Ballymaloe Cookery School and, with her Simply Delicious television series and books,...
Read More