Posted on Jan 31, 2006 in Do | 0 comments

Round-up: Hay Hay It’s Donna Day #2: Macaroons

You can read about and vote for your favourite macaroon around the world at Glutton Rabbit‘s brilliant round-up of Hay Hay It’s Donna Day #2 – Macaroons. It’s all illustrated with nice pictures (making my macaroons look even more cow-pat-like in comparison to all the others!) and it...
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Posted on Jan 29, 2006 in Food Books, Read | 0 comments

Georgina Campbell’s Ireland: The Best of The Best ****

Georgina Campbell’s Ireland: The Best of The Best ****
While the internet has undoubtedly simplified the matter of finding holiday accommodation, it’s never at hand (unless, of course, you’ve got your portable internet device nearby) when you’re on the road, looking for a decent bite to eat and somewhere to stay at short notice. Situations like...
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Posted on Jan 27, 2006 in Food for Friends | 0 comments

Red wine instead of Guinness: Beef and Red Wine Pie

Red wine instead of Guinness: Beef and Red Wine Pie
Last weekend – the macaroon-making one – I was down home cooking dinner for my mother’s birthday. As we farm beef cattle, roasts are a regular part of life at home so, as the kitchen was in my hands on Saturday, I decided that it was a good opportunity to make something completely...
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Posted on Jan 25, 2006 in Do | 2 comments

Weird meme

It’s been a while since Maman Poulet – sorry Suzy! – tagged me for the Weird Meme. For this meme I have to write five weird things about me. Well, one person’s weird is another person’s absolutely normal so I’m not sure how weird (or sane) these are going to appear to...
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Posted on Jan 23, 2006 in Bake, Food Events | 11 comments

Hay Hay, It’s Donna Day #2: Chocolate Almond Macaroons

Hay Hay, It’s Donna Day #2: Chocolate Almond Macaroons
Having missed the first Winos and Foodies Hay Hay, It’s Donna Day – and you all know about my love of Donna Hay! – I had every intention of making a real effort for the second episode in what looks like becoming a long-running series of worldwide bake-ins. Glutton Rabbit at Pearl of the...
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Posted on Jan 21, 2006 in Cookery Books, Read | 4 comments

Les Halles Cookbook by Anthony Bourdain ***

Les Halles Cookbook by Anthony Bourdain ***
Although already the author of two well-received memoirs – Kitchen Confidential and A Cook’s Tour – as well as a couple of not so popular detective novels, it has taken American chef Anthony Bourdain a little while to embark on his own cookbook and he throws himself into the undertaking...
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Posted on Jan 19, 2006 in Return to Ireland | 2 comments

Cafés in Ireland via Peter Gordon

In the wake of leaving New Zealand and my living-out-of-a-bag-ness in Ireland during November and December, it’s only now that I’ve gotten round to checking out Chris Bell’s Five minutes with Peter Gordon at NZBC. That’s the New Zealand Blogging Corporation, rather than the New...
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Posted on Jan 17, 2006 in Cookery Books, Read | 4 comments

Roast Figs, Sugar Snow by Diana Henry ****

Roast Figs, Sugar Snow by Diana Henry ****
Derry woman and Sunday Telegraph food writer Diana Henry has again come up trumps with her latest book, Roast Figs, Sugar Snow. Her first cookbook, Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons, focused on the tastes and enchantments of the Middle East, Mediterranean and North Africa. With praise from Claudia Roden and its...
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Posted on Jan 16, 2006 in Do | 2 comments

2005 Food Blog Awards

For anybody with more than a passing interest in food and/or blogs, check out the 2005 Food Blog Awards at the Accidental Hedonist‘s own blog. As Kate points out, the list of nominees is one of the best ways of discovering blogs that you might not have come across otherwise, such as the five-times...
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Posted on Jan 13, 2006 in Do | 1 comment

The Boyfriend’s bagels

The Boyfriend’s bagels
Before we took off for our year in New Zealand, the Boyfriend was really getting involved in bread-making. There was an ongoing, sporadically successful, sourdough project but where he really hit his stride was in making bagels. A birthday present of Bread by Ursula Ferrigno and Eric Treuillé (never let it...
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Posted on Jan 11, 2006 in Bake | 0 comments

Baby Jesus in His Blanket: Caroline’s Kerstkrans or Baby Jesus in His Blanket

Baby Jesus in His Blanket: Caroline’s Kerstkrans or Baby Jesus in His Blanket
I was home down the country last weekend and, when I was investigating the fridge, I discovered a chunk of almond paste. It had originally been made by my Little (in age, not so in height) Sister to cover the Christmas Cake and the leftovers got abandoned in the fridge. I couldn’t pass it by – I...
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Posted on Jan 8, 2006 in Cookery Books, Read | 2 comments

Fresh and Wild Cookbook by Ysanne Spevack

Fresh and Wild Cookbook by Ysanne Spevack
British organic and Fair Trade food chain Fresh and Wild teamed up with organic expert Ysanne Spevack, editor of online organic food magazine OrganicFoodee.com, to produce this cookbook. It’s both worthy and worthwhile, but sometimes Spevack’s party political broadcasts on behalf of Fresh and...
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Posted on Jan 6, 2006 in Do, Return to Ireland | 3 comments

The Fergusons of Gubbeen

While looking at the RTÉ website the other day I came across a piece on the Nationwide programme about the Ferguson family of Gubbeen, outside Schull in West Cork. Tom and Giana Ferguson have worked Gubbeen Farm for more than thirty years, starting to produce their delicious prize-winning Gubbeen Cheese in...
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Posted on Jan 4, 2006 in Bake, Living in New Zealand | 16 comments

A New Zealand classic: Ginger Gems

A New Zealand classic: Ginger Gems
One of the kitchen items that I regretted having to leave in New Zealand were my gem irons. Gem irons – cast-iron baking tins, divided into a dozen small curved spaces and used to make the light spicy little loaves called Ginger Gems – seem to be indigenous to New Zealand. I had never come...
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