Posted on Mar 31, 2006 in Cook, Return to Ireland | 7 comments

Irish mussels: Mussels with Garlic and Tomatoes

Irish mussels: Mussels with Garlic and Tomatoes
Although the huge green-lipped New Zealand monsters nearly put me off mussels for life – too big and way too chewy! – last week I tried cooking Irish mussels for the first time. Coming home from work one evening I nipped in to a local shop called Donnybrook Fair to pick up some essential supper...
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Posted on Mar 29, 2006 in Cookery Books, Read | 0 comments

Moneystown’s Real Food for Real People ****

Moneystown’s Real Food for Real People ****
As charity cookbooks go, Real Food for Real People is a real gem. The book is part of a fundraising drive for Moneystown National School’s building fund and was produced and published by the Parents’ Committee in this County Wicklow village. But, even though Real Food for Real People was...
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Posted on Mar 27, 2006 in Do, Return to Ireland, Travel | 0 comments

An Irish weekend away: Terryglass, Co Tipperary

An Irish weekend away: Terryglass, Co Tipperary
After making Nic‘s Buttermilk Pancakes twice in the last ten days, I just have to sing their praises here. They take minutes to put together, don’t involve getting out the weighing scales (just use the cup measurements), are easy to cook, and – if you’re on a weekend away – the...
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Posted on Mar 25, 2006 in Kitchen | 0 comments

My new (brightly coloured!) bowls

My new (brightly coloured!) bowls
Equipped with one very large mixing bowl (also useful as a basin!) and a scattering of much smaller ones, I was in the market for a medium sized bowl or bowls. When the Boyfriend and I were in Avoca Handweavers a few weeks ago, queuing for our late lunch, I did some wandering around all the gorgeous goods on...
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Posted on Mar 23, 2006 in Cook | 2 comments

A whole new world – potato cooking: Tartiflette

A whole new world – potato cooking: Tartiflette
After so many years of steering clear of potato dishes or any recipes involving even a hint of the spud, it’s now like a whole new world has opened to me. I’m still not a fan of the floury potato, much loved in Ireland, but I have been experimenting with waxy new potatoes in dishes like...
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Posted on Mar 21, 2006 in Cookery Books, Read | 0 comments

Full on Irish: Creative Contemporary Cooking by Kevin Dundon **

Full on Irish: Creative Contemporary Cooking by Kevin Dundon **
Undoubtedly creative and definitely contemporary, Kevin Dundon’s Full on Irish is a book that is easy to admire yet, as a collection of recipes, it is not entirely successful. Too much fussing over presentation, as with the beautifully and immaculately layered Smoked Salmon Cake with Chive Cream...
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Posted on Mar 19, 2006 in Do, Return to Ireland | 4 comments

Murphy’s Ice Cream and a new Irish blogger

Murphy’s Ice Cream and a new Irish blogger
Listening to Winter Food the other day I heard an interview with Sean and Kieran Murphy of Murphy’s Ice Cream in Dingle. They take presenter Clodagh McKenna through the making of their fabulous ice cream, telling her about local milk, flavourings and types of ice cream (Mango and Chilli – is...
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Posted on Mar 17, 2006 in Do | 2 comments

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig
Ah, St Patrick’s Day. There’s very little I can say about this Irish holiday without descending to cliché but, one of the great things about being back in Ireland is that we get a day off work. If you’re not busy drowning the shamrock and having a feed of Guinness in some...
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Posted on Mar 15, 2006 in Do, Eating Out, Lovely Lunches, Travel | 2 comments

Une vacance surprise à Paris

Une vacance surprise à Paris
Last Friday, over a glass of wine and some nibbles at a city centre tapas bar, the Boyfriend – after WEEKS of mystery – handed me my passport and…a guidebook for Paris! He had told me that we were going away for the weekend, we would be spending time in a city and that I had to pack for...
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Posted on Mar 13, 2006 in Cookery Books, Read, Return to Ireland | 0 comments

Irish Food: Slow & Traditional by John and Sally McKenna & Irish Food: Fast & Modern by Paul Flynn and Sally McKenna ***

Irish Food: Slow & Traditional by John and Sally McKenna & Irish Food: Fast & Modern by Paul Flynn and Sally McKenna ***
Although these wee cookbooks are small – just 64 pages – they are beautifully formed. The Irish Food books are from the same stable that produces the Bridgestone Top 100 guides to restaurants and places to stay, as well as the Irish Food Guide – Sally and John McKenna’s Estragon Press...
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Posted on Mar 10, 2006 in Food for Friends, Kitchen | 2 comments

Cast iron cooking: Spiced Chicken Tagine

Cast iron cooking: Spiced Chicken Tagine
I have become a cast iron convert. A Thursday night dash into a post-Christmas sale at Kitchen Compliments on Chatham Street in Dublin led to me becoming the proud owner of an oval “Racing Green” enamelled cast iron Chasseur casserole dish (the Chasseur range is like Le Creuset but a little...
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Posted on Mar 8, 2006 in Bake | 2 comments

A happy accident: sesame vs sunflower seeds

A happy accident: sesame vs sunflower seeds
Last week the Boyfriend decided that it was time to move on from making bagels which, though gorgeous, are very time-consuming to something a little faster. As we both take our lunches to work, we’re going through a lot of brown bread at the moment (mostly McCambridge‘s…especially nicely...
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Posted on Mar 6, 2006 in Eating Out, Return to Ireland | 2 comments

An afternoon stop: Avoca Handweavers, Kilmacanogue

An afternoon stop: Avoca Handweavers, Kilmacanogue
Saturday night dinner for friends staying over meant a late night, a not-so-hurried rise on Sunday morning and a similarly delayed breakfast. We badly needed to blow the cobwebs away so we drove down to Brittas Bay for a long walk in the surprisingly warm sunshine (and a brief snooze on the beach!). When we...
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Posted on Mar 3, 2006 in Food for Friends | 0 comments

Bookclub brunch: Smoked Salmon, Cream Cheese and Potato Frittata

Bookclub brunch: Smoked Salmon, Cream Cheese and Potato Frittata
There are seven members of the Bibliofemme bookclub and, every month, one of us hosts a meeting where we discuss the book distributed at the previous meeting. As I had picked the last book – Witi Ihimaera’s The Whale Rider – all the Femmes were coming round to mine on Saturday and, in a...
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Posted on Mar 1, 2006 in Cookery Books, Read | 0 comments

Tom’s Big Dinners by Tom Douglas

Tom’s Big Dinners by Tom Douglas
With a subtitle that says, “Big-time home cooking for family and friends” you can’t say that you haven’t been warned. Tom Douglas, with his wife Jackie Cross, is the owner of several restaurants in Seattle one of which, Etta’s Seafood, I’ve heard about for years from a...
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