Posted on Jun 30, 2008 in Do, Eating Out | 5 comments

Taste of Cork

Although clouds threatened, the sun shone continued to shine all day on Sunday at the inaugural Taste of Cork as crowds gathered to eat and drink in the atmospheric surroundings of the Cork City Gaol. What would the former inmates have thought if they looked out the bars of their windows at the thousands of...
Read More
Posted on Jun 30, 2008 in Do | 0 comments

Bubble Brothers – Café Mao competition

I’ve always thought that Mao was a strange name for a café/bar. Imagine a pub called Hitler or a restaurant named after Pol Pot. Or don’t. But, if you would like to enter a competition to win a meal for two, courtesy of Bubble Brothers and the introduction of their lip-smackingly good iki beer...
Read More
Posted on Jun 28, 2008 in Do, Eating Out | 2 comments

Green Saffron at Ballyvolane House

Thursday night we spent at a sumptuous banquet of Indian food from Green Saffron in a marquee on the lawn of the elegant Ballyvolane House. We were treated to an assortment of curries made with Green Saffron spice blends, served on fragile-looking yet surprisingly long-lasting leaf plates, and accompanied by...
Read More
Posted on Jun 24, 2008 in Grow | 5 comments

Food for Free: Elderflower Cordial

Food for Free: Elderflower Cordial
Our half-acre plot is surrounded by mature trees, including several elders that are currently blossoming in a profusion of heady-smelling, cream-coloured flowerheads. Rather than just admiring them this year and thinking – afterwards, of course – that I should have made elderflower cordial, last...
Read More
Posted on Jun 24, 2008 in Do | 2 comments

Spicendipity goes live

If you’ve been a fan of Deborah’s Humble Housewife blog – she’s now blogging at taste.ie – check out her new venture at the beautifully designed Spicendipity, which sells a selection of spice mixes, sauces and baking mixes, alongside some gorgeous gift baskets. Press release...
Read More
Posted on Jun 23, 2008 in Grow | 2 comments

The first egg!

The first egg!
On Saturday – two weeks after our (supposedly) point-of-lay pullets arrived – there was great excitement when the Husband discovered a little egg, still warm, on the bottom of the hen house. Unfortunately, by the time he found it, it was already cracked, proving that our chickens still haven’t got...
Read More
Posted on Jun 19, 2008 in Cookery Books, Read | 4 comments

A Table in the Tarn by Orlando Murrin

A Table in the Tarn by Orlando Murrin
Open any page in A Table in the Tarn and you’re likely to be seduced. I got stuck in the Deserts, Petits Four and Chocolates chapter, with recipes for Blackcurrant Leaf Sorbet, Home-Made Vanilla Marshmallows and Cocoa-Nib Florentines but, once I tore myself away from the sweet things, there was much...
Read More
Posted on Jun 17, 2008 in Bake | 4 comments

Ballyvoddy Tea Brack

Ballyvoddy Tea Brack
I’m not much of a fruitcake fan but Tea Brack is an altogether different story. Because the fruit is soaked overnight it avoids the dryness that can often spoil a fruitcake, cuts into gorgeous thick slices and responds particularly well to being generously buttered and served with large pots of tea. The...
Read More
Posted on Jun 14, 2008 in Cook, Grow, Storecupboard Specials | 0 comments

A simple salad: Jack McCarthy’s Air-Dried Beef and Parmesan Salad

A simple salad: Jack McCarthy’s Air-Dried Beef and Parmesan Salad
With such fantastic air-dried beef, there’s little need to gild the lily. A simple salad The freshest of salad leaves from your garden or Gairdín Eden A few slices of Jack McCarthy‘s air-dried beef Gabriel or Parmesan cheese A small clove of garlic, crushed A lemon Good quality extra virgin...
Read More
Posted on Jun 10, 2008 in Storecupboard Specials | 2 comments

Jack McCarthy Meats

Craft butcher Jack McCarthy is a passionate man. Make a visit to his shop in the middle of the main street in Kanturk and be prepared to learn all about his wide range of award-winning meat products. On a quick visit to the town to meet up with the Editor earlier today, I called in to pick up some of my...
Read More
Posted on Jun 10, 2008 in Do | 0 comments

Ongoing upgrade issues

You may have noticed some random design issues around here recently, as well as messed-up links, comments not working and the like. I’m still trying to figure out my MT upgrade and, of course, my computer hard disc managed to flatline in the middle of all of this. At the moment I’m lucky to be...
Read More
Posted on Jun 9, 2008 in Do, Grow | 5 comments

Hens at the cottage

Hens at the cottage
My Nana always kept hens. As a child, I spent a lot of time at her house – just the other side of the hill from where we now live – and hens were an ever-present, taken-for-granted part of growing up. Previously my Nana, a trained and skilled poultrywoman, had kept flocks of hens for breeding;...
Read More
Posted on Jun 3, 2008 in Cookery Books, Read | 0 comments

The Book of Sweet Things by Seán and Kieran Murphy

The Book of Sweet Things by Seán and Kieran Murphy
It was only a matter of time before Kieran Murphy’s entertaining Ice Cream Ireland blog made it to the printed page. The Book of Sweet Things, written by Kieran and his brother/business partner Seán, tells the story of how two Americans got into the ice cream business in Dingle. Murphys’ Ice...
Read More