Posted on Aug 27, 2008 in Do | 0 comments

Mallow Food Festival on Mooney

Willie Healy, owner of URRU Mallow and one of the organisers of the Mallow Food Festival, was on RTÉ Radio 1‘s Mooney Show today, talking about the festival, farmers’ markets and local food. You can listen to it here – it’s the programme from Wednesday 27 August – and Willie is 46...
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Posted on Aug 27, 2008 in Do | 0 comments

Countdown to Mallow Food Festival

The pressure is on – only four days to go to this year’s Mallow Food Festival – and we’re hoping for sunshine! Last year, it was a glorious day, apparently, amidst the damp gloom that was the summer of 2007 (not very different at all from summer 2008) and the kids are due back to school so...
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Posted on Aug 26, 2008 in Cook, Grow | 0 comments

Summer salads for colder days: Warm Potato and Chorizo Salad with Poached Eggs

Summer salads for colder days: Warm Potato and Chorizo Salad with Poached Eggs
We didn’t have very many new potatoes this year so those that made it into the pot were treated like gold. We planted them, as normal, on 17 March – the traditional time in Ireland for planting the spuds, as far as I know, especially when they’re earlies – but the weather was nasty...
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Posted on Aug 25, 2008 in Bake | 2 comments

Val’s Oatmeal Muffins

Val’s Oatmeal Muffins
When I get time to surf the net – not so often these days with freelancing and URRU keeping me busy – I love to go through my list of favourite food bloggers and magazines, reading their entries, picking up tips for things to try, places to visit and recipes to make. I have a list of recipes...
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Posted on Aug 23, 2008 in Do | 0 comments

Homebrewing at Ballyvoddy

I’m the Sourdough aficionado, using natural yeasts to raise my bread. Now – and it’s been brewing for a while (pun very definitely intended) – the Husband is just after taking delivery of his own yeasts as he prepares to embark on a long-discussed, thought-over and well-researched foray into...
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Posted on Aug 22, 2008 in Do | 0 comments

Green Saffron in URRU

If you’re in the Mallow vicinity tomorrow, Saturday 23 August, call in to URRU as Arun Kapil of Green Saffron will be in store between 11am and 3pm, talking about his range of fresh, intensely flavoured spice blends and Indian ingredients, offering plenty of tips and tricks for making the most of...
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Posted on Aug 18, 2008 in Do | 4 comments

Baking bread with mud

When the Husband and I stayed at Gort na Nain in May, I admired Ultan and Lucy’s recently built outdoor wood-fired oven. A sturdy stone-clad structure that they can use to bake pizza and bread, it sits in a magnificent location, on the then-sunny patio outside their kitchen, looking across the hills to...
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Posted on Aug 13, 2008 in Do, Grow | 0 comments

Fresh vegetables at Mallow Farmers’ Market

Fresh vegetables at Mallow Farmers’ Market
Despite all the recent rain and bad weather, the range of vegetables available at the...
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Posted on Aug 12, 2008 in Do | 3 comments

Launch of new Irish Food Awards

After writing about Irish success in the Great Taste Awards last week (I was also delighted to hear that my favourite Ummera smoked chicken took a Gold award), I was interested to receive this press release (see below) about the just-launched Irish Food Awards. Awards will be given in a total of 17...
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Posted on Aug 11, 2008 in Bake | 0 comments

Sweet Treats for Work: Hazelnut and Apricot Flapjacks

Sweet Treats for Work: Hazelnut and Apricot Flapjacks
When I was a little girl, one day during our summer holidays in Youghal, I caught sight of a Ladybird book called Learnabout…Cooking. I remember wanting to ask my mother to buy it for me but she had already left the shop. Fortunately, her youngest sister, at that stage still unmarried and able to come...
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Posted on Aug 8, 2008 in Food Books, Read | 0 comments

Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China by Fuchsia Dunlop

Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China by Fuchsia Dunlop
With the 2008 Olympic opening ceremony taking place today, enigmatic China is at the center of attention. Fuchsia Dunlop’s Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper uses food and cooking to successfully delve beneath the surface. *** Chef and cookbook author Fuchsia Dunlop’s memoir of her time...
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Posted on Aug 6, 2008 in Do | 0 comments

Irish winners at the Great Taste Awards

Congratulations to Greatfood.ie, who won three gongs at the recent Great Taste Awards in London with their chutneys and relishes. These awards are considered to be the Oscars of the foodie world, with 2021 producers entering almost 4800 products this year to be judged in a wide variety of categories. The...
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Posted on Aug 6, 2008 in Cookery Books, Read | 0 comments

Elizabeth David’s French Provincial Cooking

Elizabeth David’s French Provincial Cooking
What do you read while travelling in France? A stack of novels, a French phrase book – and Elizabeth David’s French Provincial Cooking. My holidays normally involve dragging at least one cookbook of the country about with me, often with a relevant Lonely Planet World Food guide. World Food France is...
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Posted on Aug 5, 2008 in Do | 3 comments

Le vinaigrier

Le vinaigrier
For me, few trips abroad are complete without some kind of local food or kitchen accessory purchase, although flying does tend to put the skids on most shopping. Getting the ferry to France this year meant that life was very much easier when looking at things to bring home. The Husband went over with the...
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Posted on Aug 1, 2008 in Do | 0 comments

Clonakilty market launch

If you’re a farmers‘ market fan and in the Clonakilty vicinity next Friday, 8 August, watch out for the launch of the town’s market at Spiller’s Lane Car Park (by the Credit Union). The market kicks off at 8.30am and Darina Allen will be doing the official opening honours at 12.30pm....
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