Posted on Mar 29, 2010 in Life | 6 comments

New shoes

New shoes
It’s been a big week in the life of a Little Missy. She’s been happy to stand up and cruise around the furniture ever since we were in New Zealand then, two weeks ago, just shy of 11½ months, she took off. Starting with little unsteady forays in the sitting room, she started to walk on her...
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Posted on Mar 28, 2010 in Do | 0 comments

IBA 2010 winners

And the winner of the 2010 Irish Blog Award in the Food/Drink category is… Good Mood Food! Congratulations to Donal, and to 9 Bean Row, the foodie winner of the Best Newcomer award. You can see the rest of the winners are here. Wonder how many sore heads there are in Galway this...
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Posted on Mar 25, 2010 in Cookery Books, Read | 6 comments

The Country Cooking of Ireland by Colman Andrews

The Country Cooking of Ireland by Colman Andrews
If Failte Ireland want to use just one thing to promote Ireland overseas, The Country Cooking of Ireland is the book that they need to thrust into the hands of potential tourists.  Writer Colman Andrews has impeccable pedigree – one of the founders of Saveur, the author of books on Catalan, Italian...
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Posted on Mar 22, 2010 in Grow, Work | 0 comments

SilverCircle.ie: Saving the seeds

SilverCircle.ie: Saving the seeds
When Madeline McKeever’s dairy farm proved uneconomic, she started saving her own seeds out of financial necessity. Now her company, Brown Envelope Seeds, sells a wide variety of organic seeds, all saved on her west Cork farm. She talks to Caroline Hennessy about turning adversity into opportunity....
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Posted on Mar 22, 2010 in Do | 1 comment

Irish Blog Awards 2010: food/wine finalists

Irish Blog Awards 2010: food/wine finalists
The list has been radically slimmed down! Good luck to the five worthy finalists in the Best Food/Drink category for this year’s Irish Blog Awards, which are taking place this Saturday in Galway. Good to see some of our regular favourites – Ice Cream Ireland, Daily Spud (both previous winners at...
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Posted on Mar 17, 2010 in Do | 0 comments

Paddy’s Day Food Parade

Paddy’s Day Food Parade
Before you run out of St Patrick’s Day, scoot over to the Daily Spud to view her parade of food, with floats loaded up with all things Irish, including Beef and Guinness, Soda Bread, potatoes, plenty of whiskey and my own Potato Apple Tart. Lots of happy eating...
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Posted on Mar 16, 2010 in Bake, Read | 6 comments

St Patrick’s Day: Potato Apple Tart

St Patrick’s Day: Potato Apple Tart
With St Patrick’s Day being tomorrow, one’s thoughts turn to food. Specifically food of an Irish sort, which includes, naturally enough, all things potato. So when I was reading through my recently acquired copy of Margaret Bates’ Talking about Cakes with an Irish and Scottish Accent, her...
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Posted on Mar 15, 2010 in Work | 0 comments

The Irish Mail on Sunday: Ten Green Bottles…

The Irish Mail on Sunday: Ten Green Bottles…
…brewing under the stairs. Homebrewing used to be all about making gallons of strong, cheap beer, with a very limited focus on flavour. Now, in the 21st century, it has taken on a new life with aficionados producing fine beers from homemade breweries. Caroline Hennessy talks to a new generation of...
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Posted on Mar 14, 2010 in Do, Food Events | 0 comments

Choice in the Country: where are we now?

Choice in the Country: where are we now?
In 2006 I wrote an article in reaction to the announcement that US magazine Saveur was about to publish a piece on Ireland as a foodie destination, wondering just what these “mythical gastrotourists” would find if they ventured off the beaten track. The quotes from that piece used in...
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Posted on Mar 11, 2010 in Do | 2 comments

Irish Blog Awards: long shortlist just released

Congratulations to all those on the long shortlist for this year’s Irish Blog Awards, particularly the 25 competing in the best food/drink category. Sadly Bibliocook didn’t make it through this year but the list below will give you a good chance to catch up with what is going on in the Irish...
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Posted on Mar 10, 2010 in Do | 1 comment

MyKidsTime

MyKidsTime
When you have a child, you suddenly have something in common with a lot of other people and I’ve discovered that this new world of parenthood can be a lot easier to negotiate with friends in a similar position, whether in the real world or online. One of the sites that I use is called MyKidsTime.ie,...
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Posted on Mar 8, 2010 in Bake | 6 comments

International Women’s Day – let’s bake cake! Chocolate Sheet Cake (and cupcakes)

International Women’s Day – let’s bake cake! Chocolate Sheet Cake (and cupcakes)
It’s not that I need an excuse to bake, especially if there’s a cake and/or chocolate involved, but the radio was so full of International Women’s Day blather today – George Hook was particularly enjoying himself with his list of “top ten females” on Newstalk! – that...
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Posted on Mar 4, 2010 in Travel | 5 comments

Volcanic pizza

Volcanic pizza
Blue skies plus a good morning’s work under my belt were the perfect excuses for heading off to my favourite farmers’ market in Mahon Point today. It seemed that I wasn’t the only one with that idea as I got stuck in traffic during the lunchtime rush there and our first choice for lunch...
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