Bibliocook: All About Food

Super Natural Cooking: Five Ways To Incorporate Whole and Natural Ingredients into Your Cooking by Heidi Swanson (Ten Speed Press)
Blogger, photographer, graphic designer and passionate cook Heidi Swanson demystifies unfamiliar health shop ingredients in Super Natural Cooking, a cookbook that drags the world of whole foods very firmly into the 21st century. Nothing is complicated, all is creative and original and Heidi is an encouraging teacher. This is a satisfyingly chunky book, designed with love and attention to detail. Must Cook: Giant Crusty and Creamy White Beans with Greens

Chocolate and Zucchini by Clotilde Dusoulier (Marion Boyars Publishers)
For fans of her food blog, Clotilde needs no introduction and the warm and friendly tone of her writing translates as well on to the printed page as it does online. There are lots of entertaining tips, French-style, from choosing a decent cheeseboard to thoughtful wine notes and many of the recipes come with invaluable suggestions for cooking ahead. A charming insight into 21st century French home cooking. Must Cook: Pain d'Epice

Nobody Does it Better: Why French Home Cooking Is Still the Best in the World by Trish Deseine (Kyle Cathie)
An Ulsterwoman who now lives in France, Trish Deseine is a well-known cookery writer in her adopted country, with five bestselling cookbooks under her belt. In this attractive book, her official English debut, she explains how to cook comme une femme Française. Trish places great emphasis on simple - but very high quality - ingredients, successfully demystifying French attitudes to food. Must Cook: Cream of Puy Lentil Soup with Hazelnuts

Cheat's Cuisine by Aoileann Garavaglia (Curragh Press)
Based on her Saturday column in the Irish Independent, Aoileann Garavaglia's Cheat's Cuisine is a selection of dinner menus that can be put together in just 60 minutes. Divided into seasons and occasions - North African Twist in Winter, Mother's Day Lunch for Spring - Aoileann gives a detailed and colour coded time plan (oh-so-familiar to me from school!). Some of the colours aren't the easiest to see so make sure you prop up the cookbook in a bright corner of your kitchen. Nothing is difficult, ingredients are easy to source and you will get plenty of ideas even from just looking at the index in this cookbook. Must Make: Baked Cheese in a Walnut Crust

2007 was definitely the year of food bloggers' cookbooks - next year I'm particularly looking forward to the ice cream book from Kieran Murphy of Ice Cream Ireland. A good excuse, methinks, for picking up the ice cream making attachment for my KitchenAid?! Happy Christmas to all, I'm off to make this year's batch of Cranberry Orange and Port Relish...

Although I've been immersed in study, there is (somehow!) always time for reading cookbooks. Here are a few recommendations for Christmas.

Cook Simple by Diana Henry (Mitchell Beazley)
I'm a fan of Diana's Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons and last year's Roast Figs, Sugar Snow so I was looking forward to reading Cook Simple and it's remained on top of the pile ever since. Here you'll find brilliant ideas for dinners, and plenty of them, with influences from Sweden, Sicily, Turkey and Georgia. Divided into chapters based around easily available core ingredients - pasta, fish, sausages, leg of lamb - with seasonal vegetables and fruit in their own sections, Diana gives lots of recipes and ideas to make mealtimes easier. Must Make: Roast Squash, Feta and Black Olive Salad.

Food From Friends edited by Kate Fraser for the Matthew Fraser Motor Neuron Charitable Trust
When I lived in Christchurch, NZ, I would always pick up The Press every Thursday for Zest, Kate Fraser's weekly food section. When her son was diagnosed with Motor Neuron disease, the Matthew Fraser Motor Neuron Charitable Trust was set up and this book of recipes is a fundraiser to help provide for his care needs. Charitable cookbooks are only worth picking up if they actually have decent recipes; with contributors ranging from Paris-based American food writer Patricia Wells and European Peasant Cookery author Elizabeth Luard to homegrown writers like Ray McVinnie, Fiona Smith, Peter Gordon and Lois Daish this is not a problem with Food From Friends. Great recipes - and a good cause. Food from Friends is available here. Must Make: Roasted Vegetable Flatbread Pizza

The Creators: Individuals of Irish Food by Dianne Curtin (Atrium)
Fifteen producers are featured in Dianne Curtin's The Creators, a wonderful picture of the artisan food available throughout Cork city and county. Profiles of people like organic beef farmer (and the woman behind our favourite Brown Envelope Seeds) Madeline McKeever, chocolatier Eve St Ledger and fisherman Cornie Bohane are all followed by Dianne's own recipes, chosen to make the most of that producer's ingredient. As well as the chocolate, cheese, beef, poultry, vegetables and fish featured here, Dianne includes a directory of other producers so that readers have the chance to discover even more local delicacies. Must Make: Carrot and Gin Soup (with Cork Dry Gin!)

Wild Garlic, Gooseberries… and Me by Denis Cotter (Collins)
Denis Cotter's third cookbook is an enthusiastic insight into his creative process and the symbiotic partnership he has with the growers who provide the local produce that he uses in Café Paradiso. This is a journey through stories about and recipes for vegetables both familiar - cabbages, kale, watercress - and the more unusual varieties, like oca or yams, salsify and scorzonera. Wild Garlic... is a book to whet the appetite and stimulate the brain. Must Make: Damson Membrillo

Breakfast, Lunch, Tea by Rose Carrarini (Phaidon)
A tempting role call of recipes that includes six different types of scone, five soups, four variations on pancakes and a substantial selection of sweet and savoury tarts, cakes, biscuits and tray bakes. Must Make: Brownie Cheesecake

Time to Eat by Gary Rhodes (Penguin)
I've never been a fan of Mr Rhodes but Time to Eat is great. Organised according to the amount time that you have, from No Time to Cook to Cooking for Pleasure - When Time Doesn't Matter, there are plenty of simple and tasty ideas to try out. The pictures of beautifully plated food were also surprisingly useful when I was trying to concentrate on presentation for school, could have done without all the photos of Gary in his tight white t-shirt, though! Must Make: Fiery Mushrooms on Toast

More to follow...

Christmas is coming/The goose is getting fat... and it's more than time to have your Christmas lists made and almost completed. This year, between living out of the city and being completely immersed in the Ballymaloe Cookery Course, it's almost crept up on me - and I know that I'm not the only one! Here are a few present ideas for your similarly-food orientated friends.

After the course, I'm interested in a whole new kitchen makeover, complete with gas hob. Seeing as that won't be happening, it's time to take a look at the items that are in the Ballymaloe kitchen stations and see what I can add to my already bulging kitchen cupboards. Top of the list would have to be a simple cast-iron grill pan. Although I have friends that swear by them, I had never used one before but I ended up cooking so many different things this way - fish, steaks, chicken, vegetables - and I have several duck breasts (after the practices for my practical exam!) just waiting to be pan grilled, when I get my own one. QuirkyKitchen.ie is well worth taking a look around for things like this, as well as lots of other kitchen gadgets.

Despite watching various teachers manage to cut themselves on while demonstrating how (not) to use the Japanese mandolin (always a good time to busy yourself with your notes, rather than watch in close-up on the tv monitors!), it's still on my list. I have visions of slicing up cucumbers for pickling next summer, as well as plenty of potato and other root vegetable gratins.

A couple of loose-based tart tins are also something that I intend on picking up at some stage, if they're not in my Christmas stocking. I had a large one in New Zealand, bought from my favourite charity shop for $4, and loved using it. Tarts and quiches always look more spectacular when you can slip them out of the tin before presenting them.

If you - or the person that you're buying for - is based in Dublin, a voucher for the Italian School of Cookery is well worth picking up. You can get vouchers for individual classes of wine, cooking, food and song from just €60 or choose from any of their series of classes for 2008. I thoroughly enjoyed the class that I attended last year and I don't think that I was the only person there that night that made plans to go back at another stage. They're based in Rathmines so call around, especially if you want to take a look at the Italian wines, oils and preserves they also have on sale.

Online, head to Irish-based Greatfood2buy.com where you can put together a gorgeous package with seasonal Wild Cranberry and Apple Relish, a perfect addition to post-Christmas turkey sandwiches, a selection of spices and herbs in dinky little light-proof metal canisters - remember that you'll need nutmeg, cloves and star anise for your Christmas baking - and the intensely flavoured Halen Môn flavoured sea salt. Try a tiny pinch of Halen Môn with Taha'a Vanilla on top of a dark chocolate mousse to give new life to over-fed taste buds. Watch out especially for the beautifully packaged range of Le Tamerici mostarda (a pungent mustard jam, fabulous with cheese) and delicate organic jams. Greatfood2buy.com will deliver anywhere in Ireland, via An Post's Parcel Service, at a flat rate of just €7.95 but order now - last date for ordering Christmas gifts is 18 December.

Still on food, but angling towards the growing side of things, annual marjoram, chervil, sweet geranium, sage, spearmint, dill and fennel are all on my gardening list for 2008. It's also time to renew gift memberships with the Clare-based Irish Seed Savers Association. For €35 you get five varieties of seeds, three varieties of seed potatoes and a great newsletter twice a year. Also good for organic seeds and unusual varieties are Madeline McKeever's Brown Envelope Seeds (we loved the prolific Ushiki Kuri squash from Brown Envelope that we grew this year, the last one is awaiting me in the kitchen as I type) and the Organic Centre in Rossinver, Co Leitrim. Both the Organic Centre and the ISSA do a wide variety of courses, from vegetarian cooking and organic gardening to bee keeping and cheese-making and vouchers are readily available.

Best of all, if you've a little time for baking and cooking, you can make your own selection of biscuits and tasty treats for your friends and family. Nobody will turn down jars of homemade Apple and Sloe Jelly or Tomato Chilli Jam - I'm off to make piles of Choc Chip Cranberry Cookies, Ballymaloe Mincemeat Slice and Shortbread!

Practical exam over since Wednesday - not very happy with it but delighted that it is over - and two of our three final papers also done. It's the final countdown to 3.30pm, the end of exams and the end of cooking school. Tonight there's a class dinner at Ballymaloe House then it's back to Ballycotton's Blackbird for the rest of the evening. Just that final exam to get through first...

Yesterday we had our last day of cooking in Kitchen Three. It's hard to believe that we're into the final few days of the course already. At least I got to murder my first lobster before we finished up, for yesterday's Lobster with Cream and Fresh Herb lunch. The other dish I made was a Walnut and Armagnac tart with a really short, biscuity pastry and - of course - another pair of sourdough loaves. Had a bit of a disaster with the bread on Friday, however, as I forgot to put in the salt so it misbehaved and didn't turn out very well. At least the loaves yesterday were much better, which is a relief as I'm hoping to use the bread toasted under the cheese in my exam starter - A Warm Salad of Ardsallagh Goat's Cheese with Walnut Oil Dressing. After morning demo today, many of us have Cook Ahead time - my Yoghurt and Cardamom Cream needs to set overnight and at least that will be one less thing to worry about tomorrow although the time will be taken off. It's nice to think that I might get the whole dinner and bread cooked in three hours but, at this stage, I'm not so pushed about that. I just want to get finished!