Recently in Food on the move Category

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 - Green Saffron curry - had already sold out.

While filling the bag and Little Missy's pushchair with a few other purchases (cheese and chorizo from Gubbeen, Green Saffron's fragrant mixed spice, dried goods from Len's Cereals, Arbutus wholemeal sourdough), I spotted a new arrival in the corner. With the name Volcano at the front of the stall, three people working with a neat wood-fired oven on wheels were turning out irregularly-shaped pizzas to what looked like an appreciative audience. While I regularly make pizza dough and did a workshop in building my own wood-fired oven a couple of years ago, I still haven't managed to put the two skills together and it's fairly difficult to get your hands on a decent pizza in this angle of North Cork.

This, however, is pizza that you would travel for. Rolled and stretched in front of me, the thin base, not overloaded with toppings, blistered up in the heat of the oven, was sprinkled with cheese, fresh herbs and chilli, served and eaten within minutes. Really good quality dough, a simple tomato sauce and mozzarella made the margherita worth waiting for (a 7" round for €6) but the pizza with Gubbeen salami is definitely going to be on order for my next trip to Mahon market. Talking to stallowner Simon, it seems that himself and his gorgeous oven (is it possible to have oven envy? I've pretty sure I'm afflicted) are going to be heading to the markets in Limerick's Crescent Shopping Centre (Wednesdays), Cobh (Fridays) and Douglas (Saturdays) in the near future.

Volcano is definitely one to watch out for, especially if you have the presence of mind to order your pizza first, scoot around the market while its cooking, and return to pick up a delicious lunch. Oh, and if you can finish up with some coffees from Cork Coffee Roasters and a few of  Pâtisserie Regale's café bars (don't miss the new chocolate one) then you have a lunch made in heaven - or Cork - especially if you get to eat it in the sunshine.

And goodbye to all our new friends at the noodle stalls lined up on the roadside just around the corner from where we were staying.

A few mornings of breakfasts there and we were regulars. With a choice of Pho Ga (chicken noodle soup), Pho Tofu (noodle soup with, yes, tofu) or Banh Cuon (rolled rice pancakes) from the three ladies cooking at the stalls and a bar for coffee just across the road, this was good eating.

Little Missy also enjoyed herself, getting whisked away by the drinks lady - that's her, on the left - to sit at the corner and be cooed at, clucked over and her mother queried whether she had dressed the child warmly enough!

Breakfasts back in Ireland just aren't the same.

A cup of hot coffee with milk at Café Mai, 79 Le Van Huu Street, Hanoi. Dark, strong and very sweet - there's a layer of condensed milk at the bottom of the cup - Vietnamese coffee is just the thing to get you going in the morning, and for the rest of the day.

The coffee often comes sitting in a bowl of warm water to keep it hot and with a glass of water for dilution purposes: I prefer to drink it straight, leaving the syrupy milk sitting at the bottom until the coffee is gone, then using the teaspoon to eat it from the cup.

It's a one-stop breakfast, available everywhere, and normally drunk while Little Missy inspects the kitchens, courtesy of an adoring waiting staff! I've not had the chance to eat so many meals with two hands for the last 10 months.

...to blue skies and lakeside walks, to fabulous food (we've been truly spoiled by the Husband's Mother!) and rich, dark coffees, to post-swim fish and chips and bowlfuls of fresh, seasonal fruit, to Little Missy figuring out how to pick the fresh peas from a homegrown pod and lazy bach days.

It gets more and more difficult to leave New Zealand each time but at least we're not heading home just yet. Next stop - via a brief stop tonight in Kuala Lumpur - Vietnam! I've heard there's more food to eat over there.

While in New Zealand, staying with the Husband's parents, our nearest café is actually a boutique winery called Fossil Ridge. We pass the small vineyard on our daily walk (sometimes several times a day as the Husband tries to balance lots of eating his mother's fabulous food with regular competitive brother-in-law weigh-ins!) and the walk does occasionally get a little interrupted. An attractive wooden building, set amidst olive groves and overlooking a pond covered with water lilies, the cellar door is a relaxed setting to enjoy a selection of platters and light lunches to accompany its wines. The pond also plays host to a number of ducks, which are endlessly fascinating to a Little Missy who, if she hasn't fallen asleep in the pushchair on the walk there, is often determined to make her presence felt.

We haven't yet tried much of the savoury side of the menu - too well fed at home, we are! - but we're becoming regulars for coffee, which is served with delectable little homemade cookies. Their lemon shortbread is worth checking out and they also make a crunchy Macadamia Caramel Square with locally grown nuts. Each year we visit, we also make a date to try out their wines. For NZ$7, you get to choose four out of their six wines for your tasting plate, accompanied by a few olives and walnuts (although, as the Husband pointed out, both the number of olives and quality of nuts has depreciated since our last visit in 2007).

Although it was their Pinot Noir that we fell for last time round, their latest Pinot vintage, from 2007, didn't do anything for me. I am, however, a long-time fan of their zesty, slightly honeyed Riesling (2007) and the 2008 Gewürztraminer was a spicy, aromatic mouthful.

Small enough for the personal touch and with just enough wines to taste without confusion, Fossil Ridge is well worth dropping into if you are nearby. Although tempted to try and squeeze a couple of bottles into my luggage, it might be more reasonable to track them down in Ireland. A good excuse for another visit, perhaps...

Pavlova and barbeques, hokey pokey ice cream and long blacks: we've abandoned the cold and damp of an Irish December for Christmas in New Zealand! The Husband, Little Missy and I left Cork last Saturday and eventually arrived in Nelson on Tuesday. This way LM gets to spend her first Christmas with her Kiwi family and we all get to enjoy some proper summer weather (we are, however, hoping to bring the sunshine home with us...)

This time we travelled with Malaysia Airlines, who, we discovered, are brilliant at dealing with children, overnighting in Kuala Lumpur on the way. Travelling with an eight-month-old baby is a little more challenging than travelling solo, to say the least, but at least we're two to deal with one, rather than the other way round. It would have been quite useful if the one out of the two doing the packing had managed to travel a little lighter but small baby = many nappies, changes of clothes, sleeping bags, small toys and books for distraction - and that's just the carry on luggage.

One of the other advantages of coming over with Malaysia Airlines is the food. Take the Malaysian offering for meals and you won't go far wrong, with dishes like nasi lemak and beef rendang on offer. LM didn't fare as well in the dining department, both flights having only two basic Heinz baby foods but I was able to bring a good amount of food, both homemade and jarred, through security in Cork, Heathrow and KL airports without any problem.

Little Missy was great on the plane from Ireland but I wouldn't like to have been the hapless inhabitants of the room next door during that night in KL as she disregarded the eight hours time difference and stuck resolutely to her normal sleep time, which turned out to be 4.30am in Malaysia! Still, it was worth it for the break from travelling, not to mention the mugs of teh tarik, trays of roti telur and, one of my all time favourites, spicy laksa johor that we got a chance to devour while there.

Now, with Christmas almost upon us and a family wedding fast approaching, we're planted here for most of the next month. Plenty of time to soak up the sunshine, enjoy vineyard and brewpub visits, savour the fantastic food both at home - the Husband's mother is a fantastic cook - and around Nelson, and introduce LM to all her family in the southern hemisphere. Merry Christmas to all!