Currently Browsing: Return to Ireland
Posted on Sep 21, 2006 in Do, Living in New Zealand, Return to Ireland | 2 comments

Slow Food Events in Dublin, Ireland and Christchurch, NZ

Slow Food Events in Dublin, Ireland and Christchurch, NZ
Whether you’re in Dublin or Christchurch, New Zealand this weekend, there are plenty of Slow Food-organised events taking place. The Christchurch branch have their second “how to survive when ship-wrecked” morning by the sea taking place on Saturday 23 September. Led by Slow Food member,...
Read More
Posted on Sep 9, 2006 in Do, Return to Ireland | 2 comments

The Late Late food debate

The Late Late food debate
I’m not a fan of RTÉ’s Late Late Show but there was a debate about Irish food on last week’s programme which you can watch from this page. An aggressive and rambling Richard Corrigan doesn’t come off very well but Derek Davis manages to defuse the situation, while still managing to...
Read More
Posted on Sep 7, 2006 in Do, Return to Ireland | 0 comments

Rachel’s return

Rachel’s return
For all those Rachel Allen fans out there – and I know that there are lots of you! – she returns to RTÉ One next week with a new television series called Rachel’s Favourite Food at Home. A hardback cookbook to accompany the series is published by HarperCollins and it’s difficult to...
Read More
Posted on Sep 4, 2006 in Do, Return to Ireland | 4 comments

Ireland – the Food Island?

Ireland – the Food Island?
I was in the heart of County Wicklow yesterday, listening as the Irish branch of Euro-toques, a European-wide community of cooks and chefs, debated the idea of Ireland as a culinary destination. Held at the lovely Brooklodge Hotel in Macreddin Village, this was Euro-toques Ireland’s fifth National...
Read More
Posted on Aug 23, 2006 in Return to Ireland | 3 comments

Good things from Cork

Good things from Cork
Life – in the form of friends’ weddings, new babies and house buying – has gotten in the way of updates here in the last while but, even though I haven’t been cooking or baking very much recently, it hasn’t stopped me from either eating or investigating interesting new food...
Read More
Posted on Jul 24, 2006 in Eating Out, Return to Ireland | 0 comments

Restaurant Review: Mackerel, Dublin

Restaurant Review: Mackerel, Dublin
Thursday was a searingly hot day in Dublin and, even come evening time, there was little respite from the heat in the city center. Sun-warmed crowds pooled outside bars and restaurants, Mediterranean-style. It was not an evening to be indoors so, when the Boyfriend and I arrived for a 7.30pm booking at...
Read More
Posted on Jul 18, 2006 in Do, Return to Ireland | 2 comments

Summertime in Dublin

Summertime in Dublin
Ireland has recently been going through a spell of glorious weather with near-constant sunshine and temperatures in the mid to late 20s and so I’ve not stepped near the kitchen for the last while. Cooking is mostly out of the question and baking has been abandoned for the moment – very little...
Read More
Posted on Jul 9, 2006 in Do, Eating Out, Return to Ireland | 0 comments

Food at festivals – or lack thereof!

I’m at two-day Irish music festival Oxegen this weekend, although fortunately – considering the rain and muddy conditions in Punchestown racecourse yesterday – not camping. The less said about food there the better! Normal service will resume next...
Read More
Posted on Jul 6, 2006 in Do, Return to Ireland | 0 comments

Lashings and lashings of ginger beer

Lashings and lashings of ginger beer
None of the much loved Enid Blyton‘s Famous Five books that I read as a child were complete without a picnic – ham rolls, hard boiled eggs, slabs of fruit cake, tinned pears and, of course, lashings and lashings of ginger beer. The only kind of ginger drink that I came across in Ireland was...
Read More
Posted on Jul 4, 2006 in Do, Return to Ireland | 2 comments

Thoughts elsewhere on Taste of Dublin

I have to agree with Ice Cream Ireland‘s comment on the incongruous presence of Starbucks at last weekend’s Taste of Dublin. It’s difficult to see what they have to do with food at all and in Dublin in particular. RTÉ 2FM DJ Rick O’Shea also writes of his experiences at A Taste Of...
Read More
Posted on Jun 28, 2006 in Do, Eating Out, Return to Ireland | 0 comments

A sunny afternoon at Taste of Dublin

A sunny afternoon at Taste of Dublin
Friday afternoon was a good time to be at the inaugural Taste of Dublin event as blazing sunshine encouraged a cheerful and good humoured crowd to linger, sample and wander around a Dublin Castle courtyard crowded with stands and stalls. My €35 ticket (I managed to keep the dreaded Ticketmaster booking...
Read More
Posted on May 16, 2006 in Cookery Books, Read, Return to Ireland | 6 comments

Monica’s Kitchen by Monica Sheridan

Monica’s Kitchen by Monica Sheridan
Cookbook sections in secondhand bookshops can be a little hit or miss. There’s always a pile of microwave cookbooks – no one, for some reason wants to hang onto these dodgy and dated texts – a scattering of horrible diet books and often lots of ancient Family Circle publications, with their...
Read More
Posted on May 2, 2006 in Do, Return to Ireland, Travel | 4 comments

A wander round the west

Our first weekend of the year under canvas couldn’t exactly be called an unqualified success. We did actually remember to pack the sleeping bags (and Anzac Biscuit morale) but, despite such forethought, it wasn’t exactly the weather for camping in the west of Ireland. The heavens opened early on...
Read More
Posted on Apr 26, 2006 in Do, Return to Ireland, Travel | 0 comments

Sunday wandering in Dún Laoghaire

Sunday wandering in Dún Laoghaire
With the unfamiliar sun putting on a show this past Sunday, it wasn’t a day to be spent indoors so the Boyfriend and I headed out to Dún Laoghaire for a walk. As we wandered along the seafront, I had to make the inevitable detour to the People’s Park for the Sunday market (check out...
Read More
Posted on Apr 10, 2006 in Do, Eating Out, Return to Ireland | 5 comments

Coffee and cookies

Coffee and cookies
Last week I was running for a film preview screening at 10.30am but, in dire need of caffeine, I took a few minutes to grab a take-away coffee at the Butlers Irish Chocolate Café on Henry Street. I’ve been a huge fan of these cafés ever since they opened in Dublin – not so much for the coffee...
Read More

« Older Entries