Even though it’s the fourth year for Menu for Hope, it’s our first time hearing about it! So with that said, we were a little slow on the uptake this year and weren’t able to donate a prize, BUT we did make some donations for some of our personal favorites.  Continue reading »

I’ve had a couple of orders for cakes recently and this is a picture of one of them. It’s a lemony Madeira cake sandwiched with raspberry jam and butter cream icing, which went down very well at work. I am definitely getting better at icing sponge cakes after the disaster of the first one as it went on neatly first time and I didn’t have to go through three Kg of sugar paste.  Continue reading »

In my next few articles, I will be looking at what makes the difference between a good cook and a not so good one: sauces. Hundreds of thousands of them exist; they represent the gastronomic culture of a continent, of a country. Henry Babinsky, French mining engineer and writer of “gastromie pratique” defined sauces as a flavourful liquid of various consistency that enhance the main ingredient of a dish.  Continue reading »

I’m just putting some super-costly cases up on the Bubble Brothers website. It’s no harm to have that kind of thing for sale when customers turn up hoping to buy it, and of course it’s an education for us to have some of the very grand bottles in the warehouse, considering our wines generally inhabit the less rarefied end of the priceosphere.  Continue reading »

I was talking to a couple of friends the other night and we wanted to eat somewhere different so we choose a teppanyaki restaurant here in Dublin(the one above Kielys in Donnybrook for you Irish readers). I was a teppanyaki virgin and I must saw found the experience very exciting with a couple of fundamental flaws.  Continue reading »

Sometimes we really don’t turn out to be as ambitious as we hope to be. Like I said, I planned to make latkes this year, really I did! But since tonight is already the seventh night of Hanukkah, I’m not so sure that’s going to happen. SO, just like Max attests tothe premade mixes for banana bread, it turns out I’m a huge supporter of premade mixes for latkes.  Continue reading »

We launched our Joost channel today and we are just about to implement our new intro. As always we are giving you regular blog readers the exclusive! We need as much feedback as possible, be it good or bad as there will be 1000s of people seeing this in the future! Any opinions are welcome!  Continue reading »

We’re back from Greece, but our hearts are still there. The people at the Camera Zizanio Festival and the Olympia Festival showed us the most incredible week. The boys met young film-makers from all over the world and got to hang out with some great teenagers from Greece. The festival took place in the small city of Pyrgos on the West Coast. It’s a cute place full of great little restaurants, cheese shops and bakeries, but more about that on another post.  Continue reading »

Working on yachts was fun but being home for Xmas is better!
For the last 5 years i have been lucky enough to be off around the world working for some of the world’s richest people on their yachts. The upside was that i saw some of the world’s greatest places and had a wonderful time. The downside was that I have worked for the last 4 Christmas days in a row which is not something that i would recommend to anybody.  Continue reading »

  My brother and I sometimes argue about hot chocolate. He likes his made with cocoa, and I like mine with melted chocolate. Cocoa is chocolate with most of the cocoa butter squeezed out, so it’s a powder. Hot chocolates made with unsweetened cocoa are light with a lot of kick (I’ve already given a recipe for Sean’s favourite – our Extreme Cocoa). Hot chocolates made with melted chocolate, are rich and silky (think hot chocolates in Paris and see this recipe).  Continue reading »

The edible gifts continue on a well worn and rocky road. My daughter’s Christmas fair was on yesterday after weeks of much anticipation. I remember when I was at school that our fair came second in the excitement scale only to Christmas day itself. Rooms full of treasure, books and grubby raffle tickets that held the key to the giant teddy bear that would make my life complete.  Continue reading »

How did it taste?

Smells of: Apple, citrus
Tastes of: A little bit “pineappley” and very sharp, dry & crisp, strong acidity with a little bit of minerals in there somewhere.  Continue reading »

This one is a Maison Maurel Vedeau “Les Cépages” Pinot Noir “Saveurs Veritables” Vin de Pays d’Oc 2005

(Image swiped from the winemakers website, maurel-vedeau.com)
It’s pretty tough to get a Pinot Noir for under €10, let alone €20. So, when I saw this one for €9.95 in Drinkstore in Stoneybatter, I thought I’d give it a whirl.  Continue reading »

Scandinavians and Scandinavian food lovers in Dubulin Town take note: there are lingonberry and cloudberry preserves to be found in the Fair City, although the presence of an IKEA is still but a glimmer in An Bord Pleanála’s collective eye. What used to the fairly sizable Spar in Camden Street under Fitness Dock has transformed itself into the latest incarnation of the lauded Fresh supermarket – can we call it a chain at this stage?  Continue reading »

                                         
Lamb is a very popular meat in Italy and is the main dish for Easter Sunday and Christmas dinner in Bru’s house – Italians don’t eat turkey and ham!!  Continue reading »

Living in Belgium for a good portion of my youth introduced me to the continental tradition of Sinterklaas, or St. Nicholas’ feast day. Children usually leave out their socks or shoes and Sinterklaas, assisted by his friend, the politically incorrect Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) fills them up with goodies like Speculaas biscuits, sweets and fruits. Always one for sharing other cultures I decided that we would do this too with the girls.  Continue reading »

Food photography is a specialist discipline that requires skill, dedication, talent and vision. A good food stylist helps – but, hey, it’s about the photographer, right?
Here’s a video showing one of the world’s leading food photographers at work.
Truly inspirational.
www.barryholiday.com posted with vodpod.  Continue reading »

And many happy returns, sir. The Sax on the Road blog is one way of finding out more about today’s jazz birthday, Andy Williamson.  Continue reading »

 I spent today in Killarney, where “Christmas in Killarney” is in full swing. I really have to hand it to the South Kerry town – everyone pulls together on such events and the community spirit is immense.
They blocked off Main Street and had food markets and other traders (on again tomorrow and in two weeks time), and there was quite a buzz, in spite of the gales.  Continue reading »

I have a few things to get off my chest before the weekend so I figure I’ll combine them all into one post for your reading pleasure, er, reading.
Number 1.
I freakin’ love Top Chef. The holiday special was on last night, marking a competition between 8 former contestants from all three seasons. No they weren’t competing by teams this time; it was an individual affair and I have to say I really liked the format. It was an entire mini series of Top Chef in one night!  Continue reading »