I think my rant last week may have paid off as whoever was reading by blog ‘upstairs’ switched the lights back on and we had the loveliest weekend so far this year. To make the most of it, we headed out to Curragh Chase with the dog on Sunday with a stop made to Caroline Rigney’s on the way home. I picked up some home cured bacon & 6 eggs from some of her rare breed pigs & hens.  Continue reading »

Alessandro Speri’s Malbecs, the only Argentinian wines on our list, are beginning to find a loyal following here, and I hope the encouraging notice in The Best of Wine in Ireland 2008 helps.

Here’s another small reason for Italian Alessandro to be cheerful this morning: VinoDuo.com: A Couple of Wine Lovers.  Continue reading »

                                          
I’m going to apologise in advance for the amount of soups that will be on this blog over the next few weeks as I have  decided to make a new soup every Monday!!!  Continue reading »

The gribiche sauce is an emulsioned sauce with a twist: instead of using raw egg yolks, it uses cooked egg yolks. This sauce is the traditional accompaniment of veal head.

Recipe for 1/4 litre of finished sauce:

1 cooked egg.

1 tablespoon of chopped capers.

1 tablespoon chopped chervil.

1 tablespoon chopped tarragon.

1 tablespoon chopped flat parsley.

2 tablespoon red wine vinegar.

2.5 dl good vegetable oil.

salt and pepper.  Continue reading »

Apologies for the loss in transmission for the last while. My hosting company decided to play silly buggers and, as we were in New Zealand on an in impromptu trip to surprise the Husband’s grandfather for his 80th birthday, it was a little difficult to sort out. Still, I’m back now and ready to start eating my way through 2008!  Continue reading »

 Given that all of the ice cream recipes I have given here call for egg yolks, I wanted to re-visit meringues, since they are such an obvious solution in terms of what to do with the egg whites. I wrote up a recipe before here, but I think the following is simpler and better.
Meringues are a lovely dessert – crunchy puff of sweetness on the palate. They can be enjoyed on their own, with whipped cream, or with ice cream and fruit.  Continue reading »

This one’s all about the Cherry Coke. In fact, it’s the most cherry-like wine I’ve ever had. There’s also a bit of smokiness but not much else.
It’s very very very smooth, fruity with a long finish, but lacks complexity – i.e. it’s smoky cherryness all the way, with nothing much else to offer.  Continue reading »

It was a toss-up for the title space between this story and one about Moet & Chandon being fined thirty big ones in France for advertising their products.
Moet’s La Nuit est Rose campaign was condemned for creating an association between drinking pink Champagne and leading a wonderful life.

I mean, I know what the Association Nationale de Prevention en Alcoologie et Addictologie are getting at, but really.  Continue reading »

  It looks like a photo or two from my brother and my “Caught with Ice Cream” series from last year will find a second life as they should appear on the Tubridy show on RTE television tonight.
I have no idea in what fashion, except I think it will be part of a photo montage. Apologies to Bertie and Enda in advance in case ice cream is used against them.  Continue reading »

There is recipe for what is widely considered as one of the best example of the classic French sauces: the vinaigrette. Its English translation says it all: French dressing. It is believed that it is a French migrant: le chevalier d’Albignac (1739-1825)* that introduced the way of dressing salads with a seasoned mixture of oil and vinegar to the London High society.
The vinaigrette is “the odd one” of the sauce world.  Continue reading »

Hi all,
I’ve not deserted the blogging world, it’s just that I’ve had my wisdom teeth out and so my diet this week has consisted of rice pudding, soup and mash. Not exactly blogging material!  Continue reading »

I was sent this this food video today and must say they really have gone for the shock factor! It’s from canada and am guessing that the TV regulators must be pretty liberal there as there is no way you’d ever get away with that on this side of the pond!  Continue reading »

One of the first questions people ask you when you are introduced as a chef is “Have you ever spat in the food?”. There just seems to be a fascination with what goes on behind the closed doors of the kitchen! Now i can personally say that I have never done anything remotely like that although you can be pushed to the limit by needy customers especially working for the rich and famous.  Continue reading »

I don’t know about you, but the presidential candidate with the best sushi policy is getting my vote in the primaries.
This is no joke.
Wednesday’s news of sushi tuna found to contain high mercury levels has led presidential hopefuls to publicly state how they would handle the issue.  Continue reading »

There a recipe for a classic sauce that is traditionally associated to a chicken dish: “chicken chasseur”. This sauce is thicken with molecules as a brown roux is use in that purpose.

Recipe for 6 people:

10g plain flour.

10g butter.

21/2 dl (1 cup) chicken or veal bouillon.

1 tablespoon of good tomato paste.

12 button mushrooms.

2 shallots.

1 dl (1/2 cup) good, dry, white wine.

1 spoonful fresh chervil.

1 spoonful fresh tarragon.

1 spoonful fresh parsley.  Continue reading »

Sweeney Todd:The Demon Barber of Fleet Street has finally arrived to a cinema near me and I’m celebrating pie-style. Any Tim Burton/Johnny Depp collaboration is an absolute must-see for me. Throw in Helena Bonham-Carter, Alan Rickman and a switch-blade wielding serial killer and you have the makings of celluloid perfection. And then there is pie. With the tag-line, Never Forgive.  Continue reading »

I’d love to sit here and say that the Blogger’s Choice Awards logo is proudly sitting on this blog because someone nominated me. But I’d be caught out in a second. Alright governor. I nominated myself. Well, as my Ma would say, “if you don’t blow your own trumpet…”. If you like the blog, vote for me. Thank you, and goodnight.
Log on to our news sites: irelandclick.com, irelandclick.com and irelandclick.com.  Continue reading »

It’s been awhile since I’ve written a restaurant review it seems. Hasn’t it? Somehow I’ve moved on to other things like talking about my travels, making videos, and even some cooking. I guess I haven’t been trying as many new places or eating out as much (which is a good thing!) lately either. But this past week I did try something new, and I would love to return to my old ways of sharing it with you all.  Continue reading »

I’m off to lovely Brighton for the weekend folks, to stay with my bestest, oldest friend. It’s her birthday close to my birthday, which is just gone so we are celebrating together. I’m good at stretching my birthday out to about a week and so far I’ve had a great night out, lunches with friends, dinner cooked for me, cake made for me by Laura and on and on it goes, lucky me. The cake has been eaten, so yummy it was. Therefore I have no photo, but a lovely memory.  Continue reading »