It’s not exactly salad time yet but, when a gloriously sunny Sunday coincided with the local point-to-point races and the family coming round for a pre-race lunch, I couldn’t resist poking out an old bag of puy lentils (still working my way through two kitchen’s-worth of ingredients!) to combine with the last of our Ushiki Kuri squash.  Continue reading »

I’m back from Vinisud, and you can all brace yerselves for the holiday snaps, which are to follow shortly. However, in the meantime, here’s something you should know about. Spread the word – this is something the blogosphere ought to do well. Own a vine. Save a job by Stormhoek.  Continue reading »

There’s something immensely pleasing about getting the hang of a new dish. I can’t quite say I’ve mastered it, but I’m getting there: carbonara. There are hundreds of variants, but the basic idea is that you have pasta, to which is added some pancetta and some Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. And while this lot is still hot from cooking, you add some raw eggs with salt and pepper, and you stir it all in so that the heat of the pasta turns the egg into a creamy sauce.  Continue reading »

A long
awaited visit from friends from
Dublin
was recently celebrated with a bottle of champers and baking at midnight
ensued. The first time I’d made these chessey muffins, she who-shall-remain-nameless
ate six of then in one go, so I made sure I’d have the ingredients here when
she arrived. I wasn’t expecting her munchies at midnight but muffins take no
time to fling together and fling them I did, they were all eaten again by 10am
the next day.  Continue reading »

This week sees the launch of a brand new Belfast Media Group published magazine called the Pulse. Fear not, I haven’t become a publicity whore. I say this for one reason – a simple one. Because I’ll be writing a restaurant review in the monthly publication. You could rush out and buy it, as I know you all will. But much simpler would be to wait until Friday when you can see the PDF edition online and read my thoughts after a meal in Bourbon.  Continue reading »

A farcical notion has emerged from France The French president Nckolas Sarkozy wants la cuisine française to be listed by Unesco, the UN agency, as part of the world’s cultural heritage. Now I do agree that they have contributed a large amount to world cuisine over the last couple of hundred years with great chefs like Escoffier inventing some of the great culinary dishes that we now take for granted.  Continue reading »

Jacobs’s ladder, as referred to in the book of genesis, is a ladder to heaven. With this in mind and having viewed some of the sample menus on their website (http://jacobsladder.ie/) I was very much looking forward to visiting Jacobs Ladder on Nassau St in Dublin. A friend of mine had also visited this restaurant recently and heaped praise upon it so I went along with very high expectations.  Continue reading »

 Anyone who knows us and our shops, knows that we are incredibly obsessive about coffee. I’m not sure it’s healthy or that it makes much financial sense, for we spend too many countless hours tasting and trying to get it right. But that’s what we do.
Over the years, we have made many improvements, both in terms of process and taste. We’ve also moved to a Fairtrade bean and lately organic milk.  Continue reading »

                                               
Ok, I think we just ate one of the best restaurant meals of our lives last Monday night!!! We have wanted to eat in Locatelli’s for so long and were worried that we had built it up too high and that we were going to be seriously disappointed but I’m happy to report it was everything and more!!  Continue reading »

AT THE YING PALACE

What a welcome we got at the comfortable Ying Palace Restaurant in Mayfield the other night and, more to the point, what a meal! And what value!

We took Selection C on a huge menu. By the way, in addition to the main a la carte menu, there was an even better value introductory menu where you could get four courses for about €15.00. Our selection cost €19.00 per person.  Continue reading »

Have you ever been following a recipe and become totally and utterly confused with the terminology or wished that you had a chef to answer all your questions? Well today we are launching a new service which means that you have a team of professional chefs to answer any questions that you might have relating to food. We are aiming to provide an answer to any food related question within 10 hours when you post in the iFoods forum.  Continue reading »

This time out, the main focus was on Chardonnay and one of my favourites, the Pinot Noir.
Chardonnay
Chardonnay is a hugely versatile grape, capable of growing in a variety of climates from the cool of Chablis to the heat of Australia and most places in between. Climate and vinification (how’s it made) play a huge part in how it acts out in the mouth. Nothing new there, but interesting nonetheless.
We tried a Chablis and a Puligny-Montrachet, both from Chanson Père et Fils.  Continue reading »

Looking forward to Apple Blossom Time.
Dublin, Ireland, Europe.  Continue reading »

 If you have a Mac, love chocolate, and want to try your skills at becoming a chocolatier, I came across this computer game: Chocolatier by Play First.
The blurb reads:
Become a master chocolatier one ingredient at a time as you travel the world to find the best prices and maximize production… but don’t forget about those conniving competitors who wish you poorly! Do you have what it takes to conquer the world through chocolate?

Just beware of price fixing!  Continue reading »

I’m feeling seedy today but not as bad as could be expected considering the amount of food & drink consumed last night. I attended the Slow Food Event in Aubars and it didn’t disappoint.  Continue reading »

Apologies for not being around of late, the imminent business launch and work around it are keeping me from blogging as much as I’d like. Just thought I’d pop in and share this lovely recipe for roasted tomato soup! I made this last Saturday when my friend Sandie and her hubby came for dinner. We all agreed it was tasty and rich, but personally I would prefer a cream based (go figure) tomato soup! It’s based on a Gordon Ramsay recipe and serves four.  Continue reading »

Has anybody noticed the distinct lack of recipes on my blog? Yes I have too. To be honest it’s been a week of free-range pork dinners served with home-made wedges and salad bought from the Milk Market. Last night we had the not-cooking-at-all favourite of spaghetti with pancetta and I rustled up a vegetarian Indian night another evening.  Continue reading »

I always loved birthdays in elementary school. There were so many special privileges. Line leader for the day. Choosing a picture book to read to the class. Wearing a birthday crown. And of course, TREATS for the class!  Continue reading »

Another dish I made over the weekend was Chicken Piccata. Ok, I shouldn’t say I made it, it was actually my mom’s idea. But I like to think I helped out with the preparation.
We were going to loosely base the dish off of this Chicken Piccata recipe, but wound up taking another route. Instead of white wine and capers, we decided to go with a flour coating and lots of lemon.  Continue reading »

 I just booked a place at the Irish Blog Awards, which is rapidly creeping up on us, and anyone who wants to go and hasn’t booked had better get over to the awards site pronto, because it’s almost booked out!  Continue reading »