Although there has been lots of salad planted in the garden on recent weekends, including mustard greens, rocket and mizuna (at least I’ll be able to distinguish between the plants after cramming in Ballymaloe for the salad leaves and herbs exams!), it’s going to be a while before any of the leaves are big enough to eat.  Continue reading »

The Mary Dorgan and the Siobh.  Continue reading »

Dublin, Ireland, Europe.  Continue reading »

Who doesn’t love a good batch of fajitas? Whether steak, prawn, chicken or vegetable, they are sure to go down a treat! Growing up we ate fajitas every couple of weeks. Unfortunately it was usually from a mix and my Mom insisted, and still does, on putting mushrooms into it. To this day Mom still uses a mix, but I find this recipe so easy and so incredibly tasty that there’s really no need for a commercial mix.  Continue reading »

Apologies to one and all for the lack of posting the last few weeks. It’s all due to the annual combination sucker punch of car insurance, tax, MOT and all the fixing needing to be done to pass MOT that has left me as skint as hell. So restaurants have taken a back seat until next weekend where I’ll finally be dining in Tedfords (as long as they come back and tell me my booking is secured!).But, on to more important matters.  Continue reading »

As I mentioned in my post on Preparing for Passover, one of the things I was most excited to eat this holiday was matzah brie. A common staple in my Passover household, we had a request in the comments for some tips on just how to make the yummy fried matzah egg concoction.
The process is actually quite simple. Think of it as making scrambled eggs – you’re just adding matzah. But, you do have to be careful not to overestimate your egg to matzah ratio.  Continue reading »

If a dry mammy Riesling and a daddy Chablis got together and had a baby in Austria, this would be their lovechild, the Domäne Wachau Smaragd “Terrassen” Grüner Veltliner 2006.
Excellent dry fruity lemon zest and pear drops with a lot of mineral knocking about (lick a clean wet pebble to see what I mean. Seriously, it works). High acidity, dry and long lasting all in perfect harmony.  Continue reading »

We seem to be having lots of dishes recently, inspired by the north of Africa. Last week it was the other half’s turn to slave over the stove (or Barbecue in this case) as he made Grilled lamb kofta kebabs with pistachios and spicy salad wrap from Jamie Oliver’s book Jamie at home. I am very grateful to Jamie as he has very helpfully put the recipe on his website and I don’t have to type it out.  Continue reading »

As Hillary mentioned last week, Saturday night began the eight days of the Jewish holiday Passover. And to kick off this Passover blog Mr. Matzah Ball (pictured above) would like to welcome you to the world of Passover cooking. Where flour, corn and rice are off-limits and matzah meal abounds!  Continue reading »

When I said on my blog a few weeks ago that “The Woodford River Disaster” was my first poem my friend Isabel informed me that I had written one for her 19 years ago (on this week) when she achieved a certain significant birthday.  Continue reading »

 This was just passed on to me:
If you want to start making your own ice cream, Aldi has an inexpensive domestic ice cream maker on special for €29.99. I don’t know the brand so I can’t vouche for the quality, but no doubt it will do the trick…
Technorati tags: Aldi, domestic, ice cream, maker.  Continue reading »

I’ve blogged a cannelloni recipe before, a rather tame vegetarian option. I had a hankering for some cannelloni this weekend, but wanted a luscious meaty version. I came up with this and everyone was thrilled. The tubes are stuffed with a rich and flavoursome ragu and are nestled in a bed of cheesy bechamel topped with buffalo mozzarella and parmesan. I used 1lb of sausage meat and 1lb of ground beef. You could really use any combination of ground meal you like.  Continue reading »

This dish was sooo tasty!! The beef was meltingly tender, the sauce was lightly spicy and creamy and delicious!! Just perfect with some rice and naan and nothing else. Even my super finicky sisters thought it was lovely and the leftovers reheated really well so it’d be a really handy make-ahead party dish!  Continue reading »

Lacking my once-easy access to a variety of shops, providing me with a large assortment of ingredients to play with, these days I tend to concentrate on the products available in Urru and have also become a habitué of my local health food shops.  Continue reading »

Price more important than taste: Caltech study reinforced – decanter.com – the route to all good wine
Come on down and shop at Bubble Brothers – nothing under €500 a bottle!  Continue reading »

We’ve had on the list for some time now a selection of Italian red wines from Contarini (beware: musical website), which are tasty and affordable, and my favourite of which is the Molise, chocolate-y and smooth beyond what you’d expect from its generic ‘good with red meat’-type back label. Contarini is based in the Veneto, but offers wines from around the country. It’s a biggish company by the standards of our suppliers generally.  Continue reading »

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I know, I know, I’ve been such a bad blogger…And I’m sorry, really I am. So I brought a peace offering! It’s an Indian Feast and it’s delicious!!! See?

So I’m going to bring you some lovely recipes and then maybe you’ll forgive me??!I knew you would!!!!  Continue reading »

I happened on this, which I hope will cheer you up if you’ve had the misfortune to read the newspapers and it’s too cold and windy to go out. ドラゴンクエストモンスターズ紙工作 : DragonQuest Paper crafts.  Continue reading »

Today I made an old favourite, apple crumble. Easy, quick and good with ice cream or custard.
3 cooking apples2oz margarine4oz plain flour10z sugar (caster or brown) + 1 tbsp
1) Peel the apples and dice. Stew in a pot with the 1 tbsp of sugar until they’re soft but have a little bite.2) Put in the bottom of a glass dish.3) Combine flour and margarine in a food processor, and then stir in the sugar.4) Cover the apples evenly, using fingertips to compact slightly.  Continue reading »