“fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency and an almost fanatical devotion to the grape”

It was the enormous pleasure of Bubble Brothers to welcome winery bloggers Emilio Saez van Eerd of Casa Vides and Javier Navarro of Bodegas Tintoralba, to Cork yesterday for a flying visit and tasting.  Continue reading »

I still have to get used to this iPhone. I keep forgetting that it has a camera on it (my old N95 didn’t). So I completely forgot to get some pics up at Hilden Brewery this morning and you’ll have to do with a crap picture of some random kegs. But, you live and learn.  Continue reading »

The Turkey travel log is still coming, my focus was way more on food the second week, so keep on hanging on in there!
Datca
After a somewhat misguided trip to Symi, we had a long and bumpy sail up to the small Turkish town of Datca. It was our first visit of the trip to a Turkish town, so there was a lot on offer to do and see.We arrived into a buzzing little harbour with lots of small restaurants and shops all vying for our attention.  Continue reading »

We all know fall has officially begun. Apples are all over the place, pumpkins are making their way into our dishes, and even cranberries are coming out from their hiding place. So what’s it going to be? Do you like butternut squash soup, or is it pecan pie that you love? What is your favorite fall ingredient?
We asked our fellow Twitter users: If you could be a fall ingredient, which one would you be?  Continue reading »

I just happened to notice a Google advert at the side of this blog for the NHS titled “Alcohol: Know Your Limits”. Being the inquisitive type that I am, I clicked on it. Well, after all, in the three years this blog has been going I’ve managed the sum total of about $28 in revenue from said Google ads.You should give it a go. If it’s gone when you’re reading this, click here.  Continue reading »

Beautiful Bay, Beautiful Days

Enjoyed a few days in this brilliant September weather in Bantry, staying at the well located well run Maritime Hotel on the harbour side.
There is a cluster of eating places at the start of the square just a couple of hundred yards up from the hotel. Don’t miss the Brick Oven Pizzeria and Bistro. Yes, it has a genuine brick oven and you won’t find that in every Italian pizzeria.  Continue reading »

Stocks are at the base of most of the Classic French, meat or fish sauces. Although, hygiene regulations have clamped down on their use in French and European kitchens, I am still a big fan of them.In principle making a stock is extracting flavour and gelatine from meat, skin and bones.
First let’s have a look at the gelatine extraction process. Meat is made of water and the protein fibres that do the work of contraction which are not water soluble.  Continue reading »

There is an e-mail from Smita asking me why her phulka bread did not bubble up:
hellotoday i made phulka as mentioned in ur sitehttp://foodlorists.blogspot.com/2007/10/phulka.html but they didnt come out well, they didnt bubble up. Could u send some tips which will help me with thtor exp some imp steps in it which i should keep inmind
thanks in advance
——–
Hi Smita,I am sorry if I could only find time to answer to your now.  Continue reading »

So, I finally got an iPhone. No big deal to you, I’m sure. But I was delighted to find that I no longer needed my iPod for Podcasting. I can do it all from the iPhone. And this morning I did my very first Podcast through the phone with Michael Draine of Cafe2u. You can listen by subscribing through iTunes by clicking here or click here for the XML feed or listen directly by clicking here.  Continue reading »

Image via Wikipedia

I saw this in the Examiner last weekend and HAD to post about it.  It’s the most reasonably priced mushroom hunt I am aware of and includes a picnic lunch.  It’s also evident from the pricing structure that kids are welcome, which makes me happy.  At this point I definitely plan on being there with my two and hopefully the husband as well. Join us?  Continue reading »

After Shaking our apple tree I ended up with a basket full of apples. And since Brown Thomas already opened up their Christmas Shop at the end of August, I decided to make mincemeat so that I am prepared when the first orders for mince pies are coming in (they are the yummiest). And since it would have been a sin not to make apple pie, I decided to make a deep one and ended of course up with to much pastry to jam tarts joined the parade.  Continue reading »

I made this ages ago from Tom Kime’s book “Exploring Taste and Flavour” which has mainly asian influenced dishes, but a few more traditional ones too! This was a definite success and I’ll defo make it again!
Tom recommended a loin of Spring Lamb. To be honest I’m not sure what I used – I just told the butcher I wanted to stuff it and he picked me out a piece and butterflied it till it was flat and stuffable!  Continue reading »

I’ve always wanted to make my own caramel apples. They’re fun, they’re tasty, and they’re one of the best parts of fall. Well, this new addition to Recipe4Living is a recipe for the perfect caramel apples with a healthy twist! Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not calling these bad boys healthy, but they do incorporate trail mix into their outer caramel glaze. When was the last time you had a caramel apple with raisins and nuts?
See the recipe after the jump!  Continue reading »

Earlier today I got wind that a few of my pals have been nominated for the Irish 2008 Movie Star Web Awards being held on 11th October at the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel, Dublin. As usual the list is endless; but then there are quite a few categories so that’s to be expected.
Congratulations to Deborah Hadley of Spicendipity who has made it into the top five Best eCommerce/Services Website Award sponsored by Cybercom. Fingers crossed Deborah!  Continue reading »

As I was catching up with some of my Twitter pals I came across this little nugget; the subject of this video is Ben & Jerry’s Ice-Cream. As you all know; by now, I am a confirmed ice-cream addict whose ambition is to get down to Killarney to sample some of Kieran Murphy’s ice-cream delight in person at the source of origin.  Continue reading »

Goodness me! What it is to be popular…

This morning, while siphoning through my in-box I discovered another little snippet of interest. Okay, well it is probably only of interest to me and anyone wishing to sample the culinary delights of Tullamore, Co Offaly.
Back in February I did a review on Mezzo here in Tullamore; it seems that they liked my review as they have requested that it be included in FindaRestaurant.ie.  Continue reading »

This has been doing the rounds on the food blogosphere for a while and now I’ve finally got round to doing it myself.
Very Good Taste’s Omnivore’s 100Here’s what to do:1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.
The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:1. Venison2. Nettle tea3.  Continue reading »

You see this on a lot of Thai menus, as with every other dish served in Asian restaurants the recipe differs from house to house so there’s no set way of doing this. I’ve been cooking it as a starter or snack for a while now but eventually figured that if you add noodles to the mix it makes a great meal in a bowl. In fact, for that extra-authentic Pot Noodle experience distill the soup into a plastic pint glass and add an extra 100g of salt.  Continue reading »

Vosne-Romanée is home to Romanée-Conti, the best and most expensive red Burgundy in the world, if you can get your hands on it.
Below, Bruce Sanderson, senior ed. at Wine Spectator talks about the small area of Vosne-Romanée.

Watch more vids at Wine Spectator.  Continue reading »

Things are a bit hectic here in the kitchen, as I’m doing a lot of photographs for the book myself.  Continue reading »