Chocolate has a long, dark history. The Olmec, Mayan and Aztec civilisations of modern-day used cacao beans as currency, while this ancient “drink of the Gods” was originally consumed in liquid form. Chilli pepper and vanilla were commonly added as flavourings.
Enough odes to this intoxicating drug have been written already. Suffice to say, however, that…  Continue reading »

CheapEats is due to be featured on Today FM’s excellent Last Word show this evening!
Update: it looks like we might be on tomorrow instead. We’ll keep you posted.
Peter will be on, talking to Matt Cooper about food blogging and how to eat well while times are tough.  The show runs from 4.30…  Continue reading »

This isn’t strictly food related, but because it’s a) a survey carried out on behalf of Love Hearts and b) it made me laugh, I’m letting it go.The Barnes a while back dumped someone by blog.  Continue reading »

For anybody who didn't catch me not winning on Heat last week, you can see my recipes here
in case anybody is not familiar with Tarte Tatin, it is not just apple tart, and therefore not boring, it's a French classic and if it's good enough for Kevin Dundon, it's good enough for anyone (it's all coming out now). Also I would say to anyone who can't afford to eat the calories in a desert, go to the gym and lay off the choccy bars!!!  Continue reading »

Ok, so we’re jumping on the Great Pancake Bandwagon today. One day of pancake-mania where you’d swear you couldn’t get a pancake the rest of the year.
They’re actually a Saturday breakfast staple in the Kane household, where all three of our munchkins line up along the breakfast bar, patiently waiting their turn. At the ages of 3, 2 and 1, you’ll get patience isn’t generally a virtue, which shows how quick this recipe really is.  Continue reading »

Let us suppose that your take on Lenten abstinence is a secular one, and the height of your ambitions for the weeks ahead is to deprive yourself of this or that perceived treat with the consolation that you may, as a by-product, get closer to the correct shade of lissom for your swimsuit, or put by enough for a new golf club, or whatever.  Continue reading »

Let us suppose that your take on Lenten abstinence is a secular one, and the height of your ambitions for the weeks ahead is to deprive yourself of this or that perceived treat with the consolation that you may, as a by-product, get closer to the correct shade of lissom for your swimsuit, or put by enough for a new golf club, or whatever.  Continue reading »

I have loved Pancake Tuesday ever since I was a child, standing on a chair so I could reach the cooker to make stacks and stacks of pancakes. It sometimes took a long time before the family was satiated! Since those crêpe-making days, the thinner the better, I’ve become a fan of fluffy American pancakes and I’ve yet to decide which way the pancake batter is going to go this evening.  Continue reading »

The very very nice Winding Stair restaurant on the quays in Dublin is currently doing a lunch special – two courses for €15.95 or three courses for €20.95.  I’ve eaten there before and can vouch for its loveliness, and it’s one of Ireland’s Bib Gourmand restaurants for 2009.  However, I did hear on the radio…  Continue reading »

Enough of talking the talk. It’s time to get out and try some wine.
Perfect timing too as Håkan Eriksson will be putting a nice selection of wines together for a Rhône valley tasting this Thursday from 6.30pm in Enowine in Dublin’s IFSC.
Rhône can produce fantastic wines and some of the best wines in the world are produced here.  Continue reading »

Last month, I named Cafe Leon as one of my favourite cheap eats in Dublin. Not everybody agrees. My good friend Roisin, who always provides me with reliable advice, had a bad experience there recently.
I’ve always liked Cafe Leon but friends give it mixed reviews. What do you think?
Lunch at Leon
In Leon today I paid…  Continue reading »

The importance of decent wine glasses cannot be over estimated.
There are a couple of do nots when buying wine glasses -
1. No Cut Crystal – while they may be popular as wedding present they make it more difficult to get a good look at the wine.
2. No coloured glass – Standard clear glass being the only order of the day !
3. No logos on the glass – Again just makes it more difficult to see the wine.  Continue reading »

I tried out Tante Zoe’s “Credit Crunch Lunch“on Saturday with a friend. The Cajun/Creole restaurant is located on Crow St in Temple Bar, and they’re offering a selection of main courses for €8.50. We had both heard good things from other people, though I’ve also read a few fairly ambivalent reviews, so it was…  Continue reading »

For this week’s Sunday lunch we had a chicken from SuperValu that cost a whopping €2.79! All Supervalu chickens were half price this weekend and that’s not all, along with the chicken were six free tomatoes, one free red pepper and one free green pepper. How good a deal is that?  Continue reading »

Happy Pancake Tuesday!  I hope you have your batter ready!  If not find the recipe in the post below.  This caramel apple sauce is perfect for pancakes and ideal to jazz up pancake Tuesday.  I’m in Stockholm and away from the kitchen this week so have a few pancakes on me.

Caramel Apple Sauce
I originally made this to go with pancakes but it works so well as part of other desserts like waffles, ice cream, and even my American style oaty pancakes!

75g of butter.  Continue reading »

Organic tillage in Ireland has a lot of potential but few practitioners, despite supportive rule changes and a strong market.
One man who took the plunge recently is Brian O’ Regan of Kinsale. Brian farms 100 acres of tillage. Depending upon the year and rotation, he grows oats, triticale, beans and wheat.
“I was conventional in 2005, but, after the sprays and fertilizers, there was noting out of it” he tells me. “I was always interested in organic.  Continue reading »

In the world of food bloggers, many of us share a favorite. Some of us know her as the Orangette, others know her as Molly Wizenberg. But whatever you like to call her, Molly  is one of the most inspiring food writers I have ever come across and she just came out with her first book! Full of tried and true recipes and meaningful anecdotes, I can already tell that A Homemade Life is not just another recipe book: It’s the story of her life told through her love of food and cooking.  Continue reading »

My lovely employers Oxfam Ireland are hosting the following events for Fairtrade Fortnight:
St Georges Market, Belfast Saturday 28 February 9am-3pm
Oxfam is hosting Divine Chocolate’s Master Chocolatier who will demonstrate various techniques for using and cooking with chocolate.
Oxfam Fair Trade Shop Galway Saturday 28 February
The Divine Chocolate fountain will visit the Galway shop
Oxfam Fair…  Continue reading »

For anyone wanting more food blog reading, The London Times published a list of their top 50 food blogs which is well worth spending some time with. It’s got lots of old favourites – Chocolate and Zucchini is in there, along with 101 Cookbooks, Chez Pim and David Lebovitz – but there are plenty more to discover.  Continue reading »

It’s that time again – Taste and Create time and this month I was paired with Cooking in an Apron. It was really tricky deciding which recipe to make from this blog because as I went through it I had noticed about a dozen that I’d love to try and a few I think I will after this anyways but I decided to make the caramel filled chocolate cookies mainly because I haven’t made cookies in forever!  Continue reading »