Special offers at SuperValu, valid until Saturday May 2, include:
Aunt Bessie’s Yorkshire Puddings 220g – reduced from €2.09 to €1
SuperValu Not From Concentrate 1ltr – reduced from €2.60 to €1.30
Batchelors Baked Beans 420g – 2 for €1 (save 52c)
For more details, click here.
Meanwhile, there’s a special offer on Irish striploin steaks (butcher counter only) until…  Continue reading »

The John’s Meat competition has now closed. We’ll be announcing a winner – and a brand new competiton – tomorrow. Good luck eveybody!  Continue reading »

This week’s special offers at Tesco include:
Half-price Irish strawberries 227g – reduced from €4.99 to €2.49
Buy one get one free on Coca Cola and Diet Coke 6 x 330ml pack
Half-price Finish Max 42’s – reduced from €12.99 to €6.50
For more information, click here.
Almost €5 for 227g of strawberries seems rather steep to begin with. And…  Continue reading »

This week, Dunnes are advertising a number of price drops, including:
Donegal Catch Chunky Haddock Fillets 500g – reduced from €6.99 to €5.99
SMA Progress 900g – reduced from €11.95 to €9.99
You’ll also find some half-price offers on pork (valid until May 4), half-price fish fingers (valid until May 5), and some very attractive offerings on household…  Continue reading »

Lidl, already cheap as chips, has a selection of further reductions this week, including:
Fresh Irish Striploin Steaks – reduced from €8.99 to €6.99
Goodfella’s Frozen Pizzas – reduced from €3.49 to €2.49
Large Mangoes – reduced from €1.29 to 79c
For more details on these and other bargains and special offers, click here.
Also at Lidl this week, there’s…  Continue reading »

Decanting: “Optional and controversial step in serving wine, involving pouring wine out of its bottle into another container called a decanter. ” Jancis Robinson’s Oxford Companion to Wine.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but there seems a perception among some that decanting, or letting a wine breathe, is completely unnecessary and only useful for showing off an elaborate, expensive and glorified crystal jug at the dining table.  Continue reading »

You have to feel sorry for poor old Gaius Plinius Secundus. Being buried alive in several tonnes of burning hot ash following the eruption of Vesuvius was probably bad enough, but the indignity of having one’s name mispronounced on a regular basis must be far worse. For the record, the American Heritage Dictionary will tell you how to say it here.  Continue reading »

A message from CIT students…..hope you can join them in the celebration of Irish Food
The Bealtaine Food Fest is a day of celebrating the coming of the wonderful season of summer. Summer is a time for indulging in the most simplistic and delicious foods. From fantastically fluffy potatoes to mouth watering creamy butter to the little gem that is wild garlic.  Continue reading »

Our paperless office experiment has been finished for just over two weeks now, so how did we do? Am I still managing to keep the office paper free?
As much as I have tried not to let paper back into my life a bit seems to have snuck in. There is a pile of invoices that need to be dealt with on my desk, which annoyingly takes up some of the lovely space I have become accustomed to. The book keeping side of the business was always going to be the hardest part of this task.  Continue reading »

Well, well, I feel like a very European spud today.

Thanks to the votes of you nice folks out there, this here blog was the English-language finalist for the first Euro Blog Awards. The final selection was made by way of an old-style Eurovision jury vote on Friday at the nonick conference in Bilbao and what a nail-biter it was, with the Daily Spud leading the pack until the last jury declared.  Continue reading »

A reader emails to let us know that today’s Sunday Independent has a great special offer on restaurants. By cutting out the coupon with the paper, you can get 20% off in a significant number of restaurants across Ireland.  Continue reading »

WBI – New Courses & Fine Wine/Wine Club Events
All Tastings are €45 & are from 7pm – 9pm at the Wine Board Offices, Dublin.
May 8th – Chateau PalmerCost – €45.
May 15th – Southern Stars – Cult Wines from Australia rarely seen.Cost: €45.  Continue reading »

A.  Continue reading »

Here’s the thing with Bordeaux. There’s tonnes of the stuff and it’s often hard to pick a decent one for a reasonable price.
The wines at the upper end, the iconic châteaux fetch ridiculous prices – we’re talking 100’s of euro for a bottle. For “decent” bottles you can expect to pay €40 or thereabouts. Is it worth it? Julian over at Bubblebrothers.com had a really well penned post on the perception of value (whether it’s cars or wine).  Continue reading »

Most of the credit for this “Beef & Bean Chili” recipe goes to my wife. I’ve added some nice ‘extras’ such as the oregano and chipotle, but it’s essentially her recipe. Go all out, serve with rice, sour cream, salsa, chips, wraps and a few beers. It’s really, really, really good.  Continue reading »

Today, I was in Killarney as the Special Olympics Torch arrived. We had been contacted by the Kerry Stars, our local branch, and we were happy to offer help.
We’ll be raising money for them over the weekend, in both our Dingle and Killarney shops, offering a free extra scoop of ice cream and asking for a donation in return. So far, our customers have been generous, and we hope our little effort helps make things a bit easier for the organisers.  Continue reading »

I owe you all a big apology. I haven’t been blogging the last fortnight because I’ve been a little distracted with work and by our second anniversary celebrations!
About a month ago Rob and I decided to plan surprises for each other to celebrate so on Sunday when I got home from work, Rob told me to pack my bags and surprised me with a trip to Paris for a couple of days!

I’m surprising Rob tomorrow, but it won’t be anywhere near as exciting as Paris!!!!  Continue reading »

“…this is an aggressive beer. You probably won’t like it. It is quite doubtful that you have the taste or sophistication to be able to appreciate an ale of this quality and depth. We would suggest that you stick to safer and more familiar territory – maybe something with a multi million dollar ad campaign aimed at convincing you it’s made in a little brewery, or one that implies that their tasteless fizzy yellow beer will give you more sex appeal.  Continue reading »

It’s officially PASTA time! Chew on That was given the honor of hosting Presto Pasta Nights again and we couldn’t be more thrilled to share with you all the delicious pasta dishes we have received. I know that last time we hosted this event, I spent many words professing my love for Presto Pasta Nights and expressing my appreciation toward Ruth of Once Upon A Feast for creating this event. But this time, I know we’re all here for one thing: The Pasta!  Continue reading »

An ad-hoc visit to Philippe Chavy a couple of years ago was the highlight of my trip to Burgundy so I made sure to make a booking for another visit on this trip, not only to catch up with him but also to buy some more of his delicious wines. Having a soft spot for Puligny wines can be very painful for ones bank balance but Philippe Chavy is one of those unearthed gems of the village, i.e. his.  Continue reading »