It all started on a cold winters afternoon in a New Jersey shopping mall in 2005. My experience of cheesecake in Ireland had been pretty forgettable and certainly not good enough to make me go home and have a crack at making it myself. But after tasting what the Cheesecake Factory had to offer – I went weak at the knees.

And so the remainder of my year living in America was plighted by my addiction to New York style cheesecake. If there was an AA for cheesecake, I’d have been there.  Continue reading »

Let’s just say there’s a lot of basil being used in the “Toasted Special” kitchen these days. I’m trying to cope with my first ever glut, and I’m not having a great deal of success. Like I said in a previous post, I sowed a generic variety of basil because it was too late in the year to sow the Genovese variety, at least according to the instructions on the packet. The basil I have is very different, probably closer in flavour to Thai basil, than Italian.  Continue reading »

Sometimes I think that cloning is the only way forward.
I’d go all out and order a job lot of 12 clones of myself, which might be just enough to go around. I would place one of those clones exclusively on blog-reading duty, so that I could properly keep up with all of the other blogs that I (attempt to) read. What bliss that would be.  Continue reading »

Just like most sushi, steamed mussels is a dish I always thought I had to leave to the restaurants. With no prior experience in shellfish, how would I ever achieve this tasty dish on my own? Well I tried it out for the first time this past weekend and I came away with two lessons about mussels that I’d like to share with you here.

The first lesson I learned was  that steaming mussels is easy.  Continue reading »

By all accounts, The Ledbury is on the up. After reading several reviews about the Notting Hill restaurant, I figured I’d bag a table for lunch before head chef Brett Graham is awarded his second Michelin star and the prices inevitably shoot up. Such is the way of things in the world of fine dining.
The Ledbury is a ’sister’ restaurant of “The Square” in Mayfair.  Continue reading »

Why is it that I like cumin so much? I don’t have many memories of eating it growing up (apart of learning how to use it at Ballymaloe). So what is it that attracts me to its peppery nutty flavour? It’s really just down to how good it makes food taste.
Along with flavour cumin has many health benefits including aiding digestion, supplying a good source of iron and research is starting to show that cumin seeds may also have anti-carcinogenic properties.  Continue reading »

A couple of weeks ago, my subconscious mind started shouting that it wanted to try Crab Linguine, and kept at it until I found some tinned crab.  I used to see it everywhere, but couldn’t find it in Tesco or Dunnes or even middle-class paradise Fallon & Byrnes.  I finally managed to find some in…  Continue reading »

“Happy hours” were banned long ago. Ireland, apparently, was sinking into a drunken stupor of binge drinking; we needed to be be saved from ourselves.
That’s why drinks industry watchdog Meas shut down Dublin pub The Portobello’s €4 a pint deal. Ok, fair enough, them’s the rules, I’ll just…
But wait! Suddenly the law reveals itself as…  Continue reading »

I just wanted to address the concerns of @madeinhollywood (the guys in Drogheda who make just about anything out of polystyrene foam!), who responded to my request on Twitter for some inspiration.
madeinhollywood @CuriousWines Storing, laying up wines, or wines for immediate use. Any advice or is it much of a muchness? Is it down to the year or temp?
Remember that most inexpensive wines won’t benefit from aging and need to be drank within a year or two of vintage.  Continue reading »

Did I mention, seventeen times, that I had swine flu last week? And yes, I have a doctor’s note to prove it. So there.
I’m better now, but I was curious to see how friends and total strangers reacted to news of my surprisingly mundane illness. The answer? They shunned me, of course. Even my usually…  Continue reading »

An aunt of mine only drinks Coke. One of my 10 billion nephews refuses to drink anything but “juice”, which is actually just a sugary diluted drink like Kia-Ora, Ribena or Robinson’s.
Like all the tastiest stuff, these are little more than sugar-delivery vehicles.  Loaded, overflowing, and fizzing with tooth-melting, waist-expanding, heart-killing sugar. But how many…  Continue reading »

Loudervoice – So Easy it is insane !

The Best Review Website In The World !

 Loudervoice is a website created by the fantastic Conor O’Neill and it allows for reviews on anything. All of my blog reviews are  posted on loudervoice aswell. In addition to the tasting notes that I put up on my blog I often attend tasting and the notes are only entered on loudervoice. This can be for a variety of reasons,mostly a lack of bottle shots or labels.  Continue reading »

Many of us mark the end of summer with a barbecue for Labor Day weekend, and sadly that time is almost here. Have you planned your barbecue menu yet? Well here’s How To Plan A Knockout Labor Day Menu – You’ll knock your guests’ socks off by choosing some of these great end of summer recipes for your Labor Day soiree!
Read on for even more Labor Day recipes and tips!  Continue reading »

Yes, I'm clearly not afraid of stepping into unchartered waters, and strange places with puppets!
This clip is part of an an on-going project, soon to be launched, that highlights the highlights of Limerick life. Have a look for yourself here, and remember I love Limerick

 .  Continue reading »

The Beer Nut’s musings on the joys of ‘having written’ gave me much to think about yesterday. I agree with him entirely, particularly about the joys to be had from a disciplined approach to writing. Sadly, I don’t feel as disciplined as perhaps I should be, and my rigidity of thought with respect to how important it is to be disciplined and my apparent lack of it, is a source of consternation to me.  Continue reading »

Here we are at our final week of Spice Month and these last two spices came in neck and neck in the race. So this week will feature both Cumin and Coriander and luckily they taste great together!
This first recipe was inspired by my days back in Ballymaloe Cookery School. This was a dish we would make using chicken paired with mint raita, so I knew the flavours worked well but I had never tried it with fish.  Continue reading »

Many of us who love Asian food have probably had the experience of using chopsticks around Asian natives and slowly realising that we use them like big ham handed fools.  The Guardian has an interesting post about it in the Word of Mouth blog, pointing out that the people who cringe when others ask for…  Continue reading »

This will be my third post about Bray-based click and collect discount grocery warehouse CheepCheep, but they’re cheap, so it bears repeating.
It seems, for reasons unknown to me, that they’re relocating premises, and so they’ll be closed from Saturday August 29 for the month of September. As a result, there’s a clearance sale, with 25%…  Continue reading »

By Catriona McGrath
Since Peter is ‘ill’ with what he claims is swine flu, I will kindly fill space on CheapEats.  Fortunately for him, I’ve been looking for a forum for my sandwich rant.
Like many people I’m a fan of the sandwich. Stick pretty much anything between two slices of bread and I’m fairly certain I’ll…  Continue reading »

Next up on the Wedding Series, Ciara from WeddingDates.ie explains why it’s OK to put a little (or a lot!) of your personality into your wedding. As we say to engaged couples again and again, please yourself and only yourself, because it’s your big day, and most guests won’t appreciate the effort half as much as you would like. It would seem that Ciara agrees!  Continue reading »