This week, Dunnes are advertising a load of back-to-school offers. Parents will be breathing a sigh of relief as they begin to reconstruct the delicate fragments of thier life from their offspring’s summer whirlwind of terror.
The offers include:
Capri-Sonne Orange Drink (10 pack) – 2 for €4.50 (€2.69 each)
Snack Pack Apples/ Oranges/ Pears – any 2…  Continue reading »

Feelgood Organic Hampers has been asked to participate in this year’s Cool Earth exhibition at the Dun Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures.

Run by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown CoCo’s Environmental and Culture Department, the event takes place this Saturday and Sunday the 29th and 30th of August on the concourse of Dun Laoghaire County Hall between 11am and 6pm. It is the third year that it has been run and it aims to illustrate ’simple ways to reduce your carbon footprint’.  Continue reading »

When we chose the theme for this month’s Monthly Mingle, we never anticipated there would so many creative ways to use melon. With over 15 mouth watering melon recipes, we have long awaited posting this collection of inventive uses  for watermelon, honeydew and cantaloupe. Not to mention, they all look so delicious, we wish melon season didn’t have to end!
So, are you ready for the  Marvelous Melon Monthly Mingle roundup? Here…we…go!  Continue reading »

I’m just back from a hectic weekend in London, the purpose of which was to catch up with a few friends, drink a few pints and eat in a fine Michelin starred restaurant (La Trompette). After doing a bit of research online I was pretty much blown away by the winelist here, the food menu looked pretty good too and the reviews online were all positive and decided that I had to visit.  Continue reading »

Sunday Business Post – Tomas Clancy
Dunnes Stores is holding a large South American Wine Festival for three weeks in stores from September 9,and some good bargains should be available.  Continue reading »

A number of items are half price at Tesco this week:
Dairy Milk and Crunchie icecream
200g Tesco Raw King Prawns – was €3.26, now €1.23
Seaside Specials (frozen fish in batter) – was €4.91, now €2.46
All the following are €1.25 each:
Birds Eye Crispy Chicken
McCain’s Smiles (these look terrifying, whatever they are)
Chicago Town Pizza Twinpacks
Rowntrees Fruit Pastille Icepops
If…  Continue reading »

Irish Times – John Wilson
WINES OF THE WEEK 
El Angosto 2006, Valenica, 14%,€14.50 .
An incongruous blend of Monastrell, Cabernet Sauvignon, Graciano, Garnacha, Syrah and Petit Verdot, the lifted aromatic nose, and freshness of the delicious rounded fruits belie the origin of this wine, and its 14% alcohol. There is an attractive savoury note of black olives too, adding to its food-friendliness.  Continue reading »

Half-price offers this week at Tesco include:
Dove Hand Wash Range (250ml)
Birds Eye Seaside Specials (480g range) – was €4.91, now €2.46
Dairy Milk Fruit and Nut Ice Cream (3 x 90ml) – was €3.49, now €1.75
Offers are valid until Sunday August 30. Click here for more details.
Tesco’s cost-cutting campaign extends to Clare, Kerry, Limerick, and Waterford…  Continue reading »

The Mallow Food Festival may be over, but the local focus on food continues. This year’s Mitchelstown Food Festival will take place this coming weekend, Friday 28, Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 August and the theme is, very appropriately after last year’s pig-meat debacle, Bringing Home the Bacon.  Continue reading »

But not inebriates.  Continue reading »

Despite the weather, there was a good turn out at the Mallow Food Festival on Sunday, plenty of people around to eat at the stalls that lined the main street. Our pick of the lot was the fresh fish and chips from West Cork, fish caught that morning and battered as we watched, decent chips and homemade tartare sauce for dipping. The Husband declared it the best fish ‘n’ chips that he had eaten since we were last in New Zealand, it being practically a national dish there.  Continue reading »

SuperValu announced more price cuts on over 1,000 items this week. A trolley of 40 “big brands” that cost €226.89 now costs €174.69. Have a look for yourself here.
There’s lots of special offers on alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks alike this week. SuperValu’s offers are valid until Saturday August 29, and include:
Club/ 7Up/ Pepsi (6 x…  Continue reading »

I like writing. Even more, I like having written. I like the discipline of writing to order and on schedule. But I could never have been a journalist because I am a painfully slow reader. Digesting press releases on the hoof, ahead of press conferences and deadlines, would just not have been my forte, and I take months getting through even the shortest of books.  Continue reading »

This week, my sister’s northern grocery haven Sainsbury’s are promising hundreds of products for under 50p.
Other special offers worth flagging include:
Birds Eye Steam Fresh Carrots, Brocolli, and Corn (540g) – buy two for £2 (£1.76 each)
Heinz Salad Cream (460g) – buy 2 for £3 (£2.12 each)
Skin Therapy Sensitive Wipes (x25) – was £1.99 now £1.32
Offer…  Continue reading »

In the second part of ‘A Delicate Balance’ (to view Part 1, click here), Natalie gives us more tips on food and wine matching, as well as trying to further explain why the two go hand in hand so well.
To find an acidic wine, you can chose one that is made in the same area as the food. Years of matching the regional cuisine and wine as well as similar soil and climatic conditions make this a safe bet. For example, you could pair a tomato sauce fettuccine with a Tuscan chianti.  Continue reading »

Details of special offers and “price rollbacks” at Asda are available here. You’ll find non-grocery items in Asda’s Daily Deal -items like CDs, furniture, and luggage – here.
We’ve been linking to Asda and Sainsbury’s specials for a few months now, mostly for the benefit of our readers in Northern Ireland and those in border areas…  Continue reading »

…and the winner is Sunil Ghai of Ananda Restaurant in Dublin who received standing ovations at last nights award ceremony hosted by Food & Wine Magazine. He was very humble and simply said thanks for the award and thanks toward his amazing team at the restaurant. But let me start at the beginning.
The day started of with a Veuve Clicquot Reception at 12:30 on the terrace of Fire Restaurant at the Mansion House. The champagne was flowing freely and the chefs enjoyed their day off.  Continue reading »

I love my job, and while the international nature of it is one of the elements that make it the most enjoyable, coordinating with many time-zones ultimately results in many late evening arrivals home. Not content to dine on a bowl of cereal while standing over the sink, over the last year I have come up with a repertoire of ‘ready in a two shakes of a lamb’s tail’ recipes, the best of which in my opinion being San Choi Bao.  Continue reading »

As revealed last posting on this, the recent UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) report, comparing the nutritional levels of organic and conventional foods from 1958 to February 2008, actually left out every publication from before 1990.

In total, 2/3 of all the relevant peer reviewed research was rejected.

The logic given in the report is that in the 66% of rejected work, various failings in the peer review process were uncovered.  Continue reading »

Some would say that’s it’s about time.
Some would say that it’s way past time.
And many of you will simply wonder how it happened that I have not presented you with a potato salad before this.
It’s not like I haven’t been eating them – it’s one of the great things to do with new season potatoes.  Continue reading »