My Ma was fond of quoting a Limerick which went thusly:
There was an old lady from Ryde
Who ate a bad apple and died
The apple fermented
Inside the lamented
And made cider inside her inside

I can’t imagine that the resulting cider was anything to write home about, unless, perhaps, the lady in question was given to eating cider apples, a subject about which I am now somewhat more informed, having attended last weekend’s cider-making festival in Hereford.  Continue reading »

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SYNERGY AT THE CLARION
Jazz was in the air this evening as the annual Cork Jazz Festival kicked off. I spent a pleasant hour or more listening to Des Gibson and his accomplished Dixieland band in the Kudo’s bar in the Clarion before heading into the Synergy, the hotel’s main restaurant.  Continue reading »

Every Friday at Chew on That, we test your foodie vocabulary by quizzing you on a new foodie word and supply delicious recipes to match!
This week’s word is: kuchen (noun).
Please choose the most appropriate definition for kuchen:
a.) An Italian dessert made with ladyfingers, mascarpone, and espresso.
b.) A rich, moist, sweet cake with a dark red, bright red or red-brown color which is most common in the Southern United States.  Continue reading »

Sufi’s, like Boulevard Cafe in the same area of Dublin, is one of those places I constantly pass but never eat in.
A few weeks ago, CheapEats writer Jacqui and I popped in for a spot of dinner. We were both very impressed with the quality, value, and presentation. It’s all quite eclectic, with Lebanese, Italian, and other Mediterranean dishes sitting alongside sandwiches, paninis, and wraps.  Continue reading »

Different Class
Chocolate Brownie on a slate doesn’t promise much as a dessert but you should try it at Les Gourmandises Restaurant in 17 Cook Street. In fact, you should, I should, try everything at this different class establishment as there are pleasant ambushes in every course.My starter last evening was mackerel on a red onion bed along with a goat’s cheese panacotta. The advisor had a tasting starter, samples of chicken liver parfait, prawns in filo and a cup of parsnip soup.  Continue reading »

Big congrats to Ronan B who won a delicious tin of confit duck legs with thanks to Confit De France!
I have a competition which is very close to my heart coming up so stay tuned!  Continue reading »

Swirly pumpkin amazingness

Rounding of a series of seasonal pumpkin recipes, this is a delicious weekend feast.
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Ingredients:

225g digestive biscuits
60g butter
Juice and zest 1 lemon
340g cooked pumpkin (steamed or roasted)
225g caster sugar
450g cream cheese
1tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
4 eggs
90ml double cream
90ml natural yoghurt

Instructions:

Heat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3.
Break the digestive biscuits into crumbs.  Continue reading »

I have a general lack of enthusiasm for convenience stores – more of which next week – but there are some noteworthy deals at both Centra and Londis. Spar and Mace lag miles behind.
As a former rural dweller, I know all too well that the convenience store often ends up as your only option for dinner. Centra have a dinner for two meal deal on at the moment: Moy Park chicken kievs, Centra baby potatoes, Centra asparagus, and Centra babycorn for €5. Not the shabbiest.  Continue reading »

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In the final part of my Wine series with O’Briens Wines I taste the GSM from Torbreck. This wine retails for €19.99 – Hailing from a hugely successful vineyard in the Barossa Valley I was really interested to taste this wine.
Lets see how this wine gets on !
Check it out and see you next time on robertfranciswine.ie.  Continue reading »

Missed this on Mashable last week, but social media platform, Twitter, is launching their own social wine for a good cause. The good cause is Room to Read, a San Francisco-based non-profit whose aim is to improve literacy rates in some of the world’s poorest countries.  Continue reading »

Yay! The Marks and Spencer meal deal is back this weekend, and this time it’s dinner for four for €20. Perfect for a Sunday lunch with friends or family. In terms of value, do you think it’s better, worse, or the same as the usual offer (dinner for two for €12.50)?  Continue reading »

The Eternum Viti, a red from the Toro region (near enough to Ribera del Duero).
Old vines
The Eternum Viti is made from vines with an average age of over 50 years (the older, the less grapes are produced, the more concentrated the flavours).
Tinta de Toro: It’s Tempranillo, Jim, but not as we know it
The grape variety is “Tinta de Toro”, what they call Tempranillo in these parts. Nothing like a Rioja Tempranillo, though, this one is much, much bigger.  Continue reading »

What have I been doing? I hear you say. The last six months have been pretty hectic, we’ve relocated 4500 miles away to Houston, Texas. Now that we’re all settled it (and all my kitchen gadgets have arrived) it’s time to start cooking again.
Where better to start our Texas adventure than with a Texas Chilli
I used a pre-blended chilli mix “Chilli 3000″ available from Penzeys in the US.  Continue reading »

Plain? Salted? With flavor? Last year I made a diagram of how to make pumpkin seeds in 5 easy steps. And this year, because pumpkin seeds are such an essential part of the fall season (and pumpkin carving), I’m wondering if I should add some more flavor. Throughout the food blogs, I’ve read recipes for sweet pumpkin seeds and recipes for savory pumpkin seeds but I’ve always just thought they tasted best plain. What do you think?
Find 3 recipes for pumpkin seeds after the jump!  Continue reading »

Did anyone catch last night’s Top Chef? You’d think I’d be all cheffed-out by the end of a long day of cooking but this season is, I think, one of the best yet. It’s chock full of talented chefs as well as providing some excellent messages, such as last night’s episode. The guest judge was Rick Moonen, owner of RM Seafood located in The Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.  Continue reading »

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Sometimes there’s nothing better. A pint or three (or whatever your fill may be) and some great craic in the pub followed by a salad loaded Chicken Kebab from the pizzeria next door. It just seems so right at the time. Yes, at the time.
Niall’s chicken kebab is a different type of kebab altogether. It’s light, fresh and healthy, with a very inventive skewer. Possibly not the ideal solution to 3am munchies, but I’ll let you be the judge of that.  Continue reading »

Still living in pumpkin land, here’s a recipe for a lovely risotto.  Continue reading »

At Feelgood Organic Hampers one of the most common questions we are asked by our customers is how do we package our hampers?  So today I thought I would show off our gift boxes and tell you why we chose this particular solution. Just over 4 years ago when I started Feelgood Organic Hampers I started looking around for baskets to pack them in.  Continue reading »