OLIVE OIL BATTLES(NOT A POPEYE IN SIGHT)
Once in Tuscany, a wine and olive  oil producer told us the best way to make olive oil is to immediately cold press the just picked grapes. On his place, it was done in the cool of the night as the Olive Press (pictured) was too hot during the day, which it was. I tried it and you could hardly stand there for a minute.
He was scathing about the big.  Continue reading »

After a summer of absolute neglect regarding my own culinary adventures and blogging I seem to be on a roll at the moment. Having survived our annual vacation and annual scout camp, I returned to work somewhat shell-shocked, but now it seems, thankfully, that I’ve rediscovered my enthusiasm for many of the things I genuinely enjoy…

Last Thursday, for instance saw a moment of inspiration. I’d been gathering bits and pieces and finally I had them all, or so I thought!  Continue reading »

LAIRD HARPER/Taranaki Daily News
I vividly remember the first time I ate a scone. I was in Starbucks, I was 13 and it was a maple oat scone with icing. I fell in love with scones after that first bite, and I still enjoy eating them from time to time since. I’ve passed on the Starbucks scone after I discovered it contains a whopping 490 calories. It makes me wonder how many calories this scone from New Zealand contains. After all, it broke the world record for the largest scone ever!  Continue reading »

Edinburgh is a magical, mysterious city, home to cobblestone streets, narrow alleyways, haunted vaults, castles and turrets, a fantastic history and wonderful people.

Wander down the Royal Mile and you’ll find treasure after treasure – little alleys that snake off the main thoroughfare, crumbling steps guiding you down to another street; tiny restaurants tucked away beneath stone buildings.  Continue reading »

Tesco inserted leaflets with details of their special offers into many of the weekend papers. The leaflet, however, requires both a magnifying  glass and a lot of patience to plod through.
The leaflet cover clearly states that the offers are “from 19th August 2010″, but many of the deals – including all those on page 2 of the 16 page guide – have already expired or will do so tomorrow.  Continue reading »

Many of you have already noticed some wines sneaking up over the 15% ABV mark. We’ve been here before. Whether you enjoy high-alcohol wines or not, it is a fact that many more countries are struggling to keep alcohol levels down due to climate change.
The South African wine industry has most recently expressed concern, with some proposing for legislation to be passed that will allow producers to water down grape musts.  Continue reading »

This has been the summer of the poached chicken. It started when the weather got hot in June and I had a chicken to cook. It wasn’t exactly turn-the-oven-on time so I landed it into a big pot, covered it with cold water, threw in some vegetables and herbs and let it barely simmer away for an hour. The chicken, after cooling in its cooking broth, was moist, juicy and beautifully flavoured.  Continue reading »

Current specials at Dunnes include:

Aquafresh toothpaste – half price
Dunnes fresh Irish pork steaks – 33% off – now €6.49 per kg
7Up Regular or Free/ Club Orange/ Rock Shandy/ Pepsi/ Cidona (6 x 330ml) – €2 each

Offer expiry dates vary. Click here for details.
Related posts:

Special offers at SuperValu (from August 9)
Special Offers at Dunnes, April 20th
Special offers at Tesco.  Continue reading »

Current specials at SuperValu include:

Quality Irish pork loin roast – half price – now €4.84 per kg
Selected fruit and veg – mix and match any 3 for €4 (€2 each)
Hellmann’s real/ light mayonnaise (400g) – half price – now €1.24

The offers expire on Saturday August 28. Click here for details.
There’s also mix and match offers on summer BBQ meats and savings on sandwich ingredients.  Continue reading »

Every renowned chef has their signature dish. Gordon Ramsay has his “Ravioli of lobster, langoustine and salmon” and Heston Bulmenthal his “Bacon & Egg ice-cream with snail porridge”. Funnily, despite Joël Robuchon’s legendary status (he once ran two 3 Michelin star restaurants in Paris; beat that, Gordo…), the dish a lot of people associate him with is his mashed potatoes.  Continue reading »

I had it in my head that all food and drink sold in the EU had to have a statement of origin on it somewhere, even if it’s nothing more useful than “Produce of the EU”. As far as I can tell on looking, however, it only applies “where failure to give such particulars might mislead the consumer to a material degree as to the true origin or provenance of the foodstuff” (Directive 2000/13/EC). So I guess we can assume from the name that Nobelaner is from Germany.  Continue reading »

Four years ago, when our daughter was 13 months old and not walking yet, we went to the Derryvilla Blueberry Farm** in County Offaly to pick berries. I still remember her crawling on the soft, boggy ground amongst the bushes, stopping now and then to pull a fat, sweet berry from the branches and pop it into her mouth. This time we had our son, who at two years old was a good age to enjoy picking the berries himself, so ripe they practically tumbled off the bushes and into our baskets.  Continue reading »

Four years ago, when our daughter was 13 months old and not walking yet, we went to the Derryvilla Blueberry Farm** in County Offaly to pick berries. I still remember her crawling on the soft, boggy ground amongst the bushes, stopping now and then to pull a fat, sweet berry from the branches and pop it into her mouth. This time we had our son, who at two years old was a good age to enjoy picking the berries himself, so ripe they practically tumbled off the bushes and into our baskets.  Continue reading »

Banana Bread
Ingredients145g caster sugar1 egg100g mashed banana140g flour1 tsp baking powder1 tsp bicarbonate of soda1 tsp ground ginger1 tsp ground cinnamon70g melted butter
Recipe1. Preheat oven to 170˚C2. Beat sugar and eggs together3. Mix in the mashed banana4. Mix in the dry ingredients, then stir in the butter.5. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes.  Continue reading »

A.  Continue reading »

I doubt that many people actually like the process of packing up and moving house.
There are so many things that you must remember to pack. Like your toothbrush. And your spuds.
Although, to be fair, when one has a potato-obsessed brain and some unusual red, blue and purple potatoes to match, they become a little less hard to forget.  Continue reading »

A.  Continue reading »

EASY DESSERT  
These barbeque days just last and last, fingers crossed!
Here’s my favourite dessert when out in the garden.
Put your bananas on the grill and allow them to almost blacken (about 15 minutes on ordinary charcoal).
When bananas close to ready, get your bowls and lay down some ice-cream. When bananas ready, slit them quickly, remove skins, and lay flesh on the ice-cream. Now, add in.  Continue reading »

THE BUTCHER’S BLOCK (BLACKPOOL)
The Butcher’s Block has some nine shops nationwide and two in Cork, one in Douglas, the other, which I visited over the weekend, in the Blackpool Shopping Centre.
On the lookout for BBQ stuff and stocked up on the pork chops (five for a fiver) and the fat butcher’s sausages (six for 3 euro). Good value, good service (friendly, chatty) and, most important of all.  Continue reading »

A.  Continue reading »