ANNIE’S

Innovation and imagination, two of the elements employed at Annie’s restaurant in Sunday’s Well to titillate the taste buds of their many customers. And they do it well. Tried it again on Friday night and came away happy after a meal that lacked neither quality nor quantity, served up with a smile (and chat) from Emma and her team.

Just take a look at the starters on their blackboard, eleven in all. We picked two but could have picked any of the others.  Continue reading »

Click here to view the embedded video.
I’m not a huge fan of zoos, since I usually find them depressing, but I must say we had a very enjoyable outing to Dublin Zoo a few days ago, and I would rate it highly.
It was during the Queen’s visit, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves, except for a couple of families and one group of school girls.  Continue reading »

This is the first weekend in aaaaages that both myself and The Hubs have been at home with no plans & nowhere to go.  This of course mans that he has to cut the 3 foot high jungle of grass that is our back garden (he uses any excuse to get out of it). This time I had a plan… bribe him with a special treat breakfast.  Of course it worked – the grass was cut in double quick time and he even hoovered the millions of cobwebs in the SuperShed while he was out there.  Continue reading »

Firstly, thank you to everyone who has entered the giveaway. I’m genuinely delighted with all the suggestions and recommendations that were sent in and I will be adding all this fantastic information and knowledge to my Eat Out and Off The Shelf pages respectively.
I will be running regular competitions on my blog, so stick around
All the names were printed out and folded up and placed into a.  Continue reading »

I was absolutely over the moon to receive an e-mail today informing me that I am a finalist in Taste Factor.
Next Friday morning I will travel to the TV3 studios and cook my dish – Mushroom Brioche with Creamy Philadelphia, live on television with celebrity chef Edward Hayden. I’m so excited and this itself is as good as any prize but I am then in with a one in four chance of winning a trip to Philadelphia with 1,000 euro spending money.  Continue reading »

I have this idea to bring elderflower champagne sorbet to Bloom in the Park, so today I went picking elderflowers! Sara, who will soon open Murphy’s seasonal shop in Tig Áine kindly offered up her elderflower trees, and the flowers are now fermenting in two containers in production. Fingers crossed it turns out OK! If it does, I’ll be sure to post a recipe!  Continue reading »

Photo: Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times
In the Eastern Orthodox faith and some Eastern Catholic churches, it is customary to make koliva after the death of a loved one. My grandmother just passed away yesterday, so my other grandmother will be hard at work all weekend to make koliva in her honor. Koliva is really just boiled wheat mixed with a variety of other ingredients. It’s really tasty, and it takes hours to prepare. Read more after the jump.  Continue reading »

I think most will agree that a roast dinner is fairly high on their list of favourite dinners. Is it that one meal can guarantee such a great fusion of flavours or is it the feeling of nostalgia that this meal can conjure up? When I was growing up a roast dinner was obligatory on a Sunday, be it chicken, beef or lamb it was always served up with all the trimmings.  Continue reading »

A.  Continue reading »

There is a new blog dedicated to Irish whiskey. This one comes from a long-time contributor to various whiskey forums. He is steeped in whiskey knowledge and owns an impressive library of bottles, old and new. You can be sure, then, that if he says it, it’s solid info.
His identity is a closely-guarded secret, much like the anonymous Michelin guide reviewers. He is known online only by the pseudonym, “Irish Whiskey Chaser”.  Continue reading »

Here’s a few things you should know about CrackBird:

It’s a pop-up restaurant that was set up for a period of 12 weeks only. The 12 weeks are about to end: its last sitting is at 10pm this Sunday, May 22nd.
CrackBird serves fried chicken in the American soul food style.
The garlic soy ginger chicken is delicious beyond belief.  Continue reading »

I recently got a sample of No.3 London Dry Gin to taste and I was super excited to try it!  I’m a big fan of gin (see my post about Bluecoat Gin here) and I’m always looking for new ones to sample.  So I grabbed my Pink Floyd glass, my bottle of gin, and I was on my way! 

The second I saw the bottle, I was intrigued. The gorgeous green glass with the old-fashioned key made it look like it should be in some black and white mystery film.  I loved it.  Continue reading »

I apologise for using the word dummy – but this tofu really could not be easier to prepare, and I’ve been dying to share this oh-so-simple recipe for ages. It’s a keeper.
If you’re new to tofu, then I know what you’re thinking:
- Ugh! Its texture is weird!- What is this mushy stuff?- I miss chicken.- This smells funny.- What does it taste like?- How on earth do I cook this lump of jelly-like white wobbly thingymajig?
It’s OK.  Continue reading »

During the week I had a very enthusiastic wine and food lover stop by to stock up. We got talking and she was kind enough to pass on some excellent recipes to me, including this beef stew recipe. You may notice I’ve gone from metric to imperial measures. Ann is from the good ol’ US of A!  Continue reading »

Summer is the best- you have fresh fruits and veggies at your fingertips, you can gather up your friends and family for an outdoor grilling session, and you can sip cool drinks by the pool…heaven.  But to make the most of the summer cooking season, you need some tasty summer recipes. That’s where we come in!  Download two of our very best (and free!) summer eCookbooks after the jump!  Continue reading »

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My dear departed granddad used to love cherry cake with lashings of real butter and a cup of hot sweet tea. For years my gran used to make these delicious cherry cakes and it’s something that always brings me back to my childhood at home on a Sunday. Lately I have been feeling very nostalgic so I decided to give this cake a go for myself. To be honest I was really proud of my efforts and the rest of the family loved it too.  Continue reading »

I was at the Totally Tipperary Food Festival launch today – in fact, I’m volunteering on the committee to organise the whole thing – and here’s our first statement to the world.
(except on twitter where we’ve been busy – follow @totallytipp if u are interested in that!)

Picture (Copyright Oliver Moore) LtoR: Sarah Baker, Sam Baker and Pat Whelan.

All roads lead to Tipperary, for Ireland’s newest food festival, Totally Tipperary.  Continue reading »

Chateau Miraval Terre Blanche, Côtes de Provence, 2009, 15%, Curious Wines (€22.00)

Glad to say I was really pleased with this purchase, bought solely to further my knowledge of the wines of Provence!

Colour is a clean looking pale honey and the nose is aromatic and pleasant. In the mouth, it is rich, round, creamy, complex and very long, xxotic flavours are released in little “waves”,  hints of vanilla, even sweetness from time to time but this lovely wine is very close to dry.  Continue reading »

It was, to coin a phrase, la jam de la jam.
In fact, I could get all biblical about it and accuse Nidal Rayess of having saved the best jam ’til last, but the truth is I am just thankful for what I can honestly say was a higher jam experience.  Continue reading »