On Rebecca's diet, you can't EVEN eat fruit, or much veg (Photo: Sue Jefferson)

I am getting married next year. Which means I want to look my best. Which means getting my diet in check without going on a diet per se.  Continue reading »

Behind another gorgeous label from Brasserie De La Senne sits Jambe de Bois, a tripel brewed in honour of Belgium’s 1830 revolution. “Graah!” yells the peg-legged old codger astride the cannon. “Aieee!” cry the big-hatted Dutch soldiers beneath. I’m expecting something rather more po-faced from the 1916 centenary beer I believe one Irish brewery is planning. For shame. This is how it should be done.  Continue reading »

Three reds for the Bank Holiday
(or for Father’s Day!)
In Spain, they take their
reservas seriously. In other words, Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva mean
something.
Crianza: at least 6 months in
oak
Reserva: at least 12 months in
oak
Gran Reserva: 24 months in oak.
I tasted the differences recently
, and you may do the same via this “set” from Monasterio de las Vinas. I
enjoyed.  Continue reading »

Coming soon to the Curious Wines Blog….  Continue reading »

On Saturday I spotted some sunshine beginning to peek through the clouds.  Then it began to burn off the clouds and I saw a wide expanse of blue sky and found the sun on the patio.  It was so warm … Continue reading →.  Continue reading »

On Saturday I spotted some sunshine beginning to peek through the clouds.  Then it began to burn off the clouds and I saw a wide expanse of blue sky and found the sun on the….  Continue reading »

Whey alcohol is not one of your showy alcohols. It keeps a low profile. Few could name the Irish distillery where it’s made, though it’s one of the biggest in the country. I think it’s time we talked about whey.
Why whey?
The first step in making cheese is to separate milk into curds and whey. The curds go on to become cheese but the whey has traditionally been regarded as a waste product, perhaps fed to pigs or even dumped.  Continue reading »

I knew Bite in it's previous incarnation as Georges Bistro and it was small and cosy with really great staff.  Bite is different : the dynamic has changed and it seems a lot more rabbit-warren like in layout.  I wasn't too impressed by being taken on a magical mystery tour via what seemed like the kitchen & stores entrance to our reserved table.  Our table for three was perched in a corner right inside the door so we were privy to all the comings and goings in the restaurant.  Continue reading »

“I’m a Swede, I never buy potatoes in Ireland.”
So ran the subject line of an email I received a while back from a Swedish reader who was clearly very exercised by the all-too-frequent sight in of potatoes lying exposed to daylight in Irish shops. “Spuds should be kept in darkness,” he protested, “they develop poisonous solanine in daylight” and he was emphatic about not being prepared to buy potatoes thusly displayed at any price.  Continue reading »

I was in Spain for a wedding recently and on the day before I left I was a little out of sorts and hankering for food. It was lunchtime, and having managed the holiday hangovers other mornings with variations of croque madame’s or pizza, I felt that I should try something green and salady. So, of course, I ordered the least salady salad, the Caprese. What I ended up with unfortunately was an olive and tomato salad with dill and a few casual bits of mozzarella thrown in.  Continue reading »

Open Day At Cloughjordan Community Farm:
Bring Your Dancing Shoes AND Your Wellies.
Come visit Cloughjordan Community Farm, for an intensive Open Day which finishes with an evening of dance with one of Ireland’s best known World Music DJ’s, WIll Softly, for sweet sweet evening sounds.
This Saturday, the 26th of May, farm enthusiasts, growers and anyone else interested in what’s happening in Coughjordan are invited to Cloughjordan Community Farm’s Open day and evening fundraiser.  Continue reading »

My favourite Greengrocer has obviously been paying attention to my War on Waste theme. “Do you want these love, they are gone beyond the beyond.” he said, handing over several kilos of freckly bananas, and a half-dozen Rocha pears that have seen better days.  “On the house”, he adds. “I can’t sell them and it’s a shame to chuck ‘em if you can use ‘em.”  Normally I have to wait a week until my newly purchased bananas overripen sufficiently for baking.  Continue reading »

High Class Beer Hat-trick
Put June 5th
in your beer diary. On that Tuesday, new Cork craft brewery Elbow Lane will
launch its Angel Stout. On the 20th, it is the turn of Elbow Lager
and later in the month you’ll see Wisdom Ale make its debut. Elbow, Angel and
Wisdom, are the names of three Cork lanes and now the names of a classy hat
trick of beers.
Elbow Lane, who are
associated with the.  Continue reading »

 
Sometimes photos speak louder than words so a kaleidoscope of images from Rory’s special day is featured below.
I hope you are having a lovely weekend x

Rory Belle – she who made me a Mama

Granny & Rory Belle

Could not wait to get out of her shoes xx

TWO of our munchkins

Garden salad ….  Continue reading »

I want to take an opportunity to give y’all a rundown of the type of food I’ve enjoyed during recent work visits to Raleigh, North Carolina. Some restaurants will get their own blog post. Other visits will be combined into omnibus type posts, where I will fly through some of the different dishes I’ve enjoyed and locations that I’ve visited.  Continue reading »

Ah, the glorious burger. What’s not to like? Do it on the barbecue if summer ever decides to show her face. Otherwise, this is an all year round, heart warming hunk of meat between two lumps of bread to be enjoyed with a rich red, or even a good ale.  Continue reading »

It’s rare to find anything for free these days, but right now all over Ireland, swathes of wild garlic are growing wild underneath hedges, in woodland and possibly right under your nose.
From April to June this tasty plant is plentiful in this upland area of Wicklow. Once I climb over a five bar gate it’s free for the picking… after I shoo aside my neighbour Michael’s sheep who are possibly more competitive about food than me.  Continue reading »

Get a taste of sheep's milk at Sheridan's on May 27th

Have you ever wanted to get a taste of sheep’s milk? Well, thanks to Sheridans Cheesemongers at the end of the month, that might just be possible.
Irish consumers will have their first opportunity to sample the unique qualities of sheep’s milk when the renowned Tipperary cheesemakers behind the Crozier Blue brand host free tastings at the Sheridan’s Irish Food Festival.  Continue reading »

It is a
funny thing about English diners. They’ll let you dazzle them with piddly
duxelles of this and fussy little noisettes of that, but don’t fuck with their
puddings….All the desserts were for gooey dishes with good English names. I
had sticky toffee pudding and it was splendid. 
From
Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson.  Continue reading »

With the Facebooks IPOing today, I spotted a great quote that reminded me of en primeur.
“It’s almost a mathematical impossibility to imagine that, out of the thousands of things for sale on a given day, the most attractively priced is the one being sold by a knowledgeable seller (company insiders) to a less-knowledgeable buyer (investors).”

WARREN BUFFETT
Now, isn’t that something to sip on?  Continue reading »