With the super hot week we’ve had in Chicago I’m ready for a cool, refreshing drink to welcome the weekend. Here are my favorite tips to minimize the calories in your favorite cocktails.
Simply make them at home. A drink at a restaurant might be filled with high calorie syrups and artificial flavoring. When you make your own drinks you know exactly what’s going in them and you control the calorie count. Break out the cocktail shaker and try these skinny cocktail recipes.  Continue reading »

As a result of the recession, Ireland has seen a huge increase in the number of people turning to markets and market trading as a low overhead means of generating an income. Many new traders find that the information regarding legal and insurance obligations, health regulations and codes of practice can be difficult to source.  Continue reading »

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The creative team in our Killarney shop put this together for your viewing pleasure!

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Hello fellow food lovers,
Here is the longer and unedited version of our weekly contribution to the Sunday Times (June 17th 2012)
Enjoy the read and recipes,
WiseMóna
 

Egg Pickling & Green Goddess              salad dressing.  Continue reading »

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Hockney at Bilbao’s Guggenheim 
Tulips by Jeff Koons
The Puppy, by Jeff Koons.
 David Hockney: A Bigger Picture opened in Bilbao’s Guggenheim last month and is scheduled to go on until September 30th. Some very impressive works here, some huge. Favourites would include Pearblossom Highway, the bright Yorkshire landscape series and the Grand Canyon works. There is so much of Hockney.  Continue reading »

Always looking to try new Irish food products I made a beeline for the  Goatsbridge Trout Farm stall when I was at Bloom earlier this month to sample their trout caviar. Vibrantly orange pearls, beautiful to look at, delicious to taste with a silky smooth texture, and freshly slightly sweet pop that isn’t too fishy. Amazing.
This recipe is simple, midweek stuff. Elegant but quick, essentially fancy finger food.  Continue reading »

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Summer is here, so get together a group of family and friends and get your drink on with these favorite cocktail recipes. Just drink responsibly, and never forget to garnish your beverage! Presentation is key, people! More after the jump…

There is nothing like cooling down with your favorite cocktail recipes. Whether you are a connoisseur or just a grill-out aficionado, there is a drink here for you!  Continue reading »

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 This rainy day is the first one all summer (even those words together don't sound right) that made me feel like staying in and cooking, cooking soup and soda bread, Mammy style. As any self-respecting Mammy would say "when you feel like doing it, you should just do it". Soup, it's so cheap you can usually make it from stuff you might otherwise look at and think you have nothing.  Continue reading »

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Google, internet search giants and compulsive creators of amazing web gizmos that we quickly learn to take for granted, have moved into restaurant reviews with their new Google+ Local.  I have to say, it’s pretty nifty in the way that it combines the authority of a recognised guide with public comments.
Let me explain: Google recently acquired Zagat, established publishers of restaurant guides.  Continue reading »

Happy Birthday Alchemy – two today!

Hey how did that happen? My 2nd blogoversary has crept up even faster than the first one!
Here’s a quick look back at my top 10 favourites.

My very first post was Clafoutis – just look at those fat berries just bursting with juice – but mind your teeth on the stones.

My Greengrocer was thrilled that I turned the freckly bananas and soft pears he gave me into this quick and easy WOW (War on Waste) Banana,Pear and Coconut Loaf.  Continue reading »

I love these obscure grape varieties no one has heard of. But perhaps Bonarda is one we should be more familiar with, and if not, we certainly will become more familair with it should they continue to produce serious wines with it.
I first came across it as part of a blend with Argentine Malbec, but Bonarda is also grown in other parts of the world. Confusingly, no one seems to be 100% sure that they are all the same grape.  Continue reading »

Thanks for joining me for this, the rare second post in a month. June is traditionally a quiet month in the video production calendar, with people on holiday or holding back on budget until their half-year figures have been analysed, but this month has been hectic, with two major projects to produce.
Before we move on to the main course, there’s the explanation of the post title to get out of the way.  Continue reading »

Star Lunch at Bilbao’s Nerua
With Chef Aitor on the Nerua terrace.
20th June 2012, Wednesday
Didn’t expect to be getting a tour of the kitchen when I made an electronic booking for Bilbao’s Michelin starred restaurant Nerua earlier in the week but that’s exactly what happened within minutes of our arrival for lunch on Wednesday.
We were handed over to Chef Aitor who showed us their three.  Continue reading »

I don’t know what Tesco’s game was a few weeks ago: a sudden avalanche of quality beers across the chain in Ireland, both local and imported. I went in to my local branch more out of idle curiosity than anything else, not expecting to find much new or interesting. But in amongst the British and Irish ales there were these two Bavarian weissbiers I’d never seen before. In for a penny in for 5-for-a-tenner, I thought.
Arcobräu Weissbier Hell poured a pale and hazy shade of gold.  Continue reading »

In 1998, I took a trip out to Boston with some college friends on spring break and stopped at my friend’s parents’ house in Michigan on the way. When we got back to Wisconsin a week later, I still vividly remember going to the café where I worked before class with my friend. “My parents really like you,” he said as I topped up my coffee with milk. “They want to set you up with my brother.”
“The one in Ireland? Fat lot of good that does me!” I laughed.  Continue reading »

Sitting in the evening sun, watching the boats come and go. Hard to beat the calm ambience at Hendaye’s Cabane du Pecheur, perhaps our favourite local restaurant over the past 4 weeks.
Add in a nicely chilled glass of Jurancon Sec and some great fish dishes and you’ll see what keep us coming back for more. Good friendly service also helps.
Last night’s starter on the slate was quite.  Continue reading »