At the recent Bloom Festival I met Daniel Emerson of Stonewell Cider. This is a genuine craft operation in Nohoval, a place that sounds strangely exotic. It could be a far off city from a Conan Doyle story, nominally under the control of the Russian Tsar and exporting deadly intrigue to the rest of Europe. Or it could be a village near Kinsale, Co. Cork.
Daniel tells me that an apple brandy is very much on his roadmap for future development.  Continue reading »

Spanish wine brand Campo Viejo, the flagship of Rioja wines, has joined forces with four of Dublin’s top restaurants for the return of the Campo Viejo Tapas Trail which runs from 27th June to 19th August.  A celebration of the best of Spanish cuisine, participants will have the opportunity to join the trail through Dublin city centre and discover the art and elegance of ‘tapeo’; the art of eating tapas.  Continue reading »

Kinsale is an astonishingly beautiful part of Cork, and it’s always well worth a visit. The 2012 Kinsale Arts Festival will run from July 7th to 15th, with the “Vice & Virtue” of Irish society as the theme for this year’s event. It sounds like a pretty apt theme for a country that has always been comfortable with its own unique brand of Catholicism.  Continue reading »

From a food styling point of view, this is an interesting one. If anything, it explains why the burgers in the box never really live up to the promo images that we see on the menus. What do you reckon?
Originally spotted on TheJournal.ie.  Continue reading »

There was an ad on the TV last night that got me thinking about digestion and specifically about stomach acid, because by watching the ad (which was for an antacid pill) you would be forgiven for thinking that stomach acid is a Bad Thing and that we should all take these magic pills to reduce it. The truth is actually far from that – stomach acid regularly saves our lives by destroying bad bacteria and so it is one of the first lines of defence you have.  Continue reading »

; Also known as the No Need To Knead Loaf. I’m a sucker for supermarket specials. It’s for that reason I should be banned from the local Lidl, I tend to go down to the shop and stock up on the discount fruit & veg, marvel at the savings I’ve made on those and then…  Continue reading »

Watch the video produced from the Riesling Revolution evening at Ballymaloe in Cork.
Please feel free to send it far and wide, let people know what a great, and unique, night we had. Click here to see the video. .  Continue reading »

First, burn your lemon

What do you see when you look at this photo? I see sunshine. Badly needed sunshine. Sunshine in the form of a Burnt Lemon and Feta Dip.
Ever since I visited Crackbird I’ve been slightly obsessed with this idea and have made several variations on the theme. Now I have it nailed.
When I say burnt lemon, I do mean a lemon that has been taken beyond the golden brown stage – just take a look at that photo.  Continue reading »

I’ve picked up a lot of my favorite recipes over the years from spending time at my friends’ houses, and learning all the different things their families make. This recipe combination is no exception, and it comes from my best high school friend’s mom. They would serve it at every family barbecue, and it’s one of those snacks that is so hard to walk away from. Keep reading to see these two fabulous recipes.  Continue reading »

Basque beer, Paddle Surfing and Camino Town
June 19th, Tuesday
The rains came down today for a couple of hours around lunchtime but, by then, I was safely in the dry though not on the dry! 
My refuge was the craft brewery Akerbeltz. They were so busy brewing the stuff in their Ascain facility that they didn’t even notice us come in. Soon though we got a warm welcome, then enjoyed a couple.  Continue reading »

I shot this little summer BBQ spread back in April for the Irish Independent, back when we had that lovely stretch of sunshine.  I’m in NYC for another day or two but got a text from a friend in Dublin telling me not to come home because the weather is so bad over there.  Well I hope it picks up because I have lots of BBQ inspired recipes to try out and hopefully these recipes might get you out grilling rain or shine!  Continue reading »

The Method

Place the chicken in a large resealable bag and add in the rest of the chicken ingredients.  Seal the bag and give it a good shake until everything is completely combined and the chicken is evenly coated.

Leave in the fridge to marinate for at least 2 hours or overnight if you have the time.  Continue reading »

The Method

Preheat the oven to 200˚C and dust a large baking sheet with flour.

In a large mixing bowl, combine together the flours and bicarbonate of soda and make a well.

Measure the butter milk into a pyrex jug and then crack in the egg, whisk to combine.

Pour the mix into the well and then using a wooden spoon, bring the mix together with the dry ingredients until you have a dough.  Continue reading »

Like most young people and wine I started with the New World. The quirky, colourful packaging and the information contained within would tell me what grape variety was used to make this wine. Where it was made. Who made it and what they did to it to put their stamp on it. And of course, being an ignorant so and so who never bothered to learn any other language other than his native tongue, it was SO useful to have it written in English.  Continue reading »

 I was privilaged to be at the Amnesty Intrenational Presentation to Aung San Suu Kyi Yesterday in Dublin 
It really shown you what isa important in life To help others and we all should be doing something 

Poster Electric Burma  © Kevin Thornton  Amnesty International Logo © Kevin Thornton 

Signing a petation © Kevin Thornton 

Damien Rice  and Aung San Suu Kyi © Kevin Thornton 

Damien Rice © Kevin Thornton 

Reading A Seamun Heany Poem © Kevin Thornton 

Tibbetan  Singer © Kevin Thornton 
 

Venessa Redgrave and Bono © Kevin Thornton  Bono © Kevin Thornton  Bono ©Kevin Thornton 
Aung San Suu Kyi 
Aung Sau Suu Kyi © Kevin Thornton 
Aung San Suu © Kevin Thornton 
Smoking a pipe © Kevin Thornton 

Bob Gildoff © Kevin Thornton 

Damien Rice and Bono © Kevin Thornton  Waiting for Aung San Suu in Dublin © Kevin Thornton  A Woman with A Burma Flag © Kevin Thornton 
Garda Walk to Stage © Kevin Thornton 
 Aung San Suu Kyi Preparing  to go on Stage in Dublin © Kevin Thornton 

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Rayanne House, Holywood, County Down

It’s been said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day – and although it’s never been very high on Niall’s agenda, I think it might just be my favourite meal-time too.
After hearing Jay Rayner’s great review of Rayanne House in Holywood on The One Show, I jumped at the chance and persuaded Niall to book a table.  Continue reading »

I was lucky enough to be in Dublin yesterday for Electric Burma – a concert organized by Amnesty International for Aung San Suu Kyi. The concert was wonderful, with performances by Bono, Martin Hayes, Lupe Fiasco, Damien Rice, and Bob Geldof, among others. Seamus Heaney was in the audience, and many celebs read his amazing poems. However, the real high point was to be in the presence of such an amazing, uplifting woman.  Continue reading »

Is organic getting close to conventional in yield terms, or is the question itself problematic? Oliver Moore investigates
“Using gross yield as a lens to judge the efficiency of our corn crop is like gauging the health of a steroid-addled bodybuilder by measuring his biceps.”
This succent sentence, from US writer Tom Philpot, sums up what’s wrong with standard ways to measure how efficient agriculture is.  Continue reading »

Lamingtons, originating from Australia and now found across the globe, are little cubes of spongey, coconut goodness that you can’t help loving. If you look up lamington’s it says that the traditional ones have a chocolate icing layer, however i could not help but use strawberry jam…. it’s just a classic combination that you can divert away from.  Continue reading »

A while back when I was just a baby blogger (as opposed to the wobbly toddler I am now), I attended a foodie night at Matt the Thresher’s Seafood Restaurant, organised by the inimitable Irish Foodies.
During that enjoyable evening, I met a small but truly lovely group of women who would become my first introduction to the army of foodies that Ireland has been steadily building over the years.  Continue reading »