A.  Continue reading »

I recently decided to treat myself to an ice cream maker. Normally when I buy myself anything electrical for the kitchen it gets used once or twice and is then banished to a press to spend a few years. However I think this ice cream maker is different, because ice cream belongs in every freezer and it’s even better though when you pull out a tub made by yourself that suits your taste perfectly.
Since finishing the leaving, I hardly see my granny.  Continue reading »

Welcome to another Free Food Friday! This week’s prize: cooking sprays that are low in calories and tasty as can be! Read on for all the details on how you can win…

Gourmé Mist makes wonderful extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar spray misters.  At less than 5 calories per serving, the non-aerosol misters are great for adding tasty flavor minus the extra fat and calories!
Gourme Mist is available nationally and online right here!  Continue reading »

*Shuffles in sheepishly looking at the floor*  Howyiz?  I know, I know.  I’ve been very quiet.  Very bold, not posting anything the past couple of weeks.  Apologies for that now, but I’ve had a lot on.  My little brain can only take so much at once and there was stuff clambering to get in and out of there.  So I was a bit lazy and didn’t make time for blogging. I’ll get back on the case though, promise.  Continue reading »

A new way to taste sherry

Clear blue skies and sunshine + plenty of good food = lots of happy people at yesterday’s opening of the Cork Food Festival in Fitzgerald’s Park.
It’s on until Sunday, with admission a reasonable €12, kids go free and there’s and no faffing about with tokens to pay for your food.  Continue reading »

One Pico's Salmon Starter

One Pico is a place of such high repute that you might think you’d have to be the Sausage King of Chicago to have lunch there. However, put aside a fiver a week and spend an afternoon there next month. You won’t regret it. Since we reviewed the set lunch menu over two years ago, the two courses for €19.95 option is gone, so I took it upon myself to see if three courses for €25 are worth it. I’m sound like that.  Continue reading »

How can you make your salads even healthier? Make your own dressing. Commercial salad dressings you buy at the grocery store can be loaded with fat, calories and sodium.
While you think you may be eating a healthy salad, you’re dressing could be killing your diet. Making your own dressings is an important part of healthy cooking. Here are some recipes I recommend.
Ranch Dressing: This low fat version is great with salads or for dipping veggies.  Continue reading »

At the Cork Food Fest last night.
Picnic style weather in Fitzgerald Park as the Irish Examiner Cork Food Festival got underway yesterday evening. Many of the area’s top restaurants and food producers joined the effort to show the very best of local food. No shortage of cooks – Rachel Allen drew a capacity attendance to her demo – and there was live music by the fountain.
Sonie O’Sullivan.  Continue reading »

It always takes someone who is prepared to break the mould.
One of the many things that gives you that ‘punch the air’ moment in this business is when you find a range of wines that have the x-factor, delivering something different and unique that others can’t emulate. That’s exactly what Bodegas Exopto has brought to our range of Rioja wines.  Continue reading »

I love waking up on Saturday morning in Dublin. Firstly, it means that I’m at home and secondly, that I’m not working. I enjoy shuffling bleary-eyed into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee in our Nespresso machine. I love getting to sit on my sofa with said cup of coffee, with gorgeous views from our apartment’s bay windows out over the Victorian park across the way.

And then there’s the pleasure of planning the day’s activities.  Continue reading »

I love anything lattice, lattice bakewell tart, lattice apple pie. There is something about lattice pastry that really appeals to me. It’s like knitted pastry…what’s not to like? I bought a lattice cutter on my honeymoon in Madeira - yeah, I know, I am a real blast to bring on holidays.  Continue reading »

 
Hello fellow food lovers,
Please find below the longer and unedited version of our weekly contribution to The Sunday Times newspaper for the week of July 15th 2012). We have included a few recipes for a sweet potato seafood pancake with a Korean dipping sauce and an excellent recipe for Gooseberry fig rolls. I hope you enjoy giving them a whirl!
On a side note … and hence my ‘quietness’ on the blogging front, two of my siblings are here with their children.  Continue reading »

You probably know that there are a variety of foods that increase your libido (aphrodisiacs, as it were). Which ones can you create for dinner or dessert, and which foods should you avoid that decrease your libido? Keep reading to find out!
It’s not even close to being Valentine’s Day, but with the popularity of 50 Shades of Grey skyrocketing, we wanted to provide you with some tasty treats that will help improve your sex life!  Continue reading »

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I’m not sure if we’ve ever had so much rain in one summer before, but I’m still a little hopeful that we may be reacquainted with the sun, sometime before the summer’s end.  Continue reading »

Finding a Rioja winery who is willing to sell is easy. Finding one that doesn’t necessarily follow the status quo (different in our eyes is always interesting and curious), yet still manages to excel at everything they do – that can be a little more difficult.
Introducing Bodegas Exopto, a winery that we feel lives by similar principles and values to ourselves.  Continue reading »

A.  Continue reading »

This is a favourite and very easy recipe of mine. It came about when I had some left over strawberries after baking a pie and I wasn’t too sure what to do with the rest of them. I went through my kitchen cupboard and fished out what I thought could go well with strawberries, turned the oven on and, voila! Baked strawberries. I like to eat these with vanilla ice cream, but they are equally tasty being accompanied with pancakes or crepes.  Continue reading »

Food and Drink Spotting
Cork Food Festival
The Irish Examiner Cork Food Festival starts this evening (5.30pm) in Fitzgerald Park and it promises to be much much better than last year, much more affordable. Ticket prices have been cut in half and the unpopular “Corkers” currency has been ditched.
More room is available so that means more producers and more seating areas. Loads of restaurants.  Continue reading »

Would you believe it, eggs and yoghurt go extremely well together? Rather than cook it on the hob, this oven baked omelette needs very little work. We are huge fans of the Glenisk range in this house and have been for many years. When weaning the baby their Organic Kids Vanilla Yoghurt has been a…  Continue reading »