Halloween is a week and a half away, so it’s time to start planning your party menu-with a little help from Pinterest.

Get crafty with your burgers by carving a Jack-O-Lantern face into the cheese.

Blogger Beth from Home Stories A to Z definitely wins from the cutest Halloween themed rice krispie treats.

This Goblin smoothie we found on Babble gets it’s green color from green tea.

A pumpkin veggie tray that’s almost too cute to eat.  Continue reading »

I hadn’t planned to write a blog post today. I have nothing baked you see, no goodies to share with you. But just now though, as I sat in the blissful morning silence at my kitchen table I took a bite from a scone I baked at the weekend, and I was suddenly transported. For a brief moment, instead of sitting at my kitchen table I was sitting in the comfort of the lobby in the Westbury hotel, surrounded by the women most important in my life.  Continue reading »

James Richardson is the owner/chef at Old Barn Steakhouse, in County Armagh and has recently won the Ulster Tatler Chef of the Year 2012.  Continue reading »

James Richardson is the owner/chef at Old Barn Steakhouse, in County Armagh and has recently won the Ulster Tatler Chef of the Year 2012.  Continue reading »

As far as I remember, it was St Patrick’s Day that occasioned the release of this special edition from the Edinburgh beer brand: Innis & Gunn Irish Whiskey Cask. It’s the first stout they’ve done, 7.4% ABV and aged, as the name makes clear, in an Irish whiskey barrel. It doesn’t say which distillery it came from, mind: the label is all “famous” this and “rare” that and “triple distilled” the other.  Continue reading »

I am well and truly awash with cookbooks these days. Yet another brace of books has come my way, joining what is an already noisy chorus of volumes on my shelves (some of whom, it must be said, have more to shout about than others). These newcomers, though, do, I think, present reason enough, each in their own right, to make their voices heard in the cookbook crowd.  Continue reading »

I was watching The Great British Bake Off the other evening and the overriding theme was a terror of soggy bottoms. They went on about it so much I began to wonder if the judges and contestants had each had a childhood filled with compulsory picnics on damp grass without the benefit of a ground sheet.
It turns out that the dread lay in the possibility of puff pastry not reaching its full airy potential. Oh the drama of it all!  Continue reading »

Have you ever eaten fresh tumeric? It’s fantastic in curries of course, but some people make a tea (a bit like ginger root tea) from fresh tumeric root (it even looks a lot like ginger) to ease aches and pains. Tumeric has fantastic anti-inflammatory properties, and in Chinese and Indian herbal medicines it has been used to help treat inflammatory bowel disease as well as joint pain. In current research it is also being considered as a having potent anti-cancer activity.  Continue reading »

Gordon Ramsay 3 Star Chef

Love him or hate him there’s few who would question his ability: Gordon Ramsay has been at the very top of his profession, his name synonymous with the search for culinary perfection and the very best in fine dining.
We were lucky enough to visit his flagship restaurant, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay at Hospital Road, back in 2010.  Continue reading »

THE DOGS have been walked, the bread has been baked (I took care of that one last night) and I’ve also managed to push out the list of speakers for this year’s Foodcamp at Savour Kilkenny. Not a bad start to the morning in fairness. So, as I sit down to enjoy a read of the news from the past week on all matters food, technology, arts and culture, here’s a list of food articles that you may have missed this past week in the seventh installment of Sunday Brunch.  Continue reading »

This week in the Irish Farmers Journal I wrote about what sustainability programmes can yield to food producers. Sustainability has been a buzz word bandied around liberally in the past decade. Unfortunately it has also been frequently abused by many food retailers and manufacturers.
More recently the term has gained renewed focus as commodity prices move sharply and continuously upwards. The scramble for land in developing countries to feed our Western appetites has become a contentious issue.  Continue reading »

Chateau Bauduc at the Cornstore
Thursday turned out to be quite a night at The Cornstore with Bordeaux’s Chateau Bauduc providing the wines for an excellent five course meal. Gavin Quinney (and family) took over this chateau in 1999 and led it from strength to strength. It is quite a story and may be read here.
From Gavin’s earliest vintages, the critics have been singing his praises and he.  Continue reading »

Hiyah!

As I’m back home in Dublin this week I’m doing all sorts of crazy stuff like drinking copious amounts of (real) tea, eating homecooked meals, lots of chatting. And, oh, there was a book launch. As you do like.

The Goodall’s Modern Irish Cookbook launch to be precise. Here’s how I reacted when I first found out I was going to be in a book. 

I’m quite calm about it now.  Continue reading »

Sorachi Ale

 
Bit gassy but fresh taste. Not too hoppy but very dry.Don’t drink it too cold
Read and rate here
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/brooklyn-sorachi-ace/107007/.  Continue reading »

The first notes filled the air and everybody took a deep breath.  This wasn’t a scene from The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy sings to Toto about a better place far far away.  We were in a crowded church saying goodbye to my cousin Ciara who died on Tuesday 3rd October.  I said my own personal goodbye to her a week earlier in hospital and told her I loved her millions and billions, amongst other things.  Continue reading »

New Season’s Olive Oil & Wines of Tuscany
 with iconic Italian producers
Thursday 8th November 2012, 7pm, at The Grain Store, Ballymaloe
Enjoy a ‘Taste of Tuscany’ in County Cork, at The Grain Store, Ballymaloe, with the following producers, in association with Liberty Wines.
Beatrice Contini Bonacossi, from Capezzana, Carmignano, Tuscany
Federico Giuntini, Selvapiana, Chianti Rufina.  Continue reading »

Recent reports in the national press tell us that some Irish people claim "to not be able to feed their families on an income of €65K a year". 
Of course the articles refers to a specific family where the dad works in civil service and between mortgage repayments, pay cuts and lack of any kinds of medical benefits, they are left with a deficit to live on.  Continue reading »

From: A thousand sisters by Lisa J. Shannon.
The author is at the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre.
Inside, I walk past walls filled with snapshots of victims….a few details of his or her life are listed:
Francine Murengezi Ingabire
Age:12
Favourite sport: Swimming
Favourite food: Eggs and chips
Favourite drink: Milk and Fanta Tropical
Best Friend: Her elder sister Claudette
Cause of death:.  Continue reading »

I’ve been working on this recipe for a while.  Toffee can be difficult to perfect but with a few quick tricks this doesn’t take long to make up.  For these lemon meringue toffees less is more. Last week I made meringue and I wasn’t all that careful lifting it from the tray which resulted in…  Continue reading »

Last weekend Geoffrey and I picked all of the apples and pears at our little farm orchard. All I could think about was apple dumplings. Some people have visions of sugar plums. I dream of apple dumplings.  Apple dumplings are pastry wrapped baked apples. They are perfect for using up apples that don’t shine up all prim and purty…which was basically nearly all of ours this year.

I suppose it is fairly safe to say that cooking has officially consumed me.  Continue reading »