Hi folks,

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year celebration.  Ours was really special as we had both events in our little house for the first time. On New Years Day we braved the Irish Sea and took a dip to mark the start of a brand new year.  Out with the old and in with the new!  Continue reading »

Hi folks,

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year celebration.  Ours was really special as we had both events in our little house for the first time. On New Years Day we braved the Irish Sea and took a dip to mark the start of a brand new year.  Out with the old and in with the new!  Continue reading »

Apparently, it’s the most depressing day of the year, or something.
Here’s a nice idea for Blue Monday: buy something in Centra and pick up a tea or coffee for just 1 cent.
Fuel products, lottery tickets, gift-cards, mobile top-up, bin tags, bus tickets, baby food (under 6 months), tobacco products and alcohol are excluded from the promotion.  Continue reading »

Q: What do a moule à manqué, sinistral fish and lambs’ brains (sorry) all have in common?

A: New things I learnt about in school this week. 

A moule à manqué is a sloping cake tin, sinistral fish have eyes on their left-hand side and lambs’ brains are considered a delicacy by some. One of these I ate. 

Guess which one? 

Unfortunately I only ate right-eyed fish this week.  Continue reading »

A long time ago, in fact what feels like approximately five million years ago, I left home to complete my degree in Edinburgh, Scotland. Like every girl going to Scotland, I day dreamed all the time from time to time about finding … Continue reading →.  Continue reading »

They sat in the basket, staring malevolently at me, their long yellow bodies huddled together.  I was being guilted by forgotten bananas and it was time to use them or lose them.  I'm sure I'm not the only person who buys food with great intentions and then forgets about it, only to rediscover it a week or two later when it's beyond salvaging.  Continue reading »

They do say that every day’s a school day, and last Wednesday was a case in point. That was when we in Ireland and the U.K. learned all about an interesting new principle at work in our local food systems: the Horse-n-Beef Uncertainty Principle, where the purchase of a factory-processed supermarket beef burger could leave you uncertain as to how much beef (or pork or horse meat) that burger actually contained.  Continue reading »

SO THIS week wasn’t exactly the finest of week’s for the Irish food industry what with reports of horse DNA surfacing in beef burgers around the country. With that in mind, here’s some stories from the food press this past week including some looks at the Irish food industry amongst others.

Irish food industry welcomes skyrocketing sales – but where are the brands?  Continue reading »

A.  Continue reading »

When I was about sixteen, I was in a restaurant with my parents, politely doing battle with a bowl of mussels – and losing. A large party of foreign tourists (Dutch, I think) was just leaving, when one of the men stopped at our table. “Allow me,”he said, taking the fork from my surprised fingers. He replaced it with one of my discarded mussel shells, “This is a gift from Neptune,” he explained, and demonstrated that I should use it, tweezer-like, to tug the mussel from its shell.  Continue reading »

There is some instinct in women, especially mothers, that makes us want to nourish those we love and care for. Somehow we believe deep down that the right nutritious food will cure all ills.  Continue reading »

Irish agriculture hit the news worldwide this week with the discovery of horse DNA in supermarket burgers. The affair began on Tuesday when the Food Safety Authority here released results on tests for porcine and equine DNA in 27 Irish supermarket burgers. 13 tested positive for horse DNA.  The product with the highest level (29 per cent) of equine DNA was Tesco Everyday Value burgers.  Continue reading »

IT’S NOT EVERY weekend that I haul myself out of bed before 9am to go running in the cold, but that’s how this morning started which means at this stage I’m raring to go in the kitchen. I’m thinking some kind of piri-piri chicken dish myself but if you’re stuck for ideas on what to cook in the kitchen this weekend, here’s ten recipes garnered from food bloggers and papers this past week including some easy mains, sides and desserts.  Continue reading »

Irish Beef has been selected as a key ingredient at this year’s Bocuse d’Or International Chef’s Competition. The event takes place at the upcoming Sirha Food Fair, Lyon, France, 29-30 January, 2013. The international competition, named after legendary French Chef Paul Bocuse, seeks to identify the world’s top competitive chef using only the world’s best food products.  Continue reading »

If you’re anything like me, your weekend routine doesn’t at all resemble your weekday routine. Sleeping in, eating brunch and a late dinner, and looking for tasty but easy meals perfectly describes my weekend. Therefore, I have several weekend recipes to share with you. And, enjoy the return of the NHL!
Appetizers
Make a simple heart warming soup or yummy dip!
Carrot Apple Soup
Mini Eggplant Pizzettes
Veggie Bean Dip
Main Courses
Utilize your crockpot for an even easier main course!  Continue reading »

 Lunch SURPRISE TASTING MENU

 18th January 2013
White Aran Island Sea Urchin
Gavi di Gavi, Broglia, Piemonte, Italy, 2011

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Sauteed Dublin Bay Prawns with Prawn Bisque, Truffle Sabayon
Riesling “Kabinett”, Wgt. Schumacher, Pfalz, Germany, 2009
Bere Island King Scallop, Roasted and Carpaccio with Inochi Mushrooms
Chablis, Dom.  Continue reading »

We have a BIG giveaway coming at you this week. This week, we are partnering with the folks at Hillshire Farms to giveaway $50 worth of Hillshire Farms products. That means you can stock up on all your favorites, FOR FREE! Have a party, pig out on some apps, or hoard your winnings for the zombie apocalypse. We don’t judge. What we do want you to do is read the instructions below and enter to win this awesome prize!  Continue reading »

Stuck with HMV vouchers? Or perhaps you’re out of a job?
A number of Dublin restaurants, including Fade Street Social, Rustic Stone, Brasserie Sixty6, are accepting HMV vouchers in exchange for a bottle of house wine, prosecco, or a cocktail, from Sunday January 20 – Tuesday January 22 inclusive. The Grafton Lounge is also accepting HMV vouchers  for food until the end of today, Friday January 18.  Continue reading »

As the past year drew to an end, I read many articles summarising the food trends of 2012 and/or looking to the future trends in 2013. One common theme from food journalists and bloggers from our neighbour to the East (i.e. England) was the emergence of “gourmet junk food“, a phrase I borrowed from Marina O’Loughlin of the Guardian. London  has been innundated with burger joints, hot dog joints and fried chicken joints just to name a few.  Continue reading »

I know there are lots of you out there who love food and cooking. You may have considered applying for ‘Masterchef’ but decided against it when you realised it was really only for those who wanted to be professional cooks. And you may even have considered putting yourself forward for ‘Come Dine with Me’ only to change your mind when you discovered you’d be ridiculed on national TV.If only there were a TV show out there for the likes of you…Well, now there is.  Continue reading »