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Top Irish Beers at Bradley’s
Blackrock stout
at the Cliff Town House
While in Bradley’s recently (always recently!), I had an enjoyable chat with Michael Creedon about the amount of Irish beers now on the market and we began to discuss our favourites and also the top selling beers from the dozens and dozens available in the North Main Street store.
So we went to work on a few lists but.  Continue reading »

Sheen Shines on Valentine’s
Campari in the bar
Sheen Falls Lodge was the classy venue for this year’s Valentine’s Night outing and it turned out to be a cracking meal, though there was not, thankfully, a special menu for the night. A new season just started, new owners and some new staff, saw us get off to a rather slow start but, soothed by an excellent meal and the live piano music, we.  Continue reading »

My bottle of Gregorius Trappistenbier predates the Engelszell monastery’s recent accession as the eighth member of the trappist brewery club so I’m still claiming I drank it before it was cool. It’s 9.7% ABV and intriguingly mentions honey on the ingredients list – honey being one of the many products marketed by the Austrian monks.
It looks typical enough on pouring: an opaque red brown with just a soft downy skim of ivory foam for a head.  Continue reading »

Gourmet crisps, eh?
It was the first phrase I noticed when I picked up a packet of Bill & Mick’s crisps – or, to give them their official mouthful of a title, Bill & Mick’s Real Irish Gourmet Hand Cooked Crisps – newcomers to the Irish crisps scene.  Continue reading »

To celebrate the Vietnamese New Year known as Tet, the lovely Paul Cadden, owner of  Saba Thai and Vietnamese Eatery on Clarendon Street Dublin, has given me a copy of Saba: The Cookbook – Inside a Thai/Vietnamese Kitchen to give away on the blog. The book traces the story of Saba and is beautifully illustrated and crammed with Thai and Vietnamese recipes, not to mention a great selection of cocktails.  Continue reading »

Island Bakery bringing it’s “Bread Revolution” 
to the mainland 
Recession, what  recession? This may be an exception, but on Heir Island off the Coast of West Cork, business is going from strength to strength for The Firehouse Bakery & Bread School.
It is not yet 9 months since The Firehouse Bakery opened its doors and in that time Patrick Ryan and Laura Moore (left) have seen people from.  Continue reading »

 
Hotel Meyrick
Eyre Square,
Galway
Tel : +353 (0) 91564041
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HotelMeyrick
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MeyrickHotel

 
Sitting at the bottom of Eyre square, Hotel Meyrick has graced us with her stately presence since 1852. Her doors flung open wide inviting guests to eat, sleep and play, in (what we consider) one of Galway’s most welcoming hotels.  Continue reading »

The rules in our house say that if you have ripe bananas, you make banana bread. This Treacle, Ginger and Oat Banana Bread is low GI and lower in fat than a normal banana cake/bread recipe.
The 4yo says that this is the best banana bread “eh-ver” and who am I to argue with his wisdom? All the same he is my biggest fan so I admit he’s very biased.  Continue reading »

IT PAYS to get up at the crack of dawn on a Sunday sometimes. Even before Sunday Brunch is published, we’ve (myself and Mrs. Any Given Food-to-be) already taken in a fundraising breakfast and hiked the dogs through the woods, leaving a full run of the day before settling in for some Netflix time this afternoon with the feet, somewhat, up.  Continue reading »

I used to use cookie stamps all the time as a kid and haven’t seen them much since. Does anyone use these anymore? I think it’s time we bring cookie stamps back!
Sure frosting and sprinkles are good, but sometimes you don’t want that extra sugar. So how to do you still make your cookies look presentable? With a stamp of course!
Thanks to Etsy you can find any stamp your heart desires or even have one custom made. I personally love the Batman one!  Continue reading »

Pomus could not get over how some of Spector’s nuttiest habits were so commonplace to the young man.
“One thing he did was, he carried this briefcase around with him all the time. And . That was it. He’d break off a piece of bread and sit there eating and he was the happiest guy in the world. We used put him on, ‘cause he was so funny. But he was very smart and politically oriented too. You.  Continue reading »

Another homage at home. This time a straight up adaptation of the Daniel Humm roast chicken at NoMad. Loved this. The original recipe calls for the chicken to be stuffed under the skin with foie gras, truffles and brioche. Roasted at a super high temperature, the chicken skin crisps golden brown.  Continue reading »

I've made a rod for my own back.  As you can tell from the blog, I bake the odd few cakes and biscuits and I like to share them with my work colleagues.  The Hubs brings some into his work too, so I am usually very popular of a Monday morning.  Beady eyes follow my every movement when I walk through the door and over to my desk, and some people come over on the pretense of saying hello, but actually trying to see if I have any food with me.  Continue reading »

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I subscribe to many blogs, and I have found some treasures through word of mouth and recommendations. I usually bookmark the posts I find interesting and stockpile them until I have time to sit down and transfer the good content into my Evernote account. I recently added Juls’ Kitchen to my list of subscriptions and started to read her posts about life and food in Tuscany.  Continue reading »

Have you ever tried making dinner with just one pot and one spoon? Now you can thanks to these delicious dinners. Keep reading to see the recipes we’re talking about!
Chicken and Mushroom Stew – This simple stew only takes minutes to prepare if you use frozen vegetables!
New England Fish Chowder – Serve this comforting chowder with crusty bread. It’s perfect for a chilly winter day!  Continue reading »

From Friday to Sunday 22nd to 24th February, there are a number of great events on in Cloughjordan. There’s a smallholder event, a co-operative and community food event, and a great fun(d) raising gig on the Saturday night. See below for much more, including full programme at the end on this posting.
TO BOOK CLICK HEREIn the boom times, a sense of community and co-operation seemed to waiver.  Continue reading »

This week, we’re giving away a great gift basket from one of our favorite gourmet food stores, Balducci’s. This $50 gift basket is called Little Italy, and it’s absolutely perfect for a romantic Italian dinner! Keep reading for how to enter!  Continue reading »

This is something a little different from the norm but I’m hoping at least a couple of fellow bloggers/readers/tweeters will come on board with this project.

Seachtain na Gaeilge is coming up from 4-17 March 2013. Traditionally it falls around St Patrick’s Day. The aim of the official week that has morphed into a fortnight is to raise awareness of the Irish language and encourage people to speak it a little bit more.  Continue reading »