Christmas décor at the Kilkenny store

Thu, Nov 01, 2012

Transform your home into a winter wonderland this Christmas with a little help from the Kilkenny store, home to Ireland’s largest collection of Irish designers. With a vast range of exquisite decorations available in Kilkenny stores nationwide and from Kilkenny’s convenient online store, www.kilkennyshop.com, bringing the festive spirit to your home could not be easier.

Savour the Festive Food Feast at the g for Console

Thu, Nov 01, 2012

As the festive season approaches it is time to eat, drink, and be merry. That is exactly what the five star g Hotel has planned for its inaugural Foodie Feast, taking place on Sunday November 18 in aid of Console, a dedicated suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention service, set up in 2002 by Paul Kelly after losing his sister Sharon to suicide.

The Book Shelf...

Thu, Nov 01, 2012

Domini Kemp, who writes a regular column in The Irish Times, has now produced this her third cookery book, following Real Food Real Fast and It’s a Cookbook. This particular offering provides recipes from the off on such eclectic subjects as ‘fancy casual’, ‘getting it into them – family favourites’, ‘salads, sides, soups and starters’, ‘vegetarian’, ‘main courses: suppers, dinners, lunches’ and ‘sweet treats’. The best of the recipes include: gourmet fancy pants burgers, ultimate oven fries, spicy tomato and horseradish ketchup; posh chicken Kiev; lime, chilli and ginger prawns; roast pork with prune, pine nut, and spinach stuffing; trout and leek pies; fried aubergine with mint and vinegar; lazy veg lasagne; black bean tortillas; ‘cheffy’ shepherd’s pie; chickpea soup with curry prawns; courgette fritters with tzatziki; caramelised garlic tart with goat’s cheese; puy lentils with sundried tomatoes and Cashel blue cheese; winter egg supper; pork schnitzel; banana puddings with toffee sauce; key lime pie; and chocolate, hazelnut and muscovado tart. Overall, an attractive cookery book that is easy to follow with Kemp providing a short personal back-story to go with most recipes.

The breakfast roll gets a modern makeover

Thu, Nov 01, 2012

Whether you love to cook, or just love to eat, there are plenty of great foodies on Twitter that you can follow. From celebrity types you would recognise from the television to professional chefs, bloggers, and restaurant critics, many food lovers are tapping into Twitter’s real-time network to offer up recipes, promote products, and recommend restaurants or otherwise. You can get an inside look at life in the kitchen, or just feast your eyes on other people’s lunches. Most of the food community in Ireland have embraced Twitter also. And yes, I myself engage in the occasional tweet (I know you are not supposed to talk to strangers on the internet, but this is different. Honest!) as do a lot of other Irish food bloggers — there are about 600 of us, believe it or not

Enjoy Sunday brunch at Maxwells

Thu, Nov 01, 2012

The term ‘brunch’ is of course a portmanteau of breakfast and lunch and is thought to have originated in England in the late 19th century as a student slang term. It became popular in the late 1930s because movie stars and celebrities and the wealthy taking transcontinental train rides in America stopped off in Chicago for a late morning meal.

More recently it is a favourite of those who may have partied on Saturday night, like to sleep in on a Sunday morning, read the newspapers, and take a walk to a local restaurant for some casual food.

On the Wine Shelf...

Thu, Oct 25, 2012

Errázuriz, Wild Ferment Chardonnay Casablanca Valley 2009 (Independents €19.99)

On the cookery book shelf

Thu, Oct 25, 2012

Jamie’s 15-Minute Meals
Jamie Oliver

Galway wine news

Thu, Oct 25, 2012

Cases Wine Warehouse’s sixth annual winter wine fair has been confirmed for Thursday November 15. At the fair will be wines the company imports directly from the likes of Cava, Castilla (organic and biodynamic) Rioja, Sicily, and Burgundy. Also included are Pinot Noir from the Central and Leyda valleys; Malbec, Syrah, and Carmenere from Colchagua, plus a wide selection of wines from other great Irish importers such as Celtic Whiskey, Taserra, Mitchells, Karwigs, and Liberty Wines.

A very tasty diversion

Thu, Oct 25, 2012

In the village of Oranmore, Péarla na Mara is well worth a detour off the main road. Serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it has a Mediterranean style menu with a heavy Irish influence and there is a warm welcome from one half of the husband and wife owners, Justyna, at the front of house.

Warm up your appetite with Artisan Restaurant’s new winter menu

Thu, Oct 18, 2012

Artisan Restaurant, winner of the ‘Best Restaurant in Connacht’ at the Irish Restaurant Awards earlier this year, has just launched its delectable new winter menu. Comprising a host of mouth watering seafood, steak, and vegetarian options, the award winning restaurant has truly exceeded its own impeccable standards with a new set of dishes, which can only be described as a delicious infusion of carefully selected ingredients and mouth watering flavour.

The Boathouse Seafood and Grill opens on main street Oranmore

Thu, Oct 18, 2012

Oranmore’s latest destination for casual dining comes courtesy of local residents Rudi and Frances Rabasse. Future dinners at the Boathouse Seafood and Grill can look forward to meals prepared by a host of culinary experts, who boast impressive performances in the art of cuisine. Rudi Rabasse boasts a 25 year term in the catering industry with a decorative resumé including time spent working in a five star hotel in Courchevel in the Alps, a Parisian bistro, a Michelin star restaurant in London, Roly’s brasserie in Dublin, and is completed by seven years spent as the manager of Kirwan’s Lane seafood bar and restaurant in the heart of Galway city. While working there he joined forces with owner Michael O’Grady and chief chef Mark Hopkins.

Heartwarming seasonal specials at Brasserie on the Corner

Thu, Oct 11, 2012

Brasserie on the Corner, Eglinton Street, steak and seafood specialist and all round foodie haven, has introduced some seasonal changes.

House Hotel to stick to what it does best… cocktails

Thu, Oct 11, 2012

The House cocktail bar and bistro at the boutique House Hotel has announced that it is adding a dine and cocktail offer for only €15 to its exciting menu.

Dinner and cocktails at the House Hotel

Thu, Oct 11, 2012

The House Hotel is one of my favourite little boltholes in Galway. Cool, quirky, and fun, you can't beat it for location. The rooms are lovely and settling into one of the squashy pink couches in the lobby with one of the rather superior afternoon teas is a great way to catch up with friends.

The Book Shelf...

Thu, Oct 04, 2012

Cooking Through the Year
100 Recipes Season by Season

On the Wine Shelf...

Thu, Oct 04, 2012

Domaine Horgelus Côtes de Gascogne IGP 2011 (Wines Direct, €9.50)

On the Wine Shelf...

Thu, Oct 04, 2012

Arrigo Bidoli Friuli Merlot DOC 2010 (Independents, €14.79)

On the ground

Thu, Oct 04, 2012

Tesco has announced a new sticker promotion scheme offering customers savings of up to 85 per cent off its Italian-designed Alessi cutlery range. Customers will receive one sticker for every €20 they spent in store and having collected five stickers can chose from five differently designed Alessi cutlery ranges with the discount. The offer runs until December 30, 2012.

Autumn at Basilico

Thu, Oct 04, 2012

Those clever chaps at Basilico Italian restaurant in Oranmore are ahead of the game, again, with their new free range and organic autumn menu. Basilico offers proper seasonal local food, and organic with a capital O; vegetables that have spent their lives knee deep in trillion-microbes-per-teaspoon loamy humus, not drip fed a Lance Armstrong cocktail of who knows what in some climate controlled polytunnel in deepest Alicante, or chickens which never saw sunlight in their life.

This is something that Basilico partners Paolo Sabatini and Fabiano Mulas are passionate about. Both Irish and Italian cuisine is essentially peasant food, in the best sense of the word, ie, based on recipes that have evolved over generations but firmly planted in the soil. Bacon and cabbage or spaghetti Bolognese are staples of our respective diets.

Galway farmer honoured at inaugural Sustainable Quality Beef Producer Awards

Thu, Oct 04, 2012

Eyrecourt farmer Richard Bournes won a Sustainable Quality Beef Producer Award at the National Ploughing Championships, in New Ross, Co Wexford last week.

E-paper

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