What is your idea of perfect happiness?
A good book and a good bottle.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Samuel Beckett.
Which living person do you most admire?
That guy (you know the one I’m talking about ) who never stops even though he knows its pointless.
Which is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Inability to finish what I started (from birth onwards … )
What is your greatest extravagance?
Books.
What is your favourite journey?
The year I spent walking across Europe in only a shawl and sandals.
On what occasion do you lie?
Whenever I talk to my wife.
Which living person do you most despise?
If I told you his name, he’d come after me.
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
My daughter Heather.
When and where were you happiest?
Paris, France, 1999 (but was I really? )
Which talent would you most like to have?
Chess grand master.
What is your current state of mind?
Melancholic.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Opening a restaurant in the recession.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what do you think it would be?
A rare single vintage that would most likely never be drunk.
What is your most treasured possession?
My laptop, unfortunately.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Unnecessary executions.
What is your favourite occupation?
Berlin by the Allied forces in 1945.
What is the quality you most like in a man?
Integrity.
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Madness.
Who are your favourite writers?
Joyce, Beckett, Sebald, McCarthy.
What is your motto?
Cui Bono.
JP McMahon is the head chef and owner of Cava Spanish Restaurant & Tapas Bar, Dominick Street. Cava is hosting the Wine and Words poetry event with Enrique Juncosa and Enda Wyley today at 6.15pm as part of Cúirt. Admission is €15.
Kernan Andrews
