Author: Anne Marie Carroll
West of Ireland food writer Anne Marie Carroll introduces Galway's first Gin Festival and related treats.
The craft beer revolution is in full swing and has well and truly whet the consumer's appetite for higher quality beverages. The new thirst for premium alcoholic products has set the stage for the micro-distillers to start a revolution of their very own.
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Author: Dee Laffan
Dee Laffan speaks to the acclaimed Cork chef Takashi Miyazaki about Ireland's growing love affair with Japanese food - and the challenges of starting a Japanese restaurant here.
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Author: Margaret Hickey
Having written Ireland's Green Larder, a history of the food and drink of Ireland, concentrating on the food of the rural poor in particular, I was particularly interested in the food of a country I've just visited - Costa Rica. Think coffee, think avocados the size of melons, think stupendous chocolate and think fresh, fresh fish and shellfish. But also think poverty. The people are well nourished, but not well off, so the staple diet for many is still gallo pinto - rice and black beans.
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Author: Rachel Gaffney
Last December I hosted a morning coffee for 10 friends. My invitation was very simple. Please enjoy a cup of coffee or tea and a slice of cake. Sit and chat. In the midst of this hectic season it was indeed a welcome respite. It gave me so much pleasure to take out my tea service, light some candles and enjoy the aroma of christmas baking in my home. The process is as much a part of the enjoyment as the actual tea.
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Author: Jillian Bolger
JILLIAN BOLGER wonders why we so rarely see the work of highly skilled pastry chefs credited by including their names on menus
Over many years as a food writer I’ve always been struck at how many of us rank our dessert as the highlight of a meal. It’s not always those of us with the sweetest teeth either. That sensational citron tart, that amazing crème brûlée, that luscious chocolate fondant: they’re often the thing we remember most about dining out.
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Author: Darina Allen
Bet you didn’t know there was such a thing as an International Carrot Day, well indeed there is. It is celebrated every year on April 4th, the day when virtues of the carrot are highlighted through Carrot Parties and Carrot related festivities around the world.
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Author: Michael Kelly
We added ten new hens to the flock here at home this week, ostensibly so the Eldest Child could satisfy his entrepreneurial instincts and start to sell our excess eggs.
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Author: Barbara Collins
Chef Interrupted by Trevis Gleason
Not many people who have been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis would be able to start a new life for themselves on another continent, but the former American chef Trevis Gleason's inspiring read Chef Interrupted- Discovering Life's Second Course in Ireland with Multiple Sclerosis tells the story of how he did just that.
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Author: Lucy Madden
In sparkling form this month, Lucy Madden asserts that "for anyone young, and naturally sociable, there can be few more promising career paths to take than in hospitality".
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Author: Martin Dwyer
This month: On French School Meals
Running a chambre d'hote in France, which also serves table d'hote meals to guests, you get a real insight into the eating habits of various nations.
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