The Smart Way to Locate your Business

The Smart  Way to Locate your Business  

I recently met with and old friend of mine Jim Nolan who introduced me  to to Loc8 Codes (Location codes) a brilliantly modern and easy way to locate properties and places in Ireland.

From talking with Jim  using the Loc8 codes appears to me to be the ideal way to  overcome the time wasting and frustration that people experience in trying to quickly find exactly where  the hotel, restaurant,sports pitch etc that they wish to travel to is located and to be guided to it.

Loc8 Code was founded by GPS Specialist  Gary Delaney who has spent many years researching, developing and finessing the code  to meet the exacting requirements of  modern needs and usage.

Launched on the 12 July 2010 , with Enterprise Ireland  and Garmin  Sat Nav support, Loc 8 codes are now widely used by commercial businesses, tourist, Local Goverment, Emergency Services ,sporting bodies and private users.

Having checked, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that many of you are already displaying and using Loc8 Codes on their web sites. Ummera Smoked Products Ltd in West Cork is one and here is a link for you to browse  http://www.ummera.com/contact_us.php

Why use Loc8 Codes?

Loc8 Codes can be assigned for any location, not just

Another Little Beauty

Little Beauty Sauvignon Blanc Limited Edition 2009, New Zealand, 13.5%, €15.99, stockists

She may have a big nose but this tropical visitor is another Little Beauty.

Raised and finished in Marlborough by Eveline Fraser, formerly of famed Cloudy Bay, this Sauvignon Blanc takes her well deserved place in a distinguished family.

We recently met her sister, the irresistible Pinot Noir  and look forward to meeting the other siblings, especially Dry Riesling.

This 13.5% Sauvignon Blanc sports a complexion of pale gold and the vibrant sheen is enhanced by attractive aromas. On the palate, the fruit shines through, grapefruit and gooseberry for me. It is refreshing, dry and crisp with a long and satisfying finish.

Howling Gale, Shu Pu Erh and Country Loaf

FOOD PATROL

Got a good nose for that those strange things the experts find when they sniff a sample of wine? No wine in Little Buddha’s in McCurtain Street but you could certainly give your sniffing "muscles" a workout in this treasure trove of teas and coffees from around the world.

Black tea

Called in there today, after a longish absence, on the lookout for some Pu-erh, the black Chinese tea. They had at least six on the packed table (must have been about 100 types altogether). 

Lifted the lids on the big jars and sniffed. Some were very flowery (you could see the petals  and stems) and in the end I settled for some Shu Pu Erh and some Pu Erh Pomegranate and Nettle.

The first is a four year old loose black tea, from the Menghai district in Yunnan province, the second is 79% tea to which have been added nettle leaves (7.2%) and pomegranate seeds (1.3%).

I let slip that I had been drinking branded varieties of Pu Erh. The lady was rather shocked. “Oh, those are very weak.”  She warned. “These are much stronger. For the morning, not for the evening.”

They also have a big selection of flavoured coffees and lots of accessories. If you can't get into town (to give those sniffers a test), then the next best thing to view the website.

North Main Street proved fruitful. Called into Michael in Bradley’s  for some Howling Gale made by the Eight Degree Brewery  in Mitchelstown.

Man does not live by beer alone so next stop was Daily Bread, just a few doors up, where I bought a lovely Country Loaf. The young lady behind the counter while plying me with a sample of their breads along with some tasty Spanish ham told me they had recently taken over the shop and would have some publicity material available shortly. I’ll let you know.

O’Brien Chop House are well known for their Curry Nights but there are some big differences on July  22^nd as the event is being held in Ballyvolane House and is in aid of charity. Get the details here. 

Excellent red from Spain

Corona d’Aragon Garnacha / Cariñena, 2008,    Spain, ABV: 13.5%, €13.99 stockists 


I’d like to introduce you to this excellent red from Spain, the older cousin of the 2009 Garnacha you met here  a  few weeks back.

This is a dark red with black cherry and plum on the nose. Full of flavour and concentrated on the palate, supple and smooth. With 85% of the mix being Garnacha and having spent five months in French oak, it has the notes of spice that you’d expect and has quite a lengthy and satisfying finish.

The wine tasting room

Corona d’Aragon take their wine-making seriously.  “So that people know, once we leave this life, what we have bequeathed to the world.” This 14^th century quote is on the back label.

Corona d’Aragon needn’t worry too much about their reputation if they keep turning out this kind of quality. Not that there will be much evidence of it in the future as it will all have been consumed!

My advice is to get your share now. Not alone is the wine right, so too is the price. Sourced from vineyards planted in 1950, the 2008 has picked up its share of awards: a Decanter bronze and an IWC bronze and has also been given 89 points by the Wine Advocate.

Gubbeen Chorizo, peas and rice. Let's cook!

West Cork Chorizo and Sage with Rice


Gubbeen's Chorizo is widely available.


I regularly get one at the Mahon Point Farmer's Market where Gubbeen have a stand. Their Chorizo is based on southern Spain’s famous spicy salami: Pimenton, chili, garlic, oregano, pepper. So you'd expect it to go well with Spanish rice. It does and here is the recipe. 


Fresh peas are beautiful just now. I know the recipe (from an old Reader's Digest Book) says frozen but if you have fresh then so much the better. Picked a bowl in the garden the other day and used them with the recipe and they were just terrific.

ROADSIDE DELI IN BALLYLICKEY

MANNINGS EMPORIUM

Have been promising myself, and one or two others, to visit Manning’s Food Emporium in Ballylickey for some time. Made it, finally, on a  sunny day this week and enjoyed the call which included a chat with Val, the man who started it all.

Val was in great form and gave us quite a laugh when he let loose as a delivery man as about to demolish one of his flower stands out the front. It didn't come to a collision and soon it was smiles as usual.

Manning’s Emporium  has been in the Manning family for over 70 years and has evolved in that time from post office and convenience store to what it is today: a gourmet shop renowned for its high quality local produce, fine wines and excellent service.

No doubt in Irish cities you’ll find some similar stores with bigger selections but remember that Mannings is in deepest West Cork in a country village on the coast road between Bantry and Glengarriff. That makes the selection here, mostly locally produced but also some stand-out items from aboard, quite remarkable indeed.

Just to give you a  flavour, here are some of the items that ended up in my basket: Molaga Honey €3.40, Tikka Masala Curry Sauce (UK) €4.05, Janet’s Country Fayre Beetroot Blush €4.00, Healthy Thirst Elderflower Sparkling Drink (UK) €3.25 for 75cl, Cooleeney Handmade Irish Cheese €3.75, The Apple Farm’s Sparkling Irish Apple Juice €4.45 for 50cl, Donegal Rapeseed Oil €5.95 for 50cl and El Comandante Chardonnay 2010 Argentina.

I’ve forgotten the price of the wine but you’ll see that the others are priced fairly, better value than in some of the city shops. Quite a lot of other local producers on display including Lorge Chocolates, Jack McCarthy (Kanturk), Gubbeen, Durrus and there is a rack of vegetables by the door and more.

Shopping done, it was time to take a table out-front and enjoy a cup of coffee and a cake. They have a selection of pastries to chose from, all served with a smile. Soon, we were ready to check out two other delights of the delightful area: the unusual Ewe Sculpture Garden  and Bantry House.  A cool bag in the boot came in handy and some of the drinks - the Elderflower  was gorgeous – were seen off during the afternoon of what turned out to be a great day in the west.

CORNSTORE'S FISH & WINE SPECIALS

TAYLOR’S WHITE PORT

TAYLOR’S CHIP DRY EXTRA DRY WHITE PORT, 20%, (Bradleys, North Main Street)

This is a rather rare, in these parts anyway, white port. But is has a 77 year history, having been first introduced, as a style, by Taylor’s in 1934. It is made in exactly the same way as regular Port but from white grapes.

Taylor’s claim that it is the original extra dry white aperitif port. Don’t let the many mentions of dry put you off – it has a crisp dry finish but it is some distance away from its Sherry counterparts in terms of jaw-locking! Indeed, it is quite fruity, both on the nose and on the palate, the mild mellow aromas coming from its aging in seasoned oak vats.

Even the white is a bit mis-leading, as the colour of mine was close to gold.

Really glad I took a chance on this one. Chilled it down well and used it as an aperitif with a small bowl of marinated olives from Provence. As you know, there is no shortage of olives in the English Market (and in some Farmers Markets) these days. Toasted almonds are also recommended as an accompaniment or just have it on its own.

The producers also promote it as a long drink, in a big glass with ice and tonic. Not too sure about that but different strokes for different folks!

MAHON MARKET MEAL

MARKET MEAL

Rice growing near Arles

Last Thursday wasn't the best of of days and the Mahon Point Farmers Market  had moved indoors (into the covered car park) to avoid the forecasted wind and rain. Still, I enjoyed the visit and called to some regulars (such as Woodside and Arbutus) and also met one or two new folks.

Back at the ranch, we put the purchases to good use. You’ll probably know that the mozzarella from Toonsbridge Dairy in Macroom was in the presentation made to the Queen on her recent visit to the city market.

But did you know they also make a Philadelphia type cheese with the same buffalo milk and it is called Buffadelphia . Picked up a packet at the Real Olive Company  stall in Mahon (they probably have it in the English Market also) and used it in a salad that included some beetroot from Lolo’s stall, where a three head bunch cost just €2.50. The salads came from the back garden and all in all it was very tasty.

At the market, I had bought some potatoes and vegetables from Ballycurraginny Farm and also from Ballintubber Farm but none of these was required for that night’s dinner.

The centrepiece here was Lamb Tagine from Flynn’s Kitchen. Iain Flynn’s stall isn't the biggest but he has quite an excellent range including soups, pates, jams and prepared dishes.

Brought some rice back from the recent visit to Provence and decided it to use it with the Tagine. Had visions of a nice photo as we added red and black rice to the white. But the colours all ran and so no photo as we spooned out the purple mix!

Still it tasted very well indeed and proved an excellent accompaniment to the Tagine which, as usual for Flynn’s Kitchen, was spot-on, the ingredients top class.

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL

SOW and GROW

A good friend of mine recently sent me an urgent email: “Met this amazing girl last night.  
She has just started her own business teaching children how to grow food and plants. I believe strongly that this skill has not been passed on to children over the Celtic Tiger years.
You might consider giving her a mention in your food blog.”

That was how I first heard of Ailish Drake, the lady behind Sow and Grow which works with crèches, play-schools, after-school clubs and primary schools providing creative gardening and nature programmes for children. The kids at the crèche or school will be encouraged to explore and discover all about gardening.

Ailish told me that she started the business in April of this year. “I am currently doing a summer run of classes in crèches at Castleconnell, Newport and Murroe, but as crèches are quieter for the summer, I have a lot of interest for September. I will be running programmes in both schools and child care facilities in the autumn, including parent and child classes.”

“Currently I cover Limerick City and County, North Tipp and East Clare. However I am hoping to expand the business to Cork City and its environs in Spring 2012. I have started a blog on my website and I would love anyone from anywhere to follow it and my Facebook page, as I will have lots of tips for gardening with kids and projects to do at home.”

Ailish grew up on a dairy farm on the Cork Limerick border. Her background is in architecture and garden design. “Having spent many years out in the garden with my Dad as a child, I became passionate about gardening and growing my own. My little boy and my many nieces inspired me to bring my passion to kids in crèches and schools. They are never too young to get started growing their own too!”

“It is so important for kids to know about where food comes from and it also gives them the confidence to taste new things and eat simple veg like peas in the pod, they usually they turn their noses up at the frozen alternative. It doesn't have to take a huge amount of time or space; a few simple pots will grow a lot. I also do birthday party packages, which can be anything from individual pots for the kids, or planting a butterfly garden or wildlife window box.”

Sow and Grow provide training, consultancy and demonstrations for local groups, schools, allotment holders and individuals. “We also specialise in garden and landscape design. Also, check out our great birthday party ideas, and make that special day just a bit different!”

Thanks to Mairead O’Brien of Nash 19 who put me in touch with Ailish. I too believe that we, especially us city dwellers, have too quickly lost touch with much of what was good in our past, even though most of us are hardly a wet week off the land.

We can never really go back – times and places change – but through programmes like those set up by Ailish we can re-connect and appreciate what was good then and that will help us and our kids and grandchildren appreciate what is good now and into the future.

BLAIRS INN: A TOP SPOT

BLAIRS INN
Corned Beef and Cabbage. As a starter! Yes and it proved a really tasty beginning to an excellent weekend meal at Blairs Inn.

What a menu they have there. If you combine the pages from the bar and restaurant menus, I reckon you could be eating there for a year and still have combinations to explore.

And then there are the drinks. There is an excellent wine list, for sure. But also lots of local (and international) drinks including craft beers from Dungarvan, Carlow, Eight Degrees (North Cork) and the new cider sensation Stonewell by the Nohoval Brewing Company.

After a big welcome and a chat with Richard we sat down in the cosy restaurant – they also have a lovely garden dining area – to go through the menus.

My starter was a Warm Tian of O’Crualaoi’s Corned Beef and Cabbage with a creamy Parsley dressing (€7.70). If you get out there, you should really try this. The beef, supplied by the well known Ballincollig butcher, was spot-on as was everything else in this well presented cylinder shaped offering of good local food.

Then on to the main course: Pan fried fillets of Sea Bass on a Chorizo mash with a sundried tomato and rocket dressing and a side plate filled with vegetables and another with gratin potato, both done to perfection. Again, another excellent plateful.

And a big plateful. Indeed, both starter and mains were quite substantial, so much so that I had to forego the dessert.

They helpfully suggest, on the menu, various drinks with each course; the tips for me were a wheat beer with the starter and a dry cider with the fish. I was in the mood for wine and settled on a bottle of their highly recommended an excellent Hopler Gruner Veltliner (Burgenland, Austria) 2009 (€26.95).

You get a great welcome here and also help and advice. Quite a few tourists make their way here and they must be impressed with the local knowledge that the owners and staff so freely dispense.

Lovely food, lovely place and lovely people. A return visit is on the cards. And not just for me.

STONEWELL: IRISH CRAFT CIDER

Stonewell Medium Dry Irish Craft Cider, 5.5%, €3.99 for the 500 ml bottle.

During many trips to France over the years, a regular pleasure has been sampling their cider with a lunchtime salad. Now, at last, we have a local craft cider here and it is encouraging to see some Cork restaurants already adding it to their drinks list. Perhaps a smaller bottle size (maybe 250ml) might be more suitable for lunchtime!

Made from local fruit by the Nohoval Brewing Company, this is quite a refreshing drink. That fruit sure comes through well but there is enough acidity, just about, for the cider to merit its Medium Dry tag. It is close to being perfectly balanced.

It is early days yet in their admirable Nohoval venture and, already Daniel, the Master Cider Maker, has a product to be proud of. Good cutting in it, as they say. Now, all we need to go with it is a summer’s day!

Must say though that this cider doesn’t really need the sunshine to illustrate its quality which is orchards ahead of some of the bland insipid watery stuff being imported.

Loads of info on the label, including that one of the three Apple varieties used is Michelin, but if you haven’t brought your reading glasses, don't worry: you’ll know the country of origin by the eye catching Celtic design on the front.

Stonewell. Another good reason to buy local, buy Irish. I got mine in Bradley’s (North Main Street) and you can see the full list of stockists here.

PS: My first bottle was chilled down fast in the freezer while the second was treated to a more leisurely and less extreme cooling in the fridge. The second tasted better. Wonder what the recommended serving temperature is?

BEAUMES DE VENISE - Stronger and Sweeter

BEAUMES de VENISE

Having completed a long promised trip to the top of Mont Ventoux, the white mountain of Provence (and of the Tour de France), we found that the temperature (which had been 6 degrees at the top) was a very pleasant 26 in the valley.

By the time we got to Malaucene at the foot of the 1912 metre high mountain, we were ready for more. On the map, I spotted a road linking us with Beaumes. It turned out to be a beautiful country road through the vineyards and passed close to the mountains called the Dentelles (lace).

It was mid-afternoon when we reached Beaumes and the cafes were busy in the otherwise sleepy village. Could perhaps have sought out the Cooperative but, in the heat,  settled for the convenient shop of Domaine des Richard  in the centre of the hamlet where a lady, with two year’s English, took great care of us.

Her tasting samples were generous to say the least and we left well stocked with the famous fortified (15%) sweet wine called Beaumes de Venise and also the producer’s own Plan de Dieu, a lovely red.

Opened a bottle in the sunny garden last Sunday at lunchtime and the promise from those generous tastings was fulfilled. Well worth a try and, while making a call this week to Bradley’s in North Main Street for that new Stonewell Cider, I spotted that they had some of the Beaumes on the shelves, though not the exact bottle that I am enjoying – still have some left!

CLONAKILTY IS THE CREAM

Hospitality & Dining 

In Clonakilty we take great pride in the quality and exceptional standard of food provided by our numerous restaurants, cafes and bars. Whereas fine dining used to come at a price to match, you're now guaranteed to find great food at affordable prices when dining out in Clonakilty. And to complete a great night out, we have some of the finest traditional and live music venues in Ireland.....


Eating out is just one facet of a visit to Clonakilty. Find out more here

BALLYVOLANE HOUSE

We are delighted to be hosting a charity 'Beer & Curry Feast' in the vintage tent in the gardens at Ballyvolane House on Friday, 22 July 2011. All proceeds will go towards the Malawi Orphan Appeal Fund and we are expecting over 100 people to attend.


For more details and all the other summer news from Ballyvolane House, please click here

TIPP CHEESE & KILKENNY SYRUP

HIGHBANK ORCHARD SYRUP & COOLEENEY CHEESE

Had heard only good things about Kilkenny’s Highbank Orchards Syrup which was launched in 2010. Spotted the bottle in Iago in the English Market recently and snapped it up. The price is close to 10 euro and looks high for 200ml but the organic product has a long shelf life and is very versatile.

"Ireland's answer to maple syrup", this sweet and delicious, pouring, organic syrup, is the first of its kind. Grown and produced by Highbank Orchards in Kilkenny, Ireland. With years of research, Highbank launched the Orchard Syrup in 2010 at Savour Kilkenny.

There was a little leaflet hanging from the neck with quite a few suggestions. Drizzle it on your porridge was one. I tried that but didn't find it very successful. More joy though when I added some to cheese.

Uses suggested on the site are: Drizzle on porridge and muesli, pour on ice cream, pancakes and desserts, glaze your ham, sausages or vegetables, flavour your stews, oat cakes and breads. As a hot healthy drink or in whiskey. Drizzle on cheese (particularly blue cheese), on paté and game terrines. Delicious on bananas as well as poured on Waldorf Salads!

Tipperary’s Cooleeney was the cheese in question. Met them at their stand at the recent Cork TasteFest and, for three of those controversial Corkers, I got a small round of their Dunbarra Farmhouse Brie (this with garlic). 

Cooleeney make quite a range as you can see on their site. They often suggest a matching wine and Pinot Noir was their choice here. Just happened to have one and yes that New Zealand Marlborough Little Beauty and Cooleeney got on well together. But perhaps the best match was between the Tipp cheese and the Apple Syrup from neighbouring Kilkenny.

SAVING OUR SEED.

The importance of diversity in Food Plants and Animals

Have you heard of the Lumper potato? Probably not, but it was the variety of potato, apparently the only variety (a prodigious one), grown in Ireland in the years immediately before the famine. If we then had more varieties, the famine may have been avoided or at least may not have been as serious.

"A crisis is looming: To feed our growing population, we’ll need to double food production. Yet crop yields aren’t increasing fast enough, and climate change and new diseases threaten the limited varieties we’ve come to depend on for food. Luckily we still have the seeds and breeds to ensure our future food supply—but we must take steps to save them."

This paragraph is taken from National Geographic Magazine which has highlighted the looming problem in a brilliant article in its July Issue: How Heirloom Seeds Can Save the World. If you can't get your hands on the magazine, you can get some of the same info here. Lack of diversity in our "food" animals is also attracting the same kind of attention.

Viña Izadi Spanish Wine dinner at Donnybrook Fair

Viña Izadi Spanish Wine dinner at Donnybrook Fair

The Restaurant @ Donnybrook Fair is delighted to welcome Almudena Imhof from Viña Izadi on Wednesday 31^st August at 7.45pm to host a Spanish wine dinner. This exciting event takes place in association with Liberty Wines and tickets are priced at a tempting €60 per person or €100 per couple.

Almudena (Almu to her friends!) will introduce a selection of outstanding Spanish wines from the regions of Rioja, Ribera del Duero and Toro.  These wines will be paired with a four course menu specially designed for the occasion Ben Anderson, Head Chef of The Restaurant @ Donnybrook Fair. The menu will feature traditional Spanish fare to complement Almu’s wines.  Each of the wines featured in the tasting will be available to purchase at a reduced price.

Viña Izadi was born out of a passion for top quality gastronomy and the efforts of a group of enthusiasts devoted to wine. The winery and vineyards are located in the Rioja Alavesa, the highest part of the region. This gives a dramatic difference (up to 20ºC) in temperature between day and night, resulting in a more perfumed, food-friendly style of wine. The vineyards, planted at the foot of the Cantabrian mountain range, are mainly planted with old Tempranillo bush vines ranging from 30-100 years old.

Izadi, meaning nature, are fanatical about quality and finding the best expression of terroir in all their wines. They have expanded into other emblematic regions of Spain, and formed the group of wineries Grupo Artevino. Artevino now consists of four wineries: Viña Izadi and Orben in Rioja, Vetus in Toro and Finca Villacreces in Ribera del Duero. Between them they produce top quality wines from some of the most exciting and prestigious regions in Spain.

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Booking Details:

DATE: Wednesday 31^st August                   TIME: 19.45

LOCATION: The Restaurant @ Donnybrook Fair

COST: €60 per person / €100 per couple / limited places available

T: 01 6144849 E: restaurant@donnybrookfair.ie

http://www.donnybrookfair.ie/therestaurant/winedinners

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About Almudena Imhof …

Almu grew up in La Rioja in northern Spain, surrounded by people fanatical about wine. She studied English and Philosophy at university but decided soon afterwards that her true calling lay in the wine industry. She therefore decided to start work for a wine company which shared her same passions and ideals, namely Grupo Artevino. Almu is the Brand Ambassador for each of the estates within the group and the wealth of experience which she had amassed during her several years working all over the world with top sommeliers and wine connoisseurs is second to none.

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For further information please contact:

Paula Connor, Marketing Department
Email: paula.connor@donnybrookfair.ie
Tel: 01 668 3556   ext 236
Visit: www.donnybrookfair.ie 
Address: Donnybrook Fair Head Office, 89 Morehampton Road, Donnybrook, Dublin 4

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ISAACS: GOOD AS EVER

ISAACS: GOOD AS EVER

Told you before. I’m a specials kind of guy. And that policy worked a treat for me when I dined in McCurtain Street’s Isaacs this weekend.

Had a quick look at the regular menu before getting down to serious consideration of the Specials. Four starters were listed and I choose the Pan Fried new season lambs liver and kidney salad with rustic potatoes and crisp bacon. Delighted with it: very tasty and surprisingly substantial.

Also very happy with the main course of Pan Fried John Dory fillets. Really well done as were the accompanying vegetables. Again, a substantial and tasty dish. The Sherry Trifle was also fine, scattered with broken bits of honeycomb and on a base of soaked cherries. Cherry Trifle maybe?

LITTLE BEAUTY IN SEE THROUGH RED

Little Beauty Pinot Noir 2009 (Marlborough, New Zealand), 14%, €23.99, stockists


This Little Beauty comes in a see through red with scents of plum and spice. Is there substance behind the sexy intro?


Yes indeed, that first kiss lingers. It does finish, of course, as all good things come to an end. But not before the passion ignites.  

CORKABOUT: NEW KINSALE ART GALLERY

Kinsale restaurants, Fishy Fishy and The Bulman, feature as Buckley Fine Art open new gallery in centre of Kinsale. read all about ...

CORKABOUT: NEW KINSALE ART GALLERY: "THE GALLERY: NEW IN KINSALE The bigger risk? Painting in the lands of a rain forest tribe in Borneo or opening a new art gallery in these r..."

KANTURK'S ROYAL BUTCHERS

MCCARTHY’S OF KANTURK

Jack (left) and Timmy

When Queen Elizabeth visited Ireland recently, McCarthy’s black pudding was served at the state banquet.  It was chosen because of the quality and flavour imparted by fresh blood from free range pigs, coarse Macroom Oatmeal, fresh cream and butter from North Cork Dairy and Midleton Special Reserve Whiskey.

NOUGAT HEAD TO HEAD

LORGE AT LARGE

In a rural setting, between Kenmare and Glengarriff, in a Kerry village called Bonane, a French chef called Benoit Lorge makes exquisite chocolates that end up in all corners of the world.

This success story started back in 1995 and goes on and on. They ship worldwide via their website  while local stockists here in Cork are Nash 19 (Princes Street) and the Sugar Cafe (Washington Street).

WASTE NOT WANT NOT

Waste not Want Not Summer Salads

50% of Lettuce we buy ends up in the bin! – FACT

With barbecues and salad days fast approaching Stop Food Waste reminds you that 50% of the lettuce we buy ends up in the bin. While a head of lettuce may seem cheap at around under €1 you can see how quickly this amount of waste can add up in euros over time. The STOP Food Waste programme is funded under the EPA National Waste Prevention Programme (NWPP). Waste Prevention is the preferred waste management option in Ireland.

Odile Le Bolloch, spokesperson for Stop Food Waste at the EPA, has the following advice for lettuce lovers in time for Midsummer’s Day: “When you buy lettuce, make sure to take it out of its bag and wash it as soon as possible. Spin the lettuce in a salad spinner to dry off the washing water and store it in the fridge in the salad spinner. Leave a small

Hard to beat this Old Vine Garnacha

Corona d’Aragon old vine Garnacha 2009,  Cariñena,  Spain, ABV: 13.5%, stockists  

This Wine Alliance  import comes highly rated by Jay Miller of The Wine Advocate Robert Parker who gave it 89 points. Other awards include Decanter Award (Bronze) 2011 and IWC Bronze Medal 2011. It is certainly a quality wine and comes at an attractive price.

TASTEFEST CORK 2011

Click to enlarge.

TASTEFEST CORK 2011

The sun blazed down as Cork’s inaugural Tastefest finished with a flourish in Fitzgerald’s Park on Sunday. Many families came out to support the food festival and at times there were buggy jams on the paths!

Chateau d’Estoublon

Chateau d’Estoublon

Fontvieille was the nearest town to us in a recent visit to Provence and so I took the chance to visit nearby Chateau d’Estoublon, mentioned in the Michelin Wine Regions of France Green Guide. Estoublon seems to be an up and coming organic producer in this area and I saw its wines on sale in the Palais des Papes in Avignon where it shared shelf-space with the big hitters.

It also sells its own wines, including some AOC Baux des Alpilles, along with some fine foods, fashion and furniture. There is no admission charge – it is after all a shop - and you will see some inviting items on the shelves. We helped ourselves to a box of Callissons, some of the famous nougat from Montelimar and also a bottle of the Chateau’s 2010 Rose (€12.00).

Needed something to go with the wine, so we headed for a local traiteur and purchased calamari in a Provencal sauce. Not a bad match at all. The wines proved itself but whether it would outshine the many classy Roses in a head to head is hard to say. Maybe a contest for the future.  Estoublon produces organic wines and have carried the Ecocert label since 2002, which certifies the validity of the organic farming methods used.

We were on our way back from St Remy de Provence’s www.stremy-de-provence.com Musée Estrine, Centre d’Interpretation Van Gogh. It has none of the famous artist’s paintings, many of which were executed in or near the town. Indeed, there are none either in Arles. Obviously, they didn’t think much of him then and are still scrambling to catch up.

In the St Remy centre, an 18^th century hotel, they substitute with high quality photos of the same size as the paintings. Here you will see an 1889 self portrait, The Sewer and Starry Night among many others.

For more info on Provence, visits my site here - http://swissroll07.blogspot.com/search?q=Provence

HOLIDAYS

ON HOLS AT PRESENT; check here for latest reviews and news.

Tastefest

From left to right Rubert Atkinson, Boardwalk Bar and Grill, Beth Haughton, The Club Brasserie, Brendan Cashman, Augustine's announcing details of their menus at TasteFest Cork from 23rd-26th June at Fitzgerald Park, Cork.