Telling stories at HearSay 2014
Saturday night was a cold night. It was an especially cold night if you were sitting in an old, just-renovated church in the small Co Limerick town of Kilfinane. But, for one weekend only,...
Bibliocook - All About Food Blog
Beer vs wine at Savour Kilkenny: a draw?
The beer/cider vs wine smackdown at Savour Kilkenny? There was some serious argie bargie going on in the lead up to the event, especially from my team of dastardly valiant opponents, Ballymaloe wine lecturer Colm...
Read: Pumpkin Revenge in Irish Country Living
If you have children, you’re also undoubtedly surrounded by pumpkins as they demand their yearly, personal jack o’lantern. At the moment we have three in the cottage. One was carved by us together, Little Missy and...
Sláinte at Savour Kilkenny, Dublin Book Festival
Writing a book takes you down many different roads – and many of them, fortunately for us, lead to the fabulous festivals that are taking place around the country. Last weekend, Kristin and I...
Listen: Culture File – James Hoffman de-snobs your coffee
Once upon a time, it was enough to have a favoured brand of instant coffee; now it’s all Sumatra Gegarang this, natural process that, small batch roast the other. Things have come a long,...
Launching Sláinte: a whirlwind week
The writing of Sláinte? That’s something that was mainly done in splendid isolation. When the girls were out of the house for preschool mornings, or late at night, with everyone else tucked up in...
Listen – Culture File: Alys Fowler’s Letters to a Beekeeper
To paraphrase the Lorax, Alys Fowler ‘speaks for the bees.’ She was at the Ballymaloe Litfest in May, talking about self-funding her latest book Letters to a Beekeeper through internet publisher Unbound. It’s a...
Five favourite children’s storybooks for cooking inspiration
Summer holiday time is fine when the weather is good and we’re all outdoors with sun hats and shorts. But, when the wind changes, the showers arrive and a general air of grumpiness pervades...