Good things from Cork
Life – in the form of friends’ weddings, new babies and house buying – has gotten in the way of updates here in the last while but, even though I haven’t been cooking or baking very much recently, it hasn’t stopped me from either eating or investigating interesting new food products. While the Boyfriend and I were down at home in County Cork last weekend, I managed to squeeze in a quick trip to my beloved English Market and Quay Co-op in Cork city and these are a few of the things that I’m trying at the moment:
– Sowan’s Organic Bread Mixes. Super Spelt bread for lunch today. Yum!
– Lovingly made and beautifully wrapped farmhouse butter from Glenilen Farm, who also make picnic-perfect gorgeous little yoghurt/fruit compote pots.
– Some cheese-encrusted baps and sourdough bread from the Quay Co-op bakery.
– A bag of the Ballymaloe-recommended oatmeal from Macroom Mills and a bag of their new wholemeal flour for when I get back to my porridge and brown bread-making.
– Govender’s Mango and Almond Chutney for the aforementioned lunchtime sandwiches.
– A pack of Ummera Smoked Dry Cured Bacon which contains both back bacon and my favourite streaky rashers.
– Some spicy nut and seed Mexican Mix from The Organic Garden.
Things I didn’t bring back – but should have – include feta, olives and pesto from The Real Olive Company, some of On the Pig’s Back‘s terrines, cheese and membrillo (quince paste) from Iago and some ciabatta rolls from the ABC bread company but my bags were already full – and my pockets empty. The English Market’s Farmgate Café was tempting and there were good smells coming from Joup but my custom was already promised to the small, but perfectly formed, Idaho Café on Caroline Street, and I wasn’t disappointed.
You can read more about the English Market in Darina Allen’s piece for the Examiner here – she also mentions the innovative Café Paradiso – and there are also some great photos of the market on Donncha O Caoimh’s blog.
Hey Caroline, I don’t know if you’re interested, but I think the Real Olive Company occasionally put in an appearance at Temple Bar Food Market on a Sat morning.
Thanks for the link Caroline! I’ll have to show your blog to my wife, she’ll love to hear about all those foodstuffs you bought! 🙂
You’re right, Winds, and they – or someone very like them – are also at my local farmers’ market in Ranelagh on Sundays, which is very handy. You still can’t beat their stall in the English Market though!Donncha, what I’ve listed above was only the tip of the iceberg and, best of all, most of it was produced in Cork as well. I’m loving Sowan’s Organic Spelt Bread at the moment, especially slathered with Glenilen’s farmhouse butter. I also picked up some Organic Seed Bread from the Baking Emporium and a packet of Rebel City Espresso from Cork Coffee Roasters although these have yet to be opened. I found the coffee in the always-great Bubble Brothers shop (some nice NZ wines), also in the English Market. They’re actually holding a wine tasting in October and you can find out more about that on their own blog. There might have to be a trip back to Cork in the not-so-distant-future!