Award-winning blog of Irish food writer and broadcaster Caroline Hennessy.
Congratulations to The Daily Spud who won the Best Food/Drink Blog on Saturday night’s Irish Blog Awards – I had to leave a little early and was driving but it looked like an evening and a half was about to be had by many of the people who were attending! There’s a full list of winners here.
If you’re based in or around Cork and interested in growing your own food, take a look at the Cork Food Web. It’s been described as “facebook for foodies” and is dedicated to encouraging and facilitating local food production, with a series of groups for members interested in poultry, seed saving, compost, growing vegetables and all things garden related. I missed their seed swap last weekeend but one of the very helpful organisers is going to send me some of the left over seeds, including my favourite pumpkins, as we try to get the garden up and running for 2009. With all the sunshine today, it really feels like a day for getting out and planting.
Congratulations to the five who are shortlisted for the Best Food/Drink Blog at this year’s Irish Blog Awards. I’ll be looking forward to seeing who walks away with the award on the Saturday night! Click any of the links below for lots of good reading and there’s lots more in the other shortlisted categories over here.
Not having a television, I missed Peter Ward of Nenagh’s Country Choice on the Late Late Show but fortunately was able to catch it online here. Peter is a passionate man – passionate about the food he sells, the quality of produce available in Ireland and passionate when talking about how he sees the supermarkets driving farmers away from the land. His idea of a national online farmers’ market, linking the producer directly with the consumer, makes a lot of sense, but there will have to be some rethinking about the barriers of regulation first.
After a relaxing, sunny weekend in Baltimore we’ve returned home with headfuls of ideas, lots of notes, a handful of mail order catalogues and lots of inspiration for our garden in 2009. Jean Perry, who owns the five acres and house at Glebe Gardens with her artist husband Peter, was our teacher for the two day course. They run a popular café on site, producing most of the organic vegetables, fruit and herbs that they use there from the raised beds and polytunnels in the gardens.
Look at these, just waiting for something nice to be cooked in them! This Le Creuset set has to be one of the coolest wedding presents that you could ever get – very appropriate for this time of the year too. I have to say, though, that there’s not going to be any cooking, romantic or otherwise, done around here this weekend as we’re off in Baltimore, staying at Rolf’s for a couple of nights while doing a two-day gardening course in the Glebe Gardens. Having visited the gardens while on honeymoon in the area in 2007, I fell in love with their potager-style layout, vegetables, herbs, flowers and fruit all mixed in together. I’m hoping to get lots of inspiration from these two days!
In yesterday’s newsletter from the North Cork Organic Group one of the events flagged was a cookery demonstration. It will take place at the Killavullen Farmers’ Market in the Nano Nagle Centre tomorrow, Valentine’s Day, between 10.30 am and 1pm, using produce from the market itself. Geraldine Bass’ Old Millbank Smokehouse smoked fish, quality organic meat from Knockatullera Farm Produce, a range of cheeses from Gudrun Shinnick of the Fermoy Natural Cheese Company, great vegetables and eggs from the Nano Nagle Centre itself are just a few of the foodstuffs that you should see represented. The entry fee for the demonstration is €5 and the market will be taking place at the same time.
One of my former Ballymaloe classmates, Mike Hanrahan, a great cook and a seriously talented musician (ex Stockton’s Wing) was featured in the Irish Times earlier this week. Not only did we get to appreciate his food in the kitchens (and wit in the classroom!), but Sunday nights in the Blackbird was one of the high points of the week, Mike playing at the regular sessions and ensuring that the pub was always packed with students.
