Category: Do

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Restaurant Review: The Old Convent – Part I

The Old Convent menu on 31 March 2007 When you’re going out for an eagerly anticipated eight-course meal at a restaurant in the middle of the Tipperary countryside it would be nice to turn up a little early, take some time to appreciate the setting and relax while perusing the wine list. In an ideal world. As it happened, ten minutes after we were supposed to arrive, the Boyfriend and I – plus my Clonmel-based and Dublin-based Cousins, accompanied by the Chilli-Intolerant Husband and the Ex-Planner Partner – were still chugging along in a Clonmel taxi that seemed to be in no hurry to get us to our destination. As we pulled up outside the imposing frontage of The Old Convent, just outside Clogheen, there was a mad scramble to pay, figure out when we should be collected and get out of the taxi but, as soon as we set foot on the black and white tiled floor of the elegant hallway, all stress was over. Calmly greeted and smoothly ushered to our table by proprietor Christine Gannon, we settled into an evening of superb food, wonderful wine and great service.

Moving time 3

Moving time

The Old Convent - this weekend's promised destination!It’s moving week so there’s not much cooking and baking going on, apart from me making loaves of brown bread to try and use up some of the six – yes, count them, SIX! (and that’s not mentioning the few that are down at the cottage, ahem…) – bags of flour that I have sitting on my shelves. The flat that we are moving into in Dublin is much smaller and doesn’t have a freezer so for a while there was a mad race to finish up all the frozen foodstuffs at our current place. Then we made a quick trip to DID Electrical so we now have a new under-counter freezer and the pressure is off. It still leaves me scratching my head at some of the things that I have in there though. Who knows why I froze a brioche loaf or what kinds of curry are in all those little plastic containers that I use for lunches? Certainly not the person who should have been labelling them!

HHDD #10 Cheesecake: Round Up 0

HHDD #10 Cheesecake: Round Up

If my (cracked and misshapen!) Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake has whetted your appetite, check out Peabody‘s round up of cheesecakes from around the world. There is a grand total of 54 cheesecakes and all votes have to be in by next Saturday, 31 March. Warning: this is not something to go looking at in the run-up to lunchtime. All the photos of fabulous cheesecake concoctions will definitely have you drooling!

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Happy St Patrick’s Day!

Because I know I won’t be able to post from the cottage on St Patrick’s Day – we’re down for the weekend to get the spuds planted on the traditional day, 17 March, in the Boyfriend’s painstakingly rabbit-proofed garden – I’m going to celebrate Paddy’s Day with a round-up of new Irish food blogs. If there’s anyone else out there, just let me know!

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Restaurant Review: Harry’s Café Bar in Dún Laoghaire

Slow Food Ireland Last night’s Slow Food evening was the perfect introduction to Harry’s Café Bar in Dún Laoghaire. Since reading about the Polish food on offer there, especially the pierogi (dumplings), this had been a long-anticipated – but never quite realised – trip. Although there was no sign of pierogi on the menu circulated with the email about the event, the mention of dishes such as Marinated Roast Beef (Pieczen Wolowa) and Roast Pork Shank (Golonka) were more than enough to convince me.

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Doh! The Irish Blog Awards…forgotten

Irish Blog Awards 2007 Did I mention that I was a bit dotty with dates recently? I managed to MISS the Irish Blog Awards, thinking that it was on next weekend. It actually took place last night and I only discovered when I did a wander around the Irish blogosphere this morning. Although I’m disappointed that I didn’t manage to make it along, it was great to see that some of my favourite bloggers were among the winners. Take a bow Ice Cream Ireland (Best Business Blog, Best Specialist Blog), Conor for Best Blog Post (You may feel a small prick), the lovely ladies at Beaut.ie (Best Design and Best Newcomer) and The Sigla Blog (Best Arts and Culture). Congratulations all!

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Fairtrade chocolate at Amnesty in Dublin

Chocolate Heaven Fairtrade Fortnight kicked off on Monday this week and, if you’re not off chocolate for lent this year, you can indulge and feel suitably virtuous at Amnesty Ireland‘s launch of their fairly traded and organic bars of chocolate. It takes place tomorrow night, Thursday 1 March, at 7pm in the Freedom Café on 48 Fleet Street in Dublin’s Temple Bar and admission is €5 per person. Rumour has it that there’ll be a chocolate fountain in situ.

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Looking for information: Barcelona

World Food: Spain I’m heading off to Barcelona with the sister for three days in a few weekend’s time and I’d love some food suggestions! We’ve never been there before so this is completely new ground for us both. The Boyfriend has been recommending the “silky” coffee to me, the sister has lists of places to try out (she arrives several days before me) and, my appetite whetted by the Mediterranean Food Company’s tapas class and several nights consumption at Dublin’s Market Bar, I have every intention of eating my way through as much as possible of everything on offer in Barcelona.