Bibliocook - All About Food

Award-winning blog of Irish food writer and broadcaster Caroline Hennessy.

Category: Do

Bad coffee at Verona 3

Eating Out / Return to Ireland

Bad coffee at Verona

Last Friday night in Dublin was miserable. Cold and raining, it was a night for staying by the fire but, with an impromptu cousin get-together happening, we were all out in town looking for a place to find a bit of food. A booking in Frank’s Bar and Restaurant had to be abandoned when our party acquired another two people so these hungry wanderers made their way to the new food centre of George’s Street. With a variety of restaurants lined up on both sides of the road, there had to be a place willing to take the six of us.

Irish farmers’ markets 4

Do / Return to Ireland

Irish farmers’ markets

In the twelve months that I spent in New Zealand, most weekends of which were involved in exploring a variety of markets, there seems to have been a mushrooming of farmers’ markets in Ireland. Or maybe it’s that I’m more aware of it now! Last Saturday, after just two days in the country, and my mother suggested that we go to the Fermoy Farmers’ Market. Although we only had the directions “it’s down by the river” – and there are four sides to the river in Fermoy – we didn’t have too much difficulty in finding the place where the stallholders had set up shop and plunged in.

Irish farmers' markets 4

Do / Return to Ireland

Irish farmers' markets

In the twelve months that I spent in New Zealand, most weekends of which were involved in exploring a variety of markets, there seems to have been a mushrooming of farmers’ markets in Ireland. Or maybe it’s that I’m more aware of it now! Last Saturday, after just two days in the country, and my mother suggested that we go to the Fermoy Farmers’ Market. Although we only had the directions “it’s down by the river” – and there are four sides to the river in Fermoy – we didn’t have too much difficulty in finding the place where the stallholders had set up shop and plunged in.

Goodbye to New Zealand 6

Do / Living in New Zealand

Goodbye to New Zealand

Well, all good things come to an end at some stage. I’ve left New Zealand – with many regrets – to return to my job in Ireland. I will continue writing about food from...

Starbucks Challenge 3

Do

Starbucks Challenge

After some discussion about Fair Trade goods, green LA girl challenged me to take the Starbucks Challenge. In their policy document – Starbucks, Fair Trade, and Coffee Social Responsibility – they say that “Fair Trade Certified coffee has been promoted by Starbucks as a brewed “Coffee of the Week” and can be brewed by coffee press during store hours upon customer request.” The challenge was to ask for a cup of Fair Trade coffee in Starbucks and see how easy it was to get served.

A tale of camping food and missing sleeping bags: Sloppy Joes for Campsite Cooking 2

Cook / Do / Living in New Zealand

A tale of camping food and missing sleeping bags: Sloppy Joes for Campsite Cooking

Last weekend being a long weekend, the Boyfriend and I decided to abandon Christchurch and open our personal camping season with a trip to the small town of Geraldine. For me, camping is a challenge to see what I can cook with limited ingredients and resources and this, the first camping trip of the year, was an opportunity not to be passed up. The night before we took off, I dug out Nigel Slater‘s Real Fast Food – the perfect camping cookbook – and started studying the recipes. So intent was I on packing the bag of food and so concentrated was the Boyfriend on getting us out the door on Saturday morning that no one thought to pack those camping essentials – the sleeping bags.

Cup conversion issues 7

Do / Living in New Zealand

Cup conversion issues

Although I’m not a huge fan of her bare basics books, Delia Smith’s website is a very useful reference point. She has a helpful table of conversions here that are especially good when you’re trying to convert a recipe using American cup measurements to metric but, alas, there are no references to the New Zealand or Australian cup. I didn’t initially realise that these measurements were different – a cup is a cup is a cup, right? – but apparently not.

0

Do / Eating Out / Irish beer & cider / Living in New Zealand

Beer and food matching at Canterbury Brewery

One night a few weeks ago the Boyfriend and I accompanied our Scottish physiotherapist housemates to a celebration of International Physiotherapist Day. Now, going to celebrations of other people’s careers is not something that we would normally do but, as this was taking place at Christchurch’s Canterbury Brewery, we decided to make an exception – just this once, you understand.