The Irish Times: Cork First
Here’s an article that I wrote for an Irish Times supplement called Cork First, that was published on Wednesday 2 July. Enjoy!Eat your heart out With so many cafés and restaurants to choose from, deciding where to eat in Cork can be mind-boggling so we’ve chosen some of the best for you. Words by Caroline Hennessy.BEST BREAKFASTSHardwoodSunday morning, coming down: it’s time for breakfast at the bright, airy Hardwood on Pope’s Quay. Feast on French toast, with real maple syrup and smoked bacon, or be good and go for the healthy option – a colourful fresh fruit plate, with toasted pine nuts and yoghurt.Try: the steak and eggs option, with all the trimmings, for those mornings after the night beforeHardwood, 31 Pope’s Quay, Cork. Tel: 021 4551494 Web: www.hardwood.ieLiberty GrillCome early if you don’t want to have to wait for a table for breakfast at this attractively-designed American-style diner but it’s worth getting up a few minutes earlier for a menu that makes a feature of Posh Toast and offers plenty of sides to add to your dish of choice.Try: The Full American – a full-on feed of juice, scrambled or poached eggs on sourdough bread and an entire pot – oh joy! – of tea or coffee.Liberty Grill, 32 Washington Street, Cork. Tel: 021 4271049 Web: www.libertygrillcork.com
My Nana always kept hens. As a child, I spent a lot of time at her house – just the other side of the hill from where we now live – and hens were an ever-present, taken-for-granted part of growing up. Previously my Nana, a trained and skilled poultrywoman, had kept flocks of hens for breeding; by the time I came along she just supplied Dwanes, one of the local shops, with fresh eggs for sale at the counter. But there were still jobs for the grandchildren to do. One of the dreaded chores was that of collecting the eggs. Slowly, slowly, slowly, the straw-lined wicker egg basket banging against my Wellington-clad bare legs, I would go through the gate in the far corner of the yard, wander past the haggart with all its fascinating bits of rusty farm machinery, turn right on to the lane the cows ambled along twice a day for milking and, keeping close to the less muddy inside side, come to the old wooden hen house. After taking a deep breath of clean air, I would twist the old bolt across, opening the door into the musty fug of the hens’ world and prepare myself for the egg search.
It was only a matter of time before Kieran Murphy’s entertaining 
Could Portugal be the new Spain? Reading Tessa Kiros’ Piri Piri Starfish and its references to petisco (tapas, Portuguese-style), chourico (substitute chorizo), port instead of sherry and salt cod (in Portugal – bacalhau, in Spain – bacalao) you could be forgiven for thinking things are moving that direction. This, the follow up to Kiros’ acclaimed parent-and-child-orientated Apples for Jam, is a more straightforward cookbook. As with Apples…, colour is very important, although the chapters are laid out in a more clear-cut way – Essential Recipes, Petisco Plates, Starters and Soups, Mains and Side Plates, Deserts and Cakes – than that book’s rainbow bright colour-coded sections. Here the tone is more grown up, with lots of muted blues and greys, beautifully designed page titles and a thick white and blue ribbon for marking your way through the book.
Hog roast from 
Some weeks 
Sometimes you start with one particular recipe and end up going off on a slightly different tangent. That’s what happened with these Chocolate Hazelnut Squares. After a comment by