tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5369284635728539122011-11-18T16:42:36.786ZReal Food, Real People, Real Places, Real Guidescchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16071188361282623176noreply@blogger.comBlogger2531100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-54767945466189748462010-06-04T09:51:00.003+01:002010-06-04T09:57:28.099+01:00

Heavenly BehaviourOne of my favourite New Yorker cartoons shows a typically befuddled man, standing on a cloud, and wearing standard-issue heavenly garb: a grand pair of angel's wings, and a calf-length hospital robe.Standing beside him, and similarly attired, is a cross-looking wife. She is looking over her shoulder, and saying to our hapless-looking angel: 'Here comes God. Ask if we can move to

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-16957813872899197802010-05-13T11:48:00.005+01:002010-05-13T11:59:09.391+01:00

Eamon Barrett's report on Galway's The G Hotel is worrying reading. The G is quintessential example of a “Builder's Hotel”, developed by Gerry Barrett, a man with multiple business interests, and a number of other hotels in his portfolio.But, The G promised so much, and initially delivered, thanks to stunning style and sharp service.A few years down the line, however, and the errors that Eamon

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-88466403559807724682010-05-12T10:55:00.003+01:002010-05-12T11:16:39.552+01:00

A couple of weekend days in Kenmare confirms the town's status as the most food-orientated town in the country. The following are stray thoughts about what makes it special...Taking tea; put together The Truffle Pig in its smart new Henry Street address, An Cupan Tae, Jam, and Manuela Goeb's Breadcrumb Bakery with its neat new tables and chairs, and Kenmare offers a brilliant selection of cutting

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-86949760667381710422010-05-07T17:45:00.005+01:002010-05-07T17:51:17.498+01:00

A fascinating piece, in advance of a major new report on cancer, by columnist Nicholas D. Kristof in The New York Times:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/opinion/06kristof.htmlThe cancer question is going to go ballistic! Consider this:“Only a few hundred of the more than 80,000 chemicals in use in the United States have been tested for safety,” the report says. It adds: “Many known or suspected

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-49335017493170638502010-05-06T15:23:00.004+01:002010-05-06T15:30:11.403+01:00

We wrote a while back about how we had some involvement in bringing Colman Andrews to Ireland back in 2002, and how 8 years later the result was his magnum opus, The Country Cooking of Ireland.Well, at the annual James Beard Foundation Awards, Colman has snapped up not just the Cookery Book of the Year award, but also the International Cookery Book Award. That's a mighty achievement: whilst the

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-55319506206112869782010-05-05T12:41:00.004+01:002010-05-05T12:47:26.231+01:00

Your friend the chickenA friend stopped me in our local shop recently and confessed that my family had been the topic of conversation in his house over several days. “Your poor children, having to survive all week on just one chicken....!”, he joked. Well, I hope he was joking, at any rate. This piece is about two things: frugality, always a great virtue in the kitchen; and improvising, making

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-62105172852441100552010-05-02T16:09:00.003+01:002010-05-02T16:19:49.665+01:00

What is, or will be, “an overhyped footnote in the history books?”The answer, according to a powerful piece by Anna Lappé in the Journal “Foreign Policy” is “industrial agriculture”And what is the future? “Agroecological agriculture”. Why? Because with agroecological approaches, “farmers gain knowledge, including knowledge about ways to adapt to changing climate and to share their knowledge with

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-61546653877421598892010-04-29T09:06:00.005+01:002010-04-29T09:14:10.725+01:00

It was just a simple enquiry to Sarah Nic Lochlainn, of Ardee's Fuchsia House Restaurant – “How's business holding up?”, that provoked the following, inspiring, reply. If you would like to hear more from this brilliant restaurateur, then Sarah is one of four local businesswomen talking on Wednesday May 5th on LMFM at 2.15 pm about how to think outside the box and get through tough times.For the

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-28296854663047367722010-04-28T15:19:00.002+01:002010-04-28T15:24:10.323+01:00

Over-Delivering the HospitalityWe have a problem with hospitality in Ireland. For some crazy reason, and despite the fact that tourism has been a mainstay of our economy for several decades, we persist in the belief that hospitality is an instinct.We think it’s something we just have – like freckles, or red hair, or the inability to finish sentences without saying “like”.And we love to compare

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-57973101114846964952010-04-11T14:27:00.002+01:002010-04-11T14:28:25.023+01:00

Asian Junction, West Cork Piers Gourley-Diment hasn't got the website for his company, Asian Junction, finished yet, but if the Vietnamese spring rolls we tried and which Piers was selling at the Clonakilty Market are anything to go by, he won't need to worry about his site, as his food will see Asian Junction take off like a rocket.Like most ethnic cuisines that wash up in Ireland, the fire of

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-21702229979346200862010-04-09T14:43:00.006+01:002010-04-09T14:52:34.289+01:00

Here is the text of a speech delivered this morning to launch the newly sited market in Clonakility. It was only when Jix Kelleher asked me for a few words that I realised that it was just over 21 years ago that the story told in the speech happened. 21 years! And Tom O'Donovan and his sisters are looking as young as ever!It is a great honour to be asked to officially open the Clonakilty Farmer's

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-4650946417002565502010-04-01T10:55:00.003+01:002010-04-01T11:00:04.487+01:00

We are just off on our way to Dingle, to officially open their newly reconstituted Farmer's Market, tomorrow. So, that will be a very Good Friday in Kerry, and we will post some pics of the stall holders after we have cut the ribbon, smashed the champagne bottle against the trestle table, thanked the Mayor and the Committeeee, kissed the babies, arm-wrestled John O'Donoghue, launched the regatta

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-18347913348760881032010-04-01T09:00:00.007+01:002010-04-01T09:21:09.589+01:00

Great retail experiences aren't too common in Ireland. We still lack a dedicated service culture, one that expresses the nobility of a retailer who truly understands their chosen calling.But if you take a trip to Waterford, you can get a Double-AA retail experience, in two very different circumstances.The first A is Altitude, Eamon and Julie Barrett's store up the hill in Ballybricken. Buying a

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-80515065997089474462010-03-24T14:46:00.005Z2010-03-24T15:00:32.255Z

Getting fish and chips perfect isn't easy. Late last Friday I tried to make battered haddock and chips for the kids, and it was a modest disaster: not epic, but still embarassing.If my children had tried the fish and chips in Fishy Fishy Chippy in Kinsale, they wouldn't even have looked at my effort. The Fishy Fishy fish and chips are, well, perfect. The batter on the haddock and the hake we

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-37636804673900661932010-03-23T18:04:00.003Z2010-03-23T18:09:25.037Z

The greatest uncontrolled experiment in human history, or, What we don’t talk about when we talk about foodSeveral years ago I was one of the panel at a Eurotoques food conference in Wicklow when one of the speakers, Dr Uwe Hild of the Irish Doctors Environmental Association, said something that has troubled me ever since.“We are living through the greatest uncontrolled mass experiment in the

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-21028850701857965092010-03-23T17:35:00.006Z2010-03-23T17:43:53.430Z

It is an enormous luxury to be allowed write 1,200 words in a restaurant review, as we were asked to do for the sublime American quarterly, The Art of Eating. So here is a look at 17 years or so of Chapter OneChapter One Restaurant,Dublin: Proper Behavior for the Occasion Dublin and its citizens have long had a curious relationship with what an older generation of food writers used to call “fine

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-71700201661572638782010-02-25T15:58:00.003Z2010-02-27T10:55:04.488Z

There is great pleasure to be had in introducing food lovers to the extraordinarily rich trove of great writing which underlies the business of cooking and eating. In our one-day course at Ballymaloe Cookery School we are hoping to introduce the class to the great prose stylists who realised that writing about food is the most important thing anyone can do. We are also hoping to show them just

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-86877664477681485332010-02-21T11:44:00.005Z2010-02-21T11:50:20.876Z

I have several reasons to be grateful to Luc Dubanchet:1. Two of his photographs look directly down at me from the wall above my computer, and they always make me smile.2. He once took a photograph of me in which I somehow didn't look like a blithering eejit.3. He introduced me to the sublime jazz piano music of Tord Gustafson.4. He was the bloke who helped me to understand why French gastronomy

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-53248257043987182682010-02-07T16:58:00.002Z2010-02-07T17:00:40.743Z

The Irish Times Healthplus February 2010John McKenna What Will We Tell The Children? “Parental Advisory: Explicit Content”.That’s the sticker on the cover of the sort of cds my kids seem to love buying and listening to, the ones where some rapper mouths off with the sweary language and the street bravado.It’s also the sticker that is completely ignored, for trying to stop your kids listening to

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-51770774834864982112010-02-07T16:46:00.005Z2010-02-07T16:56:37.962Z

No More Mister Nice GuyThe well-known wine writer and television celebrity Tom Doorley had a pot shot at me in The Daily Mail this week. The Irish Independent asked if I would like to reply to Tom's criticisms. One rarely gets a right of reply – especially via a different newspaper – so here is what I came up with in defence of what we have written in the new Bridgestone irish Food Guide. I'm

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-72650146278723926972010-01-20T07:40:00.004Z2010-01-20T07:51:10.861Z

So, we are up in Dublin today, January 20th, to officially wave the 9th edition of the Bridgestone Irish Food Guide on its way, with a photo-call at Nick and Stephen's red-hot Pichet Restaurant in the centre of town. A bunch of artisans will be on hand to wave it on its way, a sign that the core message of the book – that the speciality sector we have written about for 20 years is enjoying robust

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-90496491348104407492009-12-16T15:43:00.004Z2009-12-16T15:48:54.001Z

New DiscoveriesSo, who makes the best cupcakes in Kilkenny? Who makes the best black pudding in Tipperary? What oil should you have on the table instead of extra virgin olive oil? Who makes the best salted caramels in Limerick? Which is the hottest restaurant in Leitrim? And which is the hottest restaurant in Longford? Why is the Barking Dog painfully fashionable? Where can you get a dainty cup

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-35837591889007890822009-12-16T15:42:00.001Z2009-12-16T15:42:41.778Z

Food Writing Course in Ballymaloe Cookery SchoolSome of the greatest literature in the world has been written by... food writers. If you think there is no more to food writing than the recipe 'n' restaurant concoctions of the weekend newspapers, then John McKenna's course at the Ballymaloe Cookery School, on Saturday 27th February, will be a revelation. Discovering the world of superb prose

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-21708643029554446422009-12-16T15:39:00.003Z2009-12-17T08:45:22.598Z

Trends and Paradoxes: the economy contracts, the Bridgestone community grows and grows.As we were writing the ninth edition of the Bridgestone Irish Food Guide, which arrived in bookshops this week, it became apparent that something curious was happening. The section on County Mayo, for instance, totaled no fewer than 15 pages of entries. We looked back at the 2007 BIFG, and found that County

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-23358875410171828252009-12-16T14:33:00.002Z2009-12-16T14:36:44.535Z

Restaurants sourcing specialist foods from their own doorstep are in a win-win situation with their local artisans, and true provenance is becoming the way in which you establish a USP that no other restaurant can copy or emulate.One of the great things about writing the 600 plus pages of the Food Guide is discovering just how many Irish foods remain local foods, things that you will only find in

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-63095010379696767892009-12-10T12:08:00.005Z2009-12-10T12:31:27.252Z

It's not so difficult to describe various people in the food world as “the greatest cook in the history of (choose the country you are writing about)”.We once described Nick Price, of Nick's Warehouse in Belfast, as “the greatest cook in the history of Northern Ireland”. And we meant it. Others say it should be Paul Rankin, or Michael Deane, or the late Robbie Millar, and whilst we respect the

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-86763753580348545672009-12-10T11:50:00.001Z2009-12-10T11:52:24.814Z

When it comes to cooking, Cork is the women’s county. Elsewhere in Ireland, professional cookery is a man’s world, but in Cork, ever since Myrtle Allen opened Ballymaloe House a full 45 years ago and began to cook for dinner guests, Cork has been a stronghold of women’s food.From east to west and in the city, women are not just participants in kitchens: they are the major players, and their work

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-23756536604871573542009-12-10T10:58:00.006Z2009-12-10T11:04:11.791Z

If you are interested in the noble idea of CSA – Community Supported Agriculture – then this evening's Ear to the Ground look at a CSA scheme in West Cork, and talks to John McKenna of the Bridgestone parish.What, McKenna is a CSA farmer?Well, no, but the sarpo miras he is feeding to his family – especially to Sam and PJ: just how much mashed potato can an adolescent boy eat? ! – were grown by

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-9343846683174628432009-12-09T15:10:00.006Z2009-12-09T15:28:11.074Z

The 9th edition of the Bridgestone Irish Food Guide is making its way into the shops as I write, even though the official launch is not until right smack at the start of the New Year. We think we are happy with it: at 100 pages longer than the 2007 edition it certainly contains a massive amount of new information and new entries, and we have tried to keep the design simple, with the entries

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-1030527172903239152009-12-08T12:15:00.004Z2009-12-08T12:41:24.925Z

Last time we promised to advert to Donald Clarke's Irish Times list of the best movies of the decade, but taking a look at Richard Brody's 10 Best list in The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/movies/2009/11/best-films-of-the-decade.html), I realised that where lists used to have value a couple of decades ago because they showed convergence regarding what movies really mattered to

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-82252659577413351142009-12-03T16:21:00.004Z2009-12-03T16:32:14.225Z

Back on Tuesday, The Irish Times reckoned it was the best disc of the last ten years.So we went to see what the guys at Pitchfork reckoned, and they said it was the second best disc of the last decade.So, we put on the copy of “Funeral” by Arcade Fire that a friend burnt for us a few years back and we listened once again.And we don't get it. We just don't get it.I mean, the fact that Pitchfork

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-70477652944164518312009-11-27T11:27:00.006Z2009-11-27T11:35:25.644Z

So, here are Ian and Peter, and Ian and Peter are the guys in Dublin who everyone seems to be talking about. They have opened up The Exchequer and Leslie Williams likes what they are doing: “Had a very fine Venison pie with beetroot salad last night in the Exchequer on Exchequer Sreet. (on the corner of Dame Lane). Pie was whole with pastry all round with well cooked meat - clearly stewed first

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-75404118241308838962009-11-26T10:38:00.004Z2009-11-26T10:47:13.982Z

So many awards are given annually in every sector of society – especially the world of food and drink – that many have become all but worthless. But one gong is truly worth having, and that is the annual Eurotoque awards to specialist food producers. This year, the Eurotoque guys got it right once again, presenting awards to Con Trass's The Apple Farm, Kitty Colchester's Happy Heart Oil, Jorg

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-53702774446013059512009-11-26T10:01:00.005Z2009-11-26T10:21:09.778Z

Fintan O'Toole: Ship of Fools (Faber & Faber)“Ship of Fools” is a polemic, and a good one. You could read it from cover to cover in one sitting, and you will emerge suffused with righteous anger, and disappointment. The anger is on account of the persistent stupidity of the political class, and the persistent greed and perfidy of the bourgeois and banking class in Ireland. The disappointment is

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-1815031239886535892009-11-25T12:50:00.004Z2009-11-25T12:57:29.053Z

As you will soon be able to read in the new Bridgestone Irish Food Guide, the McMahon family of Castlebar are building quite a food empire in the town, an empire that has taken a mighty step forward with the opening of RUA, the splendiferous deli and café overseen by Aran McMahon. You don't need an excuse to visit the shop – you are a person of discrimination, after all – but if you do, then

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-20733239206030713752009-11-24T11:56:00.005Z2009-11-24T13:07:35.363Z

Alina Ibragimova: Bach; Sonatas & Partitas (Hyperion)Sheer wonderment at how a woman in her early 20's can play Bach like this is the only critical response. Beyond belief, beyond time.John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman (Impulse!)A date from 1963, half a dozen sings from the tenor player and the husky baritone, and pure gorgeous for every second of its too-short duration.Kurt Elling: Dedicated To You

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-64869026299881020162009-11-19T16:19:00.002Z2009-11-19T16:21:23.455Z

We are afraid of hunger, even though few of us have any experience of it whatsoever.“The stomach contractions we experience at midday or in the evenings, often quite painful ones, which signal mealtimes and which we call ’hunger’, are strictly speaking nothing of the kind’ writes Margaret Visser, in her book, “The Rituals of Dinner”.Well Margaret, if my tummy is rumbling and I haven’t eaten

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-14481717564412243012009-11-18T16:56:00.002Z2009-11-18T17:01:03.287Z

Six o’clock on Saturday evening, and the McKenna kids are sitting at the dinner table, so tired that they cannot even talk to one another. It’s the end of another long week, with five days of school complemented by swimming lessons, drama classes, sailing lessons, hanging out, you name it.This is the time for comfort food. So tonight I have made Italian potato pie, a typically elegant Italian

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-63177112671484084052009-11-18T15:50:00.006Z2009-11-18T16:55:32.406Z

Ponaire, Tommy and Jennifer Ryan's splendid coffee company, is expanding into cyberspace. Find them at www.ponaire.ie, and click on shop. See them also at the brilliant No1 Pery Square Xmas Market on Sunday...On Thursday 26th Darina Allen will be signing copies of her new book at Nash 19 in Cork. Mulled wine will be waiting for you, and Claire and her team will be rolling out the Xmas hampers,

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-63312407438966292352009-11-17T15:56:00.003Z2009-11-17T15:58:20.193Z

The Perfect CureSwine flu has garnered one so-far-unremarked achievement: we now know just how medieval citizens, living in walled towns, felt when the barbarians were at the gate.The fear. The uncertainty. The dread. The waiting.Just like our medieval counterparts, we wait for a solution, a saviour to come riding over the hill to rescue us. Vaccine? Tami flu? The correct way to blow your nose

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-87281650708085980962009-11-17T11:40:00.004Z2009-11-17T11:48:13.159Z

“What's happened to your blog?” writes a friend.Well, you are looking at what happened to the blog. The new Bridgestone Irish Food Guide, the 9th edition, is 624 pages long, a full 100 pages more than the 2007 book, which was 100 pages more than the 2003 book.624 pages of the good stuff, coming your way just before Xmas, and more on this in the future

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-88900136055932071382009-08-14T17:50:00.004+01:002009-08-14T17:56:12.558+01:00

Jean and Pierre are doing all the right things in Dublin's little Blackboard Bistro. Caroline Byrne admires the cooking and the value.I went here last Thursday for my weekly early bird with my brother and I was very pleasantly surprised by this little place. Even my brother said it was his favourite of all the French places I’ve brought him too, and that’s really saying something coming from him!

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-4909081767774519452009-08-14T09:58:00.002+01:002009-08-14T10:01:28.097+01:00

New Age AgeingOn a crisp Saturday morning, my wife, my sister and I joined our friends Harro and Gisi on their 1895 boat, the Grainne, in Ahakista pier for a spot of mackerel fishing.Harro and Gisi are the sort of confident boatpeople who are expert at looking after those whose sealegs are not so well established.“Hold on here”. “Give me your hand and step down onto this”. They also had the

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-40784967210684639872009-07-30T08:57:00.010+01:002009-07-30T10:15:06.814+01:00

The new crew of columnists on The Irish Times reflect well on the choices of editor Geraldine Kennedy. Whilst our fave is the punky Ph.D, Elaine Byrne, on Tuesdays – don't start a fight with that girl! – Tony Kinsella on Mondays and John Gibbins on Thursdays both qualify as essential reading, their efforts intellectually crisp and cogent.Wednesday's columnist Sarah Carey is, perhaps, the most

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-49622251715601759302009-07-24T14:06:00.006+01:002009-07-24T14:11:15.093+01:00

Aimée and Claire are doing a great job at the Buttery Café in Wicklow. Caroline Byrne is charmedThe Buttery is a doll’s house of a café, with cutesy furnishings and little touches everywhere to create the perfect ambience for this girly establishment. Run by two best friends, Aimée and Claire, the counter brims with cutesy, very homemade looking frosted buns and other delectable confectionery.

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-58775567325270981572009-07-15T17:42:00.002+01:002009-07-15T17:47:02.722+01:00

The Ketchup Effect Ten years ago, the Swedish government stated in very simple terms its environmental objective: “To hand over to the next generation a society in which the major environmental problems have been solved”.In the ten years since, as Frank McDonald reported in this paper back in May in an article entitled “Sweden’s Green Approach”, the Swedes have been working hard to reduce Co2, to

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-16277793390141841622009-07-15T17:34:00.006+01:002009-07-15T17:41:13.644+01:00

Eamon Barrett enjoys seeing Justin and Jenny Green get it right. Again.Over the years I have found that it pays not to have pre-conceptions in this job. Over enthusiasm inevitably leads to disappointment; underlying suspicion is often cast aside with pleasant surprise. But with Justin Green's announcement of the opening of the old Barca premises in Lismore as O'Briens Chop House I couldn't help

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-18278406292291457722009-07-12T11:16:00.013+01:002009-07-12T12:04:07.971+01:00

I have just enjoyed the enormous pleasure of spending a week discussing food writing with a brilliant bunch of students for five mornings, as part of Bantry's annual West Cork Literary Festival. My thanks to my students – Hedy, Susan, Mo, Damhnait, Leeanne, Aisling, Doreen, Michael and Brian – for their commitment and engagement, which was at times unbelieveably potent and intense.We discussed

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-70343984294401236702009-07-01T11:36:00.002+01:002009-07-01T11:39:42.827+01:00

This morning, Reuters reports the following. It might seem trivial, but actually it is very important, because it is the application of common sense to the marketplace.Now, the EU needs to stop regulating vegetables, and get around to regulating those who sell them in supermarkets..."July 1st marks the return to our shelves of the curved cucumber and the knobbly carrot," EU Agriculture

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-20223993355227723912009-06-29T07:49:00.009+01:002009-06-29T08:27:10.252+01:00

Regular readers will have noticed how intermittent this column has been of late. The reason is simple: we are working on the 500-page Bridgestone Irish Food Guide!But, those 500 pages aside, it is time to share some discoveries and hot tips that might prove useful for your summer staycation. Here we go...West CorkBlairs Cove, DurrusReports of Richard Milnes' cooking in the country's most

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-85593662442046070622009-06-18T11:45:00.005+01:002009-06-18T11:48:33.766+01:00

The inimitable Justin and Jenny of beautiful Ballyvolane House are set to open a new restaurant in lovely Lismore. O'Brien Chop House will be in the former Barça premises, and this beautiful old pub has been left well alone, so its charming original features will shine as you enjoy some smart cooking, using well-sourced ingredients. The end of the month is when the doors should open. For more

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-62549747715894724922009-06-17T16:26:00.003+01:002009-06-17T16:30:13.509+01:00

The Irish Times Healthplus/June 2009 Mindful Choosing The first time I read about Brian Wansink’s Campbell’s tomato soup experiment, my reaction was to feel distinctly queasy, followed by a distinct loss of appetite.What did Mr Wansink do to make me feel this way?He simply sat people down in front of a bowl of Campbell’s tomato soup, and told them to eat as much as they wanted. In “Nudge”, their

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-31493326611128534252009-06-17T16:17:00.005+01:002009-06-17T16:24:52.917+01:00

Remember this face. This is Annette Minihan of Minihan's of West Clare, and Ms Minihan is one hell of a talent. How far would you walk – barefoot in an electrical thunderstorm – for the best baked vanilla cheesecake you ever tasted? If you are like us, then you would walk any distance for that cheesecake, and for Annette's cheesecake – and her lemon tartlet, and her chocolate and orange and

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-43472609736038038062009-05-18T16:45:00.006+01:002009-05-18T17:14:06.554+01:00

Apologies for the title question – the sort of thing that is the scourge of magazines and weekend journalism – but you don't even have to get very far into the series of dishes that forms Mickael Viljanen's tasting menu at Gregan's Castle in The Burren, County Clare, before you find yourself asking that very same question. And when you reflect on the places that are operating at the same level of

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-6085808137935543302009-05-14T16:52:00.004+01:002009-05-14T17:03:50.900+01:00

Eileen Dunne and Stefano Crescenzi are two of the most gifted food entrepreneurs in Ireland, and the recession isn't dimming their ambition, for they have just opened a new L'Officina restaurant in the Arnott's Project shop now open in The Jervis Centre, Dublin. Seating up to 100 people, the restaurant, designed by Gottstein architects, has a wine bar and a small retail area along the lines of

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-67866464613578526472009-05-13T15:17:00.004+01:002009-05-13T15:30:31.434+01:00

John McKenna of this parish will be speaking at the second Slow Food Clare Festival in Lisdoonvarna this weekend, specifically on Friday lunchtime in the Pavilion Theatre in Lisdoonvarna, when the subject will be “Consumption with a Conscience” Whoa! Weighty stuff! Let's hope McKenna doesn't tell that Homer Simpson joke again, the one that has died a million deaths on the last two occasions he

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-21964085862382576832009-05-13T15:00:00.005+01:002009-05-13T15:15:20.890+01:00

It's not all doom and gloom out there, as these brave restaurateurs in Dublin and Cork show...Rodney and Audrey have just opened a new Sushi King on Dawson St. in Dublin 2. The new shop and restaurant is an evolution of the wonderful Sushi King take-away on Baggot St., and has the luxury of seats for SK customers so Rodney and Audrey can offer both take out and sit in facilities.The SK menu has

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-21305653251828141272009-05-06T10:05:00.007+01:002009-05-06T10:55:14.661+01:00

It was a chance line in Nick Lander's FT interview with Jesus Adorno, the director of London's Le Caprice restaurant and mastermind of its celebrated standards of service, that got me thinking about caramel, and salt.Mr Lander writes of asking for just a scoop of the restaurant's salted caramel ice cream, and eventually receiving it. Now when I think of salt and caramel, I immediately think of

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-91155985627720663382009-05-06T09:46:00.004+01:002009-05-06T09:54:48.944+01:00

I am grateful to Grace Linehan and the charming pupils of Schull Community College 6th form home ec students who received me so politely and with such concentration when I spoke to them. Preparing my slogans for the class really did cause me more thought – and worry! – than anything I have done in recent times.One of the Schull pupils, by the way ,is Molly O'Mahony who has just released a fine cd

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-19842967879012065352009-04-15T12:21:00.004+01:002009-04-15T12:29:13.905+01:00

Many Irish food lovers will regret that Elizabeth Field, whose writing on Irish food proved to be so enlightening and enlivening when she lived in the city, has returned to the 'States to be a happy bunny, thanks to having Barack and Bo in the White House in place of the former criminally-inclined occupants. Happily, Elizabeth was in Dublin for a few days a couple of weeks ago and managed to

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-25357266196515094902009-04-15T12:08:00.006+01:002009-04-15T12:15:56.879+01:00

A most arresting quote, from Nick Lander's column in last Weekend's FT, stops us in our tracks. Mr Lander is quoting the chef Tetsuya Saotame, who has cooked tempura in Mikawa restaurant in Tokyo for the last 33 years. Mr Saotame says;“I'm not frying, but baking in oil and my role when the fish is in the pot is to calculate the right combination of air, water and batter”.“I think that I am able

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-82991926296753003462009-04-02T12:24:00.003+01:002009-04-02T12:35:56.494+01:00

If feedback is proof of what folk are concerned about, then the balance in our bodies between Omega-3s and the nasty Omega-6s is something that is of much concern to people today.After our piece appeared, Audrey Deane and Penny Doyle sent us a copy of The Top 100 Omega-3 Recipes, published by Duncan Baird publishers. This is a useful book, very cleanly and simply laid out, and it shows, above all

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-26999303456666290552009-04-01T15:19:00.004+01:002009-04-01T15:28:06.098+01:00

RAI Conference 2009, Maynooth. “Successful Strategies for 2009 – A crucial time to share ideas” Creating successful strategies in difficult times begins by listening carefully. L:ike this...Heard the one about the man who walks into the doctor’s and says “I'm having trouble hearing things”Doctor says: “Can you describe the symptoms?”The man says, “Eh, well, ok then. Eh, Homer is the fat bald guy

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-74892981195898699152009-03-27T12:33:00.003Z2009-03-27T12:37:29.627Z

Eugene Long is doing the good thing at Banyan, in Tramore, County Waterford. Eamon Barrett feels the glam and relishes the grub. It's Saturday night. We're in Tramore. The restaurant is full of people dressed up and having a great time and the atmosphere is absolutely alive. Who could have thought that lightning could strike the former Coast building again but here we are, having a ball of a

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-38112463988055378642009-03-25T09:51:00.005Z2009-03-25T09:57:24.377Z

A piece written for The Irish Times Earth Hour supplement. Earth Hour is at 8.30pm on March 28th: switch off your lights for 60minutes, and see www.change.ieThe fascinating thing about those people who think and write about the crucial, and much-stressed, interplay between our food and our planet, is that they’re a pretty upbeat bunch. Yes, they all agree, the problems are enormous. And they

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-79333163709072961482009-03-23T16:52:00.003Z2009-03-23T16:58:51.435Z

Dylan McGrath is offering great value with his early evening tapas menus at Mint, in Ranelagh, Dublin 6. Leslie Williams seeks out the spirit of the age.The budget early evening Tapas at Mint (Tues., Wed., Thur. 5.30pm - 7.00pm) costs €55 per person including 2 glasses of wine to match your menu. There are two menu options so this is a perfect couples night out that will allow for lots of food

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-40978134926889172009-03-23T15:53:00.003Z2009-03-23T16:23:23.155Z

Kevin Thornton is opening up in Belfast, in the new Menu by Kevin Thornton, in the Fitzwilliam Hotel. What Mr Thornton will be hoping to achieve will be even a little bit of the success of the runaway Made In Belfast. You have to book a month in advance to get a weekend table at this funky Restolounge, where bric-a-brac meets bricolage, and with some ace cooking from chef Gerry O'Kane, formerly

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-42190072746600988322009-03-13T14:19:00.005Z2009-03-13T14:28:22.729Z

ListeningFleet Foxes (SubPop)Thanks to Eamon Barrett for the introduction to Seattle's hairest troubadors, who fuse The Band and Neil Young and Brian Wilson in one sublime American cocktail.John Coltrane – Interstellar Space (Impulse!)Late, late Coltrane, with just Rashid Ali on the drums, and the sound of hand bells announcing and ending each massive piece of torrential blowing. Portishead -

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-87585039051165910592009-03-12T11:42:00.006Z2009-03-16T19:08:43.640Z

The Anglo-Irish Body Our bodies are like banks. If you keep everything in balance in a bank – loans; deposits; liquidity; cash flow – then the bank trades happily, makes a profit and performs its important role in society.Let things get out of balance in the bank, however – vast loans on speculative property deals; slack auditing by auditors and directors; directors loans that don’t even appear

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-90802631699945853772009-03-12T11:38:00.004Z2009-03-12T11:42:04.858Z

Eamon Barrett admires the chutzph and energy of the New Ross star.Philp and Patsy Rogers' lovely In A Nutshell cafe and health food store is well extablished in New Ross as a beacon of all things good and wholesome - not to mention the super food served in the cafe. Faced with the same difficulties that the economic environment is having on every restaurant in the country Patsy's plan of action

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-52699122610100620532009-03-05T09:18:00.002Z2009-03-05T09:25:54.763Z

Leslie Williams reports on the resurrection in Dublin of the hamburger from its fast-food peril.Gourmet Burgers are the latest thing in Dublin - since 2007 they have been opening wherever they can find a space. All these restaurants have remarkably similar menus and prices (Burgers €9-11, fries €4). Don’t expect much of a wine list or starters or desserts beyond ice-cream and chocolate cake.

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-35707972592368127822009-03-03T11:09:00.004Z2009-03-03T11:17:58.562Z

Valerie O'Connor admires Pat O'Sullivan's smart, smart Café NoirCafe Noir, LimerickAfter one year in business, Cafe Noir (owned by Pat O’Sullivan of Moll D’Arby’s) in Limerick is enjoying a thriving trade. Packed daily with lunching ladies, the staples of salads and quiches are flying out of the fridges. Pat has employed his talented pastry chef to make rustic breads – white, baguette, cheese 'n

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-63379311132585277782009-03-03T10:54:00.003Z2009-03-03T11:05:59.083Z

On the one side you have the behemoths of the GM industry. Monsanto et al, with their bevy of PR lackeys and their colossal corporate and dollar clout.And, on the oher side, you have Michael O'Callaghan of GM-free Ireland. Goliath and David isn't in it.But Mr O'Callaghan is doughty, determined, and direct. He fights the good fight against the evils of GM from the moral high ground, the high

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-13964653545801371462009-02-26T08:58:00.008Z2009-02-26T09:20:08.190Z

Mahon PointCork's splendiferous Mahon Point Market has a new contact number: 086 1685312 and the email address is info@mahonpointfarmersmarket.com.Food lovers should check out the gorgeous site created by Lydia Hugh-Jones for the market: www.mahonpointfarmersmarket.com.Wales and GMWales has a bit of a lumbering reputation hen it comes to food, but maybe that is changing with the announcement

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-51765075226444519272009-02-19T13:31:00.005Z2009-02-19T13:40:57.240Z

Marino Monterisi's wonderful Bates Restaurant, in Rathdrum, County Wicklow, which features in the Bridgestone 100 Best Restaurants 2009, has just launched new menus. Here is the dinner menu, a model of how to source artisan foods and how to write a menu simply. Saffron risotto with pork cheeks! Homemade tagliolini with Gubbeen pancetta! Bunclody veal with anchovies and capers!We are drooling down

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-9889690334551878552009-02-19T13:10:00.005Z2009-02-19T13:27:36.105Z

We had the pleasure of attending a dinner recently where Simon Tyrrell presented some of his wines from the Rhone Valley. The wines were a pair from Michel and Stephanie Ogier – the white Viognier La Rosine 2007 and the red Syrah L'Ame Soeur 2006. A second white was the St Joseph Blanc 2007 from Domaine de Monteillet, another red, the Cotes du Rhone Domaine les Aphillanthes 2003, and then a

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-387234390276008382009-02-19T11:52:00.003Z2009-02-19T11:58:16.497Z

Stillorgan's benchmark China Sichuan Restaurant relocated last year, and opened just a little late for our Bridgestone 100 Best Restaurants 2009 Guides. But, as Caroline Byrne reports, Kevin Hui's restaurant is already rockin':Anyone living in the Stillorgan/Kilmakud area of Dublin will be aware of and possibly a fan of China Sichuan. As the name implies it specialises entirely in dishes from

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-55947403270122831092009-02-19T10:27:00.006Z2009-02-19T10:33:19.058Z

A note from Caroline of the Belvelly Smokehouse in Cobh, about all their goings on...“I'm making Mrs Hederman's fish pies, chowders, and fishcakes for the markets and we intend to make those more available in the shop. From time to time I do smoked fish pasties with roasted root veg and smoked haddock - and filo parcels - with smoked salmon and goat's cheese - and in the summer there will be

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-31360399213372107052009-02-17T13:25:00.003Z2009-02-17T13:39:05.069Z

ELY HQ has revamped its focus and its menus. This lovely space is now ely-hq gastro pub, and the all-day menu is hot to trot: ½ pound organic ely burger, served on a homemade bun with a choice of toppings - aioli, roast tomato & lambs lettuce, or smoked cheese, chorizo & chili relish. The bangers and mash, is served as colcannon, sweet onion chutney & mustard sauce. Alongside the old classics

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-39839228280069323112009-02-17T12:30:00.003Z2009-02-17T12:40:29.153Z

Whoops! She did it again!It is many years now since we declared that Janet Drew's Sweet Pepper Relish was one of the most indispensable kitchen and table accoutrements. Since then, everyone and his wife have gone out and made a sweet pepper relish, but Ms Drew's remains the benchmark.One benchmark in a lifetime is good, but two seems pretty amazing. Nevertheless, everyone and his wife will soon

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-91759758597304322492009-02-12T15:26:00.004Z2009-02-12T15:50:32.952Z

What with zombie banks, zombie hotels, and Brian and Brian doing the work of two men – those men being Laurel and Hardy – at the head of the Government, we are in a state of chassis.So, it's time to bring you the people the country needs, starting with Siobhan Lawless, who runs the Foods of Athenry bakery with her husband, Paul. What's been happening, Siobhan?““We're still making Mom 'n' Pop

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-11166691603881019312009-02-11T10:29:00.001Z2009-02-11T10:30:44.728Z

Restaurants and the Recession For the last decade, it has seemed as if finding value for money, and eating out in restaurants, have been polar opposites.Restaurant critics discussed meals that cost several hundred euro for a single dinner. Stories of bankers and hedge fund managers dropping several thousand euro on exotic, rare vintages of great wines in a single evening became the stuff of

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-76005211312754639862009-02-11T10:27:00.000Z2009-02-11T10:28:16.279Z

The Irish Times/Healthplus Grains of Life We begin today with a few simple questions. Simply tick the correct answer: 1. Amaranth is: a. An Inca God. b. A by-product of uranium mining. 2. You meet a Quinoa. Do You: a. Shake hands and use a formal greeting. b. Bow respectfully and proffer a gift. 3. Teff is: a. The most popular item ordered at the IKEA restaurant outside Belfast. b. A Baltimore

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-39202924300199421792009-02-06T13:35:00.004Z2009-02-06T14:08:37.088Z

We had been planning to run story on Flahavan's, Waterford's oatmeal masters, to let you know that they have just launched two new products.Organic quick oat sachets are the first, simple to use single sachets, and the second are organic portable porridge pots. (A little word, here, to keen campers; these portable pots are only brilliant when you are out camping: a hearty energy breakfast in

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-1617991777637728612009-02-05T11:38:00.003Z2009-02-05T11:54:09.742Z

Dear John,A number of years ago, when you were still writing your column for the "Irish Times", you gave a recipe for a pasta dish which I greatly enjoyed but can't remember how to make.As far as I recall, it involved part cooking the pasta and then finishing it by putting it in a turkey bag with a cream & garlic sauce and baking it so the pasta would absorb the sauce. By any chance, would you be

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-55525005740957867902009-02-02T17:09:00.004Z2009-02-02T17:21:12.153Z

The new Bridgestone 100 Best Books for 2009 – the 100 Best Restaurants and The 100 Best Places to Stay – are in the shops and almost out of our lives and on their way to – hopefully – connecting nice curious people to nice, satisfying places to eat and stay throughout the country. Lots of ace new places to eat and stay, lots of lovely new creative people discovered. Aidan Crawley of The Irish

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-61329696410053330582009-01-28T12:39:00.005Z2009-01-28T12:51:31.296Z

It's always the same. Ever since we published the first editions of the Bridgestone 100 Best Guides, back in 1992, we get to publication day – which is tomorrow, Thursday 29th – and someone turns up and opens an outstanding new destination. It's been the same every year, and 2009 is no exception. Patricia has just opened No 1 Pery Square, and it's the address Limerick has been waiting for.

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-56462286946280954862009-01-27T12:22:00.004Z2009-01-27T12:28:02.236Z

An interesting little story from AP:Visiting one of his favorite Chicago restaurants in November, Barack Obama was asked by an excited waitress if he wanted the restaurant's special margarita made with the finest ingredients, straight up and shaken at the table."You know that's the way I roll," Obama replied jokingly.Rick Bayless, the chef of that restaurant, Topolobampo, says Obama's comfortable

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-26485689424544925032009-01-27T11:18:00.004Z2009-01-27T11:32:15.800Z

We read, in today's Irish Times, that union sources involved in talks with the Government over proposed spending cuts have described the language of a framework document as a “blancmange”.Government Chief Whip Pat Carey is also quoted as saying that pay cuts mooted for TDs and Senators “will form part of the decision and menu that will be presented for decision in the next few days”Blancmange?

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-64336274363315668882009-01-25T11:51:00.006Z2009-01-25T12:26:18.142Z

Some news from the week of the Obama inauguration...Nash 19 in Cork city is offering a Valentines meal for two to go: start with organic chicken liver pate or love potion, then monkfish and tiger prawn pie or Green Saffron lamb curry or chicken and asparagus pasta with Country Choice Parmesan, then a Benoit L'Orge chocolate heart, and a bottle of fizz and a red rose. €72.50 is the price, order by

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-27838101116478338022009-01-21T15:55:00.003Z2009-01-21T16:07:31.363Z

For months now, it has been the phrase on everyone's lips: “Yes, We Can”.From Barack Obama to will.i.am to every democrat you ever met, all had one simple message tied up in one little slogan: “Yes, We Can”.But we have all been hiding a dark secret. A secret that covers up plagiarism, that reveals prejudice, prejudice against small little characters in hard hats with bib 'n' tucker trousers and

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-79348627573730410372009-01-21T12:38:00.003Z2009-01-21T12:51:44.829Z

Speaking of Cool People, as we were with Barack and Michelle, brings us to Michelle and Erik, founders of Dublin's blessed trinity of ELY winebars. Mr and Mrs Robson have, for ten years now, proven themselves to be brilliant restaurateurs, with an intuitive understanding of what people want and how they want it. And that is why ELY, ELY CHQ and ELY HQ work. They serve us the things we want, the

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-67154882010531342352009-01-21T12:29:00.002Z2009-01-21T12:35:09.073Z

Intellectual. Gifted writer. Awesome orator. Leader of the world's most powerful and wealthiest nation. Father of two gorgeous girls. Hot, smart wife. Kingpin basketball player...Come on, Barack! Give us Western males a break. How is a guy to match up!But wait... it seems that Barack Obama, President of the United States, can't dance! Trips on his wife's dress. Stamps on Michelle's toes. Barack

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-46366553944331216082009-01-13T11:18:00.002Z2009-01-13T11:22:12.456Z

Ok, so everyone is broke, depressed, and fed-up with the recession, credit crunch, global downturn, whatever you are having yourself. If only you hadn't bought that holiday place in Marbella, Florida, Ghana, wherever, the one you can't afford to fly to any more!Never mind the if only's. In advance of getting all the dope on the hottest new places to stay in Ireland and the hottest new restaurants

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-75435907565992339622009-01-13T10:24:00.000Z2009-01-13T10:25:20.363Z

Three times in my life, a turnip has stopped me dead in my tracks.The first time was back in 2002, when I put a spoon into a bowl of turnip and brown bread soup, and tasted something that was nothing less than food for the Gods. It had been cooked by the brilliant Catherine Fulvio, who had just taken over the running of Ballyknocken House, near Ashford in County Wicklow.Ms Fulvio cooks like a

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-21439730149480123302009-01-13T10:20:00.004Z2009-01-13T10:22:16.073Z

A little piece we wrote for the Guild of Food Writers magazine, marking (almost!) twenty years of writing about Irish food...Almost twenty years ago, my wife Sally and I decided to write a book about the sources and producers of Irish food. At the time, I was a barrister working in Dublin, but actually not working very much at all, as the country was deep in recession, and plagued by emigration.

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-71877446974092117282009-01-12T09:14:00.005Z2009-01-12T19:37:45.468Z

Who says we have lost the power to be shocked and surprised? Well, you could have knocked us over with a feather when we sifted through the many sections of Saturday's Financial Times only to discover that there, ON THE COVER OF THE FT WEEKEND MAGAZINE, is none other than... Ed Behr, maverick publisher of the world's greatest and most cult food quarterly, The Art Of Eating.Ed Behr! On the cover

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-78481861868676060582009-01-02T12:31:00.012Z2009-01-02T12:57:50.410Z

Con Traas In the most recent edition of his Apple Club Newsletter, Con Traas discussed codling moths, the Cahir Climatologist, domestic economics, apple thinning, apples and aspirin, and gave a short history of Gregor Mendel and his Laws of Heredity, as applied to your earlobes. The Newsletter is both a most diverting and a most illuminating read, and we look forward to it every time, almost as

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-14934153941990094812008-12-30T11:54:00.004Z2008-12-30T12:31:11.233Z

We will be posting our blog of the Men & Women of the Year on New Year's Day, but we thought, given that everyone else is doing it, that you might like our pick of the best discs of 2008. And, have you noticed how, at the end of the year, there is nowadays little or no consensus on what music, movies or books were “the best”. A very healthy sign of diversity.Martin Hayes & Denis Cahill: Welcome

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-536928463572853912.post-18344956962361804692008-12-16T09:33:00.003Z2008-12-16T09:34:15.747Z

One of these animals doesn't belong in Dermot Byrne's smart chicken coop: can you guess which one?Yes, that is none other than Holly, our one-year-old pup, a Scottie-Shiatzu cross, trying to steal some chicken food, as one-year-olds will.Mr Byrne's coops are portable, beautifully made products, and very ingenious: a small trap door lowers inside the main frame to allow the birds to climb the

John McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983764768869172123noreply@blogger.com0