Articles

There’s a wise old GIYer I know who says that the “sap starts to rise” in gardeners in March. It’s an odd expression and I yet I completely get what he means by it. The sap is of course starting to rise in plants, but it feels like something is stirring inside us GIYers too – spring is in the air everywhere we look and the desire to get out there and stick your hands in the soil is palpable.
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Irish vegetables have been seriously undervalued during the boom years, and none more so than the staple crops that have stood by us so well down through the centuries – everyday foods like carrots, leeks and cabbage. They suit the climate and our traditional dishes, and are available locally and inexpensively over a long season; yet we so often favour ‘exotic’ imports over these simple but nourishing and versatile foods.
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On the family farm near Castlebar in Co Mayo, Tom and Sheila Butler have run their business Cuinneog Dairy Products (www.cuinneog.com) since 1990. They specialise in the production of once-familiar dairy products which are now almost unique – Irish farmhouse country butter and natural buttermilk. Originally known as ‘Sheila’s Country Butter’, the business was re-launched recently as Cuinneog, which is the Irish word for ‘churn’.
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Lucy Madden ponders, in her inimitable way, on the inexact science of appropriateness - and its importance in the hospitality business. Photographed outside the High Court at the end of last year, having just lost a much publicised case involving rights of way, the litigant was displaying a daring amount of cleavage...
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BBC’s MasterChef is a phenomenally popular show, with over 7.8 million viewers and now in its seventh series - so the chances are you’re a fan so this could be just the book for you. Featuring over 200 of the best recipes from the amateur, professional and celebrity competitions of 2010...
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Just a couple of minutes’ walk across the bridge and away from the bustle of Galway’s Spanish Arch area, this theatrical restaurant was set up by husband and wife team Michael O’Meara and Sinead Hughes in 2000.
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Our national love affair with chocolate continues apace. Now pretty much synonymous with indulgence at Christmas, Easter and Valentine’s Day, it seems that any excuse will do - and, in fairness, we have an exceptional choice of very high quality gift ranges to choose from...
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Though St Brigid’s Day (Feb 1st) is considered the start of spring, it’s really still winter outside in the veggie patch. Come February I am always itching to get started with my seed sowing and of course you can get lots of vegetables started in seed trays on a sunny windowsill indoors.
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Abalone are a highly prized shellfish delicacy, now scarce in most countries where they were once plentiful. Known as much for their beautiful iridescent shells as for the delicately flavoured meat, this exotic shellfish is not something one might expect to find in the rugged surroundings of the West of Ireland...
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Lucy Madden ponders the benefits of Self Improvement – and the dangers of Self Promotion....Travelling home by plane to Ireland the other day I noticed that all three passengers in our row, myself included, were reading Self-Help books.
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