Articles

There's been a new confidence about Limerick city since it was chosen as City of Culture in 2014 and first time visitors are invariably wowed by the elegance of its 'Georgian Quarter' - especially its most famous Georgian square, where this chic boutique hotel occupies a large site overlooking the leafy Peoples Park
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The French entertain in a different way than us. They do have Dinner Parties as the Irish do from time to time, but much more often they just ask people around for an “Apero”- always called this it is actually short for an Aperitif, that ritual drink the French have to herald in the evening before starting dinner
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Ask anyone in Northern Ireland about Punjana Tea and you’ll be in no doubt that you’ve touched on something central to the culture - even people who never drink tea (and there aren’t too many of those) will probably break into the famous jingle that goes back decades and crosses several generation gaps.
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And so it begins. Another season starts with the determined act of seed sowing in the potting shed. A bag of compost opened and tipped out on the sowing bench. Cold black plastic pots filled with even colder blacker compost. Seed labels lined up awaiting a scrawl of information. Seed packets fished out from my big box of tricks and ripped open to reveal their bounty. It's just tomatoes, aubergines and peppers today so five tiny little seeds are placed gently on the surface of each pot (one for each variety I will sow and 17 pots in all).
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Founded by Malcolm and Andrea Molloy, Drew Fox Brewing is Wexford's newest Irish craft brewery. Malcolm, a Dublin native, lived in the US for many years and met his Texan wife Andrea in Chicago. Malcolm and Andrea own a pub in Chicago called The Grafton Pub & Grill, so it's not surprising that when they moved back to Ireland in 2010, the burgeoning craft beer industry here piqued their interest.
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West of Ireland food writer Anne Marie Carroll reveals something surprising on the menu at the G Hotel. When the debate began early last year on the government's plans for the introduction of a mandatory calorie count on menus, it's fair to say, not everyone was happy about it.
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Although available all year round, leeks are at their best in winter and early spring and this versatile member of the allium (onion) family is a very useful garden crop as they are hardy and can be left in the round to harvest through the winter as required.
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Who better to kick off 2016 - the NI Year of Food and Drink - than Northern Ireland's best loved food writer, Paula McIntyre, disseminator of good sense on John Toal's Saturday Magazine programme on BBC Radio Ulster and much else besides. Through her timely and aptly-named Down To Earth Cookbook (Colourpoint, £9.99), a curious newcomer would get a very good feeling for the distinctive flavour of the region's food - and the nature of its cooks.
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Aoife Carrigy polishes up her crystal ball to see what’s coming to the restaurant scene in Ireland - especially Dublin - and elsewhere this year (with a little help from some insider tipsters…)
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Georgina reviews Lyons Café Cookbook Two by Gary Stafford, This Is The Burren, by the acclaimed photographer Carsten Krieger and the new series of food and drink guides for Northern Ireland's Year of Food and Drink 2016
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