Articles

This is a wonderfully warming casserole, perfect for cold February days. Red wine gives a lovely richness to the dish, the chilli warmth and the thyme an aromatic quality. The cooking aromas are wafting from the kitchen as the boys arrive in from school cold and hungry.
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Tomatoes have a long growing season so to get good fruit you need to get the plants started early (if you are growing from seed). I sow my tomatoes on a heating mat in the potting shed in mid February, so by early March they have germinated.
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Dee Laffan talks to the fourth and fifth generation butchers, McCarthys of Kanturk, about their business - and their hugely popular Pig in a Day courses
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In the first of a new series, Aileesh Carew introduces the Year of Irish Design and its importance for tourism. 2015 has been designated as the year of Irish design. Irish Design 2015 (ID2015) is a year-long programme which will promote and celebrate Irish design on all forms. It is an all-island initiative and will showcase the best of Irish design at home and abroad through events and exhibitions.
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This month Darina talks about one of the most anticipated restaurant openings in London for several years, a place where “beautifully fresh ingredients shine through with the minimum of interference”. How good is that.
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The famous foodie who’s flying the tricolour for us in Texas shares a Twitter success story, of converting social media interaction into business. There are many social media sceptics among us, and who can blame them for being that way...
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Barbara Collins looks at the way trends are going, as seen in two very different - but equally popular - restaurants… It’s a case of one extreme to the other when it comes to what two eateries are doing to drum up business this month. Simply Crispy Café started as a joke on a website, but when people started asking where they could get crisp sandwiches in a Belfast café it became reality.
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KRISTIN JENSEN - co-author of Slainte! The complete Guide To Irish Craft Beers and Ciders - introduces us to one of Ireland’s newest craft beers, Wicklow Wolf American Amber
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Martin frequently gets asked what does he miss from Ireland, or what does he find better out in France and this has inspired him to make out two lists: Ten Foodie Things Which Ireland/France do Better
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2015 is the UN FAO’s Year of Soil. The year-long project aims to raise awareness in society about the ‘profound importance’ of soil for human life and promote the sustainable management of soil. FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said that we are not paying enough attention to soil, our ‘silent ally’, which I reckon is an understatement – as a society we’re paying no attention whatsoever to our soil.
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