Ice Cream Ireland

 I’ve written on Valrhona multiple times and mentioned them in the Irish Times article today, promising a list of Irish suppliers. The distributor is Odaios Foods, but following are a list of shops where anyone can go in and buy a bar. Do so. They are fantastic!

Dublin

• Baggot Newagents, Upper Baggot St
• Bottleworks, Capal Street  
• Cavistons Deli, Glasthule  
• Creot Wine, Upper Leeson St.
• Donnybrook Fair, D4
• Ennis Butchers, Rialto  
• Foodgame, Stillorgan
• Foodware Store, Malahide  
• Fresh at Smithfield
• Fresh at Grand Canal
• Fresh at Smithfield  
• Get Fresh, Rathfarnham
• Gibney’s, Malahide
• Laralu, Georges Street Arcade, D2
• Mitchell & Sons, Glasthule
• Morton & Sons, Ranelagh  
• On the Grapevine, Dalkey  
• The Vintry, Rathgar

Elsewhere in Ireland 

• Brooklodge, Macreddin
• Blue Olive, Boreenmanna, Cork
• Blessing’s Off Licence, Cavan  
• Chocolate Shop, The English Market, Cork
• Chocolat, Ennis
• Choo’s and Choc’s, Sligo
• Deli on the Green, Dungannon
• Donnelis Food Emporium, Market Square, Wicklow
• French Flair, Kerry Handmade Wines & Food, Waterford
• Greenacres of Wexford
• Harringtons, Beara
• Hollands, Bray
• Ilia Gourmet, Mullingar
• Jus de Vine, Portmarnock
• Le Caveau, Kilkenny
• McCambridges, Shop St, Galway
• Molloys, Roscommon
• Mortons of Galway, Salthill
• Murphy’s Ice Cream, Dingle & Killarney
• Patridge Lodge, Gorey
• Taste, Castletownbere
• Vanilla Grape, Kenmare

Technorati tags: chocolate, Valrhona, suppliers, ireland

 For those interested, here’s the full programme for the Dingle Film Festival… 

Programme: September 6th – September 9th 2007

Thursday, 6th September 

The Phoenix Cinema

9pm   €10

“2 Days in Paris�Directed by Julie Delpy Sir Alan Parker to open festival

Friday 7th September

Ioand An Bhlascaoid Mhoir  

Feature Film Premier,  12 noon      €4           
AZUR AND ASMAR: THE PRINCES’ QUEST (age 7+)Director Michel Ocelot

Ryan’s Daughter Evening with Sarah Miles,  7pm   €12

Screening of “On Location� Documentary With Godfrey

The Phoenix Cinema

3pm         €7

Competition Shorts 3 – 35mm Feature Film                                                              

9pm             €8

Saturday 8th September    

Hilery House

10am – 4pm     €25 Workshop Programme 3, The 3 Principals of plot, a master Class with Eoghan Harris

Krugers

10am - 1pm           Free

Screen Test with Artist Andrew Duggan

St. James’ Church

10am – 12noon                       €15

Workshop programme 1 & 2, Brian Nolan & Owen McPolin Shorts Programme 1

12 noon        €7           

Feature Film “Ten Canoes�  

2.30pm      €7

Competition Shorts

2  5pm               €7 T

V Premier “The Running Mate�           

6.30pm             €7

The Phoenix Cinema 

9pm          €8

The Killing of John Lennon directed by ANDREW PIDDINGTON

Sunday 9th September

St. James’ Church  

10.30am              €15

Workshop programme 4, Production, a Master Class with Ned Dowd(Last of the Mohicans, Apocolypto

Family Feature Premier Film

12noon           €4

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey 

Shorts Programme 4

2.30pm                 €7

Shorts Programme  Local Local   

5pm                   €7

Benners Hotel 

Award’s Ceremony Reception

Technorati tags: Dingle, film, festival, cinema, movie, Kerry

 I went up to Dublin with some friends this past weekend for the clash of Kerry against Dublin, and am back in Kerry again quite tired!

It was a great fun, not just because Kerry won. There was brilliant atmosphere, and I had my first encounter with the pheomenon of Hill 16 full of Dubs (photo right) albeit from a safe distance. Dublin fans are quite impressive and sure know how to make noise!

Other highlights of the trip were a delicious smoothie from Fallon & Byrne, which went some way toward healing a hangover. Tasty sandwiches from the same got us through the match. I didn’t have such good luck finding a decent cappuccino, though, even though we tried several new places (when will baristas finally stop burning the espresso and scalding the milk?)

On Saturday night, we ate at the Mermaid Cafe, then moved on to Mulligans (the great culchie meeting place), then the Palace Bar, and from there spotted former Kerry great, Bomber Liston, among other familiar faces.

The All-Ireland beckons, and my head hurts already…

Technorati tags: Dublin, football, Kerry, GAA

This is the recipe for the Irish Times article that ties into the previous post…

Gelato alla Crema

Ingredients:

• 500ml milk
• 250ml cream
• 200g sugar
• 6 egg yolks

What to do:

1. Beat the sugar and egg yolks together until thick and pale yellow.
2. Bring the milk to a simmer.
3. Remove from the heat.
4. Beat the milk into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream.
5. Pour the mixture back into pan and place over low heat.
6. Stir until the custard thickens slightly (around 70C).
7. Immediately transfer into another container and place in the refrigerator until cool.
8. Whip the cream and fold into the mix.
9. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer.

Technorati tags: gelato, ice cream, crema, dessert, recipe, Irish Times

 Since I’ve written so many times here about the Kerry Cow, I thought I’d give you the article I wrote this week for today’s Irish Times (the recipe will follow)…

When West Kerry farmer Colm Murphy first brought some Kerry cow milk to Murphys Ice Cream for us to sample, we were delighted. The test batch of ice cream came out smoother, creamier, and just plain delicious. The milk impressed our entire team, and our customers also responded to the improved taste, although most expressed bafflement when we mentioned the Kerry cow. “You mean a cow from Kerry?� It seems our indigenous breed has largely faded from our consciousness.

Once, however, the Kerry was indispensable. It is one of the oldest breeds in Europe (probably brought to Ireland from the Mediterranean by Neolithic wanderers) and the first developed for milking. Our ancestors churned Kerry cow butter, concocted Kerry cow cheeses, and stored milk treated with herbs in jars underground while other prehistoric people hunted and gathered with stone tools. So valuable was the Kerry that under Brehon Law the top unit of currency was the milking cow. There’s a traditional song, “I wish I had a Kerry cow, a Kerry cow, a Kerry cow…� No wonder it’s repeated. Your cows defined your wealth, and if you owned a few of them, you were doing ok.

By the late 1970s, however, the value of a milking cow diminished to the volume it produced, and Friesans dominated the Irish herd. The little Kerry, famous for quality, not quantity, faced extinction. At the lowest point, only 100 Kerry cows survived worldwide, and half of them lived on Raymonde Hilliard’s farm in Killarney. When I took a break from our Killarney shop to visit her, Ms. Hilliard told me about farmer after farmer retiring or giving up their herds until saving the Kerry cow seemed a hopeless cause. Luckily, herself and a few other champions of the breed persevered, and the government finally introduced a protection scheme in the early 1980s. Since then, the population of the Kerry has slowly increased to its present total of 1,100. That may sound quite healthy, but to put it in perspective, there are 1,600 giant pandas in the wild, and they are considered extremely endangered.

Although there is still a decline of Irish dairy farmers, Colm Murphy is not about to give up. He loves his herd, and the Kerry cows impress him. “I’ve never had to lift the hoof of a Kerry,� he says, “and I have never had a problem with calving.� At Murphys Ice Cream, we don’t know about such things, but we do know we have never tasted better milk. This week’s recipe is “crema,� Italy’s most popular ice cream. Crema is an unflavoured frozen custard, perfect for savouring the flavour of Kerry cow milk - if you’re lucky enough to have some.

For more, visit the Kerry Cattle Society.

Technorati tags: breed, ice cream, farm, cow, Kerry, Dingle

 Even though it’s crazy this time of year, there are still preparations going on for the Dingle Peninsula Food and Wine Festival in October. So many people are helping including local artist June McIntyre, who did the painting for the logo.

There will be food trails in the shops, tasting menus in all the restaurants, a kitchen set up in St. James’ Church for demonstrations, lectures, stalls, and even food films in the Phoenix Cinema.

It should be lots of fun for anyone into food, Dingle or both, and you can check out the festival website here.

I will add more information as it becomes available!

Technorati tags: Dingle, food, festival, wine, feile, gourmet

 Jack Murray, the managing director of mediacontact.ie happened into our Dingle shop for a coffee a few days ago, and we had a chat about blogging and publicity. He was kind enough to send me on a copy of his media contacts directory, available as a subscription through their website. It is extraordinarily thorough (it includes print, broadcast, news agencies, associations, politics, government, and every last journalist even here in the wilds of Kerry) and well worth it for anyone doing publicity, whether it be their own or for other people…

Technorati tags: directory, Irish, media, contact

A few weeks ago, I heard Daniel Cassidy on the Last Word with Matt Cooper. It was a lively interview, and Cassidy’s premise - that many American slang words originate from the Irish language - was an intriguing one.

I ordered the book, and it’s arrived. It’s more scholarly that I would have expected from the interview (turns out that Cassidy is a professor and founder of the New College of California), and the historical as well as etymological background is well-drawn. What’s really astonishing is that so few words in English dictionaries are credited to Irish (most of Cassidy’s English words are listed “origin unknown,” and when you think about the huge diaspora, it’s a certainty that the Irish would have contributed words to English.

Some examples from the book:

• Baloney - Béal ónna, meaning silly, foolish talk
• Boss - Bás, meaning boss, best, very good
• Brag - Bréag, meaning a lie, exaggeration, deception
• Cop - Ceap, meaning a protector or chief. The verb “ceap” has meanings including to catch or intercept.
• Daddy - Daidí
• Gab - Gab, a chattering mouth
• Goon - Guan
• Hick - Aitheach, meaning a peasant, a churl
• Jazz - Teas, meaning heat, passion, excitement
• Lucre - Luach óir, meaning reward of gold
• Shack - Teach, meaning house
• Shanty - Seantigh, meaning old house
• Slob - Slab, meaning mud or a dirty or slovenly person
• Smashing - ’s maith sin, meaning “it is good”
• So long - Slán

There are many more, and I highly suggest the book. At the very least it’s bound to lead to some interesting conversations!

Technorati tags: book, Irish, slang, word, Daniel Cassidy

 For today’s Irish Times article, I wrote about our team in prodution (the photo below shows Cian, Christophe, and JP), running things in August, and of trying to squeeze in new flavours in our busiest time of year.

The recipe came from an idea from Cian, our Dingle shop manager, who helped as we worked through it. It’s very tasty!

Cian’s Chocolate Coffee Crunch

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 1 3/8 cups cream
• 1 1/8 cups milk
• 1/4 vanilla bean, cut lengthwise
• 1/3 cup espresso beans
• 2/3 cup 70% chocolate (100gm)

What to do:

1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler.
2. Break the coffee beans into smallish pieces using the bottom of a bowl or a food processor.  
3. Mix the crushed beans into the chocolate and spread on a baking tray to harden.
4. Beat the sugar and egg yolks together until thick and pale yellow.  
5. Bring the milk to a simmer.  Remove from the heat.
6. Beat the milk into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream.  
7. Pour the mixture back into pan, add the vanilla bean and place over low heat. Stir until the custard thickens (around 70C).  
8. Immediately place in the refrigerator until cool.
9. Remove the vanilla bean.
10. Cut the hardened chocolate into small pieces then use a spatula to separate from the baking tray. Stir into the custard.
11. Whip the cream and fold into the mix.  
12. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer.

Technorati tags: coffee, ice cream, chocolate, dessert, recipe, Irish Times

 I spent today out and about in the Kingdom, and happened unwittingly onto the annual horse fair in Kenmare. What a picture of contrasts! The pristine town was packed with a very different crowd from the usual, and the rambunctious mood of a traditional fair (that’s quite rare to come across nowadays) clashed with Kenmare’s 5 star image.

Traders lined the streets hawking work boots and power tools, and many of the town’s shops closed for the day.

Tourists seemed somewhat befuddled by the crowds and mayhem, but many were visibly pleased by the animals on show - from ducks to cows to ponies.

One would think from this photo that members of the Tidy Town Committee will have nightmares for weeks to come… 

Technorati tags: horse fair, Kenmare, Kerry, August, Ireland