Kieran 
Apologies on the silence here, but we’re in Venice for the baptism of baby Róisín (photo above), and I’ve found getting on-line a little difficult.
It’s been a wonderful trip, and it’s been great to meet more of Manuela’s relatives and soak in the wonderful ambience of this incredible city.
I’ve also been lucky to have two of my very best friends join me. What a week!
I’ll post more when I get a chance!
Donal, one of the best Irish food bloggers, is launching his new cookbook next Wednesday, and I’ve taken the liberty of re-posting the invite above from Mercier press. Donal’s invited all of his readers, so I hope he won’t mind that I’ve widened the net a bit. Besides, Mr. Mulley has spread the word a lot further than I can!
I won’t be able to make it, since I’ll be in Venice :), but I highly recommend you check out his blog so that you can see why this is a book I’m highly looking forward to getting my hands upon!
So, if you can make it, say hi to Donal from me! If you can’t, buy the book and support an Irish foodie.
One of our special flavours, for the food festival just passed, was dark chocolate ice cream topped with Kilbeggan whiskey cream. It’s a magic combination, with the smoky properties of Kilbeggan well-suited to dark chocolate. There’s a recipe below, and with Christmas coming up, I’m sure you can find many applications for it. It is also, by the way, great in coffee.
Murphys Ice Whiskey Cream
Ingredients:
What to do:
1. Combine the cream and sugar in a mixing bowl.
2. Whip until soft peaks form.
3. Add the whiskey and whip fully.
Note: Different people will have different ideas of how sweet they like it, so you should adjust the sugar according to your own preferences.
Some time ago, I asked you, dear readers, for the best ice cream shops in the US. I have never received so many comments and suggestions, and I thank you for them!
My brother Sean has headed over now, your suggestions in hand, and he is doing an ice cream dash. Above is a photo he just sent, taken on his way to Boston from New York.
I’m hoping that he will write a guest post (or three) summing up his US ice cream experience.
I AM SO JEALOUS!!!!
I can only say in my defense, about the delay in writing about last weekend’s Dingle Food and Wine Festival, that it was such a good weekend that it’s taken me this long to recover! Bibliocook was fast off the mark, and of course there have been newspaper articles since, including this one.
Still, as one of the organisers, I have to say it was quite astonishing to watch it all unfold. This is the third year, and it’s grown every year. Recession? Taste tickets sales were up 50% this year. In fact, we have figured that there were 17,000 portions of food sold over the weekend, and that doesn’t include shops or the markets!
My favourite part of the food festival is the taste trails, and there were a huge increase in venues over the last year. From wine tastings to shark grilled on the pier for charity, there is such a variety of nibbles and such good value. If I hadn’t been so busy in the shop, I could have spent the whole days wandering the markets and the taste trail. It was foodie heaven.
I was lucky enough to have a sublime meal as well at Out of the Blue, with excellent company, and walking back from the restaurant, the moon was full, and the night was perfectly clear and still. Pauline Scanlon was singing with Tommy O’Sullivan in the Marina bar, there was a barbecue still in full swing at Murphys Pub, and the street was full of relaxed, happy people. It was one of those magic nights that one wishes would never end, and for me it didn’t end for a long time.
That’s one of the reasons for this belated post. Who cares, though! Well done to everyone who helped make it happen, and there were hundreds. A special thanks to Martin and our own Niamh. Roll on next year!
The winners have been announced for the 2009 Blas na hÉireann Irish Food Awards after an awards ceremony in Dingle (that’s Peter Ward of Country Choice above, who was the MC).
Congratulations to the winners. Even though I’ve been less involved this year because of the baby, it’s amazing to be a part of it and see the variety of foods around Ireland.
The Supreme Champion this year is an Irish ice cream company, Silver Pail Dairy. Well done! (By the way, they are also Murphys, and according to my father are cousins – linking back to my great grandfather in Kiskeam, Co. Cork).
Congratulations again to ALL the medal winners. The full list is here.
Hopefully next year we will have an on-line component to the awards. I think it would be very strong if consumers could nominate their favourite products!
As part of the Dingle Food and Wine Festival, we’ve decided to do an Irish theme. It seems especially pertinant in these times, and we should be able to have some fun with it. We are going to do specials like Barry’s Tea Ice Cream and a Biscuit, Dark Chocolate Ice Cream with Irish Whiskey Cream, Bailey’s Ice Cream with Dingle Blackberry Sauce, and Brown Bread Ice Cream with Caramelised Orange Marmalade.
The last one sounds a bit strange, but everyone who has tried it has been delighted. It’s an odd sensation of eating ice cream while your brain is telling you you’re imbibing that old breakfast standby of brown bread and marmalade.
I caramelised the marmalade to make the flavours a bit deeper and complex, and it’s an easy thing to do and could have many applications. Here’s a recipe:
Murphys Caramelised Orange Marmalade
Ingredients:
1 jar marmalade – choose a marmalade that’s tart!
Water
What to Do
1. Empty the jar into a high-sided saucepan or pot.
2. Add water – use 20% of the volume of the jar.
3. Cook on high heat, stirring from time to time, until the marmalade turns a deep brown colour. Be careful – it will be extremely hot, so beware of splatters.
4. Remove from the heat and stir in more water – again, use 20% of the volume of the jar.
5. Serve warm over brown bread ice cream.
Technorati tags: marmalade, sauce, caramelised, ice cream, recipe
The short list has been announced for the 2009 Blas na hEireann awards, and you can see the three finalists for each category here.
It was very competitive again this year, with nearly 800 entries.
The winners will be announced on Friday, but everyone on the shortlist is guaranteed a medal.
Congrats to all of them!
(In case you’re wondering, we didn’t submit anything because we’re one of the organisers of the awards.)
