Here’s something that makes me crazy and happens far too often, especially in Ireland:
You go to a nice restaurant, have a nice meal, and then order a dessert expecting it to be of the same quality as the meal. Instead, you get served the worst kind of mass-produced crap, likely to be described on the menu in gourmet terms and well-decorated – but decorations hardly cover up inferior taste.
I understand that many restaurants look at the desserts for profit, but I can’t understand that so many places wouldn’t give the same care to desserts as to the starters and main courses. Even if you’re not like me, and dessert is the most important course, don’t restauranteurs understand that it will be the last taste of the restaurant before you leave (and talk to others about your experience)? Don’t they understand that the next time (if you go back at all) you’ll skip dessert and tell everyone else at the table to do the same, lowering the bill?
If I have another great meal followed by a horrid dessert and awful coffee, I might well scream…
Technorati tags: restaurant, dessert, bad
Sean and I have headed to Dublin to take part in 
We shouldn’t be that hard to find. We’re next to a really big fountain and not far from the toilets.
If you’re driving to Dingle from Tralee and feel a bit peckish, there’s a fantastic foodie stop along the way. Maya Binder and her partner Olivier Beaujouan live in Kilcummin Beg, Castlegregory, on the Conor Pass Road to Dingle. You’ll see a sign for “Artisan Producers” on the main road, and then you’ll go up a bumpy lane to their cozy little compound with stunning views across Cloughane Bay.
Maja makes Dingle Peninsula Cheese and Olivier makes a wide variety of products, from tapenades to seafood patés. You might know them from farmer’s markets around the place, but most people don’t know that you can visit their workshop and buy directly from them.
This was sent in by my Istanbul 
The sun’s been shining here in Dingle, and with the onset of summer, I always think about sorbets. Fresher than ice cream and completely dairy-free, sorbets are often my ice cream of choice for warm weather.
Ingredients:
Otherwise, simply place in a covered, freezer-proof container and place in the freezer, stirring every two hours to break up the ice crystals.
We have no fewer than 3 pages in today’s 
I joked in my last post from rainy Barcelona about having to come back to Ireland for the sun, but I was right! People lucky enough to have come down to Kerry for the June Bank Holiday weekend have found a good deal of sunshine and summer weather, and tomorrow is supposed to bring more of the same.