In my years spent as a newspaper and magazine columnist I’ve reviewed thousands of wines but it has been rare if ever that I afforded particular focus and attention to the importers in Ireland. The world of wine is vast,…
As Valentine’s Day approaches imminently, there is no doubting the connection between wine, love, and celebratory times. WB Yeats in his whimsical poem “Drinking” says, “Wine comes in at the mouth, and love comes in at the eye; That’s all we…
The turkey has been ordered, online and in store shopping has been processed and now it’s time to focus on the wine. Whether filling the table for you and your Christmas dinner guests to enjoy or picking up a last-minute…
“There’s a streak of a faggot in you”, she jeered. In fairness, as time went by, the “streak” crossed all boundaries to include “psycho” and “fool” so who knows what shoe I fit into. Perhaps all three? The three shoed psychotic…
It’s always easy to continue down the route of familiarity when cooking at home, working with recipes that we know, that deliver on flavour and are received with gratitude, clean plates and full stomachs. While I would not go so…
In the most obvious statement I’m ever most likely to make, here it is, brace yourselves folks; Christmas can be overwhelming. Now that you have had time for that ground-breaking news to settle within you let me continue. I had…
Breakfast can be a difficult time. The pressure of it being the “most important meal of the day” reverberating in your mind, determining your place on the table of good food choices with everything from devil on the shoulder pastries…
In these unusual times many of us are being reacquainted with our kitchen, and indeed there are probably many that are experiencing cooking regularly for themselves or others for the first time. With all this extra time and planning required…
There’s something about this time of year. The burgeoning darkness of winter creeping into the evenings making them ever shorter encourages us to yearn for both simplicity and comfort. Midweek suppers become the bane of our lives, especially when trying…