Val's Kitchen

Healing through Food - Carrot Cake Muffins

I'm a prolific cook it's true, I've always loved food and have been involved in the wave of food writing that's happily gripped Ireland in recent years. I've become a keen organic grower, and most of all a campaigner for my own, and my family's better health. 

Though it's personal I have to go into some detail to make this authentic, so here goes. 

Last year, around September I developed a series of bizzare symptoms that began with tiredness, this was followed by being almost constantly at home with some sort of cold or chest infection (although I've had a sluggish immune system for a very long time), then the pains in my joints and bones set in, and then the lovely swelling in my face, hands and feet. Life was being a blast as you can imagine and I felt like death. Having notions that doctors are crazy I went to nutritionists, one of whom was really helpful ( introducing me to the benefits of kefir and sourdoughs, even giving me some starters of both) and I decided to get blood tests done. It showed up that I was hypothyroid as in, I had underactive thyroid to dangerous levels and was put on medication immediately. Happily my doctor agreed to prescribe me a non-licensed drug that is more natural, unhappily I didn't know about kelp at the time but I was happy to take anything to get better. 

I also changed my diet, embarking on a Specific Carbohydrate diet, which elimates all grains and sugar. So no rice, no pasta, no flour made from grains and no artificial sugars, no spuds or parsnips. But it wasn't just a series of NOs, the new possibilities were exciting to me too, fermented foods, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi (which I regularly make now and love) and of course I got into making sourdough breads too. I introduced new habits like daily fresh juices, green salad with every dinner and my intake of delicious and good stuff has hugely increased. About two weeks into this diet I began to feel considerably better, had energy again and much better moods. I stayed with it as a 'heal and seal' programme (healing and sealing your gut) and began to reintroduce some legumes, which are always soaked overnight, spouted or fermented, I eat quinoa and brown rice and have no problems at all digesting white bread. I make all my own bread so haven't eaten commercial bread in a very long time anyway but I can now enjoy yummy toast, baguettes, foccacias and the rest, but properly made ones by good bakers. 

I've discovered ways of baking with delicious, nutritious ingredients that are readily available, things like ground almonds, polenta, quinoa and my intake of butter, eggs and honey is unending and I eat oatmeal and spelt lots. Not to mention all the best things in life like good cheese, good meat and fish. I bake as much as I ever did except I couldn't go back to sugar so I use honey mostly, and dried fruit, nuts, coconut, bananas and naturally sweet ingredients. I bake brownies, cakes and other goodies and if I do eat something off the register, I don't have a problem with it. If the kids want old school cupcakes for a party then I enjoy making them, mountain high butter frosting and all and will devour one in a second. 

Thyroid problems can be caused by many factors, a stress trigger and often liver problems so my quest and journey to better health continues. Regular readers or twitter follower will see that I reference GAPS quite often (Gut and Psychology Syndrome), for a fascinating account of a good friends experiences with this read here. For now, enjoy this recipe ( thank you Brenda) which I stole but which I changed as the quanties seemed a bit off, and this version here works wonderfully. I plan on trying the next batch with ground almonds as they are easier to find than coconut flour and cheaper. These muffins are sticky sweet, delicious and as my pal said when she munched through her third "There's an awful taste of more!!" 

 Carrot Cake Muffins - makes 12

Preheat the oven to 170degreesC

Ingredients

6 free range eggs

1/2 cup melted butter OR coconut oil (extra virgin available from Dunnes and Superquinn) 

6 tblsp runny honey

1 tblsp vanilla extract

1 tsp bread soda

1 tsp cinnamon 

1  1/2 cups coconut flour, you can get this from health food shops and Musgraves

2 cups grated carrots

1/2 cup raisins or mix of raisins and sultanas

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Method

Mix all the wet ingredients together in a large bowl, sprinkle in the coconut flour and stir, ensuring you have no lumps. Add the carrots and the remaining ingredients and mix well, you don't need to use a mixer or food processor so please don't. 

The mix will look way too carrotty but it's fine

Spoon it into muffin cases and bake for 30 minutes or so until they are a nice dark brown. 

Horse into them like there's no tomorrow, with a coffee and a massive big smile on your lovely, deserving face!! 

I'm doing baking classes!!!

The nice people at the Abbey Cookery School have asked me to do baking demos at their fab new school in Limerick, I'm so looking forward to it. 

My first demo is called Guilt Free baking (guilt???) and I will be doing baking some f my favourite goodies, using alternative grains to wheat and delicious ingredients from nature like nuts, seeds and coconut oil, honey and seeds

We will be baking my favourite wholemeal no-knead spelt bread, some white spelt soda scones with dilisk, a grain-free banana bread, some gluten-free Buckwheat Pancakes and and yummy oatmeal breakfast  muffins. You get to taste everything, see how easy it is to bakre them and bring home the recipes. 

Click on the link for booking info!!!

If music be the food of love...eat on

My neighbour just dropped me in a stock cube after I texted his wife asking if she had any. "I just made tasteless soup, need stock or something, please help". She sent her husband over with the errand and he knocked on my door wearing his pyjama bottoms, I opened my door wearing mine, plus other clothes too of course. You have to love conceding to a little bit of relaxation on the streets here, just don't go to the Crescent shopping centre in your nightwear please!

I digress. My neighbours and I enjoy one of those lovely foodie exchanges that I think I can take the credit for starting. I've been working on an on-going food project that requires me to make many things I just couldnt eat on my own, so I send them round to the pals, mostly the same PJ wearing friend and his wife and kids. They report back with, "yum" or "a bit over-cooked" or other constructive criticism, or just sometimes an empty plate comes back. Sometimes PJ Dad stays at the door and wolfs what he is given without saying a word to the kids, mostly this is when it's donuts or cake of any kind. They dropped me over some potato cakes one night that my son stole all for himself and most recently, I got a large piece of lasagne on a Saturday evening when I had just arrived home, frazzled after having to adress some horrible personal business. The comfort that the food brought me completely took away my pain and gave me a warm hug, better than any expensive meal in a flashy restaurant ever could. Sharing food with someone says "come join us, have what we're having, take a weight off, everything will be ok". 

Cake can be the most powerful food language of all. It's sweet, it's easy, like all of our favourite things in life. When there are birthday parties, I try and send out a few cupcakes and brownies to sweeten up the street. )We've had our neighbourhood turned into an armageddon recently by bad local planning and it's not unusual to come home and find your pathway gone, or stuff fallen off shelves from the vibrations).

There's a reason why cookbooks about cake baking sell so well. Cakes, cupcakes espescially, are so easy to make and produce delightful results that make the baker clap their hands and jump up and down with self-fulfillment. Few things that come from eggs, fat and sugar can make so many people happy so quickly, and impress people too. I worked as a photographer at a national newspaper of ill repute for over a year when I brought in a box of brownies to the staff as a Christmas present. It was only at the festive party that I then met the MD who came up to me, gushing about how great the brownies were. Funny, he never said I was any good at taking pictures, seems the writing was on the wall all the way back then, but I didn't get the hint. 

When life is tough, we lose our appetite, our stomachs say "no, now isn't a good time, come back when everything is better". Not eating is a symptom of feeling unwell, out of sorts, upset. Eating is good, eating well is great. 

They say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, I don't know about that but I do know that I can't be with a man who doesn't love food, who has no appetite. One of my favourite pass-times to share with a loved one is to make his favourite thing and then serve it up, I will sit in front of him and watch his face as the spoon goes in his mouth. The eyes must close and he has to float off somewhere for a little while, that's where I get my buzz. It doesn't stop at the man, it applies to all people, watching people get happy for just a moment from food you've made (chocolate works best) is a sweet little thrill, they get happy, you get happy, everybody wins.

Better than me cooking is watching a man working with food, talking about food, talking about making certain dishes, watching them work deft hands over plates, knowing how it will look before it's finished, the light touch as fingers dance across flitting little touches over morsels of food, the chef knowing just how everything will work together, without having to ever put it in his mouth..... music, magic, food, love without the need for words

And so, to share as much food as a blog can share. My latest favourite recipe from one of the hottest chefs of the moment; Yottam Ottolenghi. I blog this cake because the recipe makes two which means I can keep one for myself and welcome callers, and I can give one away to my parents who love it or to someone else I am feeing loving towards. It is so easy, literally a batter in two tins. You can get the Orange Flower Water from any Asian food shop, I got to the one near the Tait clock in Limerick, it costs 99cent. Bake this and share it and feel the love come back to you.

SEMOLINA, COCONUT AND MARMALADE CAKE

- ¾ cup sunflower oil
- 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- ½ cup orange marmalade
- 4 eggs
- grated peel of one orange
- 1/3 cup caster sugar
- ¾ cup dessicated coconut
- ¾ cup plain flour ( I use white spelt)
- 1 cup + 1½ tbsp semolina
- 2 tbsp ground almonds
- 2 tsp baking powder
To serve: greek yogurt with one or two drops orange blossom water
Soaking syrup:
- 1 cup caster sugar
- ½ cup + 1½ tbsp water
- 1 tsp to 1 tbsp orange blossom water, to taste
1. Whisk oil with orange juice, marmalade, eggs and orange peel until marmalade dissolves. In a separate bowl whisk flour with semolina, almonds and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until well combined. Mixture should be runny.
2. Divide batter between two 1 L loaf pans (or one large loaf pan) that has been greased and lined with waxed paper. Bake in a preheated 180 C/ 350F oven for 45 to 60 minutes 
3. When cakes are almost baked, place sugar and water for syrup in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Add orange blossom water to taste. As soon as cakes are done, start brushing them with hot syrup using a pastry brush. Do this a few times allowing syrup to soak in. Be sure to use all the syrup.
4. When the cakes have cooled down remove from pans and cool completely. Serve with Greek yogurt flavoured with a few drops of orange blossom water if you wish.Makes 2 cakes

This cakes improves with age so tastes beter the more you eat it, so keep eating

 

 

 

Aherlow House - the great escape

Sometimes the best things in life are right under your nose. In this case, a great escape just half an hour from Limerick is Aherlow House, in the stunning Glen of Aherlow, Co.Tipperary. Suddenly you are in what looks like Colorado, or New Zealand, surrounded by mountains, forest and woodlands, so near and yet so far away. I know that, for me, sometimes the effort to get to a destination can undo the benefits of being there, not so here. This is a perfect spot for winter, cosy and intimate with just 29 rooms and an ease and familiarity that's just the right amount.

A one night stay felt like a week break from check in to our gorgeous room with views of the Glens and a cosy old world room. A little package with walking map and rain macs awaited to encourage us to get out and explore the stunning surrounds. Everything is so close here we even squeezed in a trip to the nearby Apple Farm where visitors can see a real, family-run orchard and juice producting business, buy some local juices and take them home. You can stock up on their amazing Orchard Syrup, great on pancakes, or the fab Apple Cider Vinegar, great for a detox. 

This was no time for detoxing however as we'd heard much about the hotels' new chef; the multi-award winner Jose Vega who uses lots of locally produced ingredients in his menus. The curry popcorn at the bar was an amusing amuse bouche. Vega produces stunning food, refined and witty yet unpretentious with courses in just the right size to seduce you and bring you just to the point of perfect satisfaction, with no flavours lost in his delicious Trio Guinea Fowl dish to the homely chocolate desert with the booziest cherries ever. The trip to eat here is well worth it, food like this is hard to find in any city, to find it in at the foothills of the Galtees is a bonus. Cocktails at the bar can be enjoyed around a roaring fire as diners excahge masterchef-like lively discussion of the food. This is foodie heaven, and breakfast and afternoon tea haven't even been mentioned. 

I didn't want to leave this hotel and checked out the gorgeous lodges before we hit the road, if you have any excuse to get away with friends or your kids, this is a welcome self-catering option and a nature lovers and artists paradise. Can't wait to get back 

 

 

 

Christmas Crunchy Granola

I haven't gotten much into the edible gifts thing, bah humbug and all that. Over Christmas I like to do as little cooking as possible as I go to my Mum and Dad's for dinner so I've managed to avoid doing the shopping and running to be stocked up for the epic meal. I do generally help with the cooking and always make potato croquettes and prawn cocktail, for so long now, it's just tradition. 

I like to have a little stockpile, hobbit stylie to nibble on; bread in the freezer, a cake fo some kind and anough granola on to chomp on during movies, for breakfast and ate night snacks or just to stick my hand into the jar whenever I fancy. 

Once you get used to making this you can add or take away what you like, use spelt flakes instead of oats, just don't add the fruit until it's all cooked and cooled. I'm going by handfull measurements as I've never measured anything. This version is sugar-free but you can add sugar if you want to. Use whatever you like or have, it would be fairly pricey to go out and buy everything especially to make this but I often have bits and bobs to fire together and make it. 

Get a large roasting tin

Preheat the oven to about 160degrees C

You will need some jumbo oatflakes, Flahavans are always good, I use about half a large packet of these

Throw them into the tin, add a hand-full each of sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, almonds, hazelnuts and brazils( all well priced in Lidl), some dessicated coconut and half teaspoon each of cinnamon and ginger (optional of course) 

In a small pot melt together 6 tblsp runny honey, 4 tblsp butter but I use coconut oil and if using sugar add about 6 tblsp, melt everything togethr slowly until melted and combined. Pour over the granola stuff and mix everything with your hands. Stick it in the oven and toast it, taking it out after 20 mins to give a mix around, keep toasting for about an hour max, don't let it get too dark. Take out of the oven and allow to cool, break it up as it cools. When it's cold add some dried mixed fruits like cranberries and, if you like them raisins and stuff. Pack into jars for gifts or just heap into a storage container and keep it all to yourself.

The Vegetarian of Christmas Past

In the years of our lord, back in the 80's somewhere I announced stubbornly to my family that I was "becoming" vegetarian. It was hip and left wing at the time and Paul Weller was vegetarian and, at age 14, I was in love with him so I reckoned if I stopped eating animals, he might find me (perhaps a bit older, ahem) and fall in love with me too, simple. My Mother sensibly responed by telling me I could cook my own food and years of eating potato and tomato pie with cheese, tins of tuna and salmon steaks ensued, fish is a vegetable in case you didn't know. 

In Ireland in the 80's there were no vegetables. Even though garlic is a very happy alium in Irish soil, it was almost unheard of, so much so that a boy in my class was once sent home from school for smelling of it, and offending our plebian olifactories. Broccoli was new and exotic and the appearance of expensive aubergines and courgettes resulted in the 'ratatouille years' which are best left unmentioned. Cheese as we not know it didn't exist as Irish farmers hadn't had the rug pulled out from under them with milk levys which forced them to pour their excess milk into the fields. (Clever farmers took cheese-making courses and we now are now one of the most enviable cheese producing nations in the world). The diet of the Irish vegetarian was bland, boring and full of torment from older brothers salivating into their lasagne and beef curries next to me. As least my brother wasn't always trying to steal my food any more. Sometimes I would eat an Irish stew with the meat strained from the (meat flavoured) sauce or have an egg fried in the bacony fat in the pan. 

Christmas was a particularly challenging time. Turkey I can leave but the ham, the glorious ham, god that nearly killed me. I think I made some kind of nut roast, or attempted to but you couldn't get edible chestnuts in Ireland at the time. A trip to the People's Park to collect conkers and open them was a pen-knife was fruitless, and nutless, and nuts. I endured my Christmas dinner, no doubt wearing a Morrisey T-shirt (over a polo neck in case I catch cold) and sulking into my potato croquette, doused in turkey gravy. Watching everyone tuck into the ham was hard, no, it was torture. It's lovely pinkiness, all piggy and salty, the orangey breadcrumbs on the outside as my dad expertly carved and handed it round, big crumbly slices of it, just the way I loved it. I liked the slightly overcooked bit from the outside the most, all stringy and a bit crunchy. God, the pain. Post-dinner, when all were snoozing and drooling into their empty trifle bowls I figured I could sneak into the place where the ham was kept and burrow a big hole that no-one would notice, into the side of the meat. I think I ate like a hungry Cambodian, who were the most famous hungry people at the time, furiously tunnelling a cavern with my small socialist fingers into the salty meatness. Ah the taste, the relief. My Dad would marvel later that he thought there was a mouse in the ham, I would harrumph into my headphones and turn up the Style Council on the record player. 

I finally threw in the herbivoruous towel some years later, age 18 when in London. I was looking for a job and I hadn't found a job and heaven knew I was miserable then. So I thought "What difference does it make to the world if I had a burger", so I did, in a wholemeal bun, and loved every bite. Then I found a job and went home to celebrate by cooking rashers, sausages and planning many, many meaty meals and lasagnes and beef curries. 

For those of you who have stayed the vegetarian course, and who eat fish, (which isn't a vegetable, by the way) here is a fine recipe that's good enough for any Christmas plate and wouldn't taste good covered in Turkey gravy at all. Buy good, organic or wild salmon, it is Christmas after all. 

Get your Salmon

In a frying pan, heat a little olive oil and a knob of butter until it is good and hot. Season the salmon on both sides lightly and put, skin side down, into the pan. Press it down with a fish slice (egg-lifter).

Meanwhile, chop a clove of garlic and half a red chilli

Turn the fish over when the opaqueness starts to come through. Throw the veggie bits onto the pan and cook for a further 4-5 mins depending on the thickness of your fish, spoon the juices over the fish, chef stylie. Squeeze over the juice of half a lemon and remove the fish from the pan, let the juices bubble up for a minute and spoon this over the fish with all the sticky garlic and chili bits. Serve with your other Christmas dinner bits or just have with some salad and home made wedges. 

Have a good one!

How to feed your family on €65K a year

Recent reports in the national press tell us that some Irish people claim "to not be able to feed their families on an income of €65K a year". 

Of course the articles refers to a specific family where the dad works in civil service and between mortgage repayments, pay cuts and lack of any kinds of medical benefits, they are left with a deficit to live on. It's shocking and stunning that this could be the case but, as the salary figure sounds quite high also quite hard to garner sympathy. Many households, including my own and many of my peers live on far far less income, on paper anyway. It must be extemely distressing to this family, and many like them to be caught in this trap. 

Conversley Angela Merkel commented that we could all take a leaf out of the book of the Schwabian housewife and learn the art of running a household on a tight budget, not being wasteful and planning ahead. Having lived in Germany and having my two sons there, the way a German lives their life is extraordinarily different to ours. For example when you visit a student flat you will find a group of young people, living in an orderly way, cooking meals, sharing space and just being, well, functional. They aren't chaotic houses full of beercans and clothes from Primark, their sense of self hasn't left them and they just, well, tipp along. It's not uncommon to see an eighteen year old girl in a DIY store buying tools and things to put up her own shelves and do things for herself in her own flat. It's not uncommon for a German in their early twenties to have a part-time job to get them through college, and, they won't be complaining about being able to live their own lives either. 

On the other side of the coin Germans aren't flashy, the rich houses are as likely to have meals heavily featuring vegetables and light on meat and cheese. The mind-set of the country sees the connection between the health of it's people and the health of the economy. A healthy workforce means fewer days off, fewer losses in revenue to companies etc etc. The country has embraced the concept of rational joined-up thinking, simple equations where a minus plus a minus foes not equal a plus. 

Ireland experienced it's so-called 'emancipation of women' considerably later than Germany. What happened over there in the 70s took until the 90'd to reach us and a huge part of that movement was for women to, naturally, loosen the apron strings and take to the convenience aisles of up-market supermarkets and say "I'm not going to be chained to the kitchen sink and stove like generations of women before me, I'm going to take a stand by the rotisserie chicken and pre-packed baby new potatoes, mini chocolate puddings and chilled chardonnay". And why wouldn't we/they? 

It's a thing I struggled with myself in the early Mummy years as I found myself in just that position, young Mum and partner to a man working all hours in a sales job. he was on the road, I was in the kitchen, in a flat in Germany, like so many other millions of Germans. In Germany you're not considered poor, or second class if you rent, it is the norm, and most folk live in apartments, and public transport and amenities are so good that you have little need of the expense of a car. 

Germans eat well, but they eat differently. They are a world leader in the production of organics and most of the organic babyfood in the world comes from there. They believe in the maxim 'Viel gemeuse, wenig fleish' which means 'much vegetables, little meat' as I previously stated. So a meal might be based on a stew or a soup with some hearty grained bread and salad. We eat a lot of meat which is costly and mostly unnecessary to eat it so often. German homes have tiny kitchens so they shop for fresh food most days of the week, unlike us, who still buy the one weekly shop and throw most of it, including entire chickens, yogurts and fruit into landfill every week. It seems that almost a whole generation has forgotten how to look after itself, by making statements of independence or otherwise, this is a dangerous position to be in. Home economics rooms remain empty in secondary schools while students spend hundreds of hours trying to drag themselves through archaic subjects that have little relevance to the real world. How many people know how much it costs to make a family meal like shepherds pie? 

We need to get back to some basics, there's a lot more to food independence than worrying about paying our import bills. 

For now, I'll engage in what I know, a little bit about basic cooking. 

When you make food for yourself you engage in a simple practice of doing something for yourself and your family, fortunately baking has become really popular and is being enjoyed by men, women and kids. Have we gotten to a place where we do it to save money or improve our health? Hopefully a bit of both. 

So I'm sharing a post I wrote four years ago, as a typical frustrated Mammy, finding solace and comfort in the baking of bread. If you find yourself tearing your hair out, worrying, it's surprising how much comfort you can find in rolling up your sleeves and getting stuck into a bag of flour, with or without kids. 

Tis the season to be foraging

Mushrooms, can't leave the house without the food paparazzi

It's great when food trends take hold of a social demographic and that trend now is foraging. Autumn has to be the most exciting time of the year for any nature lover as the trees change colour and shed their leaves and remind us that, while the wheels of urbanisation keep on churning, they, and nature hold the keys to our health, happiness and indeed our future security. 

The Amazing wild food forager and chef, Mary Bulfin

Mary Bulfin is a woman of so much knowledge and enthusiasm, her passion for all things from nature can be felt in her blog Wild Food Mary . Mary gave a talk last weekend to a group of food journalists in Cavan on the grounds of the stunning Farnham Estate, which could arguably have some of the best views from a hotel room in the whole of Ireland. 

Puffballs - edible, I think...

The time to go foraging is now. If you are afraid of food that grows wild then just grab a book and look, many people freak at the sight of mushrooms and think they might kill them and with names like Destroying Angel, Jelly Tongues, Bleeding Mycena and Stinkhorns, it's easy to see why. However, edible ones like puffballs, shaggy inkcaps, chanterelles and hedgehogs are easy to find and delicious. If in doubt of anything, go with an expert or take along the invaluable guide River Cottage Mushroom Guide. 

Mary guided us through the woodlands of Farnham, all 140 acres of them, on the sunniest Autumn morning, with sun streaming through the trees, there is simply no better place to be. She talked of tales of old, showed us medicinal and edible salads from the woodland floor, many of which can be found in your own nearby woodlands and parks. The trusty nettle always pops up and can be eaten, just to remind you, all year round, they make excellent tea which is great for your blood and will contribute to good heart health. Now is the time to make wine and jam from berries, cordials from rosehips to ward off colds and dandelion root coffee from, yes, dandelion roots. Chickweed should be growing in abundance in your own garden now so why now harvest some and dress and enjoy it before your meal for a nutrient packed free salad? Throw in some sorrel and hairy bittercress (nicer than it sounds) and you have a "superfood" plate fit for an expensive raw food restaurant in LA. 

Having a look in my beloved park with some of the remaining trees in the city, there are plenty of funghi growing, also too are plenty of dogs walking and using public spaces in the way that dogs naturally do, but it can be a handy place to start with your wild food identifying exercises. The country is blessed with lots of natural woodland, riverbanks and parks so get your warm boots and woolies on for free outdoor fun and food findings. 

The Val's Kitchen team (me and a photographer who left her camera in the car) enjoyed the hospitality of the Radisson at Farnham Estate. 

All images by Valerie O'Connor

Waterford is a fab food destination

Some lovely and clever people who have food businesses in the city and county of Waterford recently pulled together to pull off an excellent food festival to showcase some of their unique food producers and restaurants. Lucky me was one of a group of varied and excellent food bloggers who were shown some of the highlights, including a Slow Food tour led by the legend Donal Lehane. It's taken me  couple of weeks to digest and recover, plus to process the inspiration that can be taken from some team spirit and planning to pull off this type of event. Here are the highlights:

Ponticelli Coffee, only one year in business and supplying to many local cafes with their freshly roasted and ground signature blends. Their Viking blend was created just for the festival and I've been enjoying the beans for my morning coffee since getting back. 

Sushi was next on the agenda and the lovely Tetjana at Glorious Sushi demystified the art of fascinating sushi making to the eager bunch. We cooked rice, sliced beautiful raw fish and put everything together till the magic happened. I wolfed my own 'creations'  excitedly and now know how to make one of my favourite foods, without spending 11 years in an apprenticeship in Japan. 

Next up was lunch at the Atheneum, with full bellies we still enjoyed delicious treats from Chef who has taken old Irish recipes and is bringing them back, like pressed pork belly  and delicious terrine

Delicious home-made breads and local cheeses made for a lovely lunch served in this stunning setting overlooked the river. What a location, great food and a real family welcome. 

The community garden in Ballybeg, currently on Secret Millionaire was the high point for me. The guys there have managed to turn a basic project into a FETAC training facility with a commercial supply plan in place to grow organic veggies for local restaurants. Allotments are available to locals for an affordable €2 per month, unlike a similar project in Limerick that charges €200 per year. Great to see young girls out in their pajamas tending onion crops and digging soil. 

The guys at the Metalman Brewery were an inspiration and show what hard work and a love of what you do, can produce. Their beer The Alternator gave us all a welcome jolt for the afternoon and we learned about ingredients and storage, and of course, beer drinking! 

Mount Congreve is a beautiful old house in County Waterford with the most beautiful and well-tended walled gardens, full of heritage apples, pumpkins and even grapes in the greenhouse. 

We were treated to an amzing dinner of tapini at La Bodega that night, chefs pulled out all the stops with a great concept of making fabulous mini plates from local produce and matching them with local beers and excellent wines. Dishes like Crowe Farm Mini Belly Welly, broad beans and spinach, and the M&D Blaa pudding had us pampered at a very exciting culinary night. Plenty of craic was had with our silent 80s dance charades, the perfect game for a night of great food and fun! 

A trip to M & D Bakery was top of the charts for me. Michael and Dermot bake about 4000 of these fluffy, light and delicious delights every day from their small bakery. Having gone to college many moons ago in Waterford I was delighted to see the whole, hand-made process with my own eyes and came away with a bag-full of Blaas and a recipe to try at home. We enjoyed rasher blaas and the regional delicacy the Tayto Blaa with mugs of tea before leaving, heaven. It would be great to see an obvious link up like institutions like the Waterford Regional Technical College and Ardkeen Hospital buying in Blaas from guys like these, it would show a solidarity and support for a unique and excellent indiginous food product, something not many places can boast. 

Some history was next on the agenda and the amazingly energetic and enthusiastic Rosemary Ryan shared with us just fractions of a rich and exciting history via a tour to the fascinating Reginalds Tower, the super sexy new Museum and back to the beautiful Bishop's Palace for sweet treats and coffee. Waterford is looking great, the city has clearly been given much love and is slick and very presentable and making the most of their historical past. Great to see what can be done with forward planning, joined up thinking had good ideas. 

P.S can't forget to mention a trip for lunch to Waterford's most excellent establishment Geoff's Bar. After so many years Geoffs continues to be cutting edge and eclectic in its interior, the food, a crab and smoked salmon salad was light and refreshing and the coffee, I believe was by Ponticelli. Where local businesses support each other, sustainability happens. 

Slow Food Tours - is there any other way?

Slow Food Tours at Waterford Harvest Festival Ireland’s biggest food festival – ‘Harvest’ which takes place in Waterford from September 10 to 16 has announced a series of Slow Food Tours to take place throughout the festival week. Over the course of the week, the Harvest Festival will be offering fantastic opportunities to join guided tours of Waterford’s finest food, drink and agricultural attractions. The first Slow Food Tour of the Festival takes place on September 10 and will visit a prize winning dairy farm at milking time to view the process in action and will then meet John Flahavan at the sixth generation miller’s facility at Flahavan’s Porridge in Kilmacthomas. The final stop is an opportunity to meet Grace Kiersey and take a tour of her vegetable garden also near Kilmacthomas, County Waterford. It promises to be a real treat of a day out and somethingthat should not be passed up for any curious foodies who want to get a behind the look at some local food production. Day two, September 11 is for seafood lovers.. Ahoy there me hearties! Take a nautical adventure where you can experience seaweed foraging on Boat Strand, a talk from Bord Iascaigh Mhara on local fisheries and a visit to Flanagan’s Fish Mongers where you will be able to taste scallops, mussels, oysters, crab, lobster and many more seafood delights. Day three September 12 will see visitors taken on a journey north of the River Suir to south Kilkenny to visit High Bank Organic Orchards where you can view the production of their organic juices and syrup and also sample the finished products. From there the tour will travel to Goatsbridge Trout Farm where you will experience their eco friendly work environment and taste their premiumfish and smoked trout produce. You may even be lucky enough to get some tasty caviar samples! To round off the tour, it is then on to Knockdrinna Farmhouse Cheese to observe their cheese production and indulge in some of the finished products. On September 14 a trip to Dunhill Ecopark & Community Garden is first on the cards for this Slow Food Tour. Visitors will be able to take in the fantastic scenery of the community garden and stretch their legs out in the fine County Waterford air. You will also be able to sample some very tasty treats from artisan food producers and see the recently installed apiary from the Beekeepers Federation along with the Crough Venison Farm. For the final day of our Slow Food Tours on September 15, a trip to a traditional Waterford Craft Butcher is the first port of call. At the butchers, guests will get the chance to view and sample local meat specialties such as Crubeens, Chucks and Pig’s Tail. A visit to the uniquely Waterford Bilberry Goats Heritage Trust at Bilberry Rock, Gracedieu is a perfect way to finish up the Slow Food Tours. You will be able to experience the protected creatures in their beautiful and often periloussurroundings and sample their homemade goats cheese! All Slow Food Tours depart the House of Waterford Crystal at their appointed date and time, tickets are €14 for a place on the bus and a car travelling is €10 per car. Guests will travel on a 15-seat bus and 8 persons are required to make trip viable. Tickets for the tours are available on waterfordharvestfestival.ie The city will be in festival mode from September 10 to 16 with a further programme of events on offer for all the family. For a full programme of events see waterfordharvestfestival.ie