Just before Christmas a book slipped onto the shelves here in Ireland without a particularly big fanfare – ‘the wine and food of ely through the seasons’ The team behind the hugely successful ely restaurants came together to produce what in fact turns out to be two books in one – a terrific cookbook and [...]

I’ve just had a wonderful morning learning how to make traditional Listowel Mutton Pies from Mary Keane, wife of the late play-write John B. I was in the town for the annual Food Fair and of course strayed into the legendary family pub, I fell into lively company and we took to discussing food, local [...]

New York was doing its best to be jolly when I was in Manhattan recently for a friend’s wedding. It’s difficult to get New Yorkers down; they have been through a lot and have managed to keep their spirits up despite the many challenges they have had to collectively face. Everyone seemed to be excited [...]

Students come from all over the world to the Ballymaloe Cookery School. It’s a lovely mixture of ages, nationalities and backgrounds – this term eight countries are represented. It’s always interesting to meet the new batch. Last term we had the usual cosmopolitan mix, some had never cooked before, others had dabbled in the kitchen, [...]

For the past decade virtually every cook book, food magazine and cookery article I picked up was concentrating on meals in minutes and assuring us that we could whip up delicious food in a flash. Well it is indeed possible provided you maintain a well stocked larder if one maintains a well stocked larder and [...]