My daughter-in-law Rachel knows more than most what is like to try and juggle work, family and friends. I don’t know how she does it but she is certainly not alone, all over the country there are [...]

There’s a frenzy of preserving going on here these days, despite the weather we still have lots of ripe tomato, beets, marrows and over grown courgettes… in the garden plus we are surrounded by wild food. Most of the blackberries have ripened at [...]

I’ve had Barrafina Tapas Bar on my London list for ages, but somehow didn’t manage to make it until recently. Everyone I know tells me it’s possibly the best in London – Giles Coran, not given to unbridled praise, wrote in The Times [...]

Congratulations to Ballymaloe House who have won a number of Georgina Campbell Awards for 2012. Good Housekeeping Award. Good Cooking Award Country House Breakfast Award Irish Breakfast Award We are delighted that Ballymaloe won these awards which reflects the dedication and hard work of all those involved.

We had another terrific guest chef at the cookery school recently, Sunil Ghai is a tall handsome chef from Gwalior but he is firmly established on the Irish Restaurant scene. He was chosen as Chef of the Year in Ireland in August 2009 by Food and Wine Magazine– no easy task at the best of [...]

The whole gastro pub scene hasn’t quite taken off in Ireland in quite the same way as in the UK where some of the very best food is to be found in comfy grungy pubs often with mismatched wooden furniture and crockery, serving gorgeous non fussy seasonal food. There are many good ones now vying [...]