Stay Tuned

Well, you read it here first: having featured Sinead Byrne of Lennon’s Café Bar in Carlow and Aiden Byrne of The Commons restaurant in Dublin – and they aren’t related, save for both being great cooks – in January’s Megabytes as two of the hottest talents at work today, what should happen but that Ms Byrne grabs the Club Orange/Licensing World Pub Lunch Awards Pub Food of the Year Award and Mr Byrne scoops a brand new Michelin Star. Congrats to them both, for these two awards are richly deserved, not just for talent, but for sheer hard work also.

Gail and Eavan have sold Kilkenny’s Café Sol, and moved on, after a decade dazzling the locals with great, soulful cooking. We wish them well…

Log on to www.cookingireland.com for details of the cookery courses planned by Pearse and Valerie McAuliffe in their smart new Dunbrody Abbey Cookery Centre, in Campile, County Wexford. There is a complete range of courses starting with Winter Cooking and Entertaining on Feb 9th, before Spring cooking gets into its stride.
Classes are usually held over the weekends, and cost €50 which includes lunch, a wine tasting and recipes. Mails to; theneptune@eircom.net

Okay, the frosts never arrived, and even though February can be the meanest month, it’s time to get your garden gears in motion. Start by trawling through the catalogue from Manfred Wandel’s inspiring Fruit Hill Farm, where you will find the most beautiful bespoke garden equipment you can buy, and a collection of seeds including many potato varieties. Email Manfred fhf@eircom.net

Up in County Leitrim, the Organic Centre has a series of courses planned for their second year in their new training centre. Two courses that caught our eye are Lucy Madden’s course on potatoes in March, where a great expert tackles a great subject, and a garden open day with the brilliant Joy Larkcom on Sunday July 18th; we would book early for that one! Details from: organiccentre@eircom.net
www.theorganiccentre.ie

Details of their 2002 cooking courses has been announced by Lettercollum House, of West Cork (and hey, fact fans, this place is actually The Convent, beloved of Pete McCarthy in his wonderful travel book, “McCarthy's Bar”). Here are the details:

2nd March - Bread and Pizzas - learn the art of making dough, kneading and making a variety of yeast breads on this hands-on course.
16th March - Soup and Noodles - from the noodle dishes of South East Asia to Mediterranean Bouillabaisse and easy to prepare everyday soups, after this course you will never eat tinned soup again
6th April - Vegetarian Cooking - some new ideas for everyday healthy cooking integrating pulses, grains and herbs with vegetables to make meals that are not only good to eat but are good for you too.
13th April - Desserts - learn how to make sweet pastry, Crème Bruleé, Tarte au Chocolate, Pannacotta, Tart Tatin, etc
20th April - Thai Cooking - understand the basics of the Thai kitchen and learn how to make spring rolls, fish balls, Tom Yam etc..
27th April - Entertaining - exciting ideas for formal and informal dining and party food
4th May - Italian - master the simple techniques for making fresh pasta, risotto, gnocchi and polenta
11th May - Fish Cooking - take the mystery out of fish cooking and create delicious yet simple meals.

The cost for each of these courses is €65.00, is limited to 10 persons per course and includes three hours of demonstrations and tastings of the dishes cooked during the day.

These courses run from 11.00am until approx. 3.00pm.

To make a reservation on any of the above courses please email us with your credit card details or alternatively send a cheque or postal order for €30.00 to:
Karen Austin, Lettercollum House, Timoleague Co. Cork Ireland
Tel. (353) (0)23 46251 www.lettercollum.ie

It’s not just serious gardeners who are concerned about protecting our seed heritage: everyone should be concerned about the fact over the course of the last century, some 75% of the food plants cultivated by previous generations became extinct, and a practical way to do your bit to reverse this agricultural genocide is to join ISSA – the Irish Seed Savers Association – where your €19.05 membership fee will help to forward the work of the organisation. For details and a brochure: issa@esatclear.ie

Monthly winners in the Club Orange/Licensing World Pub Lunch Awards were... Ryan’s Bar, Navan, Co. Meath, The Purty Kitchen, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, The Huntsman Inn, College Road, Galway, The Marble City Bar, 66 High Street, Kilkenny, Eagle House, Glasthule, Co. Dublin, The Vintage Bar, Kanturk, Co. Cork, The ‘Thatch’, Crinkle, Birr, Co. Offaly.

East Waterford food lovers should note that Aidan and Marian McAlpin are no longer associated with McAlpin's Suir Inn, in Cheekpoint, south of Waterford city. The good news, however, is that they are only temporarily out of the business of serving great food in a beautiful space: Aidan and Marian will be back this autumn with their own cottage bistro business in a brand new building in Cheekpoint. More on this in Megabytes when this talented couple open their doors.

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