Food Glorious Food

I'm just back from my trip to London and have lots to share with you about all things foodie that I absorbed (all in the name of research!) while there.

Firstly, in work I was supplied with amazing knives from Kin Knives. They were fantastic to use (even if they were so ultra sharp that I now have lots of war wounds!) ,if not a little pricey but well worth the investment. Magimix, as always, came up trumps with kitting my kitchen out with all their electrical delights - I noticed they didn't supply me with the processor with 24 carot gold plated buttons though! Their nifty and easy to use coffee machine made gorgeous coffee in seconds and almost converted me to drinking it. I'm also in love with their mini processors which come in baby pink and baby blue, cutesys!

Food wise, I was treated to 'Flour Power City Bakery's' yummy bread every day in work. On my escape home I came across the all organic grocery store 'Planet Organic' near Goodge St. station, which also sells gorgeous healthy lunches to take away. I opted for an american style cupcake around the corner in 'Peyton & Byrne' instead on this occasion though!

Coconut & raspberry cupcake from Peyton & Byrne, yum yum

On the foodie people front I bumped into my lovely friend Zarina (darn, caught buying that cupcake for lunch!) who I worked with on 'Rosemary's School for Cooks.' Zarina also works as Ainsley Harriett's agent and she told me he was off in Dubai working at the moment, nice for some! Back at work I met up with my gorgeous friend Angela Boggiano who is food editor of Delicious Magazine (who were one of the sponsors of the event I was working at). We had a good giggle of a catch up. I also finally got to meet fellow Irish man Matthew Drennan (Editor of the mag) who I had never met before, but had always wanted to - he was lovely and made me laugh when his Cork accent came out within a few minutes chatting to me, after all his years in London.

I also caught up with some friends for dinner one evening and we dined in 'The Salt Yard' on Charlotte St. It turns out they also own the amazing 'Blackfoot Butchers & Charcuterie Shop' nearby where a friend, Tom now works. Both highly recommended! Before dinner we had drinks round the corner in 'Shochu Lounge' where I had a delicious rhubarb cocktail made with Japanese Shochu (like vodka) - must try and recreate it! My friend Jo didn't have a drink as she announced she is pregnant again, congrats Jo! Watch Jo's bump growing on ITV's Daily Cooks Challenge! Also catch Jo's recipes in her regular Grazia feature and now also in the Daily Mail at the weekend.

Claire Popplewell (she directs the Queen on the BBC you know), Lisa Harrison (watch out for her name flying along at the end of Gordon Ramsay's programmes!), Jo (as mentioned above), myself and finally Tom, from the Blackfoot Butchers.

Also, on the drinks front, I sampled a yummy spiced berry drink from 'Bottlegreen' which was served warm. Nice non-alcoholic idea for Christmas.

Finally, check out the new Jamie Magazine. Yes, as in Jamie Oliver - the mag is exclusive to WHSmith for the first three issues so not sure if it will make it to Ireland just yet but check out the mags website for a sneak preview. Jamie has certainly given Donna Hay & Martha Stewart a run for their money in his own special way!

Breakfast at the airport...Jamie's mag topped off with a
Pret a Manger Victoria Plum Yoghurt with Cinnamon Granola!

Party People

I attended a great party last weekend to celebrate the launch of The Yellow Door Cookbook. Cliona, the photographer and I headed up to the metropolis of Portadown to the launch at the deli itself. We were treated to gorgeous champagne moitos and canapes, the most memorable being the egg shells filled with white chocolate mousse (the white) and mango coulis (the yolk) - very fab & very clever!

We were then invited onto the second half of the party at chef Simon's house (well, more of a stunning wine bar than a house!) where we soaked up some alcohol by dipping into a huge paella pan on its own stove, filled with gorgeous sticky baby potatoes, caramelised onions and delicious chorizo (this was so good it even converted cliona from vegetarianism for one night only!!). Thanks to all at Blackstaff Press & The Yellow Door for a fantastic night!

Me, photographer Cliona, Simon from The Yellow Door,
Helen from Blackstaff Press & Kevin the designer from Tonic

one very electric picnic

Well, it's been a couple of weeks now but i have finally got around to wiping the muddy memories from my wellies. I had a fantastic time at electric picnic; can you believe I landed a totally jammy job there? Rachel Allen was head-lining in the cookery tent (rock and roll!) and I went along to set up for her. Marty, the husband, otherwise known as 'the boy' (he'll kill me!), came along as my trusty assistant. So the camping gear joined the usual pot & pan paraphenalia in the car and we were off.

Rachel showed hundreds of revellers how to cook a quick gazpacho. Then she got some punters up to cook a posh steak & chanterelle dish with her. We won't talk about the very drunk punter who revealed his own hip flask of whisky for flambeeing while his long silky kaftan sleeves flapped around the flames, yikes! Then, while we handed out hundreds of umbrella clad cocktails, which marty had been busy making, Rachel finished off with some Flirtini cocktails. We also managed to rope in some guys from the Bacardi tent to come and do their very best Tom Cruise on cocktail making. HOT!

Our other foody feasts at electric picnic included a delicious lunch at 'soon to be in Dublin' Pie Minster, a 'not quite the same as the restaurant' pot of pad Thai in Diep and a yummy breakfast of cup cakes at the farmers market. Even the drunken burger (from Rocket and Relish) on the way back from rocking out with Franz Ferdinand on Saturday night was posh! Electric Picnic also created food awards in conjunction with Bridgestone Food Guides for the exceptional line up of food traders at the event. For those of you who don't know it, this is a muddy music festival we're taking about! Altogether a very flash music (and food!) festival.