We Love Cooking!:
food adventures

I am going to be on The Afternoon Show today on RTE 1 @ 4.00pm. I'm going to be cooking two dessert recipes which are suitable for people with diabeties. Tune in, may award may make an appearance! :)

It's quickly becoming an annual tradition that early on a Saturday morning at the start of autumn just before the leaves fall from the trees, we take my little cousin out blackberry picking. It doesn't take too much persuading really, because at the end of our trek around the local hedgerows and fields, she always knows we'll end up cooking a whole batch of sweets and treats. Last year we spent a bumper day of cooking, which included, Blackberry Coulis, Blackberry Mess and the most amazing blackberry cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting! AMAZING!

This year it was just a big batch of blackberry jam and these really easy blackberry crumb slices.
Blackberries are most certainly not the most pretty of fruits our Irish countryside has to offer, especially when compared to our most prized summer berry the seductive and far more grown up, glamourous, strawberry. No the blackberry is a bit more like your rough and ready cousin who doesn’t bother with the latest trends and insists on wearing wooly jumpers! But despite all this, blackberries are by far the most accessible and economical of all the fruits our countryside has to offer, with bramble bushes along most road sides literally teeming with the bulging black fruit.
So if you have the time this weekend, grab a few extra hands, pull out an old basket or a bucket and get picking! I got some good advice to bring an umbrella with a hook on the end to pull down the branches- the big ones are always at the top!

Blackberry Crumb Slices
I think these blackberry crumb slices match the fruit perfectly! They are most definitely and bit more rustic looking than most cake slices, but are full of warm sponge and juicy flavours. Both the cake mix and the crumb topping are extremely easy to make and great for baking with kids!

Makes 24 delicious slices
115g butter, at room temperature
175g caster sugar
1 large free range egg
280g self raising flour
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
125ml milk
300g of fresh blackberries (you could use frozen if you’re stuck)

For the sweet crumb topping
115g caster sugar
85g plain flour
zest of 1 lemon
75g of butter

Preheat the oven to 190oC/Gas Mark 5.
Grease a rectangular baking tin and line it with parchment paper. If you’re stuck for parchment paper you could probably get away with greasing the tin and flouring it instead.
Using a hand mixer, in a bowl beat together the sugar and butter until pale. Add in the egg whisking to incorporate the mixture little by little.
Using a wooden spoon fold in the flour, cinnamon and milk. Mix gently until you have a sticky dough like mixture.
Spread evenly across the bottom of the prepared baking tin, this requires patience as the dough can be sticky, but bear with it you’ll get there! Then arrange the blackberries on top. Set aside while you prepare the sweet crumb topping.
Add all the ingredients for the sweet crumb topping to a bowl and rub the dry ingredients into the butter with your fingertips as you would with pastry. Keep mixing until you have a mixture that resembles rough breadcrumbs.
Sprinkle the crumb topping over the blackberries in the baking tray and place in the oven on the middle rack for 40-45 minutes until the top is golden brown.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool before slicing into 24 pieces.

Mushroom hunting in Ireland is something that I feel takes place with something of an uneasy pleasure. While the idea of foraging for free food always gets me excited, mushroom hunting is somewhat more hazardous than picking a few juicy blackberries off a thorny bush. Last year I went on my very first mushroom hunt with a funghi expert who described the process as more dangerous than some of the most breathtaking extreme sports including skydiving and bungee jumping due to the large amount of extremely poisonous varieties! Mincing through the woods with a wicker basket suddenly just got a bit more manly!

The experienced mushroom hunter out there knows the chanterelle mushroom is the most prized variety. An expensive purchase at about €20 to €40 per kilo makes discovering these little beauties all the more satisfying to pick for free! With it's distinctive golden orange colour, funnel shape and thick gills, the chanterelle mushroom is by far one of the prettiest looking mushrooms and makes a delicious and meaty feast for cooking at home.

This week I headed out twice to Sweden's vast forests where foraging for chanterelles is a popular but highly secretive past time. The Swedes speak about mushroom picking hot spots in hushed tones and excited whispers, looking over their shoulders for fear someone might be lurking just out of sight to try and overhear the location of the latest hotspot! My first visit took place after we got a tip from a neighbour who had a friend who had got lucky on a path close to a lake near a forest just south of Gothenburg. The location was scrawled onto a scrap of paper, shoved tightly into a pocket and we were off. After about two hours of fruitless searching we finally came across a bumper patch close to the path, hiding at the base of a tree. The thing about chanterelle's is that once you find one, whether your eyes suddenly become aware of what you are looking for or they just grow close to each other, it seems inevitable that you will find more close by.
My second visit came last night, when we were accompanied to a spot just off the corner of a golf course, to a secret location which was hidden by a group of large trees. After battling our way through wild brambles our eyes opened wide to discover a clearing literally teaming with little golden dots every where we looked. It seemed nobody had been there before, so whispering quite excitedly, so as not to reveal our very own secret location, we gathered up armfuls of mushrooms and snuck back home to the kitchen!

Simply Cooked Chanterelles with Garlic Toast
Mushrooms can have the marmite effect on some people, you either love them or hate them. In my case I love them and while you can pick them up quite easily in most supermarkets, nothing is more satisfying than picking them yourself. If you are lucky enough to come across a bumper load of them in the forest, in my opinion you have to enjoy them straight away cooked as simply as this.

Serves 2 generous portions
A good handful of chanterelle mushrooms per person
A good knob of butter
A little sea salt and ground black pepper to season
1 clove of garlic
A good glug of extra virgin olive oil
4 slices of nice chewy sourdough bread, toasted

In a large pan melt the butter over a medium high heat.
Add in the mushrooms and fry until lightly browned and tender. This about 5 minutes depending on the amount you have in the pan. Some mushrooms will throw off a lot of water, but don't panic just continue to cook until all the water is gone. Season with a little sea salt and ground black pepper to taste. Try not to over season as you really want to allow the natural flavours to shine through.
While the mushrooms are cooking toast the bread, when it turns golden drizzle with a little olive oil and rub vigorously with the clove of garlic, finally season with a little sea salt.
Top the toast with the hot and tender mushrooms and serve straight away!

As I mentioned I am on Market Kitchen all this week cooking down at the world famous Borough Market in London, a real haven for food lovers! I really loved the day recording down in the market as it was a lot more hands on, and we got to actually shop around for some of the ingredients, plus there was a bit of time for me to nose around the great selection of veg and food products on offer. We recorded all five shows in the one day, so let me just say it is a LONG day! I arrived at about 8am and didn't leave till around 9pm that night, but despite the long hours and the freezing cold, the amazing team really made recording an absolute pleasure.

There was a crack team of five food super heroes producing the content for the show down in the market and these guys really work hard! I have a feeling they have posed together for a photo before because when I told them I wanted a picture, they very naturally assembled themselves in that formation! Let me introduce you to them, Leonie in the middle is the home economist and she spend loads of time compiling info on each of my recipes, the woman is like a human food encyclopedia and was on hand with great one liners to stick in to my piece! Rasheed there with the clipboard is the producer and made sure everything ran smoothly and kept my spirits high throughout the day, he is a former chef and he too has a fantastic and extensive knowledge of food!

Robin with the glasses and hoody, is the hard core camera dude, who is clearly an expert at his job, as he showed no signs of loosing his patience with me even after my 15th take on one shot! He was full of advice and really helped me keep things moving along throughout the day. Olga is the foodie equivalent of a rockstar music video director and kept me so motivated all day long! She is a bundle of energy and was lots of fun to work with. Last but not least in blue hoodie is Dan, and he is literally a professional feeder! I think I saw a documentary about people who kept their partners overweight by feeding them a constant supply of junk food, and I am fairly sure Dan could be guilty of this. (note: I just googled feederism and apparently feeders derive a sexual pleasure in feeding their partners, sorry Dan maybe your not one!) He is solely responsible for introducing me to curly wurly cake! (I know, I know, recipe coming soon!)

In terms of recording, I much preferred cooking direct to camera, although, I've watched the slots last night and tonight and I'm kind of coming across like a duracell bunny! Extremely excitable but I blame the cold! One of the biggest problems of the day was keeping the frying pan hot, because of the bitter cold weather, every time I would add something to the pan, it would cool down, but Leonie did come to the rescue by erecting a portable metal guard which she would stick around the hob and we would stop filming in order for it to heat up.

I was actually flying to Sweden the following day to go skiing, so luckily had packed thermal underwear (I know, sexy right?) which after about five minutes of arriving I ran across to the nearest toilet to to change into them! So if you are wondering just how many layers I am wearing, I think the total came to seven, but I was still cold! We finished up after a long day with high spirits and lots of laughter! The dishes I cooked which will be coming up on the show this week are mackerel with chorizo potato salad, healthy Singapore noodles, healthy paella, aromatic duck salad, and one more which I has completely slipped my mind, so it will just have to remain a suprise for us all for now! :)

As I travel along this little food journey of life, one of the most exciting and fascinating things I've been learning about, is where meat really comes from, beyond the simple view of farm to plate and really developing an appreciation for the people behind the produce. I don't think I will ever be vegetarian, but I do think it's important that I make decisions to choose the right types of meat. By the right type, I mean the type of meat that comes from an animal that has lived a good life, that hasn't been fed medicine, and has been free to roam. It does sound like a lot to think of but when you see well reared animals like these and the process they go through before they reach the butchers, you really appreciate the cuts of meat so much more!

Michael Gottstein works for an Teagasc (The Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority) and is also one the farmers who set up Ring of Kerry Quality Lamb. I originally got in contact with Ring of Kerry Quality Lamb a few months ago, just before Christmas, when Timmy one the farmers invited me to come down to see his farm, but unfortunately the 6 hour drive did put me off slightly- However I did promise that if I was in the area I would come down and take some pics. So when I was down in Cork for the Hope Foundation Demonstration, the next day I headed up to Killarney to check out a few of the farms.

I don't know if you have ever been to Killarney in Co. Kerry before, but it is probably one of the most beautiful places in Ireland, lots of fantastic green fields and rolling mountains, sure what more could you ask for! Probably one of the most amazing places for a little lamb to grow up! On the tour of the farms, Michael told me the reason that 25 of the local farmers came together was so that they could have more control over their final product. Before they were sending the meat to other parts of the country to be processed and couldn't be 100 percent sure that the meat coming back was their own. Now the meat is guaranteed to be from Kerry and the local farms.

One of the farms we visited was on the side of a mountain and Michael told me that throughout the year, the sheep graze on the heather on the mountains and this in turn affects the taste of the end product. Only thing is can you imagine the amount of work it must take to find the sheep and round them up! Michael and the lads are extremely proud of what they do and took me to one of the local pubs in Killarney who they supply their lamb to and left me with an amazing pack of lamb cuts which I vouch for being absolutely delicious! I have eventually got through them all!

If you are interested in trying some Ring Of Kerry Quality Lamb which comes from farms which are all Bord Bia Quality approved, you can buy and order it online nationwide via their website which is here.
Also check out the video below where Michael shows us some sheep dog commands.

One of the most exciting things about Foodstock was getting to show of some really fantastic quality Irish products, and it wasn’t really until I actually arrived in Paris that I realised the importance of this. Myself and Raphael spoke about organising what he called a “Dégustation” so that everybody at Le Fooding could sample the dishes we would be serving up. When we arrived at the hotel we met with the lovely Constance who would be tasting the dishes along with two of her colleagues from the magazine to give us the green light. It was only after I served up the Kelly’s of Newport Black Pudding and Cashel Blue Cheese salad that I realised how specifically Irish these products really are and just how distinctive the flavours were. I have to say with the initial reaction I was really proud, not just to be serving up a salad that went down well, but also to a certain extent that I could claim these fantastic ingredients as my own!

On the night when we served up the salad, I’m pretty sure people were a little bit apprehensive about trying the black pud but when they did the reaction was really great and we had people coming back for seconds! Louise a lovely Danish girl who is living in Paris and working for Le Fooding was overseeing the serving of the food and was on the tables with me all night. There was a system they were using where you could only get a portion in exchange for a coloured ticket. Now anyone who knows me will know that I am colourblind and have trouble differentiating similar colours or different shades which made it extremely hard to be strict with the tickets when it came to serving in the dark! However Louise was on hand with a fantastic sense of Scandinavian organisation covering up for my shoddy ticket skills and making sure things ran smoothly!

If you are Irish, this is a lovely little salad to show off some of our distinctively Irish produce to foreign visitors and if you're not you can always substitute the cheese and the black pudding for something more regional! Let me know your suggestions! :)

Kelly's Of Newport Black Pudding and Cashel Blue Cheese Salad
Make sure to prepare everything ahead of time and only assemble with the dressing when you are ready to serve!

Serves 8
280g of Kelly's of Newport black pudding in 1cm slices
120g of mixed baby leaves
80g of Cashel blue cheese broken into chunks
40ml of balsamic dressing

Balsamic dressing (makes 55ml of dressing)
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon of Jameson Whiskey
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

Arrange the black pudding slices on a baking tray, and place in an oven at 200oC/Gas Mark 6 for 7-8 minutes.
Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing.
Dress the salad leaves lightly with half the dressing and toss to combine.
Arrange the leaves on serving dishes with a slice of black pudding and a little crumbled Cashel blue cheese.
Serve with an extra drizzle of dressing.

Hey there!

Just a quick note to apologise for the lack of recipes, I am in London this week recording a few episodes of Market Kitchen which will air at the end of April. I have managed to grab a few minutes to myself to share with you these video's from last weeks foodstock event in Paris. I have so much Paris stuff to get through I don't know where to start, but will have a lot of time on a flight on Friday to go through them all and hopefully get some delicious photos online!

But for now enjoy the videos and please excuse my shoddy French!

D x

So tonight is the big night, we have been busy in the kitchen preparing our ingredients all week and tonight at 7pm we will start service to 700 hungry Parisiens! I have so many photos from during the week that it has been physically impossible to edit them all in time to do a daily post, so I hope you will stick around until the end of the week when I will hopefully do a big roundup about the whole event.
Though I can tell you that venue is absolutely amazing, Chalet des Iles is on a little island just outside Paris, you have to get a boat across to the restaurant where peacocks and rabbits run around freely! The place has a bit of an Alice in Wonderland vibe to it, though I may not be saying that after we have served up 2100 portions of food tonight! I have also been recording a pretty shoddy video diary so hopefully I can have that up on the blog in the next few days, but until then au revoir!

Yes we arrived safe and sound on Saturday morning and to settle in to Parisian life we spent a lovely evening with some old friends in their home just outside the city. I am here as you probably have read in my earlier post to cook for 500 people on Wednesday night at an event called Foodstock organised by Parisian magazine, Le Fooding. Knowing that the few days before the big night would be a little crazy, I thought it would be important to have the weekend to get reacquainted with the city I loved so much during my teens. One of the biggest things for me, was to come back with a really good camera and photograph the amazing scenery.

When I spent some time here during my teens I used to sketch things and I guess that was how I interpreted the beauty, but now I am back armed with my trusty Canon 5 MK II and there is no stopping me! Of course, the other thing to note since I was last here, is my increased interest in food, while I would have been preoccupied with the sights and sounds of this stunning city, I may have overlooked the vast and varied amount of endless foodie haunts to be discovered. As if to make up for the shortsighted choices of my teens, we spent the whole of Sunday trawling through as many of the foodie recommendations as possible, which had been made to me by people on twitter, our Parisian friends and of course the lovely Noreen from Bord Bia.

First stop on the list was the amazing Raspail Organic Market which is based on Boulevard Raspail quite close to St. Germain de Pres. After a somewhat failed attempt at searching for foodie stops the day before, it was an absolute pleasure to walk up the steps from the metro right into the market itself, which at 10am on a Sunday, was already a hive of activity. It is quite clear that while the rest of world is still shivering with the cold, spring has most certainly sprung in Paris, with bunches of daffodils being sold for €1 each, the trees above the market showing signs of buds already, and of course the fantastic array of new season produce on offer at the stands. The market which operates normally on a Tuesday and Friday morning, changes things up on a Sunday and provides only organically grown produce. Apparently it is where the jet set shop, on Le weekend, and Sofie claims to have spotted Christian Audigier but I'm not so sure!

There was truly a wonderful selection of fresh vegetables and mouthwatering fruit and nothing gets me more excited than seeing such a wide array on offer. My only problem is I want to cook it all, but have nowhere to cook, so I have promised myself the next time I come to the city, we will rent a place with a beautiful kitchen to make some fantastic dishes fresh from the market.

As if there wasn't enough excitement from the fruit and vegetable stalls, there was amazing cheese on offer from countless stalls, with one of the stands offering samples of a delicious soft cheese on top of some crusty bread, and a really gutsy butcher counter with cuts of meat which would scare off even the toughest Irish supermarket shopper!

We came to the end of the market with our mouths watering and just in time for Le petit dejuener! In a small cafe nearby, I ordered the simple French dish of crepes avec fromage et jambon (savoury pancakes with cheese and ham) which certainly hit the spot as we watched people walk past with bags full of ingredients ready to cook up a big Sunday lunch!

Last weekend I was invited to an extremely secret location to take part in an extremely mysterious event organised by a member of an extremely secret society known only as the Marmarati. Extremely... Heading up the Irish branch of said secret society was none other than fellow food blogger AoifeMc of I Can Has Cook who had recently been selected by Marmarati elders to be flown to London for an official induction to the Marmarati. At risk of losing my own fledgling membership to the society I am now going to reveal the aims of the Marmarati, which are to uphold the high standards of Marmite, to spread the word about the dark ebony elixir and to accept no imitations.

Ok, that's enough secret society talk, basically the Marmarati, is an extremely clever and fun marketing idea behind the folks at Marmite (a sticky, dark brown paste with a distinctive, powerful flavour, which is extremely salty and savoury, in case you didn't know!) to spread the word about the new flavour they are launching, Marmite XO. They have a website which has lots of hilarious tasting videos and a pile of other things that will make you smile. I went along to the tasting as a Marmite virgin with open eyes and discovered Marmite to be not half bad! Aoife cooked up some Marmite inspired recipes including Marmite Roast Spuds, Marmite Meatballs, and of course the oh so eloquent classic that is Marmite on toast. I have to say after tasting the two, the new version, Marmite XO beats the old one hands down. Anyway a huge thank you to Aoife for a great night, with great food, though I have to say I do feel like I have been gently sucked into some creative PR genius's game plan! Ah well, I had fun doing it!

Oh and I also met two relatively new Irish food bloggers, Adventures in Veg and Lola-Lu's Kitchen, make sure to pop over to their blogs and leave a comment or 10! :)

Viellée Foodstock - 24th March 2010

Le Chalet Des Iles

Way back in October I got a tweet from the lovely Trish Deseine, who many of you might know from her hugely successful series on RTÉ, where she guides viewers through just some of the vast range of delicious French dishes. Trish was born in Belfast and later moved to Paris, where she mastered her French cooking skills. She asked me if I would be interested in coming to Paris to cater an event and put me in touch with Raphael, from Le Fooding®, a Parisien magazine which seeks out the coolest eateries in the city. After lots and lots and lots and lots of emails back and forth we finally organised everything for the event which is going to be taking place in Paris at Le Chalet Des Iles on the 24th of March. From what I can gather, the event will have live music and is like a mini woodstock with food! It sounds really exciting and with only 2 weeks to go I cannot wait! The event is sponsored by Jameson whiskey and Bord Bia are sponsoring some of the ingredients from my recipes. These are the dishes I will be serving up on the night:

- Irish Seafood Chowder served with Chilled Smoked Salmon

- Kelly's Of Newport Black Pudding and Cashel Blue Cheese Salad

- Mocha Meringues with Jameson Whiskey Cream, Chocolate Sauce and toasted Hazelnuts

- Jameson Ginger and Mint Iced Fire Cocktails

If you just so happen to be in Paris that night, please do come along, I am not so sure how it works with the tickets but I have been told there is quite a demand, and people queue outside the venue to get in, so I guess you could come down and try your luck!

I had such an brilliant time on Thursday, as I mentioned here on the blog, I was appearing on Good Food Channel's, Market Kitchen! I was so nervous that I wasn't going to actually be able to fly as the whole of Ireland had come to a stand still due to the snowy weather. However the planets were aligned and even though Dublin airport had been closed the night before, Thursday morning our plane wasn't delayed and I was on my way to London!

I arrived at the Market Kitchen studios with my buddy Elaine who came along to take some pics and lend some moral support. As soon as we arrived I was whisked into makeup to get beautified, after which we were sat in the green room which had a great array of food magazines which kept me completely distracted as they had plonked the latest copy of Delicious on the table!

The lovely Faye then came to meet us to talk me through the process of recording. They had each step of the recipe planned out and what way they wanted it to flow. It was a lot to take in all at once but Faye kept telling me I would fine and to stay calm! While we were in the green room, I met the presenters Matt Terbutt and Amanda Lamb who were really lovely and very friendly.

Faye brought us up a very quiet stairs to the main studio and when she opened the door in, there was a rush of people running around, wires, cameramen, food stylists, and a lot hustle and bustle- all very exciting! We watched while another guest of the show, Simon Rimmer, demonstrated what looked like a really tasty egg dish. I have to say Simon is an expert at what he does and he certainly didn't put me at ease. An extremely tough act to follow! When Simon was finished I met the fantastic Home Economist who was in charge for setting up all the ingredients, equipment and generally making sure everything ran smoothly. She talked me through what I would be doing and made sure I had everything I needed before the filming started. I was making Mint and Lime Mohito Chicken so they had already marinated the chicken and everything was ready to go!

Before I did my cooking slot, I had a quick interview with Matt who was having awful trouble pronouncing my name, so much so that he had to hyphanate it on the autocue so that it read, Do-nal! Very funny altogether! After the interview we headed over to the kitchen space and got going on the dish. I wasn't sure if I was going to mention this but, as I was demonstrating butterflying a chicken breast, I sliced it wrong and ended up with a sad scraggly looking chicken breast and we had to cut! Let me just saw THIS DID NOT PUT ME AT EASE!

In fairness to all the crew, it was no bother to them and we just started again pretty quickly! The rest of the demo ran quite smoothly and hopefully it looks well when it's all edited together. When the demo was finished all the audience members got served mini portions of the dish to sample it and then gave their comments to camera! It was a little bit scary to hear what they were going to say but from what I could hear they were all extremely complimentary and no one got sick so it was all good! I had a ball doing the show and it was a fantastic experience, the first of many hopefully! It's going to air on the 21st of January on Good Food Channel so make sure to keep an eye out for it!

2009 has been a fairly spectacular year indeed, between the band, the book, and lots and lots of cooking I have never been so busy in my life, but it has been totally worth it! Here's my run down of 2009 highlights!

- Started the year flying high as Peter Pan in the Tivoli theatre's panto.
- Putting together plans for a mixed pop group.
- Forming Industry with Lee Hutton, Michele McGrath, and Morgan Deane!
Favourite Recipe: Roast Garlic Potatoes

- Going to Stockholm to record Industry's first single, "My Baby's Waiting".
- Received first draft of Good Mood Food, the book.
- Pancake season!
- Went to Stockholm to support my Swedish superstar buddy sing at the Swedish Eurovision selection.
- A name was finally chosen for Industry, thankfully 4DB was thrown out the window.
- Going to Stockholm again to record very first music video, for "In Your Arms".
- Doing first photoshoot as a band- very glamorous.
Favourite Recipe: Chocolate Chip Oreo Cupcakes

- Was busy working on what I thought were the final drafts of the book.
- Planned my very first attempt at a vegetable garden.
- Planted Dill, Fennel, Pak Choi, Broad Beans, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Red Cabbage, Cabbage, Cos Lettuce, Rosemary.
- Submitted last photos for the book.
- Made first public outing as Industry on the red carpet at the Meteor Irish Music Awards.
- Went for a walk on the cliffs every morning this month.
- Blog got 10,000 unique visitors in one day, was very excited.
Favourite Recipe: Bacon Avocado and Sundried Tomato Sandwich

- Got my very first blog/book press.
- Back to Stockholm to record more tracks with Industry.
- Flew to Spain to record music video for Industry's "My Baby's Waiting".
- Took a little break in Gothenberg with Sofie.
- Submitted what I thought was the last draft of the book.
- Fell in love with dried Mango... mmmm... mango.
Favourite Recipe: Red Onion and Garlic Focaccia

- Got the BBQ out early for Mays mini heat wave.
- Back to Stockholm again to record more tracks with Industry.
- Shot the final cover for the book with the help of Erica and Sofie.
- Performed with Industry at our press launch at The Sugar Club in Dublin.
- Industry's single got it's very first airplay on 2fm.
- Got a blackberry phone.
- Sang Kate Bush wuthering heights in falsetto on radio, not pleasant but very funny.
- Discovered Flahavans porridge pots which kept me alive and well on the road.
Favourite Recipe: BBQ Cajun Spatchcock Chicken

- Got to finally visit Cork's English Market.
- Went to Ireland's Eye with Morgan and Lee for my birthday.
- Found a brill table to shoot food on.
- My annoying but hilarious fight with the birds and the strawberries.
- Lee buying male Ugg boots.
- Got introduced to Dave Peelo, the toughest fitness trainer you ever did see.
- Industry's first single "My Baby's Waiting" went straight in at number one in the Irish charts.
- Performed at the Ms. Universe competition.
Favourite Recipe: Warm Chorizo, Red Onion and Baby Potato Salad

- Went to LA with James, Morgan and Sofie.
- Got upgraded on the flight over but had to slum it on the way back.
- Saw the massive amount of tributes to Michael Jackson at his house and his Hollywood star.
- Went surfing with my Uncle Niall on Santa Monica beach.
- Did a photo shoot for VIP magazine, blue steel was out in force.
- Went to outdoor yoga in Stephens Green in Dublin.
- Supported the Pussycat Dolls at the Killarney Summerfest.
- Sent off the final final final edits of the book.
- Visited the republics very first Ikea store.
- Recorded music video for Industry's second single "Burn" at the amazing Grouse Lodge studios.
Favourite Recipe: Sticky Mustard Chicken Drumsticks

- Went on a romantic little bank holiday break in a cottage near Carlingford.
- Co-hosted the South East Radio breakfast show with the brill Tony Scott and Industry.
- Became a regular contributor with Irish Tatler.
- Industry's second single "Burn" went to number one.
- Supported Tynchi Stryder in Tralee, as you do.
- Had a brill getaway anniversary weekend in Castle Leslie, massages all round.
Favourite Recipe: Asian Teriyaki Chicken Salad

- Started tweeting 140 character recipes on my twitter.
- Appeared on RTE's Ice with Industry.
- Performed at the Barretstown Charity Bandana launch.
- Went blackberry picking with Maisie the cupcake queen.
- Picked up my copy of Good Mood Food!
- Recorded 3 new tracks with Industry at the amazing Grouse Lodge recording studios.
Favourite Recipe: Oriental Steak Salad

- Picked up my brand new camera, the Canon 5d Mark ii.
- Saw the book in shops for the first time, rearranged the shelves.
- Appeared on the front page of the Irish Examiner.
- Did lots and lots of radio interviews about the book.
- Went mushroom hunting with Aoife.
- Went back to school to do a cupcake demonstration at my old school.
- Interview on Tubridy with Ryan Tubridy about the book.
- Got a text from Michele to tell me she nearly fell over when she saw a giant poster of me in the window of Dubray Books on Grafton Street in Dublin!
- Did the official launch of the book in Dubray Books on Grafton street in Dublin.
- Appeared on RTE's The Cafe with Industry.
- Went to Gothenburg and visited a Swedish bakery.
- Interview with Ian Dempsey on Today FM.
Favourite Recipe: Blackberry Vanilla Cupcakes

- Upgraded my old desk, for a new fancy one from IKEA.
- Wrote my very first food column for the Irish Independent Weekend Magazine.
- Finally made a vision board.
- Became obsessed with one of the kitchens in IKEA.
- Heard that The Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten has a copy of Good Mood Food.
- Did a cookery demonstration at an all girls school.
- Assistant food stylist on a Christmas food shoot.
Favourite Recipe: Crispy Hasselback Potatoes

- All the brill Christmas food press.
- Feature in the lovefood magazine with fellow Irish food bloggers, Italian Foodies, Cheap Eats, and Daily Spud.
- Visit to a free range turkey farm.
- Massive Christmas baking session with Erica and Maisie.
- Getting a video of the book launch from Darragh.
- Visit to Sheridans cheese, I am now hooked on cheese.
- Skiing with Sofie in Gothenburg.
- Jul pa Liseberg.
- Christmas in Sweden
Favourite Recipe: Avocado, Parmesan and Rocket Pasta

Thanks so much to all who read this blog for all the support, comments and emails this year, and I hope I'll be keeping you cooking all through 2010!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Ok so promise you won't tell Santa Claus! I had to do it, for the sake of my continuing food discoveries, it was essential! One of the biggest tourist attractions in Gothenburg at Christmas time is the famous Liseberg theme park, which transforms itself into an amazing expanse of Christmas related attractions, going as far as wrapping every single tree in the park with twinkling Christmas lights and pumping Christmas tunes over loudspeakers. It may be cheesy and it may be a little corny but I can guarantee that you won't leave the place without getting a heavy dose of festive cheer! One of the other things the park has which I can't help smirk about is what can only be described as Sweden's version of Hollywood's "Walk Of Fame" which features many of their Eurovision winners, entertainers and actors. Wouldn't it be great if Ireland had one of those!

We arrived just in time to catch the ice skating show which was taking place on the giant rink at the center of the park. I was expecting an elegant display of ice skating to take place but instead we got rabbits on ice! The mascot of Liseberg is a goofy looking rabbit, so mixed in with all the skaters performing was a male and female versions of this rabbit. Let me take this opportunity to say that you haven't lived until you have seen a rabbit do a "flying reverse sit spin" on an ice skating rink to a very serious piece of classical music!

After wandering around the whole park taking in the Christmas spirit, (while also loosing the feeling in my toes, yes it's that cold!) we arrived at this brilliant little wigwam style wooden structure which had steam billowing out the window and brilliant big log fires roaring outside. Intrigued by the amount of people crowded around we went in for a closer inspection. They were serving reindeer meat, which was cooked in what looked like a massive paella dish, with lingon berries and salad in a pitta bread, it smelt amazing and looked delicious so I just couldn't resist! The meat is really tasty, quite like venison but has more of a unique flavour, I would definitely recommend it, even if you have worry about what Santa might say! Though I do have to mention it was a little unnerving that there was pen filled with angry looking reindeer only a few metres away from the hut! Sorry about the picture below, I'm eh... a little EXCITED about Christmas!

If you keep track of my foodie goings on via twitter you may have read that on Monday I took a drive up to Carnaross in Co. Meath to visit the headquarters of Sheridans Cheesemongers. In this quick video the lovely Elisabeth Ryan from Sheridans talks us through her choices for her Christmas cheese board. I will be posting full details on each cheese with more details so stay tuned!

One of the things I have learned in my discovery of food so far is that, people who are passionate about good quality ingredients are more than enthusiastic about expressing this passion and filling you up with information. Gerry McEvoy, who runs his farm of 800 free range bronze turkey's is absolutely no different. We were introduced via the magic of twitter last week when I tweeted asking whether anyone knew of a turkey farmer. Within a matter of hours the meeting was set and the following day I was all set to head up to the farm to see all those turkeys!

I arrived at Gerry's house in Sallins in Co. Kildare on a beautiful bright winter morning and was greeted first by his 3 dogs and then by the man himself. Not wasting anytime, after our brief introduction and a quick chat about our fine feathered friends, we got straight down to business! Before I could even say "turkey" I was decked out in my very own pair of wellies and we were heading towards the field.

Now to be honest growing up I wasn't exactly the most outdoorsy kid and wouldn't have ever dreamt of standing in a field full of turkeys had I not been dragged in kicking and screaming! I have over the years, of course, become a little more adaptable and so although a tiny bit of apprehension may have been running through my mind I was following Gerry through the gate and into the field.

The moment the gate was closed they came for me! I think they sensed my fear, either that or it could have been that Gerry was throwing a bucket of food for them. Either way I was surrounded by these highly inquisitive birds who were not afraid of me in the slightest! The first thing you notice close to the field is the sheer noise of the birds, just to have a normal conversation we were practically shouting across to each other! The beauty I learnt of allowing the birds to roam the fields meant they had a somewhat varied diet, Gerry told me that the birds have a major love for nettles and one of his fields which had been completely covered in them had been devoured in a matter of weeks.

Although I was taking in all this brilliant information and we were having a great chat, I was very conscious that there was about 400 turkeys around me and some of them were getting a bit cheeky, even giving my legs a peck! Gerry told me that the birds are attracted to bright colours and red was their favourite, which did not bode well as my camera comes with a bright red strap, which explained their interest in me! Walking through the field, Gerry was able to tell me the weight of each bird just by looking at it and although he offered for me to hold one I had to say no, but that didn't stop him picking up a 12 pounder to show me the quality of their amazing feathers. There is an oil in the feathers which allows the rain to run right off!

As I got a bit more relaxed I got busy snapping photos of the birds. They very diligently posed for shots and some even hopped up onto a bail of hay for the perfect picture. Gerry has them well trained! Apart from the slightly smaller female birds, the massive males were incredibly dramatic looking with strange droopy bits of skin falling from above their beaks. The kind of deformity which would have made for a fantastic Disney film's evil bad guy! While I was snapping away, all of a sudden an eerie silence came over the field and all the turkeys loud gobbling reduced to silent murmur. I looked to Gerry to ask what was going on and he pointed to the sky where a airplane was flying overhead, he filled me in telling me that they are very perceptive and there silence in the presence of "bigger birds" was a regular occurrence!

We headed towards what I christened the "turkey house" which was a large building at the top of the field where the turkeys could roam in and out of. Gerry showed me the wheat which he fed the turkeys and the huge machine which ground it, so it was easier for the birds to digest. Inside the building he showed me where the birds slept and the brilliant watering system that refilled itself when it was empty. The other interesting thing he pointed out was the chains he had hung from the ceiling which are said to keep the birds brains active! Gerry said the minute he turns off the lights at night the birds go completely silent and head straight off to sleep. Just in case you were wondering what radio station the birds groove to during the day, KFM is played on the little radio which is perched on the wall. I like to think they are all big fans of Industry!

Now I do apologise if I have lulled you into some sort of pleasant denial, here is where it gets messy. The turkeys are picked up on the 18th of December ahead of their Christmas dinner date with many Irish families across the country and are taken to be prepared for pick up. Gerry mostly sells the birds from the farm itself and over a three day period sets up shop for people to pick up their purchase ahead of the big day. I was so impressed with the birds our family have ordered two 12 pounders which I have named Francoise and Hernrietta and I will be calling live from Sweden to check how they go down.

If you want to read more about Gerry and his free range bronze turkeys check out his website here. As far as I know he is still taking orders so give him a shout and he will sort you out for Christmas dinner! Sure he's your only man! :)

Yesterday I went to visit... wait for it... A TURKEY FARM! I had so much fun, so much so, Gerry was nearly talking me into becoming a turkey farmer! He walked me through the whole process and these birds are immaculate and so healthy looking. I took a million pictures and have yet to edit them but for now check out this quick video of the turkeys!

During my visit to Sweden a few weeks ago, I got the opportunity to visit a Swedish bakery! As it so happened it turned out to be the same bakery which supplied the desserts for the restaurant I used to work at when I lived in Sweden.

They weren't just any desserts mind you, these were delivered in their own metal case, which had shelves built inside, and each cake or roll was placed on individual gold paper plates. Princess Torte and Budapest Rulle were on our menu daily and on rare quiet days, leftovers eventually made their way back to the kitchen at the end of service, much to my delight!

I absolutely getting to visit places like this, where you get to see what goes on "backstage", it gives you a better feel for a place and means you are left with better knowledge about how the products are produced. Apparently when I was much younger, we used to regularly go to a Chinese restaurant where I felt free to walk in and out of the kitchens, watching the chefs as they prepared dishes for the customers.

As you can imagine, I don't think this would ever be the case nowadays, but I love that I have distinct memories of sitting on the kitchen counter watching the food being prepared with the waitress's while my parents sat outside. They still claim there was no neglect involved! It's experiences like this which I guess formed my love for seeing the process rather than the product.

When we arrived at the bakery we were given lovely white coats to wear and headed straight through to the main work area. The first thing that struck me was the size of everything, all the appliances were at least twice the size of regular home kitchen appliances, as if we had stepped in to a giants kitchen. Unfortunately no giants appeared throughout the whole time we were there. A boy can still dream can't he?!

There was about five bakers busy at work making variations of Kanelbulle (cinnamon buns). There was a sort of cake being made by making a ring with the dough and then snipping at it with a scissors to make an amazing pattern the whole way around. On the other side of the counter chopped apples were being added to make a cinnamon apple pie.

I was shown how the dough was prepared by a giant machine and then carried to the work surface wrapped around a giant rolling pin. The dough is then stretched the entire length of a massive board and then spread with cinnamon butter. The dough is then rolled into a swirl and chopped into cinnamon buns!

We visited on a Friday so the staff had the fridges packed full of cakes and breads. This was my favourite part and I had to stop myself running my finger along the icing of the cakes and tasting them! When I grow up I want to be a baker boy! :)

Check out the recipe for Swedish Cinnamon Buns here!