I’d never heard about Blanca Valencia until Mei Chin wrote to me saying “hey, I wish you would write about this woman because I think she’s brilliant!”. And guess what, Mei is right! Blanca Valencia is very sharp, she has a lot to say and you can hear it all. She is a third of the Spice Bags which is... Read More
I wrote about a totally inauthentic Colombian ceviche quite recently, and if you read it, you might remember I mentioned an online talk about Colombian cuisine. The talk was given by Antonuela Ariza and Eduardo Marinez of Mini-Mal and had been organised by the Colombian Ambassador in Ireland. If you’ve not heard of Mini-Mal (I hadn’t) it’s a fascinating project... Read More
Florrie Purcell founded The Scullery, an Irish condiment institution. She is the undisputed Irish queen of cucumber relish. You will find some of her work under Lidl’s own brand, think the sweetcorn relish and that gorgeous jalapeno relish too. Florrie Purcell launched The Scullery in 2004, although her range of products is bigger than ever, it is still 100% natural... Read More
The last time I was writing about Avril Molloy, she was a cheese monger, working for Sheridan’s and now she is the founder of Ireland’s first School Of Cheese. The difference two years make! Shortly after our last interview, Avril took a career break and more importantly, the time to really think about what she wanted to do next. There... Read More
Erica Sheehan is the woman who created Homespun, a brand that started with a simply delicious quinoa-based granola. Erica Sheehan has one of those stories, which I love to read, she went from a high powered HR role with Coca Cola to a market stall in Honest 2 Goodness to being the head of a company which distributes its... Read More
I took part in an online cooking demonstration organised by the Colombian Embassy in Ireland. It was sponsored by Larousse Foods, who are a food distributor for restaurants and as part of the event they sent all participants a hamper full of the ingredients required to make the dishes presented to us. I found the session fun and informative as... Read More
I like hot chocolate a hell of a lot but it needs to be good. Back home, in France, hot chocolates were mainly functional. Your mam would scorch some milk on the hob while getting herself and yourself ready for the day, school for you, work for her. My job would be to watch the milk but I’d have my... Read More
On Saturday, my pal, Clare, tweeted about her mam and how she used to save the butter wrapper. She explained that it’s a trick she got from her mam and that it’s a great way to grease a tin, or you can use it on top of a loaf going into the oven and that it will save it from... Read More
This raspberry and blackberry muffin cake is easily assembled and is delicious eaten still slightly warm with a cuppa. As any muffin, it is best eaten on the day of baking, it doesn’t age particularly well. It’s not overly sweet and the couple of drops of almond extract paired with the red berries give it a touch of the Bakewell... Read More
Between the prepping and the cooking this egg noodles and prawns stir-fry will be on your plate within 10 minutes. This dish comes on the back of my visit to the wonderful Asia Market out in Ballymount. I went at the start of the 2nd lockdown to top up the more exotic ingredients in my pantry. I bought a massive... Read More
French expat living in Dublin, particularly happy when cooking with fresh, seasonal and locally sourced products.
