What a busy week so far

....and I want to share some of it with you.

Last Saturday I went to the Slow Food event in Gort Na Nain and what a day it was. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, the wind had a nice blow to keep us cool, Ultan Walsh was just simply the nicest guy on the planet and his partner Lucy was not only amazingly nice but also generous beyond believe. We were treated to a tour along his farm which I may add is impressive. He was so patient and answered all questions. After the tour we had the delights of a wonderful lunch prepared by Lucy who is actually very very good. We had quiches (yum), leafy salads, potato salad, homemade bread (sourdough - and I really have to get my starter up and breathing again), chutneys and and and.....we tucked in and didn't want to leave.

The farm has a guesthouse attached and when you stay there you can have dinner in the house but otherwise they are not open for lunch - which is really a pity cause it could be a foodie destination.

As it was Caz's birthday, a few girls headed to Cafe Bar Deli in Cork. I have been there a once before and had a simple lunch but it was my first time for dinner. We were 10 girls (okay okay, Nick got smuggled in again - next time he will have to wear a skirt) and the waiter dealt very well with us. We had to ask for the daily specials but he knew them (the little note in his pocket helped him a lot) and the food came swiftly. Food was okay - nothing to write home about but the price in this case matched the food. Cheap and cheerful is the judgement in this restaurant and since it was packed to the ceiling - the right recipe for Cork

Sunday, I cooked a 4 course dinner for Anita's dinner party. She had invited her family around to celebrate her mum's birthday. Since I adore Anita's mum, it was a pleasure to cook for her. I made stuffed mushrooms as canapes, onion and goats' cheese tarts as first starter, roasted pepper soup for second. The main was individual beef wellingtons (I used Fois Gras instead of normal liver pate and it was a bit too strong for Anita's taste), potato dauphinoise which Anita served with mangetout. The dessert was a three layered chocolate mousse. Food went down a treat I heard so I was happy enough - just very weird not to be there (I am in fact a control freak and like to be hands on) but Anita managed well to heat and serve the food.

Tuesday I was with the ladies from the ICA Grenagh for their annual BBQ at Ena's house. A pity that most of the ladies weren't too keen on tasting the wine but the few who did, enjoyed it. All took the little brochure I made home with them - so hopefully they try some more wine.

And ever since I am busy finalising the entries for the Grow Bake Cook Award which I am so excited about. We got some really nice entries and the award ceremony will be a blast as we got bread from Arbutus and wine from Bubble Brothers - both have supported the award immensely. Hope to see some of you at the Feasta Market on Sunday where we will be doing the tasting and judging.

But of course I still had time to have some lovely wine myself. You remember that I got this 12 bottle strong delivery from Curious Wines the other day and had 2 more bottles of the wine. One was the Paarl Heights from South Africa (2008), a dry not too heavy full berry flavoured rose which was nice on its own (and I was even on my own and finished the bottle after I done my weeding duty in the garden) and when Anita came yesterday we were able to finish a bottle of Quinta El Refugio Toro 2007 - a Spanish rose which is more girlie than the Paarl Heights and the Trempanillo grape brings out the strawberry flavour which of course makes it a doodle to drink with a girlie chat. So far, I had 3 wines from the delivery (3 more to go) and I am pleasantly surprised. None of the wines int he box are over €10 which makes it a giggle to buy even when not on offer.

So that's me for now....