Early Birds

The other day I went with Caz to Cafe Paradiso at around 5:45 which I thought was quite early for dinner. I wanted to go as I wanted to see how the restaurant was made up again after the floods earlier this year.

Putting the interior aside (it looks still lovely), I was more enticed by the early bird offer. 2 courses for €24 or 3 for €30. Considering that a normal main course is already €24 on its own, I was deadly impressed. The portions were the same as the late dinner and of course all tasted yummy. Had the Jerusalem Artichoke Soup and Beetroot Risotto.

Anyhow this got me thinking (first of all, still with no job I am always looking for bargains) which other restaurants are out there who offer such a great deal......and will you believe it, I found a website called earlybirds.ie . At the moment it only covers Dublin and Cork (but since I live in Cork, I am not really bothered) and it is not complete but it gives you the price, number of courses and the opening hours. Thanks for the guys who put in the work to publish this great site.

Curious Wine Blog

Linda (our new club member) passed a newsletter on to me the other day from Curious Wines as they are having an open wine tasting (yesterday's post) and of course I browsed through their website and their blog. The blog is managed by Matt Kane. His postings are fun to read and the information given is clear enough to be understood even by me :-). His posts 'Wine for Dummies' is great fun and stuffed with helpful advise. Have a browse around.

The shop itself is run by Michael and Matt Kane. Their website is clean and simple to read and everything is easy to find. Delivery is free but you have to order 12 bottles to get it delivered. The shop is located in Bandon (Unit 26, Bypass Business Park, The Bypass, Bandon, Tel. 023 43898)

I haven't been in touch with them yet, but I will attend the wine tasting in May (and of course, write about it). So watch this space.

Wine Tasting with Curious Wines

Discover everyday drinking treasures with Curious Wines Recession Busters. In the third of our public tastings we'll be showing a selection of our best value wines, designed for everyday drinking without breaking the bank. These are wines to match the supermarkets on price, but knock their pants off on taste!

Places are strictly limited, so please book now to avoid disappointment. Tickets €15.

Order your ticket here .

Thanks Linda for the link.

Gadget Website

In one of the magazines I read every month (foodie ones) I got a little brochure for a mail order service called Useful Stuff . They have lots of gadgets like Smokers in different sizes for smoking food at home. The brochure even had a recipe for smoked salmon in it. I never smoked any food (although it is not very difficult if you know how to) as I am not so keen on smoked flavours.

They even sell a portable BBQ for when you go to the beach...not that we will be heading to be beach any time soon considering the weather forecast for the delightful price of £ 97....

They also have a French Fry Express. The last time I saw that I was at a gentle age of 11 (my dad loves freshly made chips and we had one of these....and the good news.....they do deliver to Ireland (just contact them first for the delivery costs as they are not stated on the website)

Have fun browsing through the site ;-)

New Gadgets for Wine & Food

I love gadgets..not that I buy many of them (mostly received as gifts - always welcome ;-) but I still love them. So while browsing (yes, I do actual work) through the infinity of the web, I came across www.hammacher.com and found these 'little handy things'. Don't they look cool ....

1. The Inverted Wine Decanter. This decanter allows you to remove the sediment from and increase the surface area of your favorite bottle of red wine by pouring it over a glass globe that rests on a mesh filter into a suspended glass receptable, resulting in wine that has been properly exposed to oxygen. When poured over the 31/2" diam. hand-blown Romanian glass globe, wine is both agitated and its surface area is increased by 381/2" sq., releasing its bouquet and softening its tannins. The stainless steel mesh filter screens out sediment and cork residue, and will not infuse the wine with odors or tastes. The receptacle has a stainless steel lever-spigot operated by pressure from the upthrust rim of a glass, allowing you to pour wine without touching the decanter. The decanter is suspended by a powder-coated wrought-iron frame that rests on a sturdy metal and Italian marble base.



2. The Oenophile's Personal Winery.This is the automated home winery that vinifies up to four cases of wine using traditional winemaking techniques combined with modern oenological technology, conducting the entire post-harvest process in its stainless steel chamber, cold soaking, pressing, and fermenting the grapes, and aging the wine for six to twelve months (or less, depending on personal preference). Immediately following harvest, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are crushed, frozen, and sent to your home, ensuring your vintage is made using only the finest premium grapes. The system automatically monitors the entire winemaking process including fermentation, Brix (grape sugar level), and temperature, and wirelessly transmits the information to a PC, allowing you to log, graph, and analyze the information using the included software, ensuring optimal conditions for your preferred wine taste. It prompts you when to smell and taste the fermenting must or press down the grape skins, and the software has easy-to-follow instructions, offering techniques to produce vintages with specific characteristics from bold and fruity to delicate and silky, and the software's interface allows you to share winemaking tips and results with a global community of fellow users. The wine maker automatically controls the fermentation heat and the aging temperature using thermoelectric heating and cooling, and the grape press automatically lifts the grape pomace out of the basin, ensuring ease of clean up.


3. The Tumbling Vacuum Marinator.Winner of Popular Science Magazine's Best of What's New Award in Home Technology, this marinator creates a vacuum inside the barrel that causes the food's fibers to stretch and become porous, while paddles inside of the rotating barrel flip and coat the food with marinade. Unlike conventional techniques that only flavor the surface and require 24 hours of marinating for thick cuts of meat, the automated marinator infuses restaurant-quality flavor and succulence into a 5-lb. brisket in less than 20 minutes, while using half the amount of marinade required for pan or bag soaking. Using the same technology to facilitate tenderization that the food industry has applied for 30 years, the marinator allows meat, fish or vegetables to absorb up to 20% of their weight in marinade without extended preparation. Barrel holds up to 5-lbs. of food and is dishwasher safe.

Make your own Cookbook

TasteBook.com is offering a recipe-sharing-service. You can store recipes and share them with your friends. The cool part is that you can have a proper cookbook printed with the recipes you have collected. It looks really professional and you can personalise the lot. Bad news is that the shipping from the States is almost as much as the book itself (book = $19.95 for 25 recipes, $29.95 for 50 recipes, $34.95 for 100 recipes, shipping $21.75 per book). You don't have to choose the recipes straight away, you can order them time after time and add them to the book. The book got a hard cover and you can personalise it with your own photographs and titles. I think it is a nice - although pricey - idea to pass on old family recipes in a complete book. Watch the introduction

Wine & Dine

The Sunday Times Wine Club has launched its new Wine & Dine dinner party series in November 2007 which is available exclusively on Times Online (don't know how I could have missed that).
The six-part video series is hosted by wine expert and broadcaster Peter Richards who, with his extensive wine knowledge, brings the programmes to life. Matching a wonderful selection of wines with mouthwatering food, Peter educates the dinner party guests on which wine varietals are most suited to enhance the flavours of the food they are eating.
Each week, Peter runs through a different course and provide some great tips for you to enjoy at home. Watch the Video

Wine & Flirting in Dublin

Combining wine tastings with a dating agency....what a combination. Wine Daters in Dublin are offering speed dating with a difference. Events are held in bars and restaurants, up to 12 potential matches are 'on the menu' as well as 6 different wines. Wine can also be ordered to discount prices on the same night.....what more does a single girl want... check out www.winedaters.ie for more info....tickets costs €40 and you can order the tickets online.

New Foodie Website

On the search for some new recipes I came across this website from RTE. http://www.rte.ie/food/ . They have a big library for videos from baking bread to Salad Nicoise.

Let me know if you come across any interesting food websites...(I know already about Delia Smith, Martha Stewart and Good Food ;-)...