Oddsocks Revival in Whelan's

We're here at Whelan's Front Bar on Wexford Street at an Oddsocks Revival gig and the funk soul vibe is filtering through the crowd.

There's no lead singer in Oddsocks; Michael Conefrey on bass seems to take on the bluesy tracks, Luke Mercer is in middle in a floral shirt and Anthony Mannion with the grungy look going on is in his own place and getting lost in the moment. Not to forget those often overlooked in bands, drummer Eoghan O'Kelly.
Anthony tells us they'll sing us a couple of numbers from Willie Dixie, an obvious influence but it's the move then from blues to funk that really brings them back to life - this is their forte. An unusual enough sound in a twenty-something band these days but one that I really love.

A good funk sound with other covers by The Band, Crosby Stills and Nash sounding harmonies and Rory Gallagher, their influences are obviously wide but they have their own sound as shown by their album It's Time, lyric master being Anthony Mannion. Oddsocks Revival- look them up!
www.oddsocksrevival.com
www.myspace.com/oddsocksrevival

Book Signing No Show or Fashionably Late?

Well, yesterday I was in town for a book signing to meet the authors. Out of respect, from this point all parties shall remain nameless. I arrive early in order to judge the interest in a new gen book by a relatively unknown author. The table is set up and roped off; a few customers stop and pick up the books to look at then wander off. There's nowhere to sit and wait - Eason's O'Connell Street isn't one of those bookshops that encourages sitting on a comfy chair to peruse a book but I am interested in the large central area set aside for Kindles and book downloads. Along with the virtual bookshop at Connolly station Eason's are really embracing new book technology.

I wait at the coffee shop at the back of the shop. It's an awkward time, 6pm on a Thursday night, for a teenage book signing so we'll see what happens. There's no sign of activity yet, oh the life of a touring author-will anyone turn up. Wasn't there some cringing story about less than thirty people turning up for Tess Daly's signing in Dublin a couple of years ago? Poor Tess. The market for teenage fiction or new gen is enormous. A whole new genre has been created where the previous generation jumped straight from Enid Blyton's Famous Five and Frances Hodgson Burnett's Little Princess straight onto Wuthering Heights, Flashman or books pinched illicitly off their parents bookshelves such as Erica Jong's Fear of Flying. Heaven forbid!
 Enid Blyton's Books
Well, it's twenty past six, there's no-one at the desk telling people that the authors are held up or on the way, in fact there's no sign of life at all. I make a decision to leave - did they arrive? Fashionably late? I'll never know.
 (Who cares? I did.)
 

Derry-In Lonely Planet Top Ten Cities

Congratulations to the City of Derry in getting listed by Lonely Planet guidebook in 4th place in its Best in Travel 2013.

With its chequered past it would have been on the bottom of most peoples 'places to visit' list for many years, but this has all changed in recent years and being nominated City of Culture for 2013 has helped it along the way.

The only completely walled city  in Ireland has museums, St.Columb's cathedral, a Guildhall, the Foyle River and what is described as "a vibrant arts scene." Lonely Planet described Derry as an example of a city bouncing back from difficult times.

The other cities listed by Lonely Planet were;
1. San Francisco
2. Amsterdam
3. Hyderabad, India.
4.Derry
5. Beijing
6. Christchurch, New Zealand
7. Hobart, Australia
8. Montreal
9. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
10. Puerto Ignazu, Argentina

http://www.derryvisitor.com/

Eason's Virtual Bookshop at Connolly Station, Dublin.

Everyone in Dublin seems to be talking about this cool new virtual bookshop that has popped up on Connolly Station.

It looks great. First trialled in South Korea, there are QR codes on the picture of each book for you to scan with your phone which directs you to a Facebook page, add your credit card details and the book is dispatched within five days. I wonder how successful it will be, and would you use it? Why not just go to the bookshop and get the book? But maybe there's not one on your route in and out of work or as the press report said  you "don't have time to tackle the queues." When I saw it first I presumed it was for Kindle, some kind of scan and instant download. Open until Christmas with hopes to expand, I'll look out for feedback and report back.

Cakes for a Booklover

How amazing are these? I want them, I want them!

I don't know if I'd want to eat them or just look at them. Found on the Art and Literature facebok page, I hope you think they are as cool as I do.

Book Review: 'The Crocodile by the Door' - Selina Guinness

A lot of advice is given to new writers and the one that you hear the most often is "write about what you know." And this is exactly what Selina Guinness, an editor and lecturer in Dun Laoghaire Institute has done. The Crocodile by the Door; The story of a house, a farm and a family tells the story of her move to  with her partner to Tibradden, a run-down and dilapidated country house in the South Dublin Mountains owned by her elderly bachelor uncle and all the events that ensued. The beautiful cover has a gentrified feel about it and the sepia tinted photos and letters on the back beckon the reader in to find out more about Selina Guinness's story.

It's 2007. A house with a view of Dublin from the south,built on land traced back for several generations and land purchases for new house development on a rampage. A requisition of land for a nearby golf course is being negotiated and custodianship of the house has been passed to Selina. Swayed to sell by the enormous sums offered and the opportunity to restore the house, she feels a responsibility to the land and its history and a need to protect it. Telling her story from arrival in May 2002 to a house seemingly unchanged from her childhood, through the months and years as she was appointed ownership of the house by trustees on her uncle's death in 2004. Her trials with the farm through the five years bring us back to the prologue. Moving on to July 2011 to update the story and to an epilogue dated "April 2012."

The title rather exotically refers to a crocodile sitting on a marble-topped chest inside the front door, shot by her great grandfather's brother in Persia - sending the head to a taxidermist in London to be turned into a letterbox. She tells of her conventional suburban upbringing, lunching in Tibradden on Sundays, her parents' early separation, unusual enough in 80s Ireland and her mother's move into art dealership. Selina's refusal to board at secondary school led to her move to Tibradden to live with her teacher uncle and English-born grandmother. Living in their own world, her grandmother and uncle carry on their lives as they always have, with cook, maid, The Archers on Radio 4 and Erin packet soup served in bone china for dinner.

Her move to the house again as an adult carries touching descriptions of her uncles obvious need for company and his effort to "spruce himself up", but Selina sees through the front to the sellotaped glasses and food stains on his clothes. She moves into a house with one three pin socket (the rest are the original round ones from wiring done in 1939), no white goods or mains water supply-just a gravity fed system from the stream. A great clear out follows, clothes are sold to The Abbey Theatre and minor renovations are done. County development planners visit and Selina fears for her uncle's financial struggle's as well as the threat from burglars and poachers. With her uncle's declining health and hospitalisation we are made privy to an old man's fears of his niece's future and his own imminent demise.

But this book is not about an old man's death. It is the memoir of a woman who felt a familial hold on a house and its land and who by recounting the experiences of just five years of her life manages to interweave a whole history. It is a touching insight into the life led by the post-war generation with a "make do and mend" approach to life, a record of the experience of dealing with big developers- sure to go down in Ireland's history as a sorry affair, and a tale of a woman drawn back to a place and a need to do what's right by it.

The Crocodile by the Door is published by Penguin Ireland.
http://www.penguin.ie/

2012 National Irish Food Awards/Blas na hEireann

I love to read the winners and runners up of the National Irish Food Awards/Blas na hEireann because it takes you into shops you wouldn't normally visit and encourages you to try new foods. One of the things I love is it gets over the 'snob' attitude to the value supermarkets as they have won awards for their own brand foods in the past. (Advance warning- this is a long list; advance at your own peril! You may need to extend your grocery budget with the anticipation of new purchases!)


Awards were given as follows (some omitted);
Grand Champion- Una's Pies; Chicken, Leek & Sweetcorn
Best Artisan Producer-Big Red Kitchen
Best New Product-Ballymooney Foods; Rack of Wild Venison
Best Emerging Kerry Producer- Sasta Sausages
Most Innovative Product- Gallagher's Bakery; Plain Soda Bread (innovative??)
Seafood Innovation- Breizon Teo; Surf n Turf Smoked Scallops and Black Pudding
Best in Farmers Markets- Una's Pies, Skellig Pantry, The Green Apron, Butler's Ice Cream, Sasta     Sausages


In the individual category awards (order gold, silver, bronze);
Chocolates Individual
The Chocolate Garden of Ireland; Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Truffles
Lough Derg Chocolate; Lime Truffles
Gallagher's Chocolates; Mixed Chocolate Box
Chocolate Bars
Gallagher's Chocolate; Cacao Dark 70%
Lough Derg Chocolate; Chocolate and Orange Chocolate Bar
Lorge; Dark Chocolate and Raspberry Bars
Confectionery
The Cake Stand; Chocolate Macaron
The Jelly Bean Factory: 36 Jelly Bean Mix
Blackthorn Foods: Fudge Fondue
Puddings and Desserts
Couverture Desserts; Supreme Desserts Selection for Supervalu
Hunts Bakery; Toblerone Cheesecake
Couverture Desserts; Billionaires Dessert for Supervalu

Sauces and Dips
Big Red Kitchen; Raspberry Dessert Sauce
Bryan Lynch; Sweet Chilli Mayo
BBQ Joes; BBQ Joes Original BBQ Sauce

Yogurts
Irish  Yogurt; Premium Canadian Blueberry for Lidl
Irish Yogurt; PremiumSpanish Lemon Curd fro Lidl
Irish Yogurt; Duneen West Cork Indulgence Toffee for Lidl
Dairy
Irish Yogurts; Creme Fraiche
Milleeven Foods; Trad. Irish Brandy Butter
Glenstal Foods; Glenstal Irish Creamery Butter
Ice Cream
Butlers Ice Cream; Cookie Ice Cream (Supercookies)
Silver Pail; Caramel Fudge for Aldi
Rossmore Farmhouse; Raspberry Sorbet

Cheese Soft
Ardrahan Cheese Simply Better
(joint silver)Fivemiletown Creamery natural Goats Cheese for Supervalu/Gubbeen; Wash Rind Gubbeen for Tesco
Cooleeney; Simply Better Gortnamona
Cheese Hard
(joint gold)Tullyboy farmhouse goats cheese/Coolea mature
Blubell Falls mature orion
Castlemary goats milk cheddar
Cheese Cheddar
Cahills Ballintubber Cheddar with Garlic and herbs
Bandon supreme cheddar for Supervalu
Cahills Balintubber Cheddar with chives
Cheese Blue
Wicklow Farmhouse; Wicklow Blue cheese for Tesco
Glyde; Finest Bellingham Blue cheese for Tesco
J.L.Grubb; Cashel Blue cheese for Tesco

Sausages
AIBP; Jumbo pork sausages for Superquinn
Mallons; Supreme traditional for Supervalu
Mallons; Supreme Cumberland for Supervalu
Black Pudding
Caherbeg Freerange Black Pudding
Sasta Sausages Black Pudding
McCarthy's of Kanturk Queen Style
White Pudding
O'Brien Foods; Simply Better White Pudding for Dunnes Stores
Olhausen White Pudding for Lidl
Granby White pudding 80 year old recipe


Cured meats,charcuterie & bacon
Oakpark; Drycure smoked bacon loin for Aldi
O'Brien; Wiltshire ham on bone for Supervalu
Glenaine; Angus Spice Beef for Horgan's
Bacon
Callan Smoked back bacon joint for Lidl
Callan Unsmoked back bacon joint for Lidl
Ballon Meats bacon steaks
Pork
Kepak; Pork rack with sage and bramley apple butter for Supervalu
Oliver Carty; Smoked Pork Loin Roast for Supervalu
Tendermeats Mexican Pork Chops
Beef
APB; Sup.Qual. Irish Hereford Fillet Steak for Superquinn
APB Cahir; Select cuts fillet steaks for Aldi
Tendermeats ltd; Fillet steak
Poultry
Silver Hill; Crispy roast half duck with pancakes for Lidl
Carton; part boned Chicken breast garlic kievs for Supervalu
Carton; Tendercrunch chicken breast chunks
Lamb
Kepak; Stuffed rack of lamb with redcurrant for Supervalu
Irish Country meats; Wicklow lamb rump steaks for Aldi
(joint bronze)Jerry Kennedy ; Dingle Peninsula rack of lamb/Hilton foods; finest lamb shanks

Seafood
Breizon; Window to the sea cooked and peeled prawn tails
Breizon; Window to the sea whole cooked prawns
Good Fish Co; Monkfish with lemon and garlic marinade for Tesco
Pate
The Smugglers Inn; Chicken liver pate
(joint silver) Skellig Pantry; chicken liver/ Carrygerry House;chicken liver
Ballyhoura; wild and oyster mushrom pate
Savoury Pies
Una's pies; chicken leek and cheese
Una's Pies; roast veg with goat cheese and chorizo
Una's pies; chicken green thai curry
Soups
Carrygerry House; creamy seafood chowder
The Good fish company; seafood chowder
Just Food; organic tomato and basil pesto soup

Sourdough Bread
Cloughjordan bakery; white sourdough boule
Cloughjordan bakery; rosemary and olive oilsourdough
Billy's bakery; wholemeal wheat and rye sourdough
Soda bread
Larkins bakery; Cranberry and orange zest soda
Larkins bakery; apricot,sultana and multiseed wholemeal soda
O hArtagain pure bread;  poppy seed white soda
Yeast Bread
M and D bakery; The Blaa
Ryan Arbutus; Seeded brown yeast bread
Ryan Arbutus; Seeded white yeast bread
Barmbrack
Sean Stafford; Halloween barm brack for Lidl
Larkins bakery; low-fat spelt tea brack
Seery's bakery; tea brack for Lidl
Other breads & Rolls
Panelto; Tuscan bread
Ryans Arbutus; ciabatta pave
Cloughjordan bakery; ciabatta

Ready meals and prepared food-hot
Donnybrook Fair fish pie
Country Crest supreme mash with carrot and turnip for Supervalu
McArdle creamy garlic potatoes
Ready meals and prepared food-cold
Glorious sushi; large mixed platter
Glorious sushi; six maki mix platter
Sushi King; salmon of knowledge

Dietary specific
The foods of Athenry; gluten free flapjack 'the works'
Tasty Parlour; gluten free bakewell slice
Tasty parlour; gluten free coffee and walnut cake
Breakfast cereals
The Different dairy company; rumblers oat clusters with raspberry and yogurt
Sheaffoods; arbo granola
Virginia health; linseed crunch with cranberry and almond for Lidl

Spirits and Liquers
Castlebrand; Clontarf classic blend Irish whiskey triple distilled for Lidl
Terra; Deluxe Irish cream liqueur for Lidl
Robert Merry; Merry's Irish cream Liqueur
Non-alcoholic drinks
Organic for Us; wholemilk
Adare farm; fresh milk
Sunshine Juice; Trad; lemonade for Aldi
Beers
Franciscan Well; Rebel red ale
Carlow Brewing; O'Shea's Irish Stout for Aldi
Carlow brewing; O'Shea's Irish ale for Aldi
Ciders
Dj's juice and cider; Tempted strawberry
Bulmers; Taurus Irish cider for Aldi
Stonewell medium dry cider
Teas
Bewleys original blend
Punjana; Thompson's family teas Titanic
Bewleys Irish afternoon tea

Oils/seasonings/dressings
David Llewellyn Irish balsamic cider vinegar
Newgrange gold; Garden herb cold pressed rapeseed oil
The Green apron Italian butter mix
Pickles and chutney/relish
Follains fire roasted pepper relish
The Scullery; Irish country tomato relish for Lidl
Ballyhoura marinated Shiitake mushrooms
Preserves
The Green apron  apricot, orange and almond conserve
The Green apron chocolate and raspberry preserve
Abbey farm raspberry preserve
Honey/spreads
Big Red kitchen lemon curd
Healy's honey; honey for Supervalu
Chocolate garden of Ireland luxury chocolate and hazelnut spread
Llewellyn's orchard
Cakes
Fusco; Belgian chocolate cake
Just desserts; Raspberry ladyfingers cake
Seerys; luxury lemon cake for Lidl
Christmas cake/puddings
Seerys; supreme pudding for Supervalu
The Foods of Athenry; Luxury pudding for Superquinn
Coffee Domain; Medium rich, very moist Christmas pudding
Biscuits
Cloudberry bakery; luxury Guinness brownie
Gookies Triple choc chip cookie dough
Kooky dough choc chip

Savoury snacks
Christie's celtic kitchen black pepper and salt oat cakes
Just Nuts New York nuts
Detox retox Primal crackers- sea salt
Crisps
Keogh's Shamrock and sour cream
Keogh's Dubliner Irish cheese and onion
(joint bronze) O'Donnell Irish Cider vinegar and sea salt/O'Donnell mature Irish cheese and red onion

Ready-mix cake/bread
Angel foods Chocolate brownie
Cathys spelt for health flapjack spelt mix
Gem pack; Sowans organic gluten free brownie mix
New products
Ballymooney rack of wild venison
Ballyhoura Irish cherries in mulled apple syrup
Tom Durcan cooked sliced spiced beef.

If you've made it this far congratulations! What a list- and  a good number from Supervalu and Lidl. I for one will be trying out a good few of those newly awarded products. Congratulations to all the winners and keep up the good work of producing great Irish food.