The O'Brien Press- The Mammy by Brendan O'Carroll, Winning a Losing Battle by Gary Kirwan and Food For Friends by Edward Hayden

O'Brien Press have some very nice books out at the moment. The first is an ole favourite. Brendan O'Carroll's The Mammy was first published in 1994 and has been in constant print ever since. In a new edition and reprinted four times in 2012 this book was the inspiration behind his TV series Mrs Brown's Boys.


The Mammy of the title is Agnes Brown, Moore Street trader, mother of seven and wife to Redser Browne in Dublin in the late 1960s. How she copes when Redser dies is told here in this ever popular book.

Gary Kirwan gained lots of attention in his battle to lose weight through the radio coverage on The Ray D'Arcy Show. From Limerick, Gary Kirwan had contacted the show because no scales would take his weight. Weighed live on air on Ray's 'Fix it Friday' he was 41 stone and 3 pounds. This was the start of his attempt to do something about it.
     

His story and transformation has been followed on the show and has been an inspiration to others. In his determination to help others who have struggled like himself he has written about his experiences and tips on training and nutrition in Winning A Losing Battle: From 41 Stone to a New Life. His book tells of how he has managed to lose fifteen stone, as well as completing the Dublin City Marathon twice, triathlons and returning to college.

The final book is due out at the end of the month. Food for Friends is by Edward Hayden, who appears regularly on TV3's Ireland AM as well as in cookery columns in  Woman's Way. This book is about entertaining, in every way, with chapter titles: Brilliant Brunches, Home-Baking Essentials, Children's Birthday Party, Sizzling Summer Barbecues, Summer Salads, Informal Suppers, Food For Romance, Movie Night In, Dinner Party, Big Occasions and Here Comes Santa Claus.

It's a really nice looking book and well laid out. For anyone who entertains regularly or who puts together kids parties or casual barbecue meals, there are loads of great ideas and recipes here. None of them are too complicated because who wants to spend ages in the kitchen or fret over a tricky dish when they are entertaining but having all these suggestions in one book is always a great help. I regularly refer to Nigella Lawson's Feast for entertaining ideas and this book has a similar approach.

Particularly lovely photos that caught my eye were the Chocolate and hazelnut biscotti, Pesto and sundried tomato bread, Potato salad with pesto, pine nuts and smoked bacon, Moroccan couscous and the Mixed grill skewers.

With Edward Hayden's smiling face on the cover this is a book that would make a great present for the young cook starting out on the entertaining path or for anyone at all who likes cooking for friends.

www.obrien.co.uk

Hennessy Literary Awards 2013

On Tuesday of this week the Hennessy Literary Awards were announced. The overall winner for the New Irish Writer Award was Jessica Traynor. The ceremony was held in the French Ambassador's residence in Dublin.

 Jessica Traynor
Jessica works in the literary department of the Abbey Theatre. Her honour was given for two poems, 'Aubade' and 'Ebay auction for antique jewellery'.

The winner of the Emerging Fiction category was John O'Donnell for his short story 'Shelley' and the First Fiction Award went to Ruth Quinlan for her short story 'The Healing'.

Dermot Healy, novelist and poet, was inducted into the Hennessy Literary Awards Hall of Fame.

Pulitzer Prize 2013 Announced

The 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been won by Adam Johnson for The Orphan Master's Son. 



Following on from the controversial decision last year not to award a prize for fiction, this years choice is particularly interesting as it is set in North Korea, which is much in the news at present. The Pulitzer is considered to be the US's most prestigious literary prize and the other fiction finalists were both excellent - What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander and The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey.

Adam Johnson, a Stanford associate professor reminded us in his interview that it was illegal for North Korean citizens to interact with foreigners and his only way to interact with them was through his imagination. The Pulitzer web page describes it as " an exquisitely crafted novel that carries the reader on an adventuresome journey into the depths of totalitarian North Korea and into the most intimate spaces of the human heart." (http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2013-Fiction)

Eden in Temple Bar - Half Price!!

So come on now - which one of you out there was keeping this secret from me? Eden Restaurant on Meeting House Square is re-launching itself as Nede from Tuesday 7th May. To celebrate this, all food, day and night, until Sunday May 5th is HALF PRICE!!! Yes, you read that correctly!

Two new chefs are coming on board as part of the re-launch and as a way of saying goodbye to the old menu and their seventeen years as Eden they are having the special half price menu. It's a grand gesture and I am booked in to take full advantage.


The full menu is served 12-3pm and 5pm till close.
The menu on the website is:

APPETISERS

COMPLIMENTARY SELECTION OF EDEN BAKED BREADS

MIXED STUFFED OLIVES €3

TODAYS SOUP €5

EDEN SMOKIES Smoked haddock with spring onion, cherry tomato,crème fraiche & melted cheddar cheese, €8

SELECTION OF MEATS Duck pastrami, ham hock terrine, chicken liver mousse& piccalilli €8

CASTLETOWNBERE CRAB SALAD With curried aioli, beetroot concasse & wasabi caviar  €8

CORIANDER FALAFEL With green pepper & apple relish and lemon tahini sauce €7

MAIN COURSES

TODAYS CATCH (market price)

POTATO & BASIL FILO PARCEL Served with caponata & a red pepper dressing €11.50

PAN ROASTED IRISH CORNFED CHICKEN  With a warm mixed bean, chorizo & rocket salad and coriander creme fraiche. €18

PANFRIED FILLET OF 7oz PRIME IRISH BEEF With homemade chips, roast red onion, green beans & peppercorn sauce €29

BRAISED PORK BELLY With pea champ, red onion marmalade, caramelized apples & a calvados jus €17

LAMB TAGINE With couscous, green beans, almonds & mint yoghurt.€18

SIDES

Portobello Mushroom with garlic butter €4

Homemade Fries & aioli €4

Today’s Vegetables €3

Eden Mashed Potato €3

Eden Garden Salad €4

Mixed Green Salad €3

Books of note; July 2013 to year end.

So, what will the end of the year in publishing hold for us. Not wanting to wish the year away of course, and yet the pre-release news of new novels tends to project one forward without realising it.

The summer months of July and August reserved by many for beach reads bring new releases by Rawi Hage and Margaret Atwood.
 

From the author of the great De Niro's Game, Hage's new novel Carnival follows a taxi driver and his 'carnival' of passengers. MaddAddam is the final part in Atwood's trilogy (Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood) with a small number of survivors after a plague in a dystopian world.

September's autumnal releases bring Stephen King, Roddy Doyle, Iain Pears and Jonathan Coe - treats indeed.

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King follows little Danny from The Shining now all grown up. Following this theme, Roddy Doyle's The Guts follows Jimmy Rabbite of The Commitments, now forty-seven.  Iain Pears new novel Arcadia is described as "a multi layered story of history and time...it has been conceived and written for digital publication"(Faber).
Expo 58 by the talented Jonathan Coe is set  in London in 1958 and the Brussels World Fair.

New Bridget Jones by Helen Fielding is due for release in October. Set in London of today Bridget is in a new life phase. There is also a new James Bond novel due for release written by William Boyd. The title is as yet still a secret but we know it is set in 1969.

November brings the Samuel Johnson prize in non-fiction. Also the 100th anniversary of the birth of Albert Camus so time for re-releases of all his works. Whether the 50th anniversary of the death of Aldous Huxley brings any re-releases remains to be seen.