Thursday, August 27, 2015

One Pot Roast Italian Chicken

Sometimes, myself and Little Sis make what we call Emergency Dinners.  They usually include stuff in the bottom of the fridge and freezer that needs to be used up and they give surprisingly delicious results.  One of these is my messy, lazy one pot roast Italian Chicken because it can be assembled in minutes, gets thrown into the oven in just one dish and is crammed full of Italian flavours.  Oh, and very little washing up.  Thought you'd like that.



Friday, August 21, 2015

Eve's Pudding

Something I hanker after is a fruit tree or three in my garden.  At this time of year, apple trees are heavy with delicious fruit and there's so many wonderful things you can make.  I'm very lucky to have generous friends with apple trees who share their bounty with me and at the moment I'm working my way through about 6kg of apples which I helped my friend Fiona to pick from her tree last week.  One use is my Hit The Floor cake as we're off to Killarney this weekend for another end of summer BBQ and my entrance fee is a giant cake, apparently.



Sunday, August 16, 2015

Travel : Sailing to France with Irish Ferries

Holidays abroad.  Usually a mad panic to cram everything you possess into a 10kg bag and a teeny tiny plastic bag that can barely accommodate two lipsticks and a mascara and long queues through security.  Not for us though.  We love bringing the car (also lovingly known as the Mobile Wine Machine), throwing all the stuff in the boot and heading for Rosslare.  Minimal queuing, a nice comfy bed and no baggage restrictions, what's not to love?

Passports at the ready

Thursday, August 6, 2015

This Weekend - The Harbour Hopster Fest

As a native of the lovely seaside town of Bray in Co. Wicklow (also the birthplace of other luminaries like Dara O'Briain and Katie Taylor), one of my favourite places for a drink is the The Harbour Bar.  Tucked away under the railway bridge and overlooking the harbour, it's always been a little out of the way from the busy seafront but a hidden gem.  If the pub could talk, I'd be running into witness protection as it's been the venue for many happy and slightly inebriated occasions over the years.  At one stage, it would have been simpler to have my wages paid directly to the pub as I was never out of the place!  Time passes and we've both moved on, me out of Bray as house prices rose out of my reach, and the Harbour from the O'Toole family to new owners who have transformed it from a shabby, cosy, "we only do crisps and bacon fries" old pub to a equally shabby & cosy pub with great bands, food and beer.


Sunday, August 2, 2015

Coconut Lime Iced Loaf Cake

In the day job, I do quite a bit of work with a really brilliant photographer called Harry Weir and his handsome assistant Brian.  We've found that long days pass even more quickly with liberal helpings of cake.  As neither of the lads are bakers, just eaters, the job of making the food falls to me.  I had a session booked with them last week and the first thing I heard after the date was confirmed was "what are you going to bake for us".  Presumptous pups. At the same time, my colleague Dawn is about to go on maternity leave.  The cry of her pregnancy has been "baby needs cake" and her favourite is my Citrus Coconut but I wanted to make it a little more zingy and informal, so I turned it into a loaf. ramped up the flavour with lots of lime and made a lime glacé icing for the top.


We scoffed half of it over breakfast at the studio and I have it on good authority that the rest was saved for a road trip breakfast the following day.