COOKING WITH CLASS:Whatever the reason - entertaining at home as a recessionary measure, increasing interest in knowing what's in our food, the growing popularity of "food TV" - cookery schools in Ireland are going forth and multiplying at a fierce rate.
TV cook and author Clodagh McKenna (above) is launching a series of classes at The Village at Lyons Cookery School in Co Kildare in June. McKenna, who has returned to live in Ireland after four years in Italy, will share her wealth of experience in Mediterranean cooking in a series of one-, two- and three-day classes, costing from €90. Pasta and salads, Spanish tapas, barbecue cooking and Italian summer feasts will be popular options, and the classes will be hands-on. The full schedule is available at villageatlyons.com.
Maggie Lynch, creative director of the Soul Food Co, a private catering company based in Killiney, Co Dublin, also runs some very practical classes. "Twenty meals in 20 minutes" is a four-week course on Wednesday evenings (7.30pm-9.30pm), starting on April 28th. Breaking reliance on ready meals and takeaways is the aim of this course, and you could easily save the €200 fee by learning how to put your own, much healthier and tastier, quick suppers on the table in just 20 minutes. See soulfoodco.ie, or telephone 01-2814039 for details.
Learning to cook in a professional kitchen is always a big draw, and the package put together by the Beacon Hotel in Sandyford, Co Dublin, is very attractive. Chef San runs the hotel's My Thai restaurant, and a three-hour Thai food class with him, plus dinner and one night's bed and breakfast, is on offer for €110 per person sharing. A cocktail-making class at Crystal Bar can be included for a further €8.50. The next class takes place on Saturday, May 8th. See thebeacon.com, or telephone 01-2915000.
Kenmare chocolatier Benoit Lorge is one of the attractions at the cookery school at Inish Beg, a private island estate off Baltimore in Co Cork, which offers some very luxurious self-catering accommodation. Lorge will be teaching a two-day chocolate course on May 15th and 16th. Next weekend, chef Chris Hedges is in the kitchen at Inish Beg, running a two-day programme called "Fabulous Food for Forks and Fingers". See inishbeg.com, or telephone 028-21745.
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Foodies . . . get thee to Dungarvan this weekend where the Waterford Festival of Food is in full swing. There is a huge variety of free and ticketed activities to choose from, and the full programme can be explored at waterfordfestivaloffood.com
SUGAR AND SPICE
The Dublin Sugarcraft Guild, whose members are makers of extravangantly iced and decorated cakes, is staging an exhibition at the Stillorgan Park hotel in Dublin tomorrow from 1pm-5pm. There will be wedding and novelty cakes to admire, competition winners to inspire, and trade stands selling the latest sugarcraft tools and equipment. Admission is €5 (children free). If the bug bites, get your hands on Bake and Decorate (right), a lovely new book by Fiona Cairns (Quadrille, £19.99).
WEB WATCH
9beanrow.com
Aerospace lawyer Seáneen Sullivan was born to an Irish family in the Swan Valley in Western Australia, and moved to Ireland in 2006, "because Australia is just so far away from everything".
Last summer, she started her blog, winner of best newcomer at the recent Irish Blog Awards, "mainly to capture the stories behind the food, the anecdotes that give life to a meal," she says. Sullivan's excellent food photography bring her words alive, even though she says she works with "a bashed up, cantankerous, eight-year-old Olympus."
ON THE TRAIL OF GOOD FOOD IN KILKENNY
Kilkenny city and county are known for their wonderful craft workers - jewellers, potters, glass-blowers and artists. They're also home to a cosmopolitan community of artisan food producers, excellent cafes, and award-winning restaurants, who have banded together to form the Kilkenny Food Trail. The idea is that you can pick up a copy of the food trail guide and map, and plot a gloriously gluttonous path around the county. The guide and map are available from tourist offices, hotels, B&Bs and online at trailkilkenny.ie.
Food producers such as Goatsbridge Trout Farm, Lavistown gourmet sausages and Knockdrinna farmhouse cheese, will welcome visitors to their premises (always best to telephone before dropping in), and there will be lots of pit stops highlighted on the map for when a reviving cup of coffee, light lunch or more substantial dinner are called for. On the way, you can also visit the county's many craft workers, who have their own craft trail guide.
Pictured are Kilkenny Food Trail members Jackie Hoyne (above) in her Blackberry Café in Thomastown, and William Keogh (below), of Keogh's Model Bakery in Callan.
RAMP IT UP
Café Rua in Castlebar, Co Mayo, which was recently nominated as "deli of the month" and profiled in the UK Food and Travel magazine, is staging a "Wild Garlic Weekender" in both Rua (Spencer Street) and Café Rua (New Antrim Street), this weekend. "It is nothing more than an excuse to shout about one of our favourite ingredients of the year. We'll have delicious wild garlic mayo and pesto available to buy and sample in the Spencer Street deli, and wild garlic and potato soup, fritatta with St Tola goat's cheese and wild garlic, and chicken wrapped in Gubbeen bacon and wild garlic on the menu in the cafes," says proprietor Aran McMahon.
See caferua.com
