THE SOCIAL NETWORK:It was hard to know which was more stylish on Wednesday evening: the glamorous guest list at Amy Huberman's I Wished for You book launch or the cocktails and tapas served at the newly opened Damson Diner.
Brothers Marc and Conor Bereen with Oisín Davis are behind the new Asian-American diner on South William Street. The brothers’ other venture, Coppinger Row, is a roaring success; Davis has a passion for cocktails and has been rumoured to go foraging in Merrion Square for berries to infuse his vodka.
Huberman, who is pregnant, looked stunning in a navy dress and thanked her husband, Brian O’Driscoll, for his support.
The rugby crew were out in force, with Gordon D’Arcy and his wife, Aoife, in attendance, along with Leo Cullen and Rob Kearney. O’Driscoll said he was halfway through the book and that his wife kept asking him what bits he was laughing at while reading it at home.
The Huberman family were very proud, and Amy’s parents, Sandra and Harold, and her brothers Paul, a property manager, and Mark, an actor, were there along with family friends.
The actor Hugh O’Conor was gearing up to begin filming with Amy next week on John Butler’s new film, The Stag. It follows a group of friends on a stag party, with the Sherlock star Andrew Scott in the main role and Huberman as the bride-to-be.
The world of publishing was well represented. David Maybury was congratulated on his new position as editor of Penguin Ireland’s children’s division, Puffin.
He said he loved children’s literature because he “never grew up.” He was there with Carrie Anderson, Deanna Ortiz and Caoilfhionn Fay.
Phil Twomey of Penguin and David O’Callaghan of Eason were getting ready for the launch of the new Wimpy Kid book, which they predicted will be a sure-fire Christmas hit.
These bookish sources said political memoirs, erotic fiction and cookbooks were doing well.
So anyone looking for a quick buck coming into the festive season could do worse than pen an erotic, political memoir with recipes at the back. And ask Huberman and Damson Diner how to launch it in style. -
Meadhbh McHugh
Season's eatings
Christmas came early at Marks & Spencer on Grafton Street in Dublin with a festive mince-pie party on Thursday evening.
Clement Ryan of Dublin Institute of Technology lobbied Carmel Breheny of MS to open a store in Kilkenny. His friend Ian Mulvaney asked if the company was opening at a site in Ranelagh, in Dublin. Breheny denied the rumour.
Ross Golden Bannon of Food Wine Magazine approved of MS's new mince pies. Norah Casey was huddled in a corner with her fellow Dragons' Den star Bobby Kerr. Casey was looking forward to the Irish Tatler Woman of the Year Awards at the Four Seasons this evening.
Guests walked away with four mince pies, truffles and a poinsettia.
Who we spotted Alan Hughes; Jo Jordan of Dublin Housewives; Xposé presenter Karen Koster; Brendan O'Loughlin from 98fm and Riyadh Khalaf of Spin 1038 -
James Gibbons
Operation celebration: presidential parties all around town
It didn't matter whether you were Republican or Democrat on Tuesday night: there were election-related parties all around town until the early hours. Leviathan held a political cabaret at the Sugar Club, on Leeson Street, where there was booing, cheering and pizza. Abie Philbin Bowman, a panellist, said it was his "World Cup, but the difference is, this matters".
It was mainly Obama fans, apart from John McGuirk. The host and frontman of the Late Late Show band, Paddy Cullivan, set the tone, saying, "I'm not coming down on any side except Obama's."
His colleague Ryan Tubridy dropped in with his brother Garrett, and the Fair City writer Carl Austin said he wouldn't be returning to his hometown of Los Angeles if he didn't get an Obama result. He was there with his wife, the comedian Tara Flynn, and the writer John Moynes.
Over at Guinness Storehouse a slightly more formal evening was under way, with the US embassy's election party at the Gravity Bar. It was an all-American event, with Starbucks, hot dogs, nachos, candy and live music from a 1940s-style harmony trio, The Bugle Babes.
Obama's distant cousin Henry Healy was the centre of attention when he arrived with Canon Stephen Neill and his wife, Nicola. Neill discovered the presidential link to the midlands clan after a phone call from Salt Lake City a few years ago.
Members of the theatre community were out in force: Dublin Theatre Festival's artistic director, Willie White, was well recovered from the recent festival and already travelling extensively looking for work for next year's programme.
Fishamble's Jim Culleton was there with his wife, Clodagh O'Donoghue, after a successful US run of Silent by Pat Kinevane, which returns to LA after Thanksgiving. He said Jean Kennedy Smith, a former US ambassador to Ireland, has asked Fishamble to be involved in next year's celebration of the 50th anniversary of President John F Kennedy's visit to Ireland. -
Meadhbh McHugh
Tackles, treatments and tutus at the Shelbourne
The Ireland rugby team will soon be able to take ballet classes, as part of their membership of the Shelbourne's new spa. At its opening on Wednesday the hotel's general manager, Stephen Hanley, revealed that the team have signed up to the new club.
The party was something of a family affair for one of the hotel's owners, John Sweeney, and his wife, Treena. Their son, James, is an assistant manager of conference and banqueting at the Shelbourne.
Marietta Doran said she was busy organising the Oireachtas Christmas Charity Fashion Show, at the Shelbourne on November 27th. Fine Gael TD Nicky McFadden was diagnosed with motor neuron disease this year; proceeds on the night will go to the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association. The show will feature senators Mark Daly, Mary White and John Crown.
Who we spotted The model Ruth Griffin and her sister Stephanie; Sinéad Desmond of Ireland AM; Sen Paul Coghlan. -
James Gibbons
Remembering the days of racing planes on ponies
A charming children's book, Cherry's Farm, by the late Cherry Brandon was launched at the Stephen's Green Hibernian Club on Monday evening. Brandon, who died in 2007, was an artist who collaborated with the designer Giorgio Armani.
The book was the last project she worked on; her daughter, Faith Ponsonby, thought it important to have it published. Ponsonby said her mother used to organise pony parties in the old rectory in Celbridge where the family lived.
The vice-president of the RDS and editor of the Irish Farmers Journal, Matt Dempsey, reminisced about attending the parties as a boy, with another family friend, Judy Barry. Her father, Darby Kennedy, owned Weston Aerodrome.
"We used to race the planes on our ponies and then arrive up to the rectory, where my mother would have homemade rosettes and chocolate ice-cream cakes," said Ponsonby, who is now an international three-day eventing judge. -
James Gibbons