Gerry Galvin of Drimcong House, near Moycullen in Co Galway, will be hosting a new series of his cookery classes this autumn.
Two separate, four-day Gourmet Demonstration Courses run from Tuesday, November 3rd to Friday, November 6th, and from Tuesday, November 10th to Friday, November 13th, and in addition to seeing Galvin work his wizardry, the classes will feature a tutored cheese tasting, an overview of organic gardening given by Tina Kessler, and lunch each day. Participants receive a certificate and a copy of Galvin's book, Everyday Gourmet. The fee is £300.
There will also be a series of one-day demonstration courses on Vegetarian Cooking and dinner-party cooking in November. Full details from 091 555115.
Music to savour
Could there be anything nicer for an evening's entertainment than 30 or 40 minutes of fine music played by fine musicians, followed by an eight-course tasting menu, especially when the tasting menu is cooked by Danette O'Connell, luminary chef of Danette's Feast, at Urglin Glebe, just outside Carlow?
The new autumn season of concerts and tasting menus began on September 25th with guitarist Mark Anthony McGrath, and on October 16th, just before his debut solo recital at the NCH, Finghin Collins will be the performer - a terrific chance to hear one of Ireland's leading young musicians in an intimate setting.
Violinist Therese Timoney plays on Friday, November 27th, and on Friday, December 18th, Aisling Drury-Byrne will present a programme of cello works. The mood changes for New Year's Eve, when Aontas will ring out the old and ring in the new. Prices for the musical evenings and the tasting menus are £35 (£40 for New Year's Eve, which includes a glass of bubbly), and as numbers are limited booking well in advance is advisable.
Danette's Feast, Urglin Glebe, Bennekerry, Co Carlow, tel: 0503 40817.
It's a hill wind
More than 50 Irish restaurants are involved in a new, An Bord Bia promotion aimed at concentrating our minds and tastebuds on the excellence and uniqueness of Irish mountain lamb. While the famous Connemara lamb has long been a regional speciality in the west, it is usually available only for a short time each year and rarely gets beyond Connemara. Bord Bia is concentrating, instead, on lambs produced in areas which are part of the REPS (Rural Environment Protection Scheme), where lack of pesticides and insecticides means they feed on organic hill grasses, which gives them a special flavour.
The restaurants taking part are scattered all around the country, from Danette's Feast in Co Carlow (see above), to Bon Appetit in Malahide, to the Beginish in Dingle, to Dunbrody Country House in Arthurstown, Co Wexford. Look out for the table cards the restaurants will be displaying.