Monday, February 28, 2005

Good News!

I love the increased availability of locally produced food on sale through farmers markets. Bord Bia has produced a listing of markets by county.Their site is also great for info on how to buy direct from producers. 2 ways to bypass the supermarkets.

The recipes are great too...and I can tell you from experience, that they're well thought out, fairly easy and delicious.

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Happy New Year....


Happy Chinese New Year!
It's the year of the rooster, so all of you born in 1969 are in for a year of good fortune and prosperity. I'm a dog, but I have a good inside track with a rooster ...now there's a thing you'd find hard to explain out of context.

Nice to see the celebrations here in Dublin and the interest in Chinese traditions, when not that long ago all most people in Ireland knew about anything Chinese was imitation sweet and sour chicken. I really can't abide the plastic in gloop that still passes for food from a lot of Chinese restaurants in Dublin; feels like a joke at our expense. The first time I saw some Chinese people at a nearby table order from a completely different menu as I struggled with my stringy chow mein, I knew there was an inside track.
My friend's husband Ron, with his Chinese heritage, gave us some inspiration with a dim sum lunch locally some years ago, and while I 've had some great stuff since, I'm still ignorant when it comes to the huge scope & range of Asian food. I still love to eat with someone who knows what they're at so I don't feel like I'm stuck with the tourist menu. Lots of real Chinese food to check out this week.

My favourite short film last year was Daniel O'Hara's Yu Ming Is Anim Dom produced 'as gaeilge' with TG4 and Filmbase, and it's being shown as part of the 5 day festival at Collins Barracks...really funny and sensitive film.

Sunday, February 06, 2005

Supermarkets

I am increasingly frustrated with the way that supermarkets display their pricing. Having a price per kilo or per item price posted but no price stickers on stuff makes it very difficult to keep track of how much I'm spending, even though I shop from a list. For some reason, I don't get much from the bar code...it it just me??
I find 'price per kilo' useful when comparing the relative cost of things, but most of the time, I find myself scanning around the shelves, looking for where the price is displayed, often getting fed up and chucking the stupid thing in the trolley anyway- which I'm sure is the idea.