It's a human BLAA! Giant and on legs (search this site for blaa if you don't know what I am talking about :)
I think I am only just recovering from an intense work hard / play hard week, recently at home in Ireland. Irish people know how to party, no surer thing, but we are also handy with a stove and we can make lots of delicious things like fine cheeses, great beer and lots more. Some fantastic food and drink was served up over the 3 day festival.
Highlights were:
Angela Hartnett at The Tannery: a really fun evening, and actually the first time I got to try Angela’s food. I loved the wild garlic suppli and parmesan fritters and the stellar desserts.
Angela Hartnett at The Tannery menu
Wild garlic suppli
Our Brewer, Blogger & Baker pop up, where three of us took over the local civic offices and converted it to a restaurant. No small feat. We fed and watered 80 people. There was live music, and both Eunice and I contributed to the menu using exclusively local ingredients (where possible). Claire of Dungarvan Brewing Company looked after the guests and made sure they had enough to drink, including a cocktail, her beerini.
POP UP! :)
Bacon jam for the guests on arrival
Local smoked salmon and potato cakes with pickled cucumber from my book, Comfort & Spice, to start
Eunice's beef with wild garlic aioli
Chocolate Mouse with Honeycomb, from my book Comfort & Spice for dessert
The Farmer’s Market on Sunday is always a terrific event. The whole square is rammed with producers and people enjoying it, with live music and lots of chatter.
Farmer's Market - Piggy Blaa!
Busy at market
The Surf & Turf Demo with Paul Flynn and Martin Shanahan was a fun event, with Paul and Martin cooking up turf and surf, in that order. I am all about the turf so Paul’s dish which included two of my favourite things black pudding and chorizo was a winner for me. They are filming at the moment and I believe the show will be on tv on this side of the water too, I will let you know when to look out for it.
Surf & Turf: Paul Flynn & Martin Shanahan rope in Ireland's Masterchef judges as commis chefs
Voting time! Surf or Turf?
I stayed with my culinary partner in crime, Eunice Power at Powersfield House. I stayed there last year too. It is a beautiful small guest house with a cracking breakfast and comes highly recommended from me.
Further details on Waterford Festival of Food are available on their site. I highly recommend it for next year. It is one of the least commercial food festivals that I have ever been to (it reminds me a lot of wonderful Abergavenny in Wales), and is a lovely expression of the area, which is also my home, and I am very proud of it.
Sounds like a great time, but hectic, I’m quite jealous. GG
Niamh, I have it on good authority from 2 different friends that yours and Eunice’s meal was outstanding. They were quite disappointed with Angela’s however.