Get your ice-cream fix from a shiny van in Dún Laoghaire

Cafollas on the Pier is a new addition to Dún Laoghaire pier in south Co Dublin. The trailer is open seven days, 8am-9pm, serving coffee, ice cream, sandwiches and confectionery. Soft-serve ice cream in a variety of flavours, with 17 toppings, six syrups and seven sauces, can be ordered as sundaes, cones, tubs and waffle baskets, as a post-walk treat. Coffee is by Two Fifty Square, if you need a little boost to start you on your way. There are also weekly artisan sandwich specials such as the Chicken Chorizo, with chipotle chicken, chorizo, roasted plum tomatoes, avocado and lime aioli and rocket on sourdough.

Sole extends its opening hours

Seven-day opening for restaurants is an increasingly rare scenario, as anyone looking for a reservation on a Monday or Tuesday night may have noticed. But Sole Seafood and Grill on South William Street in Dublin 2 recently extended its opening hours to include dinner Monday to Sunday, as well as lunch at the weekends.

Chef Richie Wilson who is culinary director for both Sole and Fire Steakhouse & Bar on Dawson Street, believes the move will offer staff a better work-life balance, as rostered weekend leave will be possible, rather than having set days off during the week. Sole recently launched a new spring cocktail list, created by newly appointed beverage manager Jilian Voicu.

Airfield Estate market

Airfield Estate in Dundrum, Dublin 14, hosts a social enterprise market today, Sunday, May 15th. Goods and services from local social enterprises will be on sale, and there will be workshops and talks from a panel of speakers including Irish Times consumer affairs correspondent Conor Pope and FoodCloud founder Aoibheann O'Brien. "Airfield Estate is a social enterprise which aims to encourage people to get to know their food," said Claire Mac Evilly, chief executive of Airfield Estate, who will host the panel discussions. The market will run 9.30am-4pm.

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Home-cooking without the stress

Jolene Cox’s Family Cooking Club, a spin-off from her One Yummy Mummy blog, website and cookery books, is an extension of her mission to make family home cooking more accessible. Tackling rising food and energy costs head on, the new online subscription service aims to inspire and enable home cooks to cook well, without stress, and save money while doing so.

Maynooth University’s MSc of Design Innovation students partnered with Cox in a research project that showed that time pressures and lack of inspiration were the two main stresses families faced in relation to cooking meals at home.

Meal planning and budgeting tools and tips, new video content every week including easy recipes using everyday ingredients, weekly Zoom cookalong classes, and child-friendly initiatives to get younger family members cooking, are included in the package. Subscriptions to the Family Cooking Club cost €10 per month, or €100 annual membership. oneyummymummy.com.

Best Irish cream

Micil Connemara Irish Cream was recently named the best Irish cream at the World Liqueur Awards 2022, just six months after its release on the market. The liqueur, made to a family recipe, is poitín-based, and is inspired by a recipe used by the grandmother of brothers Pádraic and Jimín Ó Griallais, sixth-generation Connemara poitín distillers. The liqueur (RRP €29) is available online at micildistillery.com, and from branches of O'Briens and independent off-licences nationwide.