Marie-Claire Digby with some food related news
Book in now for Waterford festival
Put a big red line around April 17th-19th in your diary as the date for the Waterford Festival of Food, which is based in the seaside town of Dungarvan. Local food luminaries Paul Flynn of the Tannery Restaurant and Cookery School, chef Martijn Kajuiter of the Cliff House Hotel; Kevin Dundon of Dunbrody House and Eunice Power of Powersfield House will be demonstrating their skills in Dungarvan Town Hall on Saturday, April 18th.
Young cooks are invited to participate in a cake decoration workshop, learn about making butter and honey, and take part in a table quiz about food. Other guest speakers will include Ballymaloe’s Darina Allen; Peter Ward of Country Choice in Nenagh, Michael Kelly of the Waterford Food Producers’ Network, and Fiona Crowe, who will talk about the recession-busting business of breeding and rearing hens. The town centre’s Grattan Square will be closed to traffic on Sunday, April 18th, to facilitate a mammoth country market and hog roast. See www.waterfordfestivaloffood.ie or tel: 058-21104.
Adult Flowers
Sisters Emily Webster and Sara Hehir of the Cocoabean don’t just make chocolate – they are alchemists who dream up exotic flavour combinations and package them in cute, colourfully wrapped bars. Jane Powers is extolling the merits of growing your own chillies overleaf, but if you can’t wait that long, pick up a bar of Cocoabean’s new dark chocolate bar with chilli and pink peppercorns. Their gin and tonic chocolate bar, made with lime zest and juniper berries, is another winner from the inventive duo – who are currently working on a way to replicate the fizz of the real thing. “Previous experiments (including sherbet and popping candy) created too much of a novelty effect and affected the taste. But we have discovered that a finely ground powder of dried Persian limes adds a sweet and sour lime flavour along with a delicious tingling sensation,” says Emily, who is currently touring chocolate shops across Europe in a camper van, in search of inspiration. You can buy the bars online (€3.50), see www.cocoabeanchocolates.com, or from good delis and sweet shops.
Kitchens of the future
Industrial design students Fiachra Kinch and Helen Nic Giolla Rua were awarded the National College of Art Design/Miele Kitchen of the Future honours for their invention – the Soma – which is a wall-mounted kitchen energy monitor and appliance manager. It works by supplying detailed information on just how much energy individual appliances are using, allowing greater control of energy usage. Energy rates, costs, cycle times and estimated carbon emissions are updated on a personalised touch display, so you know just how much it cost to bake that cake, or do a long-cycle wash. The remote control operation could allow you to, for example, make use of night-time tariffs to slow-cook a stew, or do a load of laundry. Anything that tackles rocketing energy costs sounds like a good idea, and architect Duncan Stewart, who judged the competition, believes this device has a real future: “The Soma is the brains of your home. The smart-meter idea engages all areas of the house, saving up to 30 per cent of energy use.” The Soma is still at the concept stage, but it certainly sounds like a clever idea.