Compiled by Marie-Claire Digby
Celestial seasonings
Fancy salts - or finishing salts as they're sometimes called - are very much in vogue at the moment, with everything from Halen Môn smoked salt, to Himalayan pink salt, jostling with Maldon for prime position. Some of these are good to cook with, as well as for adding a final flourish, and the Pai Kin Khao range at the Saba To Go foodstore in Dublin 6, will spice up your European as well as your Oriental cooking. The orange peel version - fleur de sel with orange peel and oil, five-spice and coriander leaves and seeds - jumped out as being a perfect partner for roast duck or pan-fried duck breasts.
The name of the range, which is imported from Thailand, comes from the traditional Thai invitation to eat. "When it's time to eat, Thais say 'Pai-kin-khao', literally 'go eat rice', even when the meal doesn't include a single grain of khao, or rice," says Saba executive chef Taweesak Trakoolwattana.
The flavoured salt range also includes lime, lemongrass, sweet basil and sesame, and the rather stylish 150g jar, with chunky wooden top, costs €10. There are also seasoning mixes, including spicy seaweed, sesame, and five-spice. Saba To Go also sells the curry pastes, oils, noodles and rice used by chefs in its restaurant in Clarendon Street, Dublin 2, as well as ready-to-eat curries, noodles and wok dishes, made on the premises. The shop, at 13 Rathgar Road, is open from 3pm to 11pm seven days a week. See www.sabatogo.com.
Back to school
Take the drudgery out of school lunchbox preparation forever. Sounds good? Carambolakidz.com is a Limerick-based company that delivers sandwich lunches, chosen from a menu devised by a nutritionist, to children in school.
The company, run by Colm O'Brien, currently delivers to schools in most counties south of an imaginary line between Galway and Drogheda, with Sligo being added next month. Lunch costs €2 per day, for a sandwich, a drink and a piece of fruit, with a healthy snack option for an additional 60c.
Choices can be changed online, even on a daily basis, and the lunches are delivered in labelled and sealed bags, before the first break of the school day. Parents can register online at www.carambolakidz.com or by phone (1850-466348).
We want one of those . . .
This stylish Kenwood mixer isn't as chunky as the traditional models, and with its clean lines, and eye-catching raspberry red or almond cream trim, it might just stay out on a worktop rather than being shoved in a cupboard. The chunky handle is a useful design feature, too. It costs €499.95 from the cookshop at Cooks Academy (www.cooksacademy.com), with a Kmix hand blender worth €149.95 included free of charge, while stocks last. Delivery anywhere in Ireland costs €9.50.
WEB WATCH
www.davidlebovitz.com
David Lebovitz is an American, Chez Panisse-trained chef and food writer, specialising in desserts. He has been living in Paris for the past six years, and his website has an extensive recipe collection (in Imperial measures rather than US cups), as well as a blog that's never boring: "I had planned to write up my post-Thanksgiving report, but I decided to wait until the smoke cleared before I tell The Tale of what really happened that night . . .which involved a high-speed car chase through Paris." Oh la la. His blog is currently running a series on "Five Great Places in Paris That You Might Not Know About", that you won't want to miss.