Triona O Callaghan  on December 6, 2005

Conor, just stumbled across your website! Too long to read as its nearly midnight and we’ve a bit night ahead of us tomorrow with school christmas play……..
Ive finished our website, can you review it and critizise it, constructively of course! Looking forward to your comments, Triona O Callaghan, 3rd and 4th class teacher

conor  on December 7, 2005

Hi Triona,

Web-site is very good. Nice and simple the way it should be!

I’ll Blog it so it gets picked up by the search-engines.

It might be nice at some point in the future to allow some sort of guest book or something more advanced to allow visitors (or ex-pupils) register the fact that they have visited.

The clustrmaps thing on my blog is a neat way of allowing everyone to see where other visitors are coming from. it is trivial to add ( Clustr Maps )

Frappr (Simple Frappr for Conor ) is great as it allows people to add push-pins to a map showing where they are (and add comments on it). Unfortunately the map of Ireland is rubbish (despite Google Europe being based here!) so it is not very usable for us yet.

Anthony Creswell  on December 8, 2005

Hi Conor,
Couldn’t help but stumble on your blog this morning! Hope you enjoyed the rashers for breakfast! 15 - 30 seconds under a hot grill and that’s all! Talking about fat, I bought a couple of organic pigs a couple of years ago and the fat was something else! Remember that the flavour is in the fat, not the lean. The Italians store the fat in marble boxes with salt and rosemary for several months, slice it very thin and serve on a piece of hot toast. That’s something else!!
Anthony

conor  on December 8, 2005

Now I’m really hungry!

I have your rashers set aside for my Saturday breakfast treat this weekend. I’ll report back on the taste.

Last night I used some lardons from Gubbeen and they were amazing. Even the smell of the aromatics on opening the packet was fantastic.

That’s it, now I have to go for lunch.

conor  on December 9, 2005

Actually Anthony, where is best to get your smoked eel? I have never spotted it in any of the shops. I’m interested in trying it as I have never eaten eel and I’m assuming it is as good as your smoked salmon and smoked chicken.

Anthony Creswell  on December 9, 2005

Conor, small pack of fillet of eel left for you at Urru’s 30 minutes ago; ask Ruth for it!

conor  on December 9, 2005

Thanks Anthony, that’s absolutely brilliant!

I can’t wait to try it out - I’ll pop in on the way home this evening.

Oh this is definitely going to be a tasty weekend.

conor  on December 9, 2005

Anthony, I got the smoked eel on the way home from Ruth.

I’ve scoured all my Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall books and Sophie Grigson’s “Fish”. They both agree that the best way to have it is cold with horseradish, brown bread and lemon. Do you have any other interesting alternatives?

I’ll be trying it out either Saturday or Sunday. Thanks again.

I think this has highlighted a very interesting aspect of blogs which I am about to write a separate posting on.

Anthony Creswell  on December 10, 2005

Conor,
I’d probably agree with both Hugh and Sophie, but go easy on the horseradish and the lemon! My own preference, as with smoked salmon, is just by itself; no pepper, capers, lemon juice or other additions; I would go for brown soda bread with unsalted butter as well! However, there is no doubt that some smoked salmon needs “improving” with extra flavours!

My advice is to try the smoked eel by itself, and then make your own decisions as to what might go well - and try it! Then let me know!!

Intrigued by your last comment and let me know where I can read your thoughts. I might skype you at some stage to discuss.
Enjoy!

Conor’s Bandon Blog » Irish food producers and the Cluetrain Manifesto  on December 13, 2005

[...] The reason I mention all of this is due to a simple thing which happened last week. I blogged about Ummera Smoked Rashers; Anthony Creswell, who owns Ummera, spotted the blog and posted a reply. A few messages passed back and forth and I mentioned that I had never spotted their smoked eel in any of the shops. What does Anthony do? He drops a pack into Urru (a local gourmet food shop which stocks his smoked chicken and salmon)! I was gobsmacked. [...]