Conor’s Bandon Blog

Just as I start grumping that there is nothing on the telly, a chunk of genius appears in the shape of Oz Clarke and James May with “Oz and James’ Big Wine Adventure” (Wednesdays 8pm BBC2). I used to watch Oz and Jilly for laughs back in the old Food and Drink days. They were so off the wall I don’t think I ever learned anything. James is of course Captain Slow on Top Gear and knows absolutely nothing about wine. The pair of them head off on a tour of France in a Jag XJS so Oz can teach James all about wine.

Sure it’s a standard “Odd Couple” bickering idea but it works soooo well. James is a big kid and Oz is desperately pompous so the sparks fly constantly. The scene of the two of them in disposable thongs getting into a bath of grape extract together at a Wine Spa is indelibly burned on my brain.

I’m of the James persuasion. He wants to learn enough to be able to buy good bottles of £5.99 French wine in his supermarket. Poor Oz wants to “educate” him. The word terroir hasn’t come up yet but it’s bound to at which point James will blow his whistle called the Ozillator to stop Oz being a wine bore.

James makes some wine by crushing grapes with a dirty hoe, adding sugar and yeast and leaving it in the boot of the car for a week. He then does a taste test of three wines including his own at a French Market. One poor muppet picks James’ as the best!

At Château Pichon-Longueville-Comtesse-de-Lalande I was reminded why Aussie wine with “Shiraz” on the bottle sells better. C’mon, that name’s up there with Tarquin Lim Tim Bim Fim Bim Ole Ftang Ftang Biscuit Barrel. They went into the cellars with Grand Dame Madame May-Elaine de Lencquesaing and discussed ancient wine. James was chomping at the bit “but they are just looking at it, what’s the point of that?”. Madame showed wines from 1817 and 1940. No mention of how they managed to make wine in 1940, cough, don’t mention the war, cough.

But the absolute highlight of the programme was the taste test they did at Château Pichon-Baron, in front of one of the wine industry’s biggest players, Englishman Christian Seely. They gave James three wines to get his opinion of their bouquet. The first was a young white bordeaux which should have peaches, apricots etc. James sniffed, thought, sniffed again and came up with “Dope”. If the ground could have swallowed Oz whole. Next up a £120 Grand Cru which should have smelled of blackcurrants. James interpretation of this – “Trebor Fruit Salad”. Ozes face was frozen in horror. And finally, another Red which should smell of tobacco. James does much better on this “Bonfire, BBQ sausage, Pork”. Oz looks ready to kill him, Then magically “and a hint of Virginia tobacco”. Hurrah, reputation recovered.

Very very funny TV but Oz is failing in one area that James himself mentions several times and that is in the actual education about wine. Oz is so obsessed with the culture and history he forgets simple things – like what grape is white bordeaux made from? I had to Google it as my knowledge of French wines stretches from Sancerre to Pouilly Fumé which is a distance of approximately 400 yards on the Loire I think. Ah, it’s also Sauvignon Blanc with some Semillion and other optionals. Might give that a go.

If you want a giggle and to learn a bit about wine in the process, you cannot miss this programme.

Technorati Tags: Oz+and+James+Big+Wine+Adventure, Oz+Clarke, James+May

Catherine discovered Haydn and Roos’ latest blog yesterday, it is called One Breast Less and I don’t think I need to tell you what it is about. This is a shockingly good blog with a raw honesty that caught me off-guard but is a mandatory read if you have any interest in health, illness and recovery.

My granny had a mastectomy due to breast cancer and my aunt has just finished a course of radium so I’ll be reading closely. It is blogs like One Breast Less that remind you what a powerful medium blogging really is, one which allows you to get to the heart of a subject without ever needing to think about a publisher or demographics.

Haydn’s recent writing has got me thinking (but not doing yet) a lot about diet. As soon as Catherine is getting a decent nights sleep we’ll switch back to the healthy us as we usually do after each baby. I’ll be using a lot of the information on The Diet Cast and My Diet Friends for that.

Technorati Tags: One+Breast+Less, OneBreastLess, Cancer, Haydn+Shaughnessy, The+Diet+Cast, My+Diet+Friends

I set-up the Bandon Farmer’s Market Blog quite a while back. Progress has been slow with getting vendors to use it and I think this is mainly due to them not being familiar at all with [a] blogging and [b] the idea that they can write something and it appears immediately. I’ve learned a lot in trying to get one or two people set up on it. The main lesson was that if you are not web-savvy, many things which seem obvious to me can actually be insurmountable hurdles to others.

I set the blog up on wordpress.com but to be honest, Matt, Donncha and the boys need to make the whole sign-up process far more slick and user-friendly for non-techies. Simple things like the Terms and Conditions page threw some people. I never read those pages and always just tick the box but some users were clicking on the link, getting freaked out by the legalese and not going any further. The whole group blog sign-up is just wayyy to clunky for non-techies.

In any case, we should have Di Curtin, one of the organisers, motoring on it very soon. Anthony from Ummera has been the main contributor to date and Cork Coffee Roasters have signed up but not posted yet. I hope bit by bit that the other vendors start making use of it.

Check it out and subscribe to the RSS feed or email updates if you want to keep abreast of what’s happening in the market. I encourage all readers of the blog to post comments and questions on it to extend the conversation beyond Saturday mornings!

This is the first set of photos taken just after she was born. Better quality ones with a real camera coming later today. A little cutie despite being a bit mushed. First night went well despite her fantastic lungs which she’ll need in this house.

Oscar, Oisín, Sibeál….Fionn and Síofra the bayyy-bee. Síofra Ann Catherine O’Neill born at 17.07 and weighing 8lbs 6oz. She’s a beauty! All in tip top form. Pictures to follow later.

Pethedine in. Some relief. Long morning.

We’re in the bons. Prosta on. Strong twinges already. Expect action by lunch time but my gut says sooner. Lovely mid wife. All in all, much more efficient and calmer story than the last time. More as it happens.

With all apologies for total copyright infringement, here are scans of the front and back of the menu I picked up in the awesome new Real Gourmet Burger place in Portlaoise. According to their temporary web-site they also have a place in Dun Laoghaire.

Click on these thumbnails for more detailed pictures.

Front:

Back:

Technorati Tags: Real+Gourmet+Burger, Portlaoise, Menu

I saw the first episode of Heston’s cookery series on TV this evening. He simultaneously tickled my foodie and engineering fancies with some of the things he showed. He deconstructed the classic Black Forest Gateau, found out what the real essence of it was and then rebuilt it using some awesome techniques.

Watching him aerate chocolate using a Tupperware container, a vacuum-bag for storing clothes and a vacuum cleaner was a 2006 TV highlight for me.

Before I die I want to eat once in The Fat Duck and once in elBulli. This new business had better work out or that’ll remain a dream!