Archive for September, 2007
Politics In Ireland site re-vamp
Posted on September 15, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Ireland, Politics.
The updated Irish Politics site is now live. This is a tremendous resource for anyone interested in what people on the ground are writing about politics here.
It is a site that watches for any blog posts that mention a TD’s name and provides a summary of that post on the site. It is party neutral and is in no way partisan.
Those with blogs can add a widget which displays the latest politics posts on their own blog sidebar. Of course readers can now subscribe by email to get all the latest posts.
1 Comment
Cully & Sully Scale Everest
Posted on September 13, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Cork, Food.
Well not quite but they did get to Nepal. In Sully’s own words
If you would like to see Cully & Sully in action (and have a good laugh) tune into RTE 1 at 22.45 tonight.
There will be a half hour programme about our recent trip roughing it in Nepal whilst attempting to assist a women’s cooperative – you’ll get a flavour of my truly amazing negotiation skills and Cul’s cooking under pressure!!!!!
If you are not familiar with their soups and ready meals, check them out the next time you don’t feel like cooking. We are fans.
1 Comment
Review of Nigella Express
Posted on September 11, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Bandon.
After the Christmas debacle I didn’t think Nigella Lawson could sink any lower. I was wrong.
I decided last Christmas that I was never again watching or buying anything that Nigella Lawson did after her horrendous TV series. The fake family scenes recorded during the summer were just ridiculous. But I’m a sucker for punishment and just finished watching an episode of her new series which is all about cooking quickly, a theme which has been done a thousand times. Oh how I wish I’d watched the rest of “Crisis At Jimmy’s Farm” instead. There is just one word to describe this series - “fake”. From the getting out of bed to the frankly objectionable scenes with her poor children, nothing about it is real. Whoever advises her, whoever produced this and whoever directed it need to find new careers because this rubbish is one step below Big Brother. As someone who is currently grossly overweight I will also happily comment on her weight. A huge part of her popularity has been the come-hither nonsense and hair flicking. I’m sorry but that just doesn’t work any more when you are heading into Demis Roussos Kaftan territory. But what about the food? A mix of good and bad. I object to any show which is about cooking and uses Thai curry pastes. What is the difference between using them and saying “empty a jar of Dolmio Bolognese sauce over the mince”? The steak and white bean mash was a variation on an Avoca recipe we use all the time. The Avoca one is nicer but I’d still recommend what Nigella did. I liked the idea of the chickpeas and rocket with chorizo and scallops as it includes a lot of things I like but when it was dished up it looked terribly dry. Caroline Bibliocook’s chickpea, spinach, tomato and chorizo dish is far superior and we use it all the time. Caroline’s dish is also great for feeding veggies as you just cook off the chorizo separately. Dreadful dreadful TV but with the possibility of an acceptable spin-off book where the food can sing and the claptrap is minimised.
Rated /5 on Sep 11 2007 by Conor O’Neill
Rate this review or write your own at LouderVoice
58 Comments
Irish Immigration Control is a Disgrace
Posted on September 7, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Ireland.
Today I am embarassed to be Irish. I wish to extend my apologies and those of all reasonable people in this country to Keola Donaghy and his family.
Keola, who is from Hawaii, arrived earlier today in Dublin with his family to begin his doctoral studies in UCC. He had been assured by the Gardaí in Cork and by UCC that there was no issue with him coming. He has spent months preparing for this move.
At immigration today in the Airport he was told that he could enter but his family could not. Students cannot come with dependents! Keloa declined to break up his family and they will all soon be on a plane back to New York. Many attempts have been made by people today to keep them in the country but to no avail.
I am disgusted by this. Keola has been communicating with many of us in the Irish blogosphere and twittersphere over the past few months. We were all looking forward to meeting him and welcoming him to Ireland. Instead a bunch of people who are answerable to almost no-one decided he didn’t fit some nonsense arbitrary criteria.
Ignoring the general issue of immigration control, the fact that we block ANY American coming here is a farce. We would still be scrabbling for rotting potatoes in muck if it wasn’t for the kindness of the USA and its citizens over the past 160 years. We should shake the hand of every Yank who comes through immigration control in Dublin or Shannon and thank them for letting us go to the US in our thousands.
I don’t know what we can do about this considering that immigration is effectively run by a cabal of bureaucrats whose powers far exceed any that should be acceptable in a democracy. Whoever is responsible for the sort of bullshit terms and conditions which led to Keola heading home needs to change them now! Or was that person thrown out in the last election?
If you know of anything that can be done to remove this stain on our character, please do so.
In addition, whoever in UCC or the Gardaí is responsible for this horrendous error should be removed from that role immediately.
Once again Keola, my apologies for this, those involved should all be ashamed of themselves.
42 Comments
Clonakilty International Guitarfest
Posted on September 7, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Cork, Entertainment, Ireland.
Ray in deBarras in Clon mailed me to tell me about the Guitarfest starting on September 20th. I’m glad he did since it looks fantastic. Lots of details on their very cool site. MySpacers should check them out here.
The line-up has a very rich mix of styles but the one that caught my eye has to be Eric Bell, the Thin Lizzy founding member who is responsible for the classic Whiskey in the Jar!
If you are anywhere near West Cork from 20th-23rd, you owe it to yourself to get to Clon.
1 Comment
Charity photography exhibit in Mallow
Posted on September 7, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Cork, Ireland.
Via Donncha - Mallow Camera Club will be exhibiting a number of photos in Mallow Town Library for three weeks starting yesterday.
One of the Club’s members, Sean Riordan, is heading out to South Africa shortly as part of a group from the Niall Mellon Township Trust helping to build homes for the poor in that country. All the photos on exhibit will be for sale with all profits going to help fund Sean’s trip and the good work he’ll do in November.
This is a very worthy cause so if you can make it at all, please head up there and buy some pictures.
No Comments
Elevenses
Posted on September 4, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Food, Gardening.
From the garden.
Yummmm.
5 Comments
Review of McCarthy’s Maize Maze
Posted on September 2, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Bandon.
A wonderful way to spend a few hours with the kids when the weather is good. Enjoyable for young and old, local or tourist.
Recently Anthony Creswell of Ummera mentioned a maze down near Kilbrittain in the comments of my blog. We had some visitors down from Dublin over the weekend and decided to give it a go on Saturday. I couldn’t find the address of Rathclaren on the map but we headed towards Kilbrittain in any case. Luckily they have the maze well sign-posted from the village onwards. We pulled up outside the house and rang the bell. A very friendly young boy came out and explained the whole thing and provided maps, a guide and pens. He also followed us up to get us started. You can do the maze to varying degrees of difficulty. Easiest is just to follow the map, get to the middle, ring the bell and get out again. If you are up for something longer then they have clues scattered all over the maze which you collect, match to letters and then solve the anagram. This means you have to investigate every nook, cranny and dead-end. Finally you can try doing it map-less! They tell you to bring your mobile in case you get lost and this is a good idea. The field is 5 acres in size and you could easily get disoriented. Of course 8 years in the Scouts as an expert map reader meant that I survived to tell the tale. It is €5 per person with under fives free and they also have some picnic tables if you want to eat. The Pink Elephant and some beaches are close by, so you could really make a day of it. We had three adults, a baby in sling, my five year old and my three year old. Initially the kids were unimpressed and griped but they soon got into the swing of it when we found the first clue. They loved ringing the big brass bell in the middle. We took the easiest shortest approach which was lucky as it started raining just towards the end. I could see it being a real challenge without a map as the corn is very tall at this stage so you have no frame of reference. It was great fun and I could see it being brilliant for parties with older kids. You could even hide surprises and prizes in the maze and have a big feast once they are done. Great fun, good for you and a really smart dual-use facility. Highly recommended. The hyperlink at the top of the review is to a Microsoft Live Local map showing exactly where they are. You can call them on +353-23-49842 and +353-87-7965321. Open 11am-6pm, 7 days a week, weather permitting. 
Rated /5 on Sep 02 2007 by Conor O’Neill
Rate this review or write your own at LouderVoice
6 Comments
