Bandon Parade
We finally made it down to our first St Patrick’s Day Parade in Bandon. The kids really enjoyed it (2 year old loved the tractors and fire engines). I was a bit surprised how short it was and the person beside me mentioned the lack of music. Face painting and balloon shapes went down very well. I wish I’d managed to see all the old cars as the pristine Escort (Mexico?
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Cork Airport Incompetence
I meant to write this post a few months back and was finally reminded to yesterday when I was in Cork Airport yet again.
The old airport carparks had the most unreliable equipment on the planet, pure third world garbage. I spent more time stuck in queues trying to get out of there due to malfunctioning barriers than any other airport, including Dublin which I have used more.
So you’d think, when spending €180m on a new airport (and hoping we taxpayers will stump up the money for it), that they’d find a supplier of equipment that, ye know, actually works.
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Creative Camp comes to Kilkenny
As someone who grew up in Kilkenny from the age of 6-18, I was very excited to see that Creative Camp is on this weekend. Not only that, but it’s on in the wonderful Kilkenny Castle where I spent many a day trying to find secret tunnels as a kid.
If you are wondering what it is all about, the idea is that the attendees are the presenters. It is in the BarCamp tradition of “unconferences” where the agenda for the day is very much made up on the day.
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Thursday, March 6, 2008
More on Cork Car Sharing
Mike Newham has updated us on Car Sharing in Cork:
We’re pushing out the introduction in Cork till July the 4th because of the massive VRT changes that occur on that date. We’ll start off with eight cars on the road - 3 Ford Focuses (Foci?), 4 Ford Fiestas and 1 Transit Connect for delivery’s and the like.
All will be low emission diesels with extra safety options and lots of helpful gizmos like bluetooth and sat-nav.
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Ooh, very cool competition
John Prendergast from Aonach just let me know about a competition a friend of his is running. It’s pretty damned impressive: Glengarriff Lodge near Bantry in West Cork is giving away a Luxury Self Catering weekend worth €1175 to one lucky blogger who mentions it! The location looks gorgeous and the Lodge is interesting because the aim was to be both luxurious and eco-friendly/sustainable.
The concept might be of interest to Irish Bloggers who have a deep interest in sustainability like Tom Atkins or Rebecca Hillman.
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Saturday, February 16, 2008
Review of The Artful Eater
This is an unusual book made up of a collection of 18 discourses on individual ingredients which were originally distributed as a newsletter. It was first published in 1992 and I was given this 2004 edition by my sister.
Initial impressions of the book are extremely positive; the writing is of very high quality and the opening treatise on salt catches the imagination. From then on however it seems to alternate between wonderfully interesting chapters and workmanlike almost Wikipedia-style dry listing of facts about certain foods.
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Thursday, February 14, 2008
Can you review a wine in 7 words?
I know a lot of the readers here are foodies and I’m sure some of you may even like the odd glass of wine. We’ve decided to take part in a regular event called Wine Blogging Wednesday. Event #42 happens this coming Wednesday and the challenge is to review an Italian Red in 7 words. I love a challenge and this is a tough one.
You don’t have to be a blogger to take part.
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Saturday, February 9, 2008
Review of The Old Post Inn
We got a voucher from my mother-in-law for The Old Post over a year ago and finally made use of it last weekend. It consisted of one night’s stay plus dinner. I’ve previously given it top marks in a review last year and had eaten there several times before, all good.
We arrived up about 4pm and they weren’t fully open yet but some hand waving got us in and up to the room.
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Saturday, February 9, 2008
Review of The Pressure Cooker (RTE)
The advertising for this programme had me hating its subject before it had even started. It depicted Dylan McGrath, who runs Mint restaurant in Dublin, as an obnoxious Ramsay-knockoff desperate to win a Michelin star. Two minutes into the show I wanted to turn it off. I had no interest in seeing this pompous, arrogant jumped-up little asshole.
Then the rent-a-critics and old men were put to one side and Dylan was allowed to speak.
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Monday, February 4, 2008
Review of Guerrilla Gourmet (Ep 02)
After the first travesty of an episode I swore I’d never watch another but the lure of Denis Cotter in Bandon was too much. This is Gimmicky Garbage TV with a half decent programme buried somewhere far far underneath.
In the first episode they send Kevin Dundon to cook a gourmet meal in a boxing club in poor area of Waterford. If you thought that was crass, in this one Denis Cotter set up a vegetarian restaurant in the middle of cattle pens in Bandon Mart!
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Tuesday, January 29, 2008