Conor's Bandon Blog

Running, Food and Local stuff from a blow-in

Conor's Christmas Cookbook Collection

UPDATE 1: Normally when I do reviews I use the Structured Blogging plug-in. Its biggest flaw is that you can only do one review per post and the “reviews” below do not warrent separate posts. An alternative is to use the simple hReview creator over at microformats.org and then just cut n past a bunch of reviews into one post. So I have restructured and republished this review in that format (after seeing Tantek do the same).

Great food writing should make you salivate uncontrollably

Like this. I think I’ll be making some dough this weekend. [tags]DiFara Pizza, In praise of sardines , New York[/tags]

So Dora Stephanie JoJo Barbie O'Neill it is then

It took a lot of poking and prodding with the scanner but the consultant finally decided that it is a wee girlie. Sibéal was thrilled when she finally understood. She initially complained that “I don’t want a sister, I want a girl”. Older lads couldn’t give a hoot either way and Fionn was too busy screaming as I was trying to “teach” him how to use a beaker. Spooky scan:

YouGetItBack - What a great idea

I know they have been around for a bit but I just found out recently about yougetitback.com. It’s one of those ideas that just makes you go “perfect!”. And it is so simple. Sign up with them and pay €9.99 for two stickers which you can attach to valuables like mobile phones. The sticker has a telephone number, code and message about a reward to the finder if it is lost.

All our research gives us a gut intuition

Another memorable quote from “The Apprentice, Martha Stewart”. On a completely unrelated topic, Digg has gone to Version 3. Digg is a news site whose top stories are voted into position by the users. Up until now it was mainly tech but they have branched out in V3. I’ve never used it much as it causes total information overload. But the Diggnation Podcast with Alex and Kevin is hysterically funny.

Another icon of my youth passes away

Most of them may have been crap but I cannot deny loving nearly everything Aaron Spelling made. Here are just a few: Beverly Hills 90210 Melrose Place Dynasty Fantasy Island Starsky and Hutch Hart to Hart Charlie’s Angels TJ Hooker Burke’s Law He’ll be missed. Along with Glen A Larson, I think he defined what I watched on TV as a kid.

Let's all brainstorm silently

Damn, double damn and blast. Catherine pointed out that there is now a series on satellite called “The Apprentice, Martha Stewart”. Now that’s just not fair, two phrases in one title to draw the moth into the flame. Not only do they have a series which is guaranteed to have at least 80% nut-jobs, morons and chancers on it, but then they build it around the wicked witch of the west, the anti-Darina, beelzeebubina, Martha Magdalene Stewart.

A fine day out at the Bandon Show

We had a blast of an afternoon at the Bandon Show yesterday. Everything from horses to bulls to dogs were on show and there were plenty of activities for the young uns too. We ran into a ton of people we knew. I explained to Oisín that this was the starting point in the supply chain for all dairy products. He was suitably impressed. Some very confused looking Llamas. I thought of my Grandad when I saw these and wondered what he would think if he was alive.

Most excellent wife

Lovely breakfast in bed and the gift of a Hairy Baby T-Shirt. Check those guys out, they have really great stuff. Mine has a picture of the boys from “Withnail and I” with the byline “are you the farmer?”. It’s a pity I didn’t have it yesterday for the Bandon Show. For those of you who have forgotten the movie, here is an MP3 of the line (delicate dispositions should not click it).

Marmatiece Restaurant Bandon

Marmatiece was opened a few weeks ago by the folks who used to run Roco’s until they closed late last year. We headed out last night for a sort of Father’s day treat for me and to see what it was like. I went in with a slight bias as I never thought Roco’s was much good. They have the dubious honour of serving me the worst risotto I’ve ever had.