An alternative St Patrick's Day

Image via http://glasseyalley.com/

Ah, St. Patricks Day. National day of vomiting and bloodshed...I mean, joyous celebration of our national identity. If you'd like to venture into Dublin this Saturday but want to avoid the carousing, marauding multitudes, stop by coffee-shop extraordinaire Third Floor Espresso who are holding a coffee brewing course. They make the best coffee in town so their 'Brewing Coffee at Home' course is very popular. It's €25 and as well as teaching you how to get the most out of your coffee beans, it includes lunch, a treat (delicious) and a bag of coffee to take home. It's in their Grand Canal Dock shop, so the city centre can be deftly avoided.

Click here for more info and to book.

KC Peaches for comfort food deliciousness

Meaning to write about KC Peaches for ages, when it came up on the Le Cool list last week I finally did it. I had even taken a photo of their lovelylovely coffee machine. Beginning life as a whole foods caterer, KC Peaches canteen-style restaurant popped up in pastel blue and mint green on Nassau Street early this summer. Occupying what used to be Fred Hanna's bookshop (note the lovely original mosaic on the threshold) it has rapidly gathered a devoted and apparently ravenous following. The idea is simple: queue up, pick a size, and cram your plate or take-away box with as much deliciousness as it can handle. The reasonably priced and generously sized portions bring to mind that slightly disturbing childhood adage "your eyes are bigger than your belly." The food is comforting, healthy, and very filling. This, and a prime location opposite Trinity's Nassau Street gate, makes for a noisy and bustling atmosphere, cafeteria-like and somehow American. Also, coffee obsessives will be pleased to know that the coffee is good, and their coffee machine is nothing short of beautiful. Our good friend OhGaz works there, if you see him say Hi!

Originally published here.

New things people might like or be interested in.

Just a few things to check out if you are bored or hungry or anything in between.

Wild Abandon the new novel Joe Dunthorn, his second novel since his highly successful debut Submarine.

Watch The Throne rap giants Jay-Z and Kanye West's collaborative album. The name and artwork remind us of the combined ego that was involved in this venture.

Julie Bertuccelli's new film starring Charlotte Gainsbourg is showing now in the IFI. Beautiful looking film.

Passed this new place today on South Anne St. Looked interesting. If you are stuck for somewhere to eat give it a whirl and let us know how you find it.

The best service station in Ireland?

[Insert picture here. I thought I took one, but it didn't save somehow. Boo.]

There's this cafe I've wanted to go to for ages, but always put it off. There always seemed to be better places. Because this place is in a garage. In Rathnew. Anyone who knows Rathnew knows that it's not exactly somewhere you'd dally longer than was absolutely necessary. Finally though, I went, and MY GOD, it was excellent. It has to be the best roadside/service station/motorway/garage cafe (whatever you want to call it) in the country. It's attached to an 'applegreen' (how very petroleum re-branding 2.0) and is called 'a cafe' (all lower case, naturally). It's all somehow natural, yet slick interior-decor-wise. A mixture of wood and black...lots of chalkboards, and piles of freshly baked pastries and muffins. All day full Irish breakfast. Couches to sit on. And really good flat whites. Really good. It would have got flat white of the day if I hadn't gone to Third Floor Espresso later on and had one. But that's in a different league. So if you're ever venturing south out of Dublin and need fuel, or a coffee hit on the road, take the Rathnew/Wicklow exit off the N11 and get into this place.* It's worth it.


*Presumably, this being a country-wide fuel shop, these cafes are all over the place. But are they as good? And do they have barista kings like Rathnew does?

Saw this stuck on the door of Eddie Rocket's on Dame Street, seems like a novel approach to waiting staff.

Le Creuset mugs and other manias

Need I say more? LOOK AT THEM!

I think this one deserves a close up:

We have the bright blue and the orange ones (so far) and they are the most perfect tea-mugs. Perfect width and depth for optimum tea enjoyment.


They're followed closely by these classics from Nicholas Mosse:

And of course, the Pantone mugs...

The Old Fashioned: Don Draper's Drink

So I was just watching Mad Men, I have only recently started watching it and am currently working my way through the boxed set. Yes, a bit late I hear you say, well this is certainly a case of better late then never. Anyway I have been noticing Don Drapers penchant for the Old fashioned. It looks delicious so I have gone and investigated how one goes about making one and found out some interesting things which I will now share with you.

Old Fashioned-The-Facts. 

• The name Old Fashioned is a reference to the age of the drink it is possibly the first drink to be called a cocktail.
• It is traditionally served in a short and round tumbler-like glass. This glass is called an Old Fashioned Glass after the drink.

• The first use of the name old fashioned for this drink was in the Pendennis gentlemen's club in Louisville Kentucky where the drink was invented by the head bartender. It was made popular by a club member and bourbon distiller, Colonel James E. Pepper, who brought it to the Waldorf in New York.

Ingredients.

• 4.0cl Bourbon, Scotch or Rye Whiskey.
• 1 sugar cube.
• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters.
• 1 splash soda water.

Preparation.

• Place sugar cube in old fashioned glass and saturate with bitter.
• Add a dash of soda water. 
• Muddle until dissolved.
• Fill the glass with ice cubes and add whiskey.
• Garnish with orange slice, lemon twist and two maraschino cherries.

Hopefully it will look like this. Enjoy.

Best breakfast in Dublin

It's a lovely colour too. (via Cafe.ie)

We had meetings in town the other morning so breakfasted at what we've now decided is the purveyor of Dublin's most delicious breakfast: Gibson's on Wicklow Street. I had toasted brioche with maple syrup, caramelised banana and the most incredibly lovely thing I've tasted in a long time - cinnamon cream. Sam had blueberry pancakes with maple syrup, also reportedly delicious. I'm not a food writer and I'm not going to try to be, but I will say that if this is the kind of breakfast you're looking for, Gibson's has the best of this kind (that I've tried) in Dublin. It's also pretty reasonable, €6 or so for each giant portion. Neither of us tried the coffee, something I now regret after reading this relatively appreciative article. I'll just have to go back.

If I had foresight I'd have taken this photo before we ate...

Pepperpots and tea pots

 

There's a lovely cafe on the landing of the first floor of the Powerscourt Townhouse called the Pepperpot that we've been frequenting lately. Everything is home-made to the most delicious degree and tea is served in mis-matched floral cups and saucers and brightly coloured pots. Tables are decorated with jolly oil-skin tablecloths. Staff are charming and service is swift. Things we love are the maple roasted organic parsnip, goats cheese and pecan tart, panfried goat's cheese with gubeen chorizo and vine tomatoes, and all day porridge with roasted pear. Go try!

Open Monday to Friday	10	to	6 and Saturday 9 to 6

http://thepepperpot.ie/

http://facebook.com/pages/The-PepperPot/116296345071765

The Kindness Of Strangers

Cafe Manon mmmmmmmmmmmm

Today we were in Bray going about our morning business. We decided that we wanted to treat ourselves to something delicious. Remembering that Bray was benevolent enough to be the location of a Leonidas retailer we made for the place STAT. Cool Beans Cafe is located on Florence Road, number 25 to be precise and it was in this establishment that a small act of kindness brightened our day. We were purchasing four Manon Cafe chocolates and two lattes. We were counting out our money when we found we were a euro short, so we were going to pay with a card. The lady behind the counter told us that wouldn't do and proceeded to pay the difference herself, claiming it as her good deed for the day. It certainly was. So go and give them your business, they deserve it.

IT'S PANCAKE DAY!

And this means only one thing: stuffing yourself with zillions of pancakes filled with a myriad of delicious things. Here at buzzcat manor the favoured fillings range from the refined to the positively toothachingly sweet.

Here is a good pancake recipe from Nenagh Gal's blog.

And here are lots of pictures of delicious pancakes to get you in the delicious pancake mood. Or delicious crepe mood. Whatever.

 

My favourite filling is the impossibly delicious creme de marron, which can be found at great expense in Donnybrook Fair (it's worth it).

I'm delicious

Here we are, about to eaten, deliciously

Coke addiction

News this week that Coca-Cola sales are up comes as no surprise - the stuff has some sort of addictive property. It's one product where I can definitely say that advertising is doing it's job. I just have to see one of their ads filled with mouthwatering shots of delicious looking glasses of iced coke and I want to dash out to the nearest shop and get some, preferably from a glass bottle. But just a sup or two is enough. It's not just me this is happening to, I'm hearing it from people all over the place. Have they put something new into it or has it always been this way I wonder.

Ooooooh delicious

Who wants some?

Afternoon tea at Lost Society

Before I say anything else I should probably say that I am in love with having afternoon tea. It's a delicious luxury and a reminder of a more genteel age. I'd be very rotund by this stage had I been born a Victorian lady.

I've passed by Lost Society several times lately while shortcutting through the Powerscourt Townhouse. It's a new sort of a bar/lounge affair where Spy used to be, curiously decorated in a Georgian-futuristic style, and a little bit mysterious. It was mostly empty the day we visited, a photoshoot was going on in one room, and a meeting happening in another corner.

Futuristic Georgian at the Lost Society

We ordered afternoon tea for two which was as delicious as it was well presented - bitesize portions of very lovely things like prawn on avocado, miniature blinis with smoked salmon, cream cheese and caviar, and little scones piled with jam and cream. It was a perfect amount of food, and for two it was only €12, which makes a welcome departure from the €25 or so you'd pay for one in any of the hotels around town.

As a bar, I get the impression Lost Society is not the sort of place I'd love, but for afternoon tea it was just the very thing.


Afternoon tea served from 12 - 6
Lost Society - Powerscourt Townhouse, South William Street, Dublin 2 - http://www.lostsociety.ie/