Food for thought

My last post brought news of an award winning restaurant in county Limerick. I won’t say that the response was huge but it looks like there’s quite a few food critics out thee.

It’s back to the food for me and here’s a great dish that I came accross of late. Some hearty winter fare.

Matambre, known as the ‘Hunger Killer’, is a traditional South American recipe, developed by Finca Las Moras, the UK’s number one Argentinian wine brand. The juicy steak roulade washed down with a rich and spicy Shiraz makes for a great pairing.

I HAD the pleasure most recently, of meeting the man behind the truly brilliant wines from Clos Du Val in California and Taltarni in Australia. Bernard Portet visited Limerick and told of his love and passion for making wine and to listen to this man’s passion and enthuasism would be enough of an indication as to his greatness in his field. Equally so, taste the wines and you know exactly what they are all about.  Bernard spoke of the love of the land and the care and development of the vines that over the last 30 or so years has garnered to produce such gems as the Clos du Val Stags Leap wines from the Napa Valley.
Here’s three wines, with tasting notes, from the night that personally stood out for me and they are all available locally in O’Briens Wines.
Word of congratulations to their Limerick store manager, Mike O’Brien, on winning runner up in the CREST retail awards manager of the year awards. Voted into this years top five, Mike headed up the store 12 months ago and still does, when the Parkway branch took the top spot in the store of the year for 2007 in the same awards.

ALWAYS a hot topic for parents, but this book, as with many others, gives you a brief intro into the daunting world of weaning to solid food. Those not interested you can move on now but for anyone that is, read on. This book is designed to see parents through every stage of their baby’s changing dietary needs. Clear nutritional advice is augmented by tips on equipment, hygiene, ingredients and preparation, and by features covering concerns such as weaning, feeding frequency and fussy eating. The core of the book consists of more than 50 step-by-step recipes for purées and first solid meals, shown in over 250 specially-commissioned full-colour photographs.
The book is divided into four sections: babies aged around four months; five to six months; six to nine months; and nine months to one year. Each section gives guidance about foods to introduce or avoid, and about the benefits of different food types. The recipes reflect the growing repertoire of foods, and are developed to create a well-balanced diet, full of variety and inspiration. At 4.99stg, the book is available on line from Anness Publishing – www.anness.com.