tomweir

I've always enjoyed David Lebovitz blog on dining in Paris. Plenty to enjoy beyond this post on vegetarian options there. http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2008/04/vegetarian-rest-1/

(pushes open creaking door, peers into the gloom) Hello...? There's bound to have been a few new spots opened in the last seven years for others. I can do an update on in and around Sligo if there's still anyone about....

One day? Paris is a relationship for life.... But for one day, one district is a good decision, Le Marais. Central, old, rambling, a mix of culture, shopping, food. Can walk to the Louvre, Ile de Saint Louis, Notre Dame, or the Pompidou. You're also on the same subway line that can whisk you to the Eiffel Tower. Street food? L'as du felafel on Rue des Rosiers. The famous horseshoe shaped bar at Au Petit Fer a Cheval, a busy café around the corner, there's a good ice cream place across the road from that on a corner, can't recall the name... Have fun.

I would do a French style five or six egg chocolate cake and substitute the flour entirely with ground almonds. Moist, flavor filled, gluten free. 1 cup salted butter 9 oz dark and semi-sweet chocolate, very best quality. 6 eggs 3/4 cup sugar 3/8 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup ground almonds 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

It's hard not to feel conflicted about WF (or Whole Paycheck as we called it in NYC). On the one hand you wish all supermarkets were like it, organic and high end produce, interesting choices in packaged and prepared food, good gourmet sections. On the other, I personally think food shopping reaches it's pinnacle in French or Italian market towns where you shop for small amounts over a number of small retailers, whether stands in a market or small shops beside it. And WholeFoods is the antithesis of that. Options for competition developing shrink in the face of this kind of retailing. I hope that Fallon & Byrne's in Dublin keeps going for one, WF will make it look small and limited. One branch in NY has 57 staff for goodness sake. There's an interesting article on them in Fast Company. In some ways they are a very innovative company. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/84/wholefoods.html

We're hoping they extend the Sligo one... But as it is you can do Dublin-Sligo in under three hours. Had a disappointing meal in Cromleach Lodge near Castlebaldwin the other night. Been there about five years ago, and the food was stellar, marred by the decor which was more reminiscent of an eighties suburban home, all apricot flounces and pine tables. But we forgave all that when the food hit the table. But now it seems they've reversed matters. The decor has had a significant upgrade but all the passion had left the kitchen. I had a 'cockles and mussels' risotto which was too large, underseasoned and in sore need of a good fish stock. It's not that it was particularly bad (though the dried out tired and tough mussels on the side were...) it's just that it was ordinary and dull and not the punch of flavour I like in a starter. Other starters were a good pate served on glass plate which just felt odd... I had skate served with a butter and caper sauce. It was not good, the fish didn't feel fresh. Side vegetables were good if straightforward. The sole winner was the fabulous creme brulee, perfectly done with an excellent rhubarb base... Really good, really... To their credit, the vegetarians had a lot of choice, but none of them appeared particularly appealling to me. Food, including not a lot of wine, came to about 80 a head including service. Cetainly not a patch on what was there three years ago. I can only echo the early post about McNeans at Blacklion, I'd recommend the tasting menus.

Oh Catriona... I don't recommend that... not a pleasant place at all, keep driving and stick with the cadbury's. And its bypassed now by the motorway, no?

Yes enjoy. I was all set to jump in and all I would be doing is echoing minichef and of course Corinna's recommendations. Not a bad recommendation in either. You mentioned budget as a concern... so... Buried a little in minichefs recommendations is Bewley's on Grafton street. This used to be a classic European tea house, alas no more... but the room and the Harry Clarke stained glass windows still make for a nice place for a coffee mid-day, also one of the few places to get an early breakfast in the city. The restaurant Mackerel upstairs ain't bad either. I would definitely do Gruel on Dame Street for lunch. Small but full of people watching opportunities and the food is good. Made in front of you if you're early for lunch 12 o'clock on or so. You'll spot a good Spanish coffee stall at the end of the Georges Street Market, good con leche if you're disappointed by the local efforts at espresso. There's a nice very healthy alternative style deli just down the road from it called Blazing Salads too, if you needed a healthy take out lunch to have with your coffee.

Looking at spending two weeks over Christmas between Cornwall-on-Hudson, New Paltz and High Falls along the Hudson.... Has anybody any recommendations in those areas?

I recommend Tutun (Tobacco) a Persian restaurant. Iranian royalty on their glassware, shoes off, carpets, low tables and excellent authentic aromatic food. Ask them for their recommendations, have a hubbly-bubbly with scented tobaccos... Just remember to bring cash, no credit cards taken. A great place for a group meal Address : Reinhardtstr. 19 Tel : 23 45 56 28 Open daily :17:00-24:00

A little late chiming in on this but i overheard the staff being interviewed by the manager for their jobs in Jurys at Christchurch. Three questions "do you speak English?" "do you have black pants?" and "You know it's minimum wage?" And that seemed to be it. Mother Hubbards, Blueberry restaurant, no no no....the N4 doesn't really have any food highlights on it. There's a pub called the Gaelic Cheiftain painted bright red in Rathowen (I think) which has home made brown bread and homemade vegetable soup which was above average.

There once was a sommelier named steven who's nostrils were terribly uneven one was large, filled with bumps hills, hollows and lumps the other, you just wouldn't believe in... I made this up in school...this is em...cleaned up...

Russ and Daughter's entire store... cholesterol in retail form

It's scone like like gone in England. It's scone like stone in Ireland. And you can have many different kinds, whole wheat etc. It's pretty well soda bread, sometimes with cream or sugar. King Arthur in the US should do you excellently, shipping Odlums is a lot of money...

I've eaten in Allo's. A nice bar really with some pretty decent food. Certainly unpretentious and probably what you are after. . not a quiet place... It was full the night we were there and hopping.

I would throw a vote in for McNeans Bistro in Blacklion in Cavan. We ate there very recently and it was really good. The exterior of the house was cladded with stone which they should remove, it removes character from it... and I have to say it didn't look too promising, and actually Blacklion doesn't look too promising come to that. But the interior was a lot more pleasant and reminiscent of a nice small country hotel, which of course, it is. I don't really watch TV so the head chef, Neven Maguire, isn't all that familiar to me. Apparently, that's a good thing, he's too nice or something. Well, nice is alright by me. He's a very good cook. I had the fish tasting menu, eight courses and two sets of desserts including a tasting plate of desserts. Great value, I have to say, at 70 EU. All house wines are 20EU. Desserts were pretty special. My wife had the vegetarian tasting menu at 50, one less course, and not as good I think. The meat one looked a little on the game-y side of things to me, which might be your bag, then again, might not. Wouldn't be mine but our guests loved it.

I'd also endorse Denis Cotter's Cafe Paradiso cookbook and his Season's one too (more everyday, still inventive though) I bring Sally Barnes fish(woodcock Smokery) with me as gifts wherever I go. She does salmon and kippers but also haddock, tuna, mackerel... They're wonderful. I get them in Sligo but I'd say she's pretty widely available. Cheeses; Milleens, Gubeen, Ardrahan... On the whiskeys, Middleton (very pricey) , Blackbush all good but probably cheaper in the States, sad state of affairs that it may be. And other than that, it's really Chocolate Kimberleys that have no equivalent anywhere in the globe.

Only piping up to add the Stag's Head to that list up top... You can get oversized bangers and mash for lunch with a pint.

Shame, it's the best room in Dublin.

There's a cute little bakery, Sugar Sweet, on Rivington between Norfolk and Essex that does cupcakes. You get to sit down too and have a coffee while you are at it. I never tried their layer cakes but they looked great. It's pretty mellow and you can watch the owners do their stuff down the back. Me, I just used to buy their coffee cake, I don't really get the whole cupcake thing. Russ and Daughters for a bagel and cream cheese with lox. Now you're talking.

The Thompson book is superb if you like Thai food. A complete coverage of the entire topic. You can also find some authentic recipes at the following link, which are pretty good even if you may need a glossary to aid you. http://www.chetbacon.com/thai-html/thai.html

Congrats to you and Kate! Twins? Oooh boy... I was going to tell you my approach to the art of chopping garlic with one hand but you do need one hand free...

Well, if you follow the logic of the term through... basically, everyone's a vegetarian and some eat meat. They just came up with a term for those ones who don't eat a lot of it. Daft. For me, the confusion lies with ascribing the adjective 'vegetarian' to people. You're better off ascribing it to a diet. "Do you follow a vegetarian diet?" "Uh, usually" No problems there.

Does anyone else find the highlighted text harder to spot? Off to post where I should.

I had good luck simply whizzing the leaves in a little olive oil and putting them in flat ziplocks (doubled). The basil-oil mix was essentially a solid sheet and I simply snapped off a chunk as I needed it. I did use it all by November... so that would have been three months or so. It was great all the way, nice to get those aromas in late Autumn...