The Berkeley's Prêt-à-Portea comes to the Merrion Hotel

A few years ago I reviewed the Art Tea at the Merrion Hotel and I've always remembered it as being the nicest in terms of food, service and setting. It was also the best value of all the afternoon teas I've tried so far in Dublin. When I saw the Merrion Hotel was collaborating with the Berkeley Hotel in London I thought the idea was lovely and even mentioned it in my Christmas gift guide.

Oh la la... Orangina is back!

Last year when I discovered they sold bottles of Orangina in a convenience store next to Pearse Station, my guilty pleasure was to grab one and enjoy it in the sunshine in Merrion Square. It brought me back to a time when I spent my afternoons by the beach, during my summer holidays. I remember my dad giving me a 10 francs coin (if I recall correctly) to buy an Orangina at the little wooden hut where ice-cream and snacks were sold. I also remember in high school when we all knew the words to the Orangina TV ads by heart.

As a French lady with fond Orangina-related childhood memories I was pretty excited to receive an invitation to the relaunch of Orangina in Ireland, held at the Residence Club in Dublin. The event took place in the Behan Lodge which is a beautiful venue with a retractable roof, the sun was shining and we got to enjoy an alfresco lunch. 

Lisa O'Doherty sommelier at the K Club led a tasting during which we looked at, smelled and tasted Orangina like you would with any fine wine. We then enjoyed a summery lunch served with Orangina & Orangina cocktails.

The regular Orangina drink was served with a light starter of Clogherhead crab, grapefruit, avocado, chili and coriander.

We then tasted and enjoyed an interesting 'hoptail', a beer based cocktail (recipe on the photo below) which was served with the main course of roast moulard duck, yuzu, garden cabbage and heirloom vegetables. Duck being my favourite meat of all I particularly enjoyed this course.

We rounded off the meal with a dessert of lemon cream cheese and blood orange sorbet washed down with an Orangini (half prosecco / half Orangina). I never thought of Orangina as a mixer for alcohol drinks, having mostly drank it during my childhood but I will definitely give it a go in future. 

Needless to say I'm happy to share the news of the return of Orangina to Ireland. I know all the French expats out there will be delighted to find it in convenience stores but also cafés and restaurants all over Ireland. Mr. FFID has tried to convert me to another orange fizzy drinks over the last 10 years but all he got was a gallic shrug. I love it as it reminds me of summer in France and it's not too sweet. You can take the girl out of France but you can't take France out of the girl, welcome back Orangina!

Disclaimer: I was invited to this event free of charge and I gave no undertaking to write an article. I was not paid to promote Orangina and, as always, the above opinions are my own. 

An Internet free weekend at Innocent un-plugged

As a blogger it's pretty impossible to imagine a life without social media. I use many different platforms on a regular basis to keep up with what's going on in the food world, to promote my blog and to interact with others. When I walk around Dublin there’s always something I want to Instagram and during the evening there is always a Facebook comment or a tweet to reply to and sometimes it's hard to disconnect. 

A few weeks ago when I received an invitation to an “off-the-grid” weekend at the Innocent un-plugged festival I didn't even think twice. Innocent organised their first festival ever, and it’s an event with a difference: no wifi, no 3G and no traditional electricity. It sounded like a challenge but I couldn't say no to a digital detox. Mr. FFID and I found ourselves traveling with a group of journalists from Dublin airport to the countryside of Kent in England. I absolutely love camping so I was already pretty excited!

The festival was free to attend although tickets were gone within minutes and the location was kept secret until closer to the festival. It took place in the pinetum and arboretum at St. Clere Estate in Kent. It was very exciting when our mini bus got there, arriving at a field in the middle of nowhere.

From the campsite to the festival attendees crossed the woods filled with pretty bluebells and decorated with fairy lights. When you got to the sign 'Last Instagram post' you knew you were entering the mobile free zone.

The set-up was beautiful and the trees were full of colourful flowers, which made for truly idyllic surroundings. 

I have to admit, it was a bit like torture for the first hour when I couldn't share my pictures on social media but my withdrawal symptoms quickly went away. 

The festival site itself was quite small with one stage for music, a bar, a food vendor, an outdoor spa, the banquet hall, a tent for inspiring talks and a campfire.

We enjoyed some prosecco in the hot tub at the outdoor spa to start our retreat in style and then headed to the Banquet Hall for the Meringue girls afternoon tea. The carrot cake with lime mascarpone icing and a pipette of vodka lemon curd was out of this world and the 'unicorn poos' (the little meringues) were just too cute. Such a quirky girly afternoon tea! 

Unfortunately I didn't have time to go to the Innocent Inspires yurt to listen to blogger Sasha Wilkins form Liberty London Girl give a talk but after our high tea Mr. FFID and I hurried to join a forage walk which was taking place around the grounds of the festival. 

We followed Fergus the forager, an incredibly passionate, energetic, eccentric guy who showed us how to forage wild foods for two and a half hours. He told us how he candied pretty much everything including blackberry stems, how he tapped birch trees, made paper out of a mushroom, made roasted dandelion syrup and lots of other interesting things. We missed Mr. Motivator performing on the main stage but could hear him giving an aerobic class in the background and we saw Morning Gloryville dancing like crazy the next morning anyway.

During the weekend the atmosphere was very laid-back with people socialising the real way, by talking to each other and not ‘scrolling down’ on their phones. 

There was live street art, yoga and massages, a camp fire, lots of lovely things going on as well as plenty of space to chill and of course Innocent drinks flowing. 

The only 'stressful' moment was going to the bathroom, as festival bathrooms aren't the best especially when you use compost! 

Did I miss the Internet? Not at all. It reminded me of life before social media when people didn’t need to share everything straight away with their virtual friends and had proper conversations. I took tons of pictures but I’ve always done so, way before Facebook was invented. Usually when you go to events organised by brands people are always stuck to their phone, busy using a corporate hashtag but that wasn’t the case here at all. Of course I’m not ready to ditch my social media but the whole weekend made me want to look at my phone less often.  I am constantly trying to keep a balance between my regular use of social media and my social interactions in real life and I was glad to see a weekend long digital detox wasn’t too hard after all.

Disclaimer: I was invited to this festival by Innocent drinks free of charge.  I gave no undertaking to write an article and the words above are, as always, my honest opinion.

The Big Grill Festival 2015

The Big Grill Festival is a BBQ festival that took place for the first time ever last year. I remember the tickets being sold out quite quickly and I never actually made it to the event myself. Last week I was invited to the launch of this year's festival and while I don't usually blog about press/launch events, this one was up my alley. It took place in Jam Park at the Bernard Shaw and if the festival is as cool as the launch it should be a good one.

They had John Relihan (head Chef at Jamie Oliver's Barbecoa restaurant in London) for the evening cooking up a storm of tasters and nibbles for all the guests. 

The whole lamb cooked on an open fire pit was pretty impressive and the final côte de boeuf was just amazing.

The Big Grill Festival will take place in Herbert Park in Ballsbridge from the 13th to the 16th of August 2015. It's a festival celebrating all things BBQ related with talks and demos from International chefs, pit masters, BBQ competitions, eating competitions and more.

There will also be a few vendors selling their food onsite as well as craft beer and spirits. The entrance is ticketed and prices vary from €10 to €16 depending on the time/day you're visiting and it doesn't include food. I heard mixed reviews last year but in fairness it was their first time and I'd say they're making it even bigger this year. As an excessive meat eater I've decided that I'm going to go this year and see what this is about. For now I leave you with a few pics of the launch evening.

The Big Grill Festival
Website 

Disclaimer: I was invited to this launch free of charge.  I gave no undertaking to write an article and the words above are, as always, my honest opinion.

Irish Food Writers' Guild Food Awards 2014

It's St Patrick's weekend and as I'm very unlikely to ever bake anything green I thought I'd write about some award-winning Irish food producers instead.

I was lucky enough to be invited to the Irish Food Writers' Guild Food Awards 2014, which took place in Michelin-starred restaurant l'Ecrivain. 

The awards were created in 1993 with the aim of celebrating the best Irish food products, as well as the people and companies who contribute to the Irish food scene. Every member of the guild nominates a product that has been made in Ireland by a producer who has been trading for the last three years. Guild members then vote during a tasting meeting on which are the best.

I was delighted to be at the ceremony where I met journalists, food writers and producers, many of whom I follow on social media. It was great to see such a celebration of Irish food.

 So who were the winners?

Coolea Matured Farmhouse Cheese, which is by the way is one of my Irish favourite cheeses. This cheese comes from the Willems family, based in Macroom county Cork who have been producing farmhouse cheese since 1979.

Lucy Deegan and Mark Cribben from Ballyhoura Moutain mushrooms are also based in co. Cork and have a range of products including shitake powder, cep oil and mushroom ketchup.

Dermot Carey and David Langford's Heritage Irish potato collection includes over 200 varieties. It's such a brilliant project which helps to preserve an important Irish food heritage.

Michael and Aileen O’Neill also won an award for their Irish Atlantic Sea Salt produced in Beara co. Cork. These are natural gourmet sea salt flakes that contain no additives or anti-caking agents. 

Daniel Emerson and his French wife Géraldine make their Stonewell cider in Belgooley co. Cork. I tried their dry cider for the first time last summer and loved it as I found it similar to what I used to drink in France. (picture at the top of this post)

Responsible Irish Fish, a label that has been introduced to the Irish market to promote Irish fish and shellfish caught in a responsible manner, also received an award. 

Finally a Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Myrtle Allen for her huge work and major contribution to the development and support of Irish food.

After the ceremony we all had lunch created by Derry Clarke from l'Ecrivain which featured all the award-winning products.

Ballyhoura Mountain Mushrooms Consommé, Coolea Cheese Tortellini

Responsible Irish Fish Cured & Smoked Mackerel, Heritage Irish Collection Potato Salad, Beetroot, Horseradish

Dry Aged Beef, Ballyhoura Mountain Mushrooms, Coolea Cheese

Irish Atlantic Sea Salt Caramel Mousse & Stonewell Cider Sorbet, Pickled Apples, Cinnamon Crumble, Clotted Cream

If you are a little envious you can always try to cook those dishes at home, here are the recipes for you. 

Have a great St Patrick's weekend everyone!

Disclaimer: I was invited to this event free of charge. I gave no undertaking to write a review and the words above are, as always, my honest opinion.