Aingeal sa Chistin - kitchen angel...i think

There are some very talented people in the DIT School of culinary arts and now 1 of them, Mairtin Mac Con Iomaire, is in danger of becoming the next celebrity chef. Think inflated egos that have to be massaged, raving tempers, prima donnas...na - that's the library. I managed to catch the second of Mairtin's new lifestyle and cookery programme Aingeal sa Chistin on TG4 last night at 8pm. It's wonderfully well thought out, refreshing and professional. Each week Mairtin helps out a friend who is planning a special occasion or event. Last night he was in connemara helping to prepare a bar-b-q for a family reunion. The focus was on doing fish and shellfish as opposed to the usual burgers and dodgy chicken. What made it so good was the way it showed the whole family helping to prepare the food, children helping their mother make ruhbarb crumble and everyone relaxing, exploring rock pools, canoeing, fishing, etc at the beach - that couldn't have been filmed last summer? Could it? And if you looked very closely you could see the dit logo on the side of Mairtins' apron

What cookbooks really tell us

the Christmas (that seems like a long time ago) issue of the Economist had a marvellous light piece on the history of cookbooks. Pluck a flamingo took us on a romp from Apicius through to the celeb chefs of today, taking in the Italian Renaissance chef Maestro Martino, Englands housewife's favourite Isabella Beeton, the french doyen Escoffier, the queen of American home cooking Fannie Farmer, and so on. Interestingly many cookbooks reflected the ages in which they were published, whether that be social upheaval, the Reformation, Revolution or Civil War. Plagiarism really took off with the invention of printing while the order of the Renaissance was reflecected in their cookbooks. But why do we need them and why the insatiable appetite for them? Worth reading, as is most of their Christmas bumper edition - online or of course in glossy format in the library - articles on the attractions of oysters, of chilies, the link between sex and scent, also between music murder and shopping, Angels in the virtual world, Tintin, AND the worlds largest cookery library....... in Parma, Italy

Christmas cheer

The people from Barbour index sent us the following christmas advice:

Guidance
Have a Merry Green Christmas
Christmas is a time for overeating, overspending and overindulging. However it can also be a time when small changes could make a big difference for the environment. As always the Barbour team are here with some handy tips to make your festivities that little bit greener:
when doing your Christmas shopping make sure you re-use carrier bags
use environmentally friendly LED lights in your home on your Christmas tree
make sure you use rechargeable batteries in all the new Christmas gifts
recycle your Christmas tree
recycle your wrapping paper
recycle your Christmas cards
recycle packaging from gifts
where possible, buy locally produced food to cut down on travelling.
The Scottish Environment Minister, Michael Russell, has stated that it will only take a few small steps to make a huge difference this Christmas. For example he stated that rechargeable batteries have up to 28 times less impact on climate change then disposable ones which are often sent to landfill.
Discarded Christmas trees can also be turned into wood chip, feeding other trees, he noted.
Christmas should be a happy time for us all, please take some time to consider our environment too.

Our Christmas opening hours

Cathal Brugha Street's Library opening hours after Christmas...
Monday 5th January-
Thursday 8th January - 9am-9pm

Friday 9th January - 9am - 5pm
Saturday 10th December - 10am - 5pm

And normal term-time opening thereafter.
All times are subject to staff availability.

are you ready to order there....thanks a million

surly service, service with a sneer. how come there is so much of it around in ireland. Some of these people have to work hard to get it so bad. Tonight the Service industry, including the tourism and hospitality sectors, is the subject of the Prime time investigates special presented by Conor Pope. Starts at 9:30 RTE1.

There was also a related article about bad service and the effects it has on a company's business in last saturdays Irish Times

The Duck Has Landed

Heston's book is now in the library (see post below)

Mathematical gastronomy

On the one hand we're being told to be patriotic and shop in ireland, while on the other, Peter Robinson (NI's 1st minister) is tempting us North and congratulating the irish government on road improvements between dublin to newry. And it's hard to resist when you compare prices like this. - Heston Blumenthal he of Fat Duck (and previous blog postings here and here) fame will be in Harvey Nics, Dundrum on 12th dec. You can have lunch with the man for 180euros. They will be selling his book for 130euros - slighly cheaper than the price it is retailing for in a large dublin bookshop - 138euros. However its Recommended Retail Price (RRP) North of the border is £100stg. At current exchange that's 117euros. If you buy it on amazon it costs only £60stg = 70.70euros. So where would you buy it?

It's currently on order for the library and then of course you can look at it for free. You can also hear Heston for free on RTE Ryan Tubridy show on the friday morning before heading off to Dundrum

2 prestigious events hosted by the DIT School of Culinary Arts to get your teeth into next week. On monday 24th, "Teaching to Taste" a chefs workshop & demo on Tasting & Organoleptics (stimulation of the 5 senses you fool). As well as contributions from within the faculty outside speakers include Ross Lewis of Chapter One, Arun Kapil (Green Saffron) and Euro-toques Chefs Graham Neville. It's free and starts at 3. When you've recovered from that on the thursday it's the 4th DIT Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard Cocktail Competition. Discover more to creative drinks mixing than a Lesson st. sleaze club at 2am on a sunday morning. This is a chance for cocktail waiters and aspiring stirers and shakers to try out new recipes and benefit from the experience and knowledge of fellow colleagues and competitors. Blenders at the ready at 10am. Mine's a Gibson