My adventures as a café owner make the national news!

Apologies to those of you who have had it with my stories of opening a café but those of you who have yet to be sated by such tales can read what I wrote in today's Irish Examiner. Read all about it here.

A birthday dinner in Cork

It was my birthday this day last week and as has become an annual tradition for us, my boyfriend and I celebrated with a special meal out. "I'd like to go somewhere the food is imaginative and different," I said, "somewhere with a chef who is really trying to be creative."
Quite how this led to us booking dinner in Les Gourmandises in Cork, a restaurant I'd always assumed to be a classic French place, I don't know. But I'm glad it did.

We were impressed from the very beginning. The room is pleasant with high ceilings, white walls, red banquettes and sparkling chandeliers. It was busy. Everyone was buzzing. And the staff were attentive and friendly from the moment we arrived.

Our meal began - as all the best meals do, in my opinion - with a glass of something sparkling. In this case, it was Cava and it came with a selection of breads from the nearby English Market - all fresh and crusty and delicious with some cold and salty butter.

I had the monkfish beignets to start. The fish was perfectly fresh. The batter was light and crisp. And it went well with the sweetcorn puree and the tartness of the caper-rich sauce tartare it was served with. My only gripe might be that it was too large a portion. As you can see from the picture above, there were three small bowls (with two small beignets in each one). It's a lot for a starter, isn't it?

My boyfriend had the Castletownbere crab dish. This was a near perfect dish. The crab (which was served potted style with some clarified butter on top) tasted fresh from the sea and this freshness was highlighted with spikes of lemon, offset by the melon and grapefruit that came in the accompanying salad and the refreshing pink grapefruit jelly that was served alongside. Just the thing to bring the palate to life!

I chose the seafood platter for my main course and it contained some really good elements. There was pan-fried red snapper in a crispy skin. There were salmon rillettes. There was that lovely crab from my boyfriend's starter, those monkfish beignets from my starter, that really nice pink grapefruit jelly from my boyfriend's starter...
Are we beginning to notice a pattern here? Maybe I was unlucky in our choice of previous dishes, but I was disappointed to see so much repetition, especially as I had found that there was too much in my monkfish beignet starter to begin with. It all tasted good though.

My boyfriend had pan-fried guineafowl which was served with confit onion, a potato fondant type thing, barley and a port jus. He loved the sweet juiciness of the onion set against the earthiness of the barley and the moreishness of the sauce and the perfectly cooked bird. Well, that's what I think he said as he scoffed the lot!

We asked for two side dishes to go with our mains; a serving of French fries and peas with asparagus. The French fries were great and though the serving was small, it was probably enough. But the serving of peas and asparagus was tiny - three spears of asparagus and a handful of peas. It felt a little miserly, which I don't think is the impression you want to give guests in your restaurant and was completely at odds with what I thought about the size of the starters. However, they did give us more when we commented on it being small.

We shared a dessert platter to finish. Clockwise from top left, there was a

crème brûlée, that snapped under my spoon just as a crème brûlée should. There was a tangy lemon posset - zingily delicious. There was a chocolate and cognac cake. And there was a raspberry panna cotta. All were good. Not amazingly good but good.

Our bill for the entire meal - 2 glasses of cava, 2 starters, 2 main courses, one dessert plate, one bottle of white wine, one glass of red wine, one bottle of sparkling water, a tea and a coffee - came to €167. So, it wasn't cheap but as you can see, we treated ourselves to quite a lot.

Was it worth it? Though I had some complaints, the food was based on quality ingredients that were well prepared. The wine - a Pinot blanc from Alsace - complemented the food very well. The service was attentive and friendly. I enjoyed the atmosphere and overall, I had a good birthday dinner. I'd go back again.  

Les Gourmandises, Cook Street, Cork City

Cheap food, lifestyle cookery programmes and pimped up rice and beans

I like food.
I like cooking good food.
And even though I’m better off than lots of people, I’m not rich enough to be able to shop without considering my budget (although this girl does dream of one day having a champagne lifestyle).

Reluctantly returning to reality… there has been a lot of talk about cheap food in the media recently following the discovery of horsemeat in a certain type of Irish burger sold in Tesco. Catriona of wholesomeireland.com makes interesting points about it over here.

There are some things I want to say too, because even though I don’t eat burgers, this controversy does have something to do with me.

1: We all – regardless of our income and how much we spend on food – deserve to know what we’re eating. We need to be able to trust that our food is what it says it is.
Most of the time, I cook my food from scratch and feel somewhat protected by this. But how am I supposed to know what’s been sprayed on my vegetables? Has something been added to that can of tomatoes? What about that jar of spices? Is it really just ginger?
This is not me being over zealous. We all deserve to live in a world where food is what it says it is, nothing more and nothing less. Ireland, with its worldwide reputation for the quality of its food, should be setting the standard in this regard.

2: I totally agree with people who have said that everyone needs to be taught how to cook. We all have to eat. Therefore we should all know how to prepare food to put in our mouths. This knowledge has been lost by some people so we can’t rely on parents to teach their children. Home economics/cooking classes should be compulsory for all.

3: The fact that there are more cookery programmes on the TV today (and more food blogs on the internet) does not mean that more people are being inspired to cook. It may sound counterintuitive but I think that some of these shows play a part in turning people off the idea of cooking.
Many of them are presented by people who lead very fortunate and privileged lives. There’s Nigella in her beautiful Notting Hill home full of copper pots and pans and a larder full of expensive exotic ingredients. And Jamie – for all his good intentions – rushing about London on his fancy Vespa and calling into expensive artisan food shops.
Most people can’t afford such lifestyles and the implicit assumption they make is that they can’t afford good food.
This has to stop. Good food should not be associated with a lifestyle. It should not be aspirational. It should be something for us all.

I’ll leave you with a recipe for what I'm having for lunch today. Essentially, it’s a pimped up beans and rice dish. It’s healthy with its pulses, wholegrain rice and nutrient-rich avocadoes. It’s delicious. Oh! And guess what? It’s also quite cheap!

Pimped-up rice and beans – serves two
75g brown basmati rice
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
Half an onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
400g tin kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon runny honey
Salt and pepper

1 avocado, diced
¼ red onion, sliced
½ lime, juiced
2 large tomatoes, chopped
Salt to season
Small handful coriander leaves, chopped.

• Cook the basmati rice until tender, drain and leave in a covered pot to keep warm.
• Prepare the avocado salad by mixing the avocado, the tomatoes and the red onion in the lime juice. Taste and season.
• Heat the oil over a medium heat and add the garlic and onion. Cook for one minute.
• Add the chopped red pepper and cook until soft, three minutes or so.
• Add the drained beans, the cider vinegar and the honey and season.
• Cook for five minutes until the flavours come together.
• Divide the rice between two plates, spoon beans over and serve with the avocado salsa. Sprinkle with chopped coriander before serving.

Now, where was I?  Oh yes, that champagne lifestyle...

Are you a good cook? Here's your chance to prove it.

I know there are lots of you out there who love food and cooking. You may have considered applying for 'Masterchef' but decided against it when you realised it was really only for those who wanted to be professional cooks. And you may even have considered putting yourself forward for 'Come Dine with Me' only to change your mind when you discovered you’d be ridiculed on national TV.

If only there were a TV show out there for the likes of you…

Well, now there is. I was sent a press release this morning about a new cooking series on Sky which is currently looking for people to take part. It’s aiming to find the best regional amateur cooking teams of two in Ireland and the UK. It’s not about professional chefs. Instead, it’s all about real people who have a passion for food, who like to host dinner parties, who are constantly trying new things and love showcasing their reagion and local produce.
If that sounds like you, here’s what they have to say:

Are you passionate about cooking great food?
Do you have a friend or partner who shares your enthusiasm for entertaining and cooking up a storm in the kitchen?

Boundless Productions, the production company behind The Apprentice, are on the hunt for the best amateur cooking couples from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales for a new Sky One series.

If selected, each amateur cooking team will be asked to showcase their cooking and entertaining skills in front of some of the country’s top professional chefs.

We are looking for REAL homemade food, cooked by REAL people with REAL passion.

Whether you’re siblings, work colleagues, life-long friends or romantically involved we’re looking for couples who share a history and the ability to serve up some exceptional food.
If you think you and your cooking partner has what it takes to represent your region in the UK and Ireland’s ultimate cooking test we’d love to hear from you.

CONTACT:
Fiona on 0207 861 8202 or Fiona.wilson@boundlessproductions.tv
Jake on 0207 861 8215 or jake.smith@boundlessproductions.tv
Joe on 0207 861 8248 or joe.deen@boundlessproductions.tv

I'd urge you to go for it. It's your chance to have your 15 minutes of culinary fame!

It's Sunday. Have a scone.

It's January and it's been dark and dreary here in Dingle, (except for a few days last week which dawned bright and beautiful). 

Look closely and you'll see that my dog really enjoyed those days.

Many of you will be on restrictive diets following the excess of Christmas (for my part, I have resolved not to eat any more chocolate - or at least to eat far, far less than the masses of chocolate bars, chocolate truffles, chocolate cake and biscuits I was eating over the festive season).

But it's dark outside and January is depressing enough without adding to its list of woes by depriving ourselves of all that is indulgent and good. This is why I decided to cheer myself up with some scones - which are sweet and comforting without being too heavy or rich.

On top of that, these scones are quick to make and use ingredients that most of us have in our cupboards, just waiting to be turned into something as delicious as this. 

These scones are made to a recipe we honed in the café last year. Our customers really like them, particularly the blueberry ones. The ones I've made here are plain but you can transform them into blueberry ones (or sultana, raisin, currant or any other variety) by throwing a handful of what you fancy into the mix. What I usually do is make the basic mixture, add any extras and knead them all gently together at the kneading stage.

Recipe (makes six)
225g self raising flour
60g butter
30g caster sugar
Pinch of salt
One and a half teaspoons of baking powder
1 egg
125ml milk (plus a little extra for glazing the top)

• Preheat your oven to 200C/400F/Gas mark 6.
• Weigh your ingredients.
• Combine the flour and the butter in a mixing bowl, rubbing the butter into the flour using your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. 
• Add the salt, caster sugar and baking power and stir using a wooden spoon.
• Stir in the egg and milk until both are fully incorporated.
• By this stage, your dough should be ready to handle. If it's still too sticky, add some more flour until you feel comfortable using it.
• Flour your surface and place the dough on it. Knead it for a minute or two (adding any fruit or berries at this stage) and then roll or pat it out to a thickness of approximately two centimetres.
• Use a scone cutter or glass to cut the scones to your chosen size.
• Flour a baking tray and place your scones on it. Brush them with some milk.
• Place in your pre-heated oven and cook for approximately 15 minutes. I made six scones with this dough and they had risen and turned a golden yellow colour within 16 minutes. If you've made more or less, you'll have to adjust your cooking time accordingly. Your oven temperature may also be slightly different so I'd recommend checking the scones from 14 minutes onwards.

Once your scones have cooked, allow them to cool on a wire tray before you make yourself a cup of tea and whip some cream. Make sure you've got a jar of good jam on standby too. In the café, we use Folláin Jams and I'd also recommend Bonne Maman Jams.

It's January. It's Sunday. What better time to have a scone?

If you were to start baking now, you'd  be tucking into a freshly made scone an hour from now. What are you waiting for? It's just the thing to cheer anyone up this Sunday.

So that was 2012. Bring on 2013.

The past few weeks have been a reflective time for me. After the whirligig year that was 2012, I have closed Béile le Chéile until mid March and finally have time to look back on all that has happened since I fell off the edge of the world  opened the café.

My café is in Dick Mack's Yard, behind the pub, upstairs from the pottery shop and beside Dingle's oldest art gallery!

My first nine months as a café owner have been a huge learning curve. I've learned that:

1: Running a café is one of the most exhausting things you can do, especially at the beginning. For the first six weeks or so, I would get up at five or six in the morning and go to the café to bake. I'd rush around from then until five in the evening when the café closed. AND THEN there would be clean up, accounts to do and food to order for the following day. I'd get home at 7pm or so - dead on my feet and unable to speak - and go to bed shortly after dinner, only to wake up in the middle of the night worrying about all there was to do the next day.

(Looking back on it now, I think I was in a state of shock at just what I'd got myself into. I'd spend all day rushing about on auto-pilot and once I got to my car in the evening, I'd burst into tears at the relief of having survived another day without disaster. It felt as though I was lurching from day to day, desperately hoping to avoid catastrophe.
The tears would also threaten to come if ever anyone asked how I was or how the business was going in those early days. "Fine," I'd respond in a tight voice as my inner self would scream "don't cry. For god's sake, don't cry!". 
Thankfully, the crying phase ended after a few weeks, hopefully never to return!)

Thankfully too, there were no disasters, though there were close calls. Burst water pipes, falling chimneys, disappearing waitresses - all of these and more were setbacks that were overcome.

Lesson number two: people are kind. I got so much help when I first opened the café. People left comments here. Others contacted me on Twitter. Fellow café owners and restaurateurs in Dingle gave me advice. 
My family and friends were phenomenal. My brothers both loaned me money to set up the café and my plumber brother rushed to the rescue more than once. My artistic sister designed my sign, helped me find tablecloths, picked up my cash register, made an emergency delivery of coffee and stepped in on the morning the café opened just as I was about to have a meltdown.
My other three sisters helped out too. One was a full-time waitress over the summer months and the other two helped when I needed them. There was one particularly busy day when two of them came in for lunch and ended up being drafted in to do the washing up for hours.

Thanks to Gearóid, my sister Úna's boyfriend who came up with the café's name. It may have been controversial but I love it.
My lovely boyfriend was always there to help too. He was right by my side getting the place ready to open and always on call if every anything went wrong. I literally could not have done it without him.

The calm after the storm

Lesson number three: most customers are lovely. It's great to see people becoming regulars and appreciating the food you have cooked.

Lesson number four: I can work in a café kitchen. When I first planned to open a café, it wasn't my intention to be in the kitchen. I would bake but others would do the cooking. Because I could only find one cook for my kitchen, I took up the rest of the slack. And do you know what? I'm pretty good at it!

The patio outside the café

Lesson number five: I'm not good at bookkeeping. There is so much of it to do and so little time in which to do it. At one stage during the summer, I had to wade through paper in order to reach the computer in my home office - I'm not (AND I REPEAT, NOT) letting it get to that stage this year.

Lesson number six: I still love everything to do with food and cooking. I always enjoyed preparing the food and seeing and hearing people's reactions to it. Hearing the sigh of satisfaction when they had their first sip of coffee (we use Pónaire Coffee which is roasted in Limerick ). Watching them as they tasted our chocolate chip cookies or our blueberry scones.  Encouraging regulars to try things like this spicy shakshouka or a summery pea and mint soup.


I'm grateful for all the help I got in 2012, from my honest and hardworking staff, from my ever-understanding environmental health officer, from my family and friends and from all my customers.

2012 wasn't an easy year but it was a worthwhile one and I'm really looking forward to 2013. I want to make Béile le Chéile even better by showcasing more great Irish food products; creating an even more welcoming and relaxing atmosphere and maybe branching out into holding some events. (I'm thinking bookclubs, supper clubs, talks... What say you?) 

Also, I've made a decision that even if I do get ridiculously busy with the café again (which I inevitably will do), I'm going to keep this blog going in 2013. Come what may, no matter what cakes need to be baked or customers need to be served, there will be a weekly post here on Foodie Fancies - that's one of my not-to-be-broken New Year's Resolutions.

The next two months will be taken up with sourcing new suppliers, coming up with new ideas for the menu and maybe planning some events. I can't wait! If you've got any ideas, I'd love to hear them. And if ever you are in Dingle, I'd love to welcome you to Béile le Chéile. We'll be open from mid March...

Oh! And before I forget, did I tell you we won a Bridgestone Award? It may have been a whirligig year but we must have been doing something right! 

Sharon has fallen off the edge of the world.

I haven't forgotten you, the lovely readers of this blog. It's just that I've fallen off the edge of the world opened a café and it's taken over my life. All I seem to do these days is get woken by the sound of my alarm clock, haul my tired body out of bed and into the café where I bake and cook all day long and then come home, collapse from exhaustion and wake up to do it all over again the next day...

But I can see that there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Things are getting easier. I'm beginning to build a good team of people around me and most importantly of all, I'm learning how to delegate. You would not believe how hard it is for a girl like me to learn to trust other people to do things properly, even apparently simple things like making a good cup of coffee. But I am learning and I will get there (that's what I keep telling myself anyhow).
As soon as I do, I'll start posting here regularly again. It won't be long, I promise.

In the meantime, here are some quickly shot snaps of Béile le Chéile (there's still a lot more to be done though so when I next update, you should notice lots of changes)

This is the building from the outside, with my sign pointing to where I am:

I've got an outside patio area which is perfect for when it's sunny (ok, so not all that often in Dingle!)

And here are two shots of the interior:

I've have lots more pictures and stories for you next time - which hopefully won't be too long off. I have to get up at 6am tomorrow morning and I'm bound to be very busy over the bank holiday weekend but I hope to find some time over the next few days to tell you about everything I've been up to. Slán go fóill!