Don’t worry, I’m still cooking! However, I do make it out of the kitchen from time to time. Last Saturday I was lured away by a fabulous food and gardening festival called Bloom. The festival has been an annual event for the last 5 years, but this was the very first time I had ever been. Bloom happens in the beautiful Phoenix Park in Dublin and is basically a showcase of the best of Irish produce. It’s also about gardening and crafts, so plenty to keep me entertained. I felt very proud of our tiny little island as we walked around and I’m hopeful that this mini food revolution in Ireland continues.
Bloom is a great place to meet the actual producers which always gives me a bit of childish glee. It was certainly funny to see that our friendly barman in the Bloom Inn was Cormac, the Head Brewer of Dungarvan Brewing Company. If you have read some of my previous posts, you might know that I am a fan of Dungarvan beer and I was really excited to try their new brew – coffee and oatmeal stout. I am not really a stout drinker but I had to taste this crazy combination. I have to say it really works and may even convert you other non-stout drinkers out there. It’s full of flavour and not too heavy. Kind of tastes the way that I always hoped stout would taste. Creamy, rich, oaty and almost chocolaty. So far it’s only available at food festivals, but hopefully it will get more popular and be available in bottles soon.
Then of course there was the cheese addiction to feed. Cais – The Association of Irish Farmhouse cheeses were there selling very generous cheese plates. We chose a selection which included Durrus, Milleens, Bellingham blue, Coolea and Ardsallagh goat cheese. All were in great condition and perfect for our mini picnic in the sun.
My dessert choice was conveniently around the corner. Murphys ice-cream is my current food obsession. It’s made in Dingle in Co. Kerry and is ridiculously creamy and delicious. They also have some great flavours like Dingle sea salt, stout, Kerry cream and whiskey. They created a special flavour for the festival – lavender and white chocolate. It was good but still not as moreish as Dingle sea salt or better still Dingle sea salt and stout together.
So that was Bloom!
Spoon is just to tell you that my logo now features a new spoon. The famous wooden spoon from the brown bread post is now proudly representing Stasty 🙂