Geoff's AwesomeSauce

As “Summer” is upon us… sort of… I’m sure like me your thoughts are turning to self-improvement. A new study[1] has found that as many as 30% of the adult population of Ireland are suffering from sobriety, a condition that can leave you depressed, thirsty and generally grumpy. There are some practical changes you can make to your lifestyle to combat this worrying trend. Breakfast We’ve all had some self-important-fitness-fanatic-amateur-dietician bleat on about...read more

Answer: Three raspberries on a stick I came across raspberries on special offer, nothing like summer fruits in March for a bit of escapism. These had travelled all the way from the USA. I’ve no problem buying imported fruit out of season. I do have a problem when shops sell imported fruit when the same fruit is in season in Ireland. Worse, restaurants offering imported veggies when there are perfectly good in...read more

Three of the chefs from last years Masterchef Ireland, Bridin Carey, Conal Markey and Richard Speedie run Seasons Supper Club. I was planning a night in town and this coincided with the lastest Seasons Supper, held in Medley in Drury Street, a kind of dining room for hire. What followed was one of the most memorable dining experiences I’ve ever had. The menu was fixed, no choices offered and I was attending...read more

Eastern Seaboard may be my favourite restaurant. It’s not the most expensive restaurant I’ve been to, I’ve had more amazing meals in other restaurants, it’s a 45 minute drive north to a housing estate in the outskirts of Drogheda to get there…. …but it feels right, the food doesn’t feel messed around, I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like the food they serve and the staff are bright and cheerful, as...read more

Fallon & Byrne recently announced a range of pre-prepared meals and I was lucky enough to receive an invite for the even from Jennifer King, F&B’s marketing specialist. The range consists of starters, soups, mains, desserts, salads and accompaniments. My family had already tried the Beef Bourguignon and Pulled Pork to positive acclaim… that is… they disappeared to various corners of the house with plates of it and scoffed the lot without...read more

I was lucky enough to win an invite to the Tipperary Food Producers Dinner on Wednesday from Aoife Ryan aka Babaduck. As always its slightly awkward for me at these events, surrounded by people with an absolute right to be there by virtue of the food they produce, the publications they write for or food businesses they’re involved with sits me, basically a greedy sod. Starter was a black pudding and...read more

It’s dead easy to create a unique drink by simply infusing spirit with fruit or spices. Sometimes it’s best to leave the ingredients soaking overnight or for weeks, especially if using things like vanilla or dried fruit but fresh fruit only takes an hour or so to impart a lovely fresh flavour and vibrant colour to the spirit. I had some blueberries in the fridge so I just popped a handful...read more

I’m always interested in trying unusual things, especially alcoholic ones, so when Jay from Hollands Off Licence in Bray mentioned he had some tobacco liqueur, I had to try some. Actually I told Jay that this undoubtedly tasted disgusting but it seemed rude not to see just how revolting it was.   I snuck down to Bray during my lunch break and showing a complete lack of restraint, asked Jay for...read more