Snacks Bygraves

A pleasant cup of tea? Then I’ll meet you at the cemetery gates. For a blog with the preoccupations this one has, how pleasant to find that a quaint tea room has opened in the quiet surroundings of Deansgrange Cemetery in South Dublin. In a place I like to visit often, this is a very […]

Grills & Boys

Originally published in U Magazine, June 2008 Can you get the stench of burning flesh in the air? It’s that time of year again. Any day now, invitations to friends’ barbecues will come flooding in. No one invites you to dinner during this period, no one says they’re having a few nibbles and cocktails in their […]

Memoir of a Soho square

Lately, I’ve been catching up with a month’s worth of weekend supplements. It’s a nice thing to do, especially when you have very little money. All that culture, most of it out of reach and well out of the range of my rather functionless wallet. One thing I love above all else is to read […]

Embracing hunger for Lent

I don’t normally observe the annual Shrove/pancake/ fat Tuesday routine. To me, it’s always been, as Curiosity Killed The Cat would say, just another ordinary day. Nor have I ever thought about giving anything up for Lent – not for any anti-religious purpose, just because I couldn’t be bothered thinking about sacrifices. Well, that’s about to […]

Working class heroes?

A wafer, God’s sake. For some obscure reason, the shockingly awful song “Blue Riband Blues” is stuck in my head today. This song, sung by Mike Berry in the 1980s’ commercial, advertised Blue Riband biscuits – lightweight chocolate-covered wafers that were “the very thing”, as my late Granny used to say, to have with a […]

Mastermind – more exciting than you think

Good to read the great John Humphrys happily acknowledging just how sexy his presentation style is on BBC’s Mastermind. In an interview for The Guardian about celebrity breakfasts, Humphrys says he has two breakfasts per day. His first (“a large bowl of fruit, muesli and yoghurt, and a banana”) before Radio 4’s Today programme and then […]

No mo’ Haribo woe

Much to the delight of my children, I recently stumbled upon the existence of vegetarian Haribo. They’re rather good too, coming in a mix of Strawberry shape/flavour, Cola Bottles and Lemon Starfish. Jellies have always been a source of woe for my veggie kids; they love the bright colours and aromas but they also have […]

Arthur and the nights around the pub table

A doffed hat and little bow to Irish Times’ reader Michael McEvaney, who had this excellent letter published in today’s paper: Madam, – Happy Arthur’s Day, our annual celebration of Guinness’s stranglehold on the Irish brewing industry for the past 50 years or more, a stranglehold that means Ireland is the only beer-drinking country in […]

When a McMuffin top will no longer do…

It’s “grow your winter layer” time of year and no one seems more keen to give you a better weather-resistant, wind-cheating midriff than old Burger King. We’ve covered American contempt for the concept of pizza here before, but this vile object really should have anyone with tastebuds and a modicum of self-respect reaching for their sick bags. […]

Weed ’em and reap

I wonder when the gardening bug will finally strike. When am I going to start feeling like growing my own vegetables? I’ve been waiting a while but so far, despite a fine family tradition and many presents of kitchen garden books, I’m no closer to taking it up. Obviously I’m writing this to give myself […]