Go Wild Christmas - Oct 2024 V1 (1)

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Publisher’s Note

Welcome to our Annual Go Wild Christmas Magazine for 2024

The Go Wild team and I always enjoy the lovely Christmas atmosphere that producing this title brings us in the lead-up to our print date. The interviews, stories, and recipes truly capture the spirit of Christmas for the entire team. Once again, I am incredibly proud of what the amazingly talented Go Wild team has achieved with this edition, and I hope you’ll agree that it’s full of great interviews, wonderful gift ideas, and, of course, some extra special Christmas recipes from fantastic Irish chefs to make your Christmas Day a little easier.

It’s important to note that all Go Wild magazine titles are made possible solely through the support of our featured advertising partners, so please support them this Christmas, as they support us.

If you enjoy reading this issue—and we certainly hope you do—look out for our upcoming titles in 2025 to keep your

Greetings from the team at Go Wild. Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’re gearing up for a season of food, friendly catch-ups, family gatherings and gifts galore, so we’ve put together a bumper Christmas issue to ensure you find plenty of inspiration within its pages.

On page 10, singer-songwriter Stephanie Rainey talks about her exciting career plans and why this Christmas will be about creating magic for her young son.

Christmas is a time for reflecting on the year gone by while making promises for the year ahead. We catch up with two of Ireland’s leading environmental activists to garner their advice on how we can all do our bit for nature and wildlife in 2025. Read rewilder Eoghan Daltun and ornithologist Seán Ronayne’s inspiring stories on pages 58 and 64.

If you’re hosting this season, we invite you to peruse this issue slowly over a cup of tea and reserve your energy for the big day while picking up a few ideas for making your job a little easier. On page 8, events specialist Tara O’Connor shares her tips for stress-free entertaining and creating the perfect tablescape; on page 34, chef Neven Maguire shares his recipe for a Carlingford oyster starter;

Contacts:

For advertising: Bobby Power, Publisher bobby@gowildmagazine.com, 087 4467007

For accounts: Cleo Power, Account Manager cleo@gowildmagazine.com

love for Ireland alive: our bi-annual Go Wild Staycation Ireland (March & July), Go Wild Tourism for the Wild Atlantic Way (April), Go Wild East Coast (May), Go Wild Dublin (June), Go Wild Northern Ireland (August), Go Wild Irish Spirits (September), and Go Wild Christmas (October).

Thank you so much for buying this copy—we truly appreciate your support. I hope you and your family have a wonderful and safe Christmas.

Happy Christmas from our team to yours!

Bobby Power

Publisher, Go Wild Magazine titles

Email: bobby@gowildmagazine.com

Tel: 087 446 7007

on page 49, Mark Moriarty rolls up a chocolate roulade that’s bound to wow your guests; and on page 50, Brigid O’Hora shares her expert advice on what to consider when choosing wines for Christmas and all those key events throughout the festive period. And if you’re feeling a bit stressed, fear not – Keith Barry shares his tricks for keeping calm, sleeping well and staying balanced on page 44.

If that weren’t enough, we interview TikTok star and woodworker Eoin Reardon on page 18, TV presenter and author Zainab Boladale on page 68, and folklorist Aedín Ní Thiarnaigh on page 72. Plus, we round up the best gifts, festive happenings and top tipples to get you well into the Christmas spirit.

Wishing you and yours a happy Christmas and a magical New Year.

Nollaig Shona!

Meg Walker Editor, Go Wild Christmas

Contributors:

Editor: Meg Walker

Copy Editor: Keith Nicol

A special thank you to Fáilte Ireland & Ireland.com

Graphic Design:

Creative Director: Dave Curtin

Web: www.brainstorm.ie

Editorial & Ad Design: Lynne Clark

P4: Keeping with tradition

P8: Tara O’Connor’s tablescaping tips

P10: Stephanie Rainey’s star is on the rise

P14: The Dead Rabbit’s Liam Craig shares his festive playlist

P16: Everly founders on the magic of a Christmas wedding

P18: Eoin Reardon on the importance of traditional skills

P20: The best seasonal events

P24: Gifts for her

P26: Gifts for him

P28: Gifts for little ones

P30: Gifts for foodies

P32: Gifts from Ireland

P34: Neven Maguire’s Carlingford oyster starter

P36: Niall Ennis’s Christmas pudding

P38: Annette Vaucanson Kelly’s wild swimming adventure

P42: The perfect recipe for a comforting hot whiskey

P44: Brainhacker Keith Barry shares his sleep tips

P46: Deck the halls

P48: Must-have elements for a good ole Irish Christmas

P49: Mark Moriarty’s simple chocolate roulade

P50: Brigid O’Hora’s tips for choosing wines

P52: Ahascragh Distillery’s sustainable journey

P56: Wreath-making tips

P58: Rewilder Eoghan Daltun on preserving nature

P60: The Burren Smokehouse’s salmon starter staples

P62: Powerscourt Distillery’s John Cashman is living the dream

P64: Ornithologist Seán Ronayne’s quiet activism

P66: Walking in a winter wonderland

P68: Zainab Boladale on how she celebrates Christmas

P70: Keeper’s Heart Whiskey and Brian Nation

P72: Aedín Ní Thiarnaigh on Irish Christmases past

P76: Meet Clonakilty Distillery’s Michael Scully

P78: Merry mocktails

P80: Simple sweet and savoury biscuits to bake

P82: The Ultimate Go Wild Christmas Film Quiz

P88: The perfect finish: salted caramel espresso martini

P89: Writer Carlo Gébler reflects on a memorable Christmas

P96: Festive cocktails to shake things up

Wishing all our readers and advertisers a happy Christmas and prosperous New Year. Season’s greetings from Bobby, Cleo, Dave, Lynne, Keith, Meg, Claire and all the team. Go Wild with festive cheer for the holidays!

Feast on Tradition: Ireland's Finest BBQ Spare Ribs. Celebrating 35 Years of unmatched Flavour at the Texas Steakout. A Time-Honoured Recipe, Perfected in Limerick.

KEEPING WITH TRADITION

From the annual pilgrimage to Midnight Mass on December 24, right through to Nollaig na mBan in January, even Scrooge himself would be warmed by the traditions that give some extra oomph to the festive season across the country. Here’s a look behind the scenes at some of the customs we just can’t shake when it comes to celebrating Christmas.

Candles in the window

Placing a candle in the window during the festive period is one of the most iconic images of the season. The candle is a sign of welcome for anyone, friend or stranger, who might be passing on Christmas Eve. Come on in guys.

Midnight massive

Our churches are normally packed to the rafters on Christmas Eve, as families dress up and go to Midnight Mass. The pandemic saw many places of worship switch to live streamed services so keep an eye out for what’s available online in the coming months. But wherever you get your spiritual festive fix, there’s only one way to end the evening – by leaving out some mince pies and Guinness for Santa … along with a few carrots for Rudolf.

real St. Nicholas Legend has it that St. Nicholas, the man who inspired Father Christmas and the real Santa of today, is buried in an abandoned medieval village at a working farm called Jerpoint Park in Co. Kilkenny. It’s believed he lies within a cracked, carved tomb in the grounds beside the ruins of St. Nicholas’ Church. Jerpoint Park offers guided tours - booking is online – while its tearooms are open for light lunches and sweet treats.

Christmas Day dips

A bracing Christmas Day dip is a longstanding tradition and also raises much-needed funds for charities. Not one for the faint-hearted, this custom is particularly strong at the Forty Foot swimming spot in Sandycove, Dublin. The popularity of a cold morning swim has soared in coastal towns and villages in recent years, with plenty of places to go in for a seasonal splash including Mayo’s Lough Lannagh, Salthill in Galway Bay, Bundoran in Co. Donegal and Tralee Bay Swimming Club’s annual dip in Fenit, Co. Kerry, in aid of the RNLI.

Who’s for pudding?

Putting a silver coin in your pudding is an ageold custom that is said to bring health, wealth, happiness and good luck to the person that finds it. Traditionally, 13 ingredients should be used and everyone in the house is supposed to stir the mixture for good luck as it’s being prepared.

Little Christmas

Women’s Christmas or Nollaig na mBan, is the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6. It officially marks the last day of the season. Traditionally it’s the day when women must avoid all housework while the men stay home, cook and take down the decorations - it’s bad luck if you don’t!

The

’Tis the season TO ENTERTAIN

Events specialist Tara O’Connor shares her top tips for creating the ultimate festive tablescape, along with a few dos and don’ts to ensure everything runs smoothly.

With more than 20-years’ experience in the PR and events industry, Tara O’Connor has styled countless events and tables, and her passion for tablescaping led her to set up. The Designed Table, presenting her own range of table linens and accessories inspired by the countryside and forests near her home in Co. Kildare. Here, she offers her expert tips for entertaining this festive season so you can focus on joining in the fun…

Choose a colour scheme first, or a few key colours for your table. Then decide whether to go with floral arrangements or just add foliage as your centrepiece. Foliage always adds a statement, and you can simply run to the garden for last-minute emergencies, as winter greens are perfect scattered along the centre of the table.

Set the table the day before you entertain so it’s one job that’s done in advance. I like to start with a tablecloth, as this creates a lovely base layer for the table. If a tablecloth is not for you, a runner creates a fabulous statement along the centre of the table. You can then add depth to this with placemats and charger plates.

Don’t over-style your table. Just add the plates you need for your first course on each place setting. Tapered candles are great for adding height to your table along with tealights in little votives.

I love to use place names and menus at Christmas. It adds a sense of formality to the proceedings. For place names, use foliage or

seasonal fruit like pomegranates if you don’t want to use paper – a gold Sharpie is all you need.

Do a simple fold with your napkins or pop them into a napkin ring. If you don’t have napkin rings, tie some ribbon and pop a sprig of eucalyptus on top. If you are eating late in the day, have lots of candles to add sparkle and glamour.

And don’t forget your Christmas crackers. We all need that family picture with paper hats.

Serve a glass of bubbles as soon as guests arrive, and put on a cheerful but relaxed playlist as well as low lighting. I just use lamps in the room I am hosting and lots of candlelight to add sparkle and atmosphere.

Don’t leave guests too long without food. Timing is everything. Have some nibbles on offer and try to sit guests within an hour of them arriving at your house.

Preparation is key. I recommend having everything ready before your guests arrive. Set the table the day before or the morning of. Light the candles as soon as guests are due to

sit for dinner and not while they are sitting. A cold starter is always handy, as this can be made before and just served. Make sure you have lots of sparkling and still water on hand and delegate the job of water and wine pouring to someone. Make sure you know about any special dietary requirements, so there are no surprises on the night.

Never do your florals too high, so you can see your guests across the table. The same applies to candles. Keep tea lights low and taper candles tall and slim and not in big vessels. I always test every seat to make sure I can see the guest opposite where someone is sitting. Also, leave your scented candles off the dinner table. I always have one in the hall and bathroom but avoid other scents apart from food near the table until the meal is finished.

If you’re hosting a cocktail party, where guests are sitting or standing throughout your living areas, you can still dress up your dining table to act as a central table for food platters or hors d’oeuvres.

Let The Designed Table inspire you to set the scene for a magical Christmas feast or festive gathering that will bring friends and family together, thedesignedtable.com.

Follow The Designed Table on Instagram @ thedesignedtable

talent She’s got

Stephanie Rainey’s whirlwind adventure in LA has propelled her music career to the next level. She tells Meg Walker why she’s staying grounded while making the most of every opportunity.

Portrait by Miki Barlok

Earlier this year, Cork-born singer-songwriter Stephanie Rainey, accompanied by her friend, Kilkenny pianist and composer Sarah Power, won the hearts of the judges along with four yeses when she auditioned for America’s Got Talent with her emotional performance of “Please Don’t Go”, a song she wrote about the loss of her nephew, Fionn, who tragically died from meningitis just before his first birthday. It had Sofia Vergara in tears and Simon Cowell exclaiming that hers was the best original song “by a mile” they’d heard all season.

Although the pair didn’t make it through to the semi-finals, Stephanie is proud of her performance of “Woman” – another song that’s close to her heart as she wrote it in tribute to her mother’s battle with cancer – during the quarterfinals, and she’s quick to express her gratitude at the opportunity to perform on such a global platform.

“I’m taking this moment and running with it,” she says with energy in her voice. The 36-year-old has been trying to break through the music industry for many years now. “When you go and do something that has that much exposure, you’re taking a risk and going beyond your comfort zone. It’s lit a new fire in me. I was in a safe zone for a while without realising it, where I was doing the same things and expecting my career to all of a sudden take off, when I knew deep in my heart that I needed a little push. So when the opportunity came up, I was like, let’s do it, even though it terrified me. It’s been

brilliant for me, both personally and professionally.”

I’m speaking with her a week after her return home to Glanmire, where her partner Gary Keane and their two-yearold son Jackson were anxiously waiting to give her a warm hug after two full weeks apart. “It may sound like a short time, but I feel Jackson grew up so much while I was away. He puts a great perspective on things. It’s good for the soul. Gary also works in music and is a great support. At the same time, that’s balanced with a dose of realism – I got off the plane and was just back to being a mum and partner. And that was good for me. It was like, ‘Now listen, here’s real life – what you’ve done there for the last two weeks is completely chaotic and not normal, and this is what it’s all about.”

Stephanie is now excited to unleash her debut EP, The Highs and Lows of It All to the world in November with a gig in Dublin on the night of the launch and another in Cork the following month. “I’m now like, let’s throw everything at this. This is the defining moment.”

“I always do a big live Cork show at Christmas, but this is going to be on another level,” she continues. “It’s very exciting, and the support I’ve had in the last couple of months has been so beautiful. I’ve just been able to enjoy it and take it in. I’m also excited to perform in front of the people who’ve been sending messages and liking my Instagram posts. Because hopefully we can get them all into a room and have a good time.”

The EP, she says, will feature a couple of tracks she’s already released, plus

some new songs she’s really proud of.

“There might be a sneaky little cover on there as well, one with some weight to it. I think going on America’s Got Talent and bringing ‘Please Don’t Go’ to that show brought me back to the centre of who I am as an artist. I feel like I spent a couple of years going around the block thinking, what will the radio want to play? What will streaming pick up on? And having that song resonating with people made me go, okay, here are the songs that I feel will sit together on an EP that will make sense from an emotional point of view, to try and connect with people. So it’s going to be an emotional EP. It’s not going to be full of bangers. It’s going to be stories of things I’ve experienced, that I feel like other people experience as well. When it came to performing ‘Woman’ during the quarter-finals, I thought, if I don’t connect to the song, or feel like other people will get anything from it, it’s pointless. I think when you come at music from that point of view, people will resonate with it. It might not be everybody all of the time, but I think people appreciate a bit of honesty, that this was something I went through. I think people are looking for that because the world is so disconnected in many ways. And I’m not good at pretending, so a song has to have some connection for me to sing it.”

Stephanie’s creative partnership with Sarah goes back to 2012, when Stephanie was on the hunt for a piano player and went to her old college for a recommendation. “We had an

instant musical connection. I knew straight away she understood what I was trying to do, she understood the music and what it needed. Then we just became best friends. I was in my mid-twenties and found somebody I connected with. I feel musically, Sarah is a very grounding force for me. She’s very understanding and knows exactly how to play the songs in a way that makes sense. I could not have done that audition in March without Sarah being there. She’s always in the trenches with me and it’s much more enjoyable when she’s there.”

Aside from the EP and upcoming shows, there’s a Christmas cover in the works. “I always like to do something around Christmas, for streaming services. I did a cover of ‘Last Christmas’ a couple of years ago that does well every year, so it’s lovely to see that coming back around every Christmas. But I want to do something new this year. Getting that aired on Christmas FM would be amazing.”

Stephanie is looking forward to this Christmas for many reasons, not least the fact that her son is at the perfect age to fully understand what’s happening. “My little fella’s going to be three in November, so he’s at a wonderful age. He’s full of chat, full of life, full of magic. So this Christmas will be the first time where he really gets it, and I can’t wait. It’s going to be all about Jackson this year, along with spending time with my parents, my partner’s family in Kerry, and just creating moments together. Children

allow you to re-experience things in a completely different way. They just make everything very special.”

The next couple of months will also see Stephanie go on tour in Germany and the Netherlands with Pa Sheeny from Walking on Cars, who she collaborated with along with Conor Byrne and her partner Gary on her recently released single “Snakes and Ladders”, which was an instant hit with her followers.

When she’s not performing, recording or writing songs, Stephanie presents an evening radio programme on Cork’s Red FM (“I love it there – it’s a good outlet for me that isn’t music”) and she’s been busier than ever on social media since returning from the States. “After being in LA, I’m more open to connecting with my audience offstage. I’m reaching out more through Instagram and being more honest, sharing how I felt after the quarter-final performance – the disappointment or embarrassment I might have felt for a brief moment. These are feelings I normally would have hidden from people before, pretending everything was fine. I’ve realised people respect you telling the whole truth.”

Stephanie says getting older, with all the experience and wisdom that comes with age, has enhanced her songwriting and approach to her career. “A couple of years ago, I had my first big break and looking back, I don’t think I was ready for it. I wasn’t ready musically, I wasn’t ready personally. It’s a journey and I feel like I’ve now arrived at the

point where I’m able to present myself to people in a very authentic way. So I think the process, even though it’s been hard, has been 100 per cent worth it. I think a lot of people, in any job, will say that you get to a point where you realise that all of the bad things that happen, happen for a reason.”

“Please Don’t Go” was first released nearly ten years ago. Does it feel any different performing it now than it did in the beginning? “It’s been a very dynamic journey with that song because I feel like the first time it went viral, I actually couldn’t enjoy it. I thought, how do I stay respectful to my family and the families of the people in the video. I also felt guilty that something brilliant was happening for me off the back of something bad happening to my family. Now I can see the power it’s had for other people. And that’s very humbling. My brother was very supportive of me using that song for the audition and told me that ‘Please Don’t Go’ has helped to keep Fionn’s memory alive. That gave me a great sense of freedom to be able to go to LA and talk about it freely and with ease that I hadn’t had before. When I’m gone, that song will still exist, and if that song is what’s left behind of me, I’ll be very, very proud of that because it seems to help people, and that’s more than you could ever ask for.”

The Highs and Lows of It All is out November 14. Stephanie will perform live at Dublin’s Vicar Street on November 14 and Cork City Hall on December 18. Follow Stephanie on Instagram @stephanieraineymusic

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Ear to the ground

thedeadrabbit.com shininglight.ie

For over a decade, The Dead Rabbit in New York City has been working to ensure customers of the renowned Irish bar get a true picture of modern Ireland, from the drinks served to the artwork on the walls, right down to the scented candles and hand soaps. Key to this curation is the music – a task given to owner Jack McGarry’s talented cousin, Liam Craig, who took on the role of Director of Music two years ago and has been striving ever since to bring fresh Irish talent through The Dead Rabbit doors, to perform live to audiences in New York, as well as the latest branch in Austin, Texas, and is already planning for the opening of the new bar in Washington DC. Not only that, the recorded sounds aired through the speakers as guests chat over a cold pint and the music heard as they scroll through the company’s social media sites are all the result of Liam’s sharp ear for contemporary Irish musical artists deserving of airplay.

The Dead Rabbit is on a mission to be a beacon of contemporary Irish culture in the States, challenging the preconceptions of what an Irish bar can be. Initially, my role was to curate music for the bars that featured 100 per cent Irish artists, and I’ve focused that work on mostly showcasing contemporary artists, from around 2005 onwards. I then started bringing artists in to perform, and that’s expanded from musical artists to comedians as well. The Coronas played at the launch of our Austin bar in July this year. Hozier and Dermot Kennedy are fans of the bar and occasionally they’ll pop in for a quiet pint but we’ve yet to have them in to perform… Maybe one day! And Kneecap came in to watch themselves on TV when they appeared on Jimmy Fallon. We have a few nice surprise acts lined up for the rest of this year.

This is our first Christmas with two bars open, which is exciting. In November, we launch our Christmas pop-up, Jingle Jangle, where the bar transforms into this magical grotto; the last two years, we had Belfast artist Ryan McMullan perform. I’m excited about the opening of our third location, in Washington DC, next year. Once that happens, I can start building in mini-tours for acts, having them play all three venues.

Outside of The Dead Rabbit, I manage artists like ROE, who’s from Derry, and run Shining Light Music, which sees me curate bespoke playlists for the Irish hospitality industry, further showcasing great Irish artists. I recently created playlists for the Guinness Storehouse, so there are now over 500 Irish tracks being played to millions of visitors who explore the seven floors of exhibition spaces, bars, restaurants and cafés. I’ve worked in this industry for nearly two decades, managing a variety of artists, and something I’m always trying to ensure is that I showcase a good range of artists. Things like gender balance and shining a light on artists from the LGBTQI+ community, and people from different cultures all naturally align with my values. I love including tracks people mightn’t generally think of as ‘Irish music’ – like rap, hip-hop, soul and R&B.

I’m from Belfast originally but I live in Derry. My work sees me travel a lot to the States, but when I’m not travelling, I get to work from home a lot, which is great as I get to spend more time with my partner Jen, who’s from Letterkenny but we met in Derry, and our son and daughter, who are five and two. For years, we’d spend Christmas visiting family, but now with the kids, we enjoy being in our own home, coming up with new traditions, reinventing what the day is all about and making memories together.

Liam’s top five tracks for any Irish Christmas playlist “Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues “Cold Old Fire” by Lankum “Christmas Morning” by Luz “Christmas Once Again” by ROE “At Christmas” by James Vincent McMorrow

Meg Walker meets Liam Craig, Director of Music for US-based Irish bar group, The Dead Rabbit.

Portrait by Ciara McMullan

Based in Co. Louth, Laura Downes and Orla McDonnell set up Everly in 2020 to help streamline the wedding planning process for couples. The ‘freemium’ site is free to join and allows users to build their own customisable wedding website complete with digital invitations, itineraries, guest lists, travel and accommodation details and even online gifting. Having served as a bridesmaid for friends, Laura witnessed first-hand the stress of minding gifts and countless cards containing cash, on what is already a hectic day. “I’ve since heard from many couples that cards went missing or they never received a gift from someone they know would have sent something. I’ve even heard reports of gifts being stolen from venues. We wanted to bring a digital solution to that problem, making it simple for guests to safely give gifts, but delivered in an elegant way – it’s not cold. Our digitised postbox model takes cards online, but we wanted that to be a pleasant experience for both the couples and their guests. It offers a bank of cards that can later be downloaded and kept. We’re taking all of that communication fully online and presenting it in an emotional, beautiful way.”

Subscribers can choose from a host of templates to find something that reflects their personality and the tone of their wedding, and everything is easily

On the same page

Everly founders Laura Downes and Orla McDonnell are on a mission to take the stress out of wedding planning.

In conversation with Meg Walker

customisable. Everly is there from the beginning of the journey, helping couples set their budget for everything from the reception to the honeymoon.

“We’re now working on expanding our offering and have some exciting new partnerships that are going to launch in the next few months. We’re also looking at building in an all-in-one financial planning solution, which can be tailored to suit the couple’s needs. Because ultimately, outside of a mortgage, this is one of the biggest financial commitments a couple will make.”

The name Everly, Laura says, was selected after the pair thought long and hard about what the company would one day evolve to become and they hope that in time it will offer much more than wedding planning. “We want users to turn to Everly down the road as they plan for other milestones and life’s big occasions.”

Laura has a few suggestions for those considering a winter wedding: “Christmas is a great time to have a wedding. Most couples opt for summer weddings so there’s less demand this time of year. It’s also the silly season where you have nearly two weeks’ holidays; and New Year’s provides a great opportunity for your guests to get dressed up to celebrate. Plus, you can actually save money on wedding decorations because the venues are already done up for the festive period,

with the twinkle lights and Christmas trees.” For those who are getting engaged over Christmas and New Year’s, she advises couples sit down together to create a rough draft of their guest list before they go shopping for potential venues. This will help them narrow in on what locations will suit their day and numbers. “Also, don’t bombard yourselves with too many venue options. Do a bit of homework, decide what style you want, whether relaxed or more formal, then look at the venues in the areas you’re after and visit no more than three or four.”

Laura is a mum to a three-year-old daughter so this time of year brings a lot of joy in her household. “We like to visit Causey Farm in Meath, which isn’t far from where we live in Drogheda. They do a lovely Christmas experience that’s perfect for kids her age.”

Orla, who lives in Dundalk, is a mum of two teenagers and cherishes family traditions. Every Christmas Eve, she enjoys a festive breakfast at Strandfield with her family, followed by picking up a loaf of their beautiful sourdough bread to serve for breakfast on Christmas day. In the days between Christmas and New Year, Orla loves attending a detox yoga class led by Shirlí from Vitality Vibe to help her recharge.

witheverly.com

THE PERFECT GIFT

NAILING IT

Eoin Reardon, aka Pintofplane, is a traditional woodworker and tool restorer from Cork, who’s been entertaining millions of followers worldwide with his catchy videos and clever tips. He tells Meg Walker how it all started from a hobby developed over lockdown and why sharing his passion with fans in person, is even more rewarding than countless likes.

Tell me about how your passion for woodworking and restoring old tools got started. It was over the Covid-19 lockdown. I set about using that abundance of time to build a currach (a traditional Irish boat with a wooden frame). I didn’t have any power tools or anything at home, so I went on to DoneDeal and visited car boot sales, buying old hand tools, fixing them up and then using them to make the boat. By the time the currach was finished, I really liked all the hand tools, so kept on collecting, restoring and using them. I continued doing that for the next two years, and then one day, I put a video of me using a hand plane up on TikTok, and over the next month, it kind of snowballed into thousands of followers. And I haven’t stopped since – two years later, it’s become a full-time job. I think people enjoy seeing the traditional ways of doing things being kept alive. It’s kind of relaxing, and satisfying to watch.

You held a residency at Bunratty Castle & Folk Park in Co. Clare over the summer, demonstrating traditional woodworking methods to visitors – how was that experience for you, working face-to-face with your followers? It was incredible. There’s a buzz you get at the start from getting these crazy numbers of views online but after a while, that effect kind of wears off and a million views is just a million views. But then, when I started working in Bunratty, there were people on their holidays from literally all over the world – Australia, New Zealand, mostly America – and when people come up and they’re like, “Oh, I’ve been watching your videos for two years” or “Here’s a hand tool that my father used to use, I want you to have it” – it’s a wonderful feeling and just makes it feel more real. There’s a personal connection there, which is powerful. I also met some

great artists, like Sarah Cronin, at the weekend markets in Bunratty, who I’d then collaborate with to create something new. And I’ve been working a lot with James O’Connor, the blacksmith. I’ve been invited back next summer, so I’m really looking forward to that in 2025.

You also took part in the Rekindle Festival of Lost Skills in August – do you think events like this are helping to shine a light on the vast number of talented individuals across Ireland and the important skills that have fallen out of fashion over the generations?

Absolutely. There seems to be a huge revival in these traditional crafts and skills, and you get to see amazing works and meet the best people at these types of festivals because there are a lot of people who don’t like showing themselves online. So events like these offer a great opportunity for such people to showcase their work.

Tell me about some of the other pieces you’ve created over the years.

I made something called a saltbox, which is a traditional Irish object that would have been hung over a fire and used to store salt because that was probably one of the only places in an old Irish home that wasn’t damp. That was a fun project. Maybe for Christmas, I’ll work on some wooden toys or decorations.

Follow Eoin on TikTok @pintofplane and Instagram @eoinreardon_

Bunratty Castle

Winter Wonderland

THE BACH CONCERT SINGERS CHRISTMAS CONCERTS, DUBLIN

The Bach Concert Singers have some very exciting end-ofyear events, in what they say is their most ambitious year yet. Formed in 2002, and conducted by Blánaid Murphy, the chamber choir group brings together a collection of excellent singers who share a huge passion for Bach. Their annual concert takes place in St. Ann’s Church on Dawson Street, Dublin, on Thursday, December 12, where they will perform an enchanting selection of old Christmas favourites, muchloved carols and choral works. Then on Thursday, December 18, they hold their annual performance of Messiah, with a line-up of top-class soloists. See dublinbachsingers.com for more information.

WONDERLIGHTS, DUBLIN AND CORK

The magnificent Wonderlights, Ireland’s biggest immersive light show experience, has expanded to three locations this

From seasonal musical treats to Christmas markets and light spectaculars, Go Wild rounds up some of the best events happening this festive period.

Christmas, promising to captivate visitors more than ever. In Dublin, in Marlay Park in Rathfarnham, Marlay Park by Night celebrates the park’s natural beauty with a Wicklow Way Wildlife installation, featuring large golden sculptures of animals that inhabit the Wicklow Way, including foxes and deer. The Night Sky is projected on a 30-metre hydro screen over the lake, and visitors will also have the chance to ride a 30-metres-high observation wheel with panoramic views of the illuminated landscape below. In Co. Dublin, at Malahide Castle and Gardens, the theme is A Light Spectacular, with a display of over one million lights illuminating the historic castle. The famous Talking Tree also returns, delivering delightful stories to guests as they walk through the light show. At Fota House and Gardens in Cork, the estate is brought to life with large illuminated sculptures of arctic animals, meadows of winter flowers, a frozen forest, and scenes of a grand Christmas celebration will be mapped onto Fota House. Alpine food and drinks villages and marshmallow toasting stations are also at each location. The three events open in November, and run until January 4, with tickets on sale now with prices starting from €15 for preview tickets and €19.50 for standard tickets. See wonderlights.ie for further details.

SANTA’S HOUSE EXPRESS AT PALMERSTOWN HOUSE ESTATE, CO. KILDARE

If you have little ones, they’ll be thrilled with a trip to one of Ireland’s most-loved Christmas events, Santa’s House Express at Palmerstown House Estate, Johnstown, Naas, Co Kildare, now running for its 11th season. The experience begins with families boarding the Santa’s House Express train for a magical ride through the estate’s scenic grounds. Visitors will disembark at Santa’s Manor to be welcomed

by Mrs. Claus, where they will indulge in some festive treats. This is followed by a personal visit with the great man himself, Santa Claus, in his cosy reading room, where each child will receive a cuddly, collectable and sustainable gift. There are new elements this year, including a special guest in the Ice Cave. The adventure continues after your visit to Santa at the Winter Wonderland Village, where each child can enjoy two complimentary rides at the festive funfair. The experience runs on select dates from November 22 through December 23 and ticket prices (not including booking fee) are from €22 for adults; €28.50 for children aged 13 months to 12 years; and €12 for infants under 12 months. Visit santashouseexpress.ie to book tickets.

MOTHER GOOSE PANTO, LIMERICK

One of the highlights on the events calendar this year is the panto debut of Faye Shortt in this year’s Specsavers Limerick Panto, Mother Goose, at University Concert Hall (UCH). Actor and comedian Faye’s brilliantly funny social media sketches have made her a star, and she has also toured the country with the live comedy show Knuckle Down, which she co-wrote and performs with her father, the renowned actor and comedian, Pat Shortt. The show also stars Richie Hayes and Myles Breen in what is a familyfriendly show filled with music, laughter, glitz, glamour and stunning sets. Mother Goose is running from December 16 to January 12, with tickets from €20. See uch.ie for more information.

THE DEAD AT THE MUSEUM OF LITERATURE IRELAND, DUBLIN

Snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, falling softly upon the Bog of Allen and, farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon waves … his soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.

And so ends The Dead by James Joyce, regarded as one of the greatest Christmas stories of all time. This winter, audiences can experience The Dead as never before in a new immersive production from Anu, Landmark and the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI), taking place in the beautiful surrounds of the museum at 85 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin. The cast includes some of Ireland’s most lauded actors, including Marty Rea as Gabriel Conroy and Maeve Fitzgerald as Gretta. The story centres around the Misses Morkan’s annual dance and the evening for audiences begins in the hallway of 85 St. Stephen’s Green, where they are greeted by the maid, Lily before journeying up the opulent staircase to begin an evening of music, mood and dance that climaxes in an epiphany. It runs from November 22 to January 25. Tickets from €30 to €65. See thedead.ie for more details.

WINTERVAL, WATERFORD

Ireland’s largest Christmas festival takes place in Waterford City from Friday, November 15 until Monday, December 23. There are both ticketed and free events, and the full line-up of what’s taking place will be confirmed in mid-October, so check the Winterval website for updates. Waterford City lights up for this festival, which is now in its 12th year, with fairground attractions, visits to Santa, a tractor parade, craft villages, food stalls and gigs, mainly taking place around the city’s Cultural Quarter. One of the highlights which have been confirmed is the award-winning ensemble, the Trash Test Dummies, whose children’s show is full slapstick comedy, daring acrobatic feats and amazing juggling, with ballet and balloons thrown in for good measure. For more information, see winterval.ie.

Winterval

CHRISTMAS MARKET GALWAY

Christmas markets have truly exploded in popularity over the last few years in Ireland, but one of the best experiences can be found at Christmas Market Galway. Located in the iconic Eyre Square, it’s now in its 14th year, and it fills the city centre with light, with over 50 wooden chalets offering festive treats with a large variety of crafts available, making it the perfect place to pick up some locally crafted, artisan gifts, and support local makers. It’s also a gorgeous location for a seasonal tipple, like glühwein, accompanied by a bratwurst, pretzels or crêpes. The market also features amusement rides, including a 32-metre Big Wheel and traditional carousel, a Santa’s Express Train and Grotto and live adult choirs. It runs from Friday, November 8 to Sunday, January 07 (the market closes on December 25) which means there are almost two months in which to experience the magic of a Galway Christmas. See christmasmarketgalway.com for more.

CELINE BYRNE’S CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION, DUBLIN

Lyric soprano Celine Byrne (below right) has performed all over the world, and sung with world-renowned tenors including José Carreras, Plácido Domingo and Andrea Bocelli. She comes to Dublin’s Bord Gáis Energy Theatre on Monday, December 16 for one night only for her Christmas Celebration, accompanied by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. The night features Christmas carols, well-known songs from film musicals and operatic favourites. Some of the songs will include “O Holy

YULEFEST, KILKENNY

With something for everyone, the Yulefest Christmas festival in Kilkenny showcases festive events around the country from Saturday, November 30 until the Festive Finale on Saturday, December 21. Proceedings kick off with Santa’s arrival on the opening day, and there’s a Christmas market with live local music each weekend. The Medieval Mile Run (below) takes place on November 29 through the city and spectators and participants are promised a fast course with a lively finish at Kilkenny Castle, with a live DJ and festive atmosphere. The Christmas Tree Festival runs at St. Canice’s Cathedral from December 5-9, featuring quirky and creative Christmas trees of all sorts, created by local groups, families and individuals. A classic Christmas film will be shown on an outdoor big screen at Yulefest Movie Night on December 12, a family-friendly event for movie-goers who are invited to bring chairs, blankets and treats and enjoy a night of cinema in the medieval city. For more information about tickets, see yulefestkilkenny.ie.

Christmas Market Galway

Fabulous

Gifts for her

Sleep essentials

Dublin-based luxury brand The Ethical Silk Company has a gorgeous range of sleepwear, loungewear, clothing, bedding and accessories made from 100% ethical, eco-friendly mulberry silk, meaning each piece is super-soft, breathable and promotes a good night’s sleep (something they’ll really thank you for come January). The Sleeping Beauty gift set includes a pillowcase and eye mask in a choice of patterns, €90 at theethicalsilkco.com

Noteworthy scents

Northern Ireland’s first luxury perfume house, STORIES Parfums blends beautiful fragrances, body care and candles. It’s the brainchild of Tonya Kidd-Beggs, a cosmetic and fragrance consultant based along the North Down coast, who specialises in luxury, sustainability, perfumery, beauty, and storytelling, and started the brand with the mission to create scents that “transport the mind and transform the emotions”. STORIES No 01 features top notes of bergamot, grapefruit and orange blossom, heart notes of cedarwood, jasmine, heliotrope and fig-tea and base notes of amber, sandalwood and vetiver and is a wonderful starting point to this elegant range. 30ml; €153.95 for 100ml at storiesparfums.com

Collectable pieces

The Collective on Dublin’s Drury Street is a treasure trove of colourful gems and exquisite pieces, many of which are made by Irish designers. There is literally something for everyone on your gift list within its walls. Blue Nebula earrings, Aria V, €89; 9k yellow gold Le Chéile pendant, Miriam Wade, €350; both at thecollectivedublin.ie.

Sustainable skincare

Nicola Connolly created Nunaïa after spending over a decade working and studying with indigenous communities in Ecuador and Peru. Her experiences led her to craft this glorious range of skincare rituals with a ‘soil to skin’ ethos. The Earth Blossom Moisturising Cream, €70, is a hydrating, antioxidant-rich face cream that restores elasticity and leaves skin beautifully hydrated, nunaia.com.

A cure for the January blues

Founded nine years ago by friends Sonia Reynolds and Francie Duff, STABLE of Ireland houses a stunning collection of clothing and accessories inspired by Ireland’s rich culture, beauty, creativity and traditions. This denim holdall, €135, is sure to inspire an organised fresh start for the new year, stableofireland.com.

Wrapped with care

Founded by designer Anna Guerin, The Landskein is committed to honouring the legacy of luxury Irish heritage textiles, working exclusively with weavers of provenance to ensure the authenticity and virtue of their fabrics, while reimagining this heritage with a contemporary aesthetic. The Cocoon wrap scarf in a subtle herringbone, €180, is made from 100% superfine lambswool and adds the perfect wintry finish to any ensemble, thelandskein.com.

Fabulous

Gifts for him

In the money

Ted 1942 is an award-winning Irish brand creating timeless, luxury accessories that are inspired by life and handcrafted to last for generations.

Following in his grandfather Ted Carbery’s footsteps, Brendan McEvoy and his wife Kasia have given the brand a new lease of life, continuing the family heritage and tradition today in their purpose-built studio and showroom in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath. Handcrafted from 100% full grain Italian leather with a suede lining and tone-on-tone stitching, the Magic Wallet is a bestseller for good reason, €89 at ted1942.com.

brand created for individuals and ‘black sheep’. Made from 100% recycled gold and sterling silver, the collection features playful designs for men and women equally, with clean genderless design at the core; and each piece is ethically made and individually hallmarked by the Assay Office at Dublin Castle. Rugged cufflinks, €229 at edgeonly.com.

The write stuff

CarveOn makes sleekly crafted, personalised leather goods from their factory in Kilcullen, Co. Kildare using the highest quality materials. Crafted from Tuscan leather, their refillable journals are the perfect way to kickstart the new year and refills can be purchased separately to ensure they last a lifetime. Complimentary engraving can also be added to your order to ensure they’ll never want to part with it. notebook and pen, €105 at carveon.com.

Style and substance

Inspired by the textures of the Irish landscape and the contrasting colours of nature, IrelandsEye is renowned for its contemporary spin on traditional Irish knitwear. The Cuanna Collection, inspired by the Gaelic word Cuanna, meaning graceful, noble and charming, features pieces created with luxury, heritage and wearability in mind. Each 100% extra fine virgin wool knit is hand-finished in Dublin. The colour block crew neck sweater, €159.95, teams shades together in four colourway options, integrated through a single stripe across the chest and arms, irelandseyeknitwear.com.

Something for the everyman

When it comes to gifts with longevity, you cannot go wrong with FOXFORD. Established to serve the village of Foxford in Co. Mayo over a century ago, the mill stands on the banks of the River Moy and is one of the oldest working mills in Ireland. The brand has been manufacturing the finest wool throws and blankets for over 130 years. FOXFORD recently expanded its retail space at the mill and features clothing, homewares and gifts from a wide range of Irish and international designers and suppliers so there’s plenty of choice to find just the right thing to put under the tree. Navy cashmere beanie, €75; tartan lambswool scarf, €29; luxury socks, from €8; selection of leather accessories and books available in store. Explore the full range at foxford.com.

All together now

No one does menswear and gifts quite like Louis Copeland & Sons. For four generations, the family-run tailoring business has been suiting celebrities while looking after each and every customer who walks through the door as if they were the only one there. Such attention to detail is carried right through to the brands they stock and their own-brand accessories. Elevate his adventures with this leather Weekender bag, €449 at louiscopeland.com.

Fabulous

Gifts

for little ones

collection offers something special for every stage of life, including children. The thoughtfully created Our Daily Rituals Little Kneaders set includes Forest Therapy Dough and Calm Therapy Dough, wellbeing doughs designed for children and adults with additional needs. Gentle on the skin and infused with GROUND natural scents, these doughs encourage deep breaths, emotional regulation, and a sense of calm, €48 at groundwellbeing.com.

National pride

Established in 1946 by May and Máirtín Standún, third-generation Irish heritage store Standún is now run by sisters Clíona and Laragh Standún, who’ve curated a thoughtful collection of gifts reflecting traditional Irish craftsmanship and modern style, housed within their two stores located in Spiddal and Oughterard in Co. Galway, as well as online. This Alphabet Jigsaws Map of Éire Irish language jigsaw puzzle, €46, is bound to keep them occupied on Christmas morning while helping them develop a grá for Gaeilge, standun.ie.

Toys that don’t cost the earth

Named after Pinocchio’s conscience, Jiminy Cricket, Jiminy Eco Toys is the brainchild of Dublin mum Sharon Keilthy, who found shopping for sustainable toys for her daughter frustrating so decided to set up a social enterprise with the mission to deliver inspiring and educational toys that don’t destroy the planet. This handcrafted sustainable wooden bowling/ skittles set is suitable for ages three and up and sure to bring a few smiles among the whole family, €39.99 at jiminy.ie.

Feet first

Incredible Socks are made using sustainable bamboo materials in fun, bold and colourful designs that make a statement and contribute to a greener planet. For every ounce of carbon the brand puts into the environment, it offsets it, making these vibrant essentials the perfect stocking fillers. And this festive season, €1 from every Have An Incredible Christmas gift box, €19.99, goes to Focus Ireland, a charity working to end homelessness in Ireland. Now that’s really in keeping with the spirit of Christmas, incrediblesocks.ie.

Little luxuries

Lisa Harrison Botham started her luxury brand The Little Finery to simplify the quest for beautiful heirloom-quality gifts for babies, small children and even mums, too. From cashmere baby blankets and sweaters to adorable onesies, alongside a personalisation service to allow you to customise a gift, this is a one-stop shop for memorable keepsakes they’ll cherish for years. Cable knit cashmere baby blanket, €165.95 at thelittlefinery.com.

Wild things

Little nature lovers will be enthralled by Dublin-based wildlife expert Éanna Ní Lamhna’s latest tome, The Great Irish Book of Biodiversity, illustrated by Barry Falls (Gill Books, €24.99, out October 26). It promises to take readers aged eight and up on a journey through Irish wildlife habitats – from bogs to beaches and woodland to grassland. Discover how habitats work and which creatures and plants to look out for in each one with this beautifully illustrated guide.

“ Simply the best Fish n Chips in Dublin”

For three generations Beshoffs have been serving Dublin with the finest fish & chips. Well known for both the taste and quality of our offer, it is quite simply a taste of Dublin not to be missed.

We specialise in freshly prepared fish which is cooked to order, coated in our secret recipe batter, served with our hand cut chips from only the finest potatoes & all cooked in pure vegetable oil. We also cater for most dietary requirements, gluten free food, vegetarians & halal which means nobody has to miss out on enjoying our tasty food.

We are situated on Dublin’s main thoroughfare O’Connell Street, Our first floor seating area overlooks the spire of Dublin & the GPO, watch the world go by in comfortable surroundings. We cater for large groups with seating for up to 140 people in our restaurant. We also serve breakfast Monday – Saturday until 11am.

Fabulous

Gifts for foodies

One-pot wonder

Winter means soup and stew season, and this beautiful casserole dish from Belfast-based ceramics studio Annadale Brickworks is ideal for comforting culinary creations. The dish comes in a choice of two glazes and measures 19cm in diameter, and 12.5cm tall to the top of the handle. Suitable for the dishwasher, microwave, freezer and oven; €92 at irishdesignshop.com.

Literary feast

Foodies and historians alike will find this delve into Ireland’s culinary past a fascinating read. Irish Food History: A Companion, edited by Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire and Dorothy Cashman, takes readers from the beginning of the Ice Age to medieval banqueting through to the arrival of the potato, the Great Famine and into the 20th century, with contributions from 32 experts over 28 compelling chapters, €45 at ria.ie and bookshops nationwide across Ireland.

Small, perfectly formed

If kitchen space is at a premium for the home cook in your life, he or she will love Kenwood’s new Go Collection. It includes a compact, lightweight Stand Mixer (RRP €249.99), a QuickMix Go Hand Mixer (RRP €49.99) and a MultiPro Go Food Processor (RRP €69.99). All the appliances have been designed to fit into a deep pan drawer or cupboard (30cm) and come in on-trend shades of Storm Blue and Clay Red, kenwoodworld.com/en.

Shake it up

Chocolate heaven

The only thing better than a hamper at Christmas is a hamper filled with luxury, artisan chocolate. Clo Chocolates, based in Sligo and handcrafted by French chocolatier Clotilde Rambaud, uses only traceable cocoa beans, is 100% sustainable and doesn’t contain palm oil, additives or artificial flavours or preservatives, €55 at clochocolates.ie.

This stainless steel cocktail shaker with an antique brass finish, from Danish design company House Doctor, makes for a very stylish addition to bar carts. It has a timeless and chic design, with 750ml capacity for mixing up cocktails for guests over the Christmas period, or indeed at any other time, €54 at aprilandthebear.com.

Coffee by design

Totes amazing

Ballymaloe Relish, Barry’s Tea, Brennans Bread, Denny Sausages, Kerrygold Butter – these iconic Irish foods and more are all there on this Mála Siopadóireachta, screen printed by hand in Dublin and made from 100% cotton. Guaranteed to bring a lot more joy to grocery shopping, €17 at shop.designist.ie.

Coffee becomes a chicer event when made in a Bialetti X Dolce & Gabbana Moka Express. The collaboration brings two iconic Italian brands together and this exclusive edition of the much-loved stovetop coffee maker pays tribute to the landscapes and crafts of Sicily. Four-cup Moka Express, €125 at Avoca select stores including Kilmacanogue, Rathcoole, Dunboyne, Malahide, Belfast and Ballsbridge.

Get the inside track

For need-to-know intel about the best and buzziest places to eat and drink in Dublin, independent website All The Food is your go-to. Subscribers to its premium membership website, AFT Insiders, can avail of exclusive Insider events such as restaurant takeovers, get any restaurantrelated questions answered, and be in with a chance to win nine substantial prizes each month. Monthly, €5; yearly, €55; allthefood.ie.

Extra special, extra virgin

Working with award-winning single estate producers in Spain, Dublin-based company Sarah & Olive imports a selection of the world’s best extra virgin olive oils to Ireland – a must in every food lover’s pantry. This year, they are offering special limited editions of Finca la Torre’s One, and Nobleza del Sure’s Novo, made with the first olives of the harvest. Prices from €15.50 at sarahandolive.com and select stores nationwide.

Bite-size brilliance

Go nuts

Handmade in Galway, and produced in small batches to produce the freshest quality, Brontelway is the delightful marriage of the most rare and aromatic of pistachios from Bronte in Sicily, and chocolate made from Irish fresh dairy products. The Brontelway range includes pistachio hot chocolate, dragées, nuts and chocolates, with pricing starting from €12-€32, brontelway.ie.

Get crafty

Both Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson are huge fans of the Blasta Books range of cookbooks, from boutique Irish publishing house, Nine Bean Rows. Illustrated by Dublin artist, Nicky Hooper, each small format book is a standalone 72-page cookbook, offering a snapshot of modern Irish cuisine, with all its multicultural influences, with themes ranging from spice bags to sushi. Published four times a year, some or all should form part of every Irish foodie’s cookbook library, €15 at blastabooks.com.

Savoury spins

Graham Herterich, aka The Cupcake Bloke looks at the unique way we eat in Ireland, broken into breakfast, lunch, dinner, tea and supper in his new book, Cook: Traditional Irish Cooking with Modern Twists. A classic Irish dish such as lamb stew is reimagined as a lamb tagine, while the chicken fillet roll and the ‘mammy salad’ all get an update to reflect the choice of ingredients and flavours now available, €35 at shop.designist.ie and all good bookshops.

Colourful and very moreish, Craft Cocktails offers 12 different bottled cocktails made from 100% natural ingredients with fresh fruit, handmade syrups, cordials, and infusions. They come in both a 200ml size (€12.50) which is a great stocking filler, and the large 700ml size (€35), perfect for groups. Personalisation label options are also available, meaning you can get creative at Christmas with your message, craftcocktails.ie.

Glass act

Artist Mary Callaghan and master craftsman Eamonn Terry of Criostal na Rinne collaborated together for a collection of glassware for the Irish Design Shop. Hand-blown in Waterford, this is a weighty tumbler with both matte and polished finishes and a vessel to elevate the act of imbibing. The Dursey Fields design is inspired by the patchwork of fields on Dursey Island off the Beara Peninsula, Cork, €90 at irishdesignshop.com.

Christmas

Gift ideas from Ireland

Irish Whiskey: Ireland is famous for its whiskey, and you can find a wide variety of unique and limited-edition bottles. Consider gifting a personalised whiskey set or a subscription to an Irish whiskey club.

Irish Wool Sweaters: Hand-knit Aran sweaters are a symbol of Irish craftsmanship. These cosy garments deliver warmth and style in equal measure. You can find them in various colours and designs.

When it comes to Christmas gift ideas from Ireland, you have the opportunity to surprise your loved ones with something truly unusual and unique. Ireland is known for its rich culture, history and craftsmanship and plenty of distinctive gifts capture the essence of this beautiful country. Here are a few ideas that are sure to bring a touch of Ireland to your Christmas celebrations.

The Claddagh ring is a traditional Irish symbol representing love, loyalty, and friendship. It makes for a meaningful and beautiful gift, especially for someone special in your life.

Ireland is renowned the world over for its rich culture so it’s no surprise it’s home to a wealth of local artists and craftspeople. Whether you choose a painting, print, sculpture or moody photograph, a thoughtfully chosen artwork is bound to be something they’ll cherish for years to come.

Irish Food and Drink Hampers: Put together a gourmet hamper filled with Irish treats like cheeses, smoked salmon, artisanal chocolates, and Irish tea or coffee for a delicious taste of Ireland that will bring smiles around the table on Christmas morning.

Irish Crystal: Waterford Crystal is world-renowned for its quality and beauty. Gift a stunning crystal vase, glassware, or a decorative piece that will add elegance to any home.

Irish Music: Ireland has a rich musical heritage. Consider gifting a traditional Irish musical instrument like a tin whistle, bodhrán (drum), or even music lessons to learn to play them.

Irish Literature: Ireland has produced many great writers, so why not gift a collection of Irish literature or a signed edition of a book by a contemporary Irish author? It’s perfect for bookworms.

Irish Jewellery: Celtic knotwork jewellery is intricate and meaningful. You can find unique pieces like necklaces, earrings, or bracelets that incorporate Celtic designs, representing eternal love and connection.

Irish Adventure Experience: Give the gift of adventure with an experience in Ireland. This could be a hot air balloon ride, a guided tour of the Wild Atlantic Way, or even a visit to one of Ireland’s many castles.

Irish Language Classes: For those interested in the Irish language (Gaeilge), consider enrolling them in an Irish language course or gifting them a subscription to an online language learning platform. It’s a unique way to connect with Irish culture.

Irish Perfume or Cologne: Several Irish perfumeries create unique scents inspired by the Irish landscape. These fragrances capture the essence of the Emerald Isle and make for a distinctive gift.

Irish Pottery: Handcrafted Irish pottery is both functional and beautiful. Look for unique pieces like mugs, bowls, or decorative items featuring intricate Celtic designs.

Personalized Family Crest:

If your loved ones have Irish roots, consider gifting them a personalised family crest with their surname. It’s a meaningful way to celebrate their heritage.

Irish Whiskey Stones: For whiskey enthusiasts, Irish whiskey stones are a great gift. These stones are used to chill whiskey without diluting it, ensuring a perfect sip every time.

Incorporating a touch of Ireland into your Christmas gifts can make the holiday season even more special. Whether it’s a traditional Claddagh ring, a bottle of Irish whiskey, or a piece of Irish art, these unique and unusual gifts will surely bring joy to your loved ones’ hearts and a piece of Ireland to their homes.

Give the gift of

the gift of luxury at Fota Island Resort this Christmas from €249 BB

Purchase your gift vouchers online or by phone fotaisland.ie/vouchers | T: 021 488 3700 or by scanning the QR code below.

Fota Island Resort, Fota Island, Cork, Ireland

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FRESH FROM THE LOUGH

We have some of the best oysters in the world in Ireland, and they are wonderful examples of nature’s bounty. Many of you will be familiar with Carlingford oysters, which have a sweet, nutty flavour and a slight tannic, lingering aftertaste. The success of this dish lies entirely on shucking the oysters immediately before serving. The dressing elevates the oysters’ unique taste and brings another high note.

Allow 4–6 oysters per person for an appetiser, though it can be fun to start a larger meal – at Christmas, for example –with just a couple each.

Serves Four

INGREDIENTS

20 Carlingford oysters

2 small shallots, very finely chopped

2 tsp chopped fresh tarragon

2 tsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

6 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar lime wedges, to garnish

Wow your guests this festive season with the ultimate starter: Neven Maguire’s Carlingford oysters with shallot and tarragon dressing. Extracted from Eat Out at Home: Joyful Food for Friends and Family by

METHOD:

1. To open the oysters, wrap one hand in a clean tea towel and hold the oyster in it with the flat shell uppermost. Push the point of an oyster knife into the hinge, located at the narrowest point, and wiggle the knife back and forth until the seal of the hinge breaks and you can get the knife between the two shells. Twist the point of the knife upwards to lever up the top shell, cut through the ligament attaching the oyster to the top of the shell and lift the shell off.

2. Gently release the oyster meat from the bottom shell, pick out any little bits of shell and then pour away the juices. Arrange the oysters in their bottom shells on a platter or small plates.

3. To make the dressing, mix the shallots, tarragon, parsley and seasoned rice vinegar. Spoon a little of the dressing onto each oyster. Garnish with the lime wedges and serve straight away.

Neven Maguire (Gill Books, €24.99), out now.

The team are looking forward to welcoming you for your Winter Stay at the Arklow Bay The perfect place to relax and unwind by the sea. Explore Irelands’ Ancient East and the many fantastic attractions in beautiful County Wicklow. Or gift a stay at the Arklow Bay this Christmas, visit www.arklowbay.com or call +353 402 26200 for more information

CARRYGERRY

christmas pudding

INGREDIENTS

20 oz. Mixed Fruit Currants, Sultanas, Raisins

5 oz. Mixed Candied Peel

5 oz. Glaced Cherries

10 oz. Grated Apple

Juice & Rind of 1 Large Orange Juice & Rind of 2 Lemons

15 oz. Plain Flour

1 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Ground Ginger

1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. Ground Nutmeg

1/2 tsp. Ground Cloves

1lb (16 oz.) Brown Sugar

1lb (16 oz.) Fresh Breadcrumbs

1/2 pt. Guinness

1/4 pt. Irish Whiskey

10 oz. Butter or Margarine

6 oz. Ground Almonds

4 oz. Chopped Mixed Nuts

6 Whole Eggs

METHOD:

• The day before making your pudding, place all the dried fruit in a mixing bowl and drizzle with whiskey. Cover and leave to soak overnight.

• The next day, add the flour, breadcrumbs, sugar, ground almonds, mixed nuts, cherries, mixed peel, and spices. Mix well to combine.

• Add the orange and lemon juice, peel, and grated apple.

• Next, add the melted butter or margarine, followed by the eggs, and finally, add the Guinness. Mix well and leave to stand for another hour.

• After standing for one hour, mix well again.

• Traditionally, puddings are cooked or steamed in a pudding bowl; however, I prefer to use foil takeaway containers (1lb). This allows for a more even cook and, more importantly, makes it easier to slice the pudding for serving and presentation.

• Grease your bowl or cooking container well. If using a pudding bowl, cover with a piece of greaseproof or parchment paper. Place a double layer of tin foil on top and secure with string, or alternatively, use the plastic lid that comes with the pudding bowl.

• If using foil takeaway containers, grease well, fill with your pudding mixture, cover with a paper lid, and wrap twice in cling film.

• Place the pudding into a large saucepan half-filled with water. Bring the water to the boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer. Simmer for 5–6 hours, making sure the water does not boil off. Top up with additional water as needed.

• After the cooking time has elapsed, remove the pudding from the water. Remove the lid and allow it to cool completely.

• Once cold, re-cover with fresh greaseproof or parchment paper and store until needed.

• To reheat, either use the microwave or steam in a pot of water (as per the cooking method) for a further hour until thoroughly heated through.

Escape to Carrygerry Country House for a Relaxing Getaway with Someone Special

Carrygerry Country House, near Newmarket-on-Fergus and just minutes away from Shannon, is a 200 year old Manor tastefully restored to its former glory, set in a idyllic mature country setting. On arrival, you will experience a relaxed and unique country house atmosphere with open fires and antique furniture. There are 11 bedrooms, all individually styled in keeping with the house.

Carrygerry Country House,

We cater for Birthdays, Anniversaries, Weddings, Christenings, etc.

Our Conservatory Restaurant is open for Dinner from Saturday from 6.30pm to 9.30pm. Our Á La Carte Menu fresh, locally sourced produce and a complete well balanced

Near Newmarket-on-Fergus and just minutes away from Shannon, is a 200 year old Manor tastefully restored to its former glory, set in a idyllic mature country setting. On arrival, you will experience a relaxed and unique country house atmosphere with open fires and antique furniture. There are 11 bedrooms, all individually styled in keeping with the house.

Set Dinner Menu for €29 (3 courses plus Tea/Coffee) is served from 6.30pm to 9.30pm Tuesday to Saturday.

Our Conservatory Restaurant is open Thursday, Friday & Saturday evenings for dinner from 5.00pm-8.30pm. Sunday Lunch served from 1pm-3.30pm. Our dishes offers fresh, locally sourced produce and a complete well balanced menu Set Dinner Menu for €46 (3 courses plus Tea/Coffee) is ser ved

for a Relaxing Getaway with Someone

Escape to Carrygerry Country House for a Relaxing Getaway with Someone Special

Our Conservatory Restaurant is open for Dinner from Tuesday to Saturday from 6.30pm to 9.30pm. Our Á La Carte Menu offers fresh, locally sourced produce and complete well balanced menu.

Carrygerry Country House, near Newmarket-on-Fergus and just minutes away from Shannon, is a 200 year old Manor tastefully restored to its former glory, set in a idyllic mature country setting. On arrival, you will experience a relaxed and unique country house

Our Conservatory Restaurant is open for Dinner from Tuesday Saturday from 6.30pm to 9.30pm. Our Á La Carte Menu fresh, locally sourced produce and a complete well balanced

The Wheel of the Year

French wild swimmer Annette Vaucanson Kelly lives in Greystones, Co. Wicklow. In 2019, she embarked on a full year of sunrise dips with her local swimming group, which saw Annette dip her toe in the invigorating tradition of the Christmas Day swim. Words by Vicky Allan. Photography by Anna Deacon.

There is something undeniably spiritual about the way the cycles of the sun and the moon, and the turning of the year through its different seasons, are increasingly being marked and celebrated by swimmers. It’s as if we are seeing the flourishing of some kind of nature religion – and some do link their markings to the pagan wheel. Among them is French wild swimmer Annette Vaucanson Kelly, a regular dipper at Greystones where she has

lived for ten years. Annette became fascinated by the Celtic Wheel of the Year when she did a full year of sunrise dips with her local group, the Greystones Sea Girls. It began with a full moon swim in June 2019 and ended on the summer solstice the following year. Previously, Annette had been a fair-weather swimmer, stopping between November and June. That year, she kept on going.

“My goal at the time,” Annette recalls, “was to keep going until Christmas.

We did the autumn equinox swim together and we did the winter solstice swim. A few days later, I took part in my first Christmas Day swim, which is quite an institution in Greystones, and I thought, why stop now? We had another Sea Girls swim on New Year’s Day 2020. The next highlight was International Women’s Day on 8 March 2020. Less than a week later, Ireland went into lockdown and it was three months of solo swims, not seeing anyone. Then, at the very beginning

The Celtic year starts at Halloween, or Samhain, as everything always begins in the dark, seeds in the soil, life in the womb. But it’s not so much about changes in the weather or temperature, it’s about the light – the return of the light after the winter solstice, with spring starting at Imbolc on the first of February, and the declining of the light after the summer solstice.

Annette Vaucanson Kelly

of June 2020, just as small gatherings outdoors were allowed again, 15 of us got together for a surprise sunrise swim for our friend Hayley’s 40th birthday. A few weeks later, the summer solstice swim, my longest ever at 25 minutes in the water, marked one full year of sea swims with the Sea Girls.”

For Annette, wild swimming evolved alongside her eco-activism, but these two passions also pulled her in different directions: body vs intellect, intuition vs rationality, flow vs control. She is currently writing a memoir on the transformational power of wild swimming and has since dropped the activism. “I haven’t dropped my convictions and the sense of what needs to be done but my approach has completely changed. I realised that I can’t do any more activism, as it is usually

understood, with the protesting, the lobbying. I got burnt out.”

The swimming, however, remained key, because, “It had become my reset button, my regulation strategy, and my grounding practice. It is a connection practice, with myself, the community and the natural world, in a way that I didn’t experience in activist circles.”

When everything ground to a halt during the pandemic, it was a huge reassessment of how she was doing things. “We need to change the story of who we are in the world, from a mindset of control and exploitation to a culture of care and repair.”

Her fascination with the Celtic Wheel of the Year is something she became aware of while she was writing a blog on family outdoor life. On a winter solstice hike with her family, she reflected on how much there was “to the solstice and the light and the cycles of the seasons in Irish culture, and how much remained out of my reach as it is inextricably linked to the Irish language, which I don’t speak, though I have learned some basics now”.

Initially, there was nothing religious or spiritual about this. “It was just this curiosity and this desire to connect with nature’s cycles.” Her first year of swimming naturally deepened her awareness of the passing of the seasons.

Extracted from Swimming Wild: Ireland! by Anna Deacon and Vicky Allan (Black & White Publishing, approx €26), out October 26.

THE CELTIC WHEEL

Samhain the final harvest (October 31)

Yule the winter solstice (December 20-23)

Imbolc the beginning of spring (February 2)

Ostara the vernal equinox (March 20-23)

Bealtaine the beginning of summer (May 1)

Litha the summer solstice (June 20-23)

Lughnasa the first harvest (August 1)

Mabon the autumn equinox (September 20-23)

… And so runs the Celtic wheel of the year

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WHISKEY & GIN FUN FACTS

Some quick fun facts to throw into your next conversation

Whiskey

• John Jameson, of Jameson fame, was originally from Scotland.

• Whiskey starts life as beer.

• The average measure of whiskey contains around sixty-four calories, which is less than a banana.

• Gluten-intolerant people need not worry, as once the grains are distilled to make a spirit, it becomes gluten-free. The distillation process removes the gluten.

• When we refer to the “angels’ share,” we are talking about the natural evaporation that occurs, with about two percent being lost each year. This can be considerably more in hotter climates.

• The “devil’s cut” refers to the process of adding water to a barrel to extract any remaining whiskey absorbed by the wood. Done correctly, this can be quite lovely.

• They say life begins at forty, and it certainly does for whiskey, which must be bottled at a minimum of forty percent alcohol. Anything less is not considered whiskey.

• Back in the day, poitín could be as strong as ninety percent or higher. As they used to say, “what doesn’t kill you is good!”

• Joe Sheridan, head chef at Foynes Airport in Limerick, is credited with inventing the Irish coffee. One miserable, cold night, a plane from the United States landed, and he added a drop of whiskey to the coffee for his American clientele. When asked if it was Brazilian coffee, he replied, “No, it’s Irish coffee.”

• For whiskey to be called whiskey, it must be aged for at least three years. There’s a saying in Ireland that it must be aged for three years and a day, but that’s a myth—it’s three years.

Gin

• Gin was originally used for medicinal purposes, so you would go to the pharmacy to buy your gin.

• It’s not gin without juniper berries, which are almost exclusively picked from the wild.

• In the 18th century, London had around 1,500 stills operating across the city, with well over 6,000 places to buy gin.

• Juniper is a seed, not a berry, and is nearly identical to blueberries. Both are loaded with antioxidants.

• Gin and tomato juice was a popular hangover cure in New York City in the early twentieth century.

• The Philippines is the biggest market for gin in the world.

• In the past, the British Navy was given a daily ration of gin to keep scurvy at bay. This led to the invention of the famous gimlet cocktail by a naval doctor, which was enjoyed by the entire crew.

• Martinis can be made with either gin or vodka, but the original martini was made with gin.

Christmas

Have yourself a restful little

Brainhacker Keith Barry shares his tips on how to look after your sleep, and your wellbeing over the festive period.

Christmas: the most wonderful time of the year, as we’ve been told, but for many people it’s also the season of feeling frazzled. Stress levels can mount through a combination of increased expense, difficult family dynamics and high levels of expectations. It’s also a time when your health can take a hit, via overconsumption of delicious food, an excess of alcohol, late nights, and far too much time spent on the couch watching classic Christmas movies, the remote in one hand, the other clutching a box of sweets. Insufficient and poor-quality sleep is almost a certainty at this time of year, which can leave you feeling irritable and fatigued. However, according to world-renowned brainhacker, Keith Barry, enjoying some festive fun doesn’t have to mean compromising on restorative seasonal snoozing.

His latest book, Sleep Hacks, unveils his unique approach to getting better sleep, using hypnosis, neuroscience and brain hacking, utilising a programme that addresses the physical body and the psychological state, ‘hypnomagical’

techniques that influence the subconscious mind.

At Christmas time, he suggests planning ahead so that you maximise and enjoy the big events. “I have mapped out this Christmas, meaning I know I’m going to enjoy Christmas Eve, I’m going to enjoy Christmas Day and I’m going to enjoy St. Stephen’s Day, and I know I’m not going to sleep as well those nights because of that,” he says. “But then outside of those three days, it’s mapping out. What’s more important to me? Sleeping or partying? It’s about figuring out what’s a priority for you outside of those key times.”

He also advises that it’s back to that boring word: discipline.

“The big thing is overconsumption of alcohol and sugary snacks. We’re all going to do that at Christmas, including me,” says Barry. “But I think it’s just being mindful of the impact that overeating and drinking of alcohol has on our sleep.

“I’m not one of these people who is going to preach and tell people that outside of that three-day window, they shouldn’t eat junk. Probably, for

a period of ten days, people are going to be eating outside of what is their normal diet. But the important thing is, even if you’re doing that, stop eating and avoid alcohol within three hours of bedtime,” he says. “This will allow your sympathetic and your parasympathetic nervous system to begin to quieten down in preparation for a good night’s sleep. Then, if you’re going to watch all those movies as we all love to do, try your best to plan that, so that just an hour before bedtime, you turn off all technology and sit back instead.”

It’s well documented that circadian rhythms are affected by light from digital devices, especially blue light, and these have a detrimental effect on our sleep. Therefore, TVs should be switched off, and laptops, tablets and phones should be put to one side, at least 60 minutes before you tuck in.

“What I recommend is playing board games with your family in that hour before bedtime. It’s Christmas time, we’ve got to enjoy ourselves and spending quality time playing some board or card games is a great way to do that. It’s fun, it gets people off screens,

and then your body can start to realise, ‘Hang on, even though I’m having a good time, it’s nighttime.’ Your body begins to slow down in preparation for bed,” he says.

In his book, Sleep Hacks, Keith offers several visualisation techniques that can transport you to better shuteye, including ‘the Glowing Orb of Relaxation’. “Last night, I was on a flight from Dubai, I did this, and I got a great sleep on the flight. I visualise a purple light going into different parts of my body – my feet, ankles, shins, knees, thighs, and that settles down the physical body,” he explains. “Then I focus on breath work, where I inhale for a count of six, hold for three and exhale for six. I use that to slow my mind down in preparation for sleep. I’ll be using this technique over the Christmas period.”

Keith is a fan of using ice baths to restore his energy and aid sleep. If you don’t fancy the idea of an ice bath, he suggests the less extreme option of taking a cold shower. “There’s no better time than Christmas to have that cold shower first thing in the morning to reset yourself. It dumps serotonin straight into the system; dopamine levels increase and it can help reduce inflammation in our bodies – and inflammation increases over Christmas because of all the sugary food we’re ingesting,” he says. “Get into the habit of turning the shower to freezing

cold for just five seconds the first day, then add on five seconds the next and set yourself a little challenge over Christmas so that you get the timing up to two minutes. It’s a nice practice to get into and keep for the year ahead, and the science behind it is solid.”

As an overall way of looking after your wellbeing, Keith is also an advocate for being “intelligently selfish”. “I think it’s about just taking time for yourself. During Christmas, we’re so caught up with family and friends and social obligations. People need to remind themselves to be intelligently selfish, so that’s to pay attention to family and friends, and once you know you’ve ticked those boxes, to make sure to carve out time for what you love doing. For me, that’s reading and fishing. That means at some point, telling my family, ‘I’m going to sit in a room and read for an hour’, or I’ll jump in the car and go winter codfishing down in Waterford.” Christmas can also be an excellent time for a cognitive reset, he believes. “What I encourage people to do is not to wait until New Year’s Eve to create your resolutions. Start figuring out over Christmas what it is that you want to do. Then, find a quiet spot and spend five to ten minutes closing your eyes and visualising what you’d like to achieve for the year ahead. That could be climbing a mountain, losing a few pounds, going on a run, getting a promotion or finding a job. Visualising those things is key because the brain simply doesn’t know the difference between taking an action and visualising that action.”

Sleep Hacks by Keith Barry (Gill Books, €18.99) is out now. Keith performs his new show, Mind Games, at Wexford Spiegeltent Festival on October 18, and at University Concert Hall Limerick on October 26.

How to decorate LIKE A PRO

Turn your home into a standout Christmas interior by mixing modern accents with traditional elements. Interior style advisor Rebecca Snowden shares four clever tips to achieve a stylish festive look.

Mix contemporary and traditional elements

Going for a modern look does not mean letting go of what makes Christmas feel like Christmas.

Keep hallmarks like the tree and gifts that make the home feel festive and seasonal. It’s a balancing act between the fresh and the classic - look for ways to add a contemporary touch without diminishing the festive feel.

“The key here is in restraint,” advises Rebecca, an interior style advisor for Furniture And Choice. “For instance, candles are a staple of the season, but rather than going all out with white or metallic candles, swap them out for an elegant dark hue.

“Snowflakes are also a popular choice during Christmas, but a star motif offers an updated take on the look.

“And a Christmas tree is a musthave, so keep it modern by leaving out the tinsel and opting instead for minimal, metallic baubles.

“This allows you to have the best of both worlds, the tradition of a Christmas tree, with a fresh look.”

Consider the gifts that are displayed under the tree as well.

Colour-coordinate them to match the rest of the home as an easy way to get a chic, coherent look.

Build on your existing colour palette

Instead of piling on red, green and gold accents, work with the existing colour palette of the home.

Develop the look from there to get a seamless, designer-led approach.

“Maintaining a similar colour theme allows you to create a look that feels personal and specific to your

style and home,” says Rebecca.

“And being comfortable with the colours also means you can go bolder with your decorations while still feeling like you.

“For instance, hanging stars and gold cushions add a lot of festive glamour.”

Combine cosy textures and polished accessories

Create a Christmas atmosphere through soft materials, warm lighting and hints of shine.

“A designer trick to getting this look is to layer in a variety of textures,” says Rebecca. “In this Christmas-ready dining room, knits and fur throws give a soft, cosy feel while rattan and oak furniture add warm tones.

“Lighting is hugely important too, and for a polished alternative to fairy lights, consider lights encased in a string of stars for a diffused, twinkly glow that maintains the look of your interior.”

Gold also adds a layer of sophistication and luxurious warmth to Christmas décor but instead of glitter opt for matte tones instead for a more subtle, elegant look.

Style a Christmas themed coffee table

Besides setting up a Christmas tree, decorate a coffee table as another festive feature in the home.

Take the opportunity to add a stylish touch using modern colours such as black and gold.

“Black always gives a modern edge, and in a festive setting, it stands out even more,” says Rebecca.

“It also pairs beautifully with gold to create a luxe look.

“For a touch of designer flair, we styled this black coffee table by grouping items together - fresh foliage and touches of gold give a festive feel, while candles add height and drama.”

Burgers, Daiquiris, and More: A Symphony of Flavours

Welcome to the Texas Steakout, Limerick's premier dining destination where culinary tradition meets modern innovation. For 35 years, we have set the standard for exceptional dining in Ireland, continually evolving to meet and create the latest dining trends.

At the Texas Steakout, our success lies in a unique blend of consistent quality, inventive cuisine, and a warm, welcoming atmosphere. We understand that dining out is about more than just food—it’s about an experience. That’s why our menu has featured legendary burgers since our inception, and now boasts an extensive selection of over 70 handcrafted cocktails, designed to complement our meals and enchant our guests.

Our innovative daiquiri range showcases our commitment to creativity. With six different flavors and fourteen unique blends, our daiquiris are more than just drinks; they are a fresh expression of our culinary ethos. We've embraced the growing trend of pairing bold burgers with sophisticated cocktails, and at the Texas Steakout, we're proud to be pioneers of this delightful combination. Whether it’s the tangy zest of a classic lime daiquiri or the rich sweetness of a strawberry blend, each drink is mixed to perfection, providing a refreshing counterpart to our savory burgers.

Our longevity in the competitive restaurant industry stems from our ability to lead rather than follow. While trends may shift, our focus remains steadfast on providing an unmatched dining experience. This approach not only keeps our tables full but also cements our reputation as a trendsetter in the culinary world. We are often fully booked, even on weekdays.

To accommodate our growing clientele and streamline the booking process, we have introduced a user-friendly, real-time booking interface on our website. This system requires no credit card to secure a reservation—a testament to our commitment to service and hospitality.

The Texas Steakout is more than just a restaurant; it’s a piece of Limerick’s history, where every meal is an occasion and every visit is memorable. Join us for an evening of exquisite tastes and vibrant atmosphere. Book your table today and experience the seamless blend of tradition and innovation at the Texas Steakout.

B is for...

Sarah Cassidy and Kunak McGann share their guide to some of the must-have elements for a good old Irish Christmas.

The Big Clean-up

/thuh big kleen-up/ proper noun. determined dusting

The level and intensity of the preChristmas clean-up usually depends on who is coming home. If someone is returning from Australia, Canada or Dubai with a new partner in tow, work will usually start in earnest at the beginning of December. Furniture is pulled out (“Did you see the amount of dust behind the washing machine?!”), curtains are whipped down, washed and dried, light fittings dusted and the good towels brought to the front of the hot press. If returning to your hometown from Dublin, though, you’ll be lucky if your bed is made.

The Big Fry

/thuh big fry/proper noun. ’tis the season to be carefree

If you grill your sausages and bacon for the other 51 weeks of the year, caution is thrown to the wind on Christmas morning as your pork-based products are lashed in a pan, coated in glistening oil or butter (or both – sure it’s Christmas!) and fried into crispy deliciousness. Bacon, sausages,

pudding (black and white), potato cakes, mushrooms, tomatoes and eggs. Butter is slathered on thick slices of batch bread (Will I fry the bread? Sure, why not – the pan is hot!). All washed down with a steaming pot of tea, a glass of orange juice and a Baileys.

The Big Shop

/thuh big shop/ proper noun. mammoth stock-up

thick, buttered bread. King or Tayto? Family feuds have begun over less ...

Probably the most important trip to the shops you will make in any given year. Involves precision timing: you don’t want to hit the shops too early – no alcohol sales before 10.30am and a Christmas shop without alcohol just isn’t a Christmas shop. But don’t arrive too late either, or you’ll be playing trolley wars as you make your way around EVERY aisle of a packed supermarket. Potatoes, Brussels sprouts, tins of chocolates, boxes of chocolates, tubs of chocolate, cheese, crackers, crisps … load that trolley up! And breadcrumbs – don’t forget the breadcrumbs – and the cloves and the quince and the bumper box of Tayto and the tray of minerals. And the makings of a fry, or there’ll be ructions.

Box of crisps

/boks uv krispz/noun potatoey goodness

No modern Irish Christmas is complete without a ridiculously over-sized cardboard box of crisps – a good old six-pack just won’t do. Sure, they’re so versatile: the perfect accompaniment to a turkey sandwich, and an ideal evening snack – simply serve between two slices of

Brussels sprouts

/bruh-sulz sprowtz/ noun pl. mini-cabbages

Sprouts with your dinner? It’s the age-old question that splits the Irish population down the middle. And now science has explained why. About half of us have a mutated gene that leaves us immune to a bitter-tasting chemical found in sprouts. Without that mutation, nothing will entice you to eat those suckers. Not even if they’re fried with bacon.

Busking

/bus-king/verb. free open-air concert

You can’t call yourself an Irish singersongwriter if you haven’t joined the ranks of performers who have busked around Grafton Street on Christmas Eve. Bono, Imelda May, Hozier, Glen Hansard and Liam Ó Maonlaí, to name but a few, have all given up their time to raise money for the homeless in this most gorgeous and generous of Irish Christmas traditions.

Extracted from The A to Z of an Irish Christmas: All the Craic of the Crimbo! by Sarah Cassidy and Kunak McGann (The O’Brien Press, €8.99), out now.

Season’s Greetings

Dublin-based chef Mark Moriarty’s super-simple chocolate roulade is the perfect pudding for a festive gathering.

This is a really simple dessert to prepare; the mascarpone holds it together far more effectively than the traditional cream filling. There are a few key steps to making the sponge; follow them carefully and you’ll be handsomely rewarded.

Serves Ten

INGREDIENTS

180g chocolate with 70% cocoa solids

6 large eggs

180g caster sugar

3 tbsp cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting

300g mascarpone

100ml single cream, lightly whipped

2 tbsp icing sugar, sifted

1 tbsp vanilla extract or seeds from 1 vanilla pod

METHOD:

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C and line a shallow baking tray with baking parchment, making sure it reaches all the corners neatly.

2. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. Once melted, take the bowl off the heat and allow the temperature to drop slightly for 10 minutes.

3. Separate the eggs, placing the yolks and sugar in one bowl, the whites in another. Whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks using an electric whisk; they should hold their shape on your finger.

4. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar for 2–3 minutes until the mix doubles in size and goes pale.

5. Pour the melted chocolate and cocoa powder into the egg yolk mix and fold together gently before folding in the whipped whites in 3 stages. Pour the mix into your prepared tray and tap until it reaches all corners and is even in height. Bake for 20–25 minutes until the top is slightly crispy but a cake tester comes out clean when pierced in the centre.

6. Cover the roulade with a damp tea towel and leave to cool in the tray. It will crack slightly and lose its rise. This is good.

7. While the roulade is cooling, mix the mascarpone, cream, icing sugar and vanilla until smooth and set aside.

8. Next, place a sheet of baking parchment on your worktop. Dust it with cocoa powder and turn the uncovered side of the roulade out onto this. Carefully peel away the cooked parchment to reveal the soft sponge. Spread the mascarpone mix evenly to all corners, leaving a 2.5cm gap around the outside edge. Using the fresh parchment to help you, carefully roll the sponge from the short end in a Swiss roll shape to form the roulade.

9. Once the cylinder is formed, dust with additional cocoa powder and slice to serve.

Extracted from Season by Mark Moriarty (Gill Books, €24.99), out now.

Three cheers

Meg Walker catches up with Mayo-based wine expert Brigid O’Hora to garner her top tips for choosing a nice wine for just about every occasion over the festive season.

Having held various roles in the wine industry over the past two decades, including sommelier at prestigious restaurants all over the world, Brigid O’Hora knows just what to look for when it comes to choosing a good wine, and she’s passionate about sharing that knowledge with others. With her new no-nonsense guide, The Home Sommelier, she aims to simplify the process of selecting a nice bottle so that readers can get down to the important business of celebrating life’s important moments together.

The festive season can be a frantic period of shopping and entertaining, and anyone hosting Christmas dinner will attest to the stress of having to sift through the countless choices of wines available, trying to unearth a delicious vintage while keeping everyone happy. So I’m anxious to hear what Brigid has to say about choosing a good wine for all those many occasions over the Christmas

holidays, without breaking the bank. “For Christmas day, I tend to stick with classic styles; for example, French, purely because they tend to pair well with those types of rich, butterystyle ingredients. When you think of French cooking, it’s very similar to the Christmas day roast, hence why those wines tend to go well with that style of food,” advises O’Hora. “Chardonnay is an amazing all-rounder. I think very often people are afraid of Chardonnay because they think it’s going to be like the creamy, buttery ones of the 1980s and ’90s, but times have definitely changed, and it’s such an adaptable grape. Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz are both really good options for those big, hearty main courses; or perhaps a Pinot Noir.”

Of course, hosts are always on the hunt for a good bubbly for the

Christmas toast or to ring in the New Year, and Brigid provides a few ideas for choosing accessible options outside of Champagne. “One of my favourite types of wine is Crémant, which is the French sparkling wine outside of Champagne, so they make it in the Loire, in Burgundy and Bordeaux. These offer some of the best value. I particularly love a Crémant de Loire – they use Chenin Blanc so the flavours are slightly different, but the texture and the feel is the same. The Rosé from there, made from Pinot Noir, is gorgeous. Or a Crémant de Bourgogne (from Burgundy) – they use Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, which are the same grapes used in Champagne. Crémant is aged for one year and Champagne is aged for two years, but when you’re comparing price, they’re just such value-driven wines.”

And what about St. Stephen’s Day and all the various other gatherings around Christmas, where you’re looking for something nice but simple? “I have a big love for Spanish wines at the minute, and you’re just getting more value for your buck,” says enthuses. “Ireland is the seventh most important market for Rioja, so it’s a really popular style here. When there are loads of people coming and you don’t know all their tastes, you need to get something that appeals to a wider audience, and I think the Spanish red has that appeal to it. The Spanish whites – the Albariños and the Godellos – are such amazing quality and really fresh, which is what you need on Stephen’s Day

– your palate is tired and you’re looking for something a bit zingy.”

Brigid also has some sage advice for pairing wine with chocolate – a favourite treat this time of year. “Chocolate is almost like wine, it varies so much in quality and flavour. Super-sweet, cheap chocolates are terrible for wine because they have too much sugar and that affects the taste you get from the wine. However, a gorgeous, dark chocolate with salted caramel paired with a nice glass of Bordeaux, is just amazing.”

Finally, Brigid offers some tips for that old Christmas favourite – mulled wine. “Try your best to keep it on a low, slowcooking temperature, mix up the spices, and use some dried fruits, which really add a pungency to it. I think very often, people tend to serve it too warm and the warmer it is, the more you’ll dampen the flavours. A lovely warm, tepid temperature is more than enough. Opt for fruit-driven reds – simple, soft, nottoo-tannic, plummy wines like Merlot, maybe even a Spanish Tempranillo or Garnacha – those styles of wines that are very drinkable on their own. People often think any cheap wine will do, but I disagree because the product is the sum of its particles. You don’t have to spend a lot of money – Merlots and Grenaches/

life. “I can’t speak highly enough of Winelover.ie – it’s an Irish website that offers an array of clever gadgets that make great gifts. There’s a chilled rod you can put into a bottle of white on warm day to save you running in and out to the fridge. I think if I was buying for somebody who likes wine, I’d go for a nice pair of wine glasses because the difference of drinking out of a good wine glass blows people’s minds. I’d recommend a nice set of Riedel glasses or something like that, if you’re spending a little bit more.”

After many years travelling the world, working in various aspects of the wine industry, Brigid settled in Achill in Co. Mayo nearly three-years ago. She’s a mum to seven-year-old triplets, who fill her days with joy and adventure. I’m curious to know what Christmas is like in her house. “It’s busy but great fun and they’re at a wonderful age. They have good palates and will help stir the cooking; they’re currently trying to learn how to chop onions and stuff like that so I definitely plan to include them in as much of this year’s preparations as I can.”

And what are her plans for 2025? “Food and wine pairing is really where my heart lies so I’d love to do more with that, maybe a roadshow with a chef, with a focus on the everyday. My sister and brother are both chefs, so food is very much in our DNA. If a wine doesn’t taste great, or if it’s a bit watery, it’s important to look at what you’re eating with it and how those flavours might be affecting the taste of the wine. Highlighting the importance of pairing food and wine is something I’d love to do more of next year.”

I wonder at what point Brigid realised her passion for wine was something she could turn into a lifelong career. “I was working in a restaurant in Sydney, Australia and met the sommelier there. I didn’t even know what a sommelier was before then. I was like, ‘Wow, you can make a career out of this?’ The first-ever wine training we did will always stay in my mind. We had the brand ambassador from LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton) in and he gave us a vertical tasting of a number of wines from Cloudy Bay, which is a well-established Sauvignon Blanc. I tasted their Te Koko Chardonnay and was blown away by how unique it was. And I just fell in love with the idea of different flavours, right there and then, and knew it was something I was very intrigued by.”

Fast forward several years, and Brigid is very happy to have found a balancing act that works around her family life.

“Before the triplets were born, I was wine lecturing with TU Dublin and loved it. But I took a few years off because I knew that time with them was precious. It was difficult because I worried opportunities were passing me by. Then I set up my Instagram page during lockdown and that accelerated me back into the industry. Now I feel I have a nice balance.”

“Achill has a very unique beauty to it, even in the wildest weather,” she says with a smile about her new home. “It’s very wild, it’s very rugged, there are barely any trees on the side of the island where we live. It’s a very magical place.”

The Home Sommelier: Your Down-to-Earth Guide to Choosing Good Wine by Brigid O’Hora (Hachette Books Ireland) is out now. Follow Brigid on Instagram @brideys_wine_chats

Achill Island.

Photo © Gareth McCormack/Tourism Ireland

Wine aerator, €24.99

Twister wine decanter and glass aerator set, €92.99; both at winelover.ie

With Love FROM AHASCRAGH

Last year we spoke to Michelle and Gareth about their amazing ecofriendly distillery; even reading it back, I needed to know more. I wanted to know how they achieved what they have, what they are doing and their plans. They have so many hats, that chatting to them only seemed to add even more than I had even considered. Plus they also have a happy marriage, four grown children and two grandsons. What shone through was their relaxed yet excited energy. Because they have known each other since they were twelve and became a couple when they were

seventeen, they understand how each other works, their strengths, and above all else, trust. Knowing this gives you a better understanding of how they work and how it was possible to achieve such an awe-inspiring vision: a completely eco-friendly, zero-emissions, communitydriven distillery built within the confines of a protected yet derelict old mill. They hired as many locals as they could for the renovation, including persuading a local stonemason to come out of retirement. When they say they want to be ecofriendly, they mean it—from hiring locally to restoring the history of renewable

energy, as the mill was originally powered by water. Just this summer, they completed the restoration of one of the mill’s water wheels. They still need to get the equipment in place so the water wheel can produce power once again. It sounds easier than it is, plus there is another mountain of permits and paperwork before they get the go-ahead.

Their commitment and passion exude from both Michelle and Gareth. Their energy seems boundless, which is necessary considering their vision came at three times the cost of a more

traditional distillery using oil or gas. A capital investment three times higher isn’t easy to digest, but it would give them the green distillery they envisioned. Then, to add in all the planning, applications, rejections, and the fact that they were living in Hong Kong—far from Galway— they also had to inform their children. They did so by bringing them to the old mill in Ahascragh and announcing they were going to build a distillery within this derelict mill. There may have been a raised eyebrow or two, but their children knew their parents and believed in them.

Their youngest, Luke, is their global brand ambassador. They keep him busy, but their ethos is to take your time and do it right—rushing can lead to failure. Michelle and Gareth have been thorough

and offering the opportunity to taste their whiskeys, a variety of cocktails, whiskey flights, and more. They want the restaurant, like their whiskey, to represent not only Ahascragh but also the community and family.

“Helping families and friends celebrate meaningful moments and occasions with innovative and sustainable premium Irish spirits,” is their ethos. Michelle and Gareth can now provide the spaces in which to do so, whether it’s meeting for coffee in the café, enjoying a joyous meal in the restaurant, or perhaps taking a tour of the distillery. Gareth trained to become a distiller specifically so he could create a quality whiskey that he and others would enjoy. His experiences tasting whiskey around the world gave him much to

and have planned carefully, although not all plans go as hoped. However, they persevered, building the distillery and office within the confines of the mill’s walls. They have five buildings onsite, each of which needed renovation. Across the road from the distillery is a café and shop stocked with Ahascragh Distillery brands. A former hardware shop in the village was converted into a grain storage and dispatch area. More recently, to keep themselves busy, they also renovated what was once a pub into a cosy restaurant, The Clan Colla, located 150 metres from the distillery door. They opened the restaurant this summer, with a menu using local ingredients

consider, and he has taken great care and time to get it just right.

Asia inspired Michelle when it came to designing their gin, or as they call it, Xin Gin. Michelle forages with a local girl for ingredients to add to the botanicals that cannot be foraged, combining the Orient with the local. Michelle, who has a collection of gin from around the world, still defaults to a Xin and tonic—not because she makes it, but because she enjoys it. That says a lot.

When they are not busy with all that, they are out spreading the word—except on weekends, which they try to keep free for visits with their children and grandsons who live in Portmarnock, where the couple grew up. They have created a destination just ten minutes off the M6 Galway to Dublin motorway, and Michelle and Gareth have firmly put Ahascragh back on the map.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from the Go Wild Team

Christmas How to make a wreath this

Hanging a wreath on your door is as synonymous with Christmas as the tree. And these two traditions are actually related.

In the 16th century, when the Christmas tree tradition is believed to have started in Europe, people would trim their evergreens to fit them into their rooms. The trimmings were then used to create wreaths, originally made to hang as decorations on the tree.

With some of us welcoming family and friends into our homes for the first time in what seems like forever, what could be a nicer greeting than a beautiful wreath hanging on the door when they arrive?

Enjoy this step-by-step guide to making your own wreath, so you can show off your arts and craft skills and get everyone in the Christmas spirit from the moment they arrive.

How to make a fabulously festive wreath

Here’s what you’ll need:

1. Wreath ring (available from arts and crafts shops)

2. Moss (available from florists and garden centres)

3. Florist wire (available from florists and arts and crafts shops)

4. Foliage – you could be traditional and use branches from your Christmas tree as a starting point or venture into the garden

5. Any extra décor such as dried fruit, holly or berries

6. Scissors

Tip: DIY wreath kits are also available from websites like Etsy, so you can order all the materials you need straight to your door.

Step 1

Attach wire to the wreath ring by wrapping it around a few times.

Step 3

Step 2

A dd handfuls of moss around the wreath ring and secure it by wrapping the wire around. When you’ve added moss all the way around and secured it – don’t cut the wire.

Make 8-10 little bunches using a mix of foliage.

Step 4

Step 5

A dd in any extra bits of décor using smaller pieces of wire to fasten.

Step 7

Hang on your door for all to see.

Place one of the bunches diagonally across the wreath ring and secure it with wire – but still don’t cut the wire. Place the next bunch just below the first, making sure to cover the wire. Repeat with bunches until you make it the whole way around.

Step 6

Make a loop with the wire to hang the wreath – now you can cut the wire.

Natural instincts

Meg Walker sits down with rewilder and author Eoghan Daltun, who shares his passion for preserving Ireland’s precious rainforests and natural parks to be enjoyed for generations to come.

Eoghan Daltun is a sculptor, farmer, environmentalist and rewilder who grew up in Dublin. In 2009, he sold an 18th-century cottage in Kilmainham that he’d rebuilt from ruin and used the proceeds to buy a longabandoned 73-acre farm overlooking the Atlantic near Eyeries, on the Beara Peninsula in West Cork. Much of the land was covered in wild native forest that was ecologically wrecked by severe overgrazing and invasion by alien plant species. Over the following years, Eoghan brought life back to the land, with new temperate rainforest spontaneously forming where there was previously only barren grass.

This was the beginning of Eoghan’s long journey of rewilding and exploring other areas of Ireland in ecological

crisis in 2023, photographing areas of temperate rainforest with his Nikon camera in a bid to illustrate their beauty and ecological value, and documenting their state of decline, the results of which are beautifully presented in his latest book, The Magic of an Irish Rainforest. Eoghan continues to live on the farm with his two teenage sons, Liam, 19, and Seánie, 17, their collie dog, Charlie, and five Dexter cows.

As I reflect on my journey across Ireland, the main takeaway is just how little rainforest we have left. That cannot be overemphasised. You could get in a car and drive for four or five hours to find this tiny little fragment, and most of them are wrecked by overgrazing and invasive plant species.

Having said all that, there is enough there to be the seeds of a fantastic renaissance and recovery, but we have to act now.

Out of all the places I’ve been, my favourite is my own farm. I’m probably biased, but the problem with visiting pieces of rainforest around Ireland is the fact that they’re pretty much wrecked. My place is in stark contrast to that because it’s in such blooming, thriving health. However, out of all the other places I’ve visited, my favourite spots would be Glendalough in Co. Wicklow, the Gearagh in Co. Cork, Cladagh Glen in Co. Fermanagh, and then Oldhead Wood in Co. Mayo, which is very special because it goes right down to the sea – that’s very rare in

Ireland, to have tracts of rainforest that border the sea.

Everyone needs to do their part to help protect our corner of the world. The most important thing people could do is put pressure on the government, and there are two things I believe to be the real low-hanging fruit that need to be resolved: Firstly, Ireland has seven national parks, which are all fairly small, and all of them are ecologically wrecked, primarily by overgrazing by deer, goats, sheep, and that needs to be sorted out as a priority. Secondly, farmers need to be given the option of being paid to rewild their land. Currently, they’re only paid farm subsidies if they farm their land, so for instance, sheep might be put on that land which would then kill off any native trees and the important native flora; if farmers were given the option of being paid the same money, not to have sheep but to rewild their land, that would be fantastic for nature, for the climate, and for society as a whole, because our island would become far more beautiful, rich and diverse. I would advise anyone who wants to be part of the change to get active in one of the environmental NGOs like the Irish Wildlife Trust or the Native Woodland Trust.

I’ve always been driven to learn new things, whether that was sculpture conservation, rebuilding an old cottage, rewilding the farm or going out in search of other rainforests, and I think that comes from a love of wild nature and an understanding of how important it is to everything. It comes from an understanding that the foundation of everything we hold dear is natural ecosystems.

I think the Beara Peninsula, where I live, is one of the most special parts of Ireland. It’s quite remote and mountainous and spectacularly beautiful. Surviving natural native woodland is still relatively plentiful on the peninsula, which is a contrast to most of the country.

Christmas at the farm, like in most houses, is a time of relaxation, enjoying each other’s company and eating together. If you want to have a more sustainable Christmas, choose gifts that are really useful or needed

and will be appreciated as opposed to ending up in the bin later on.

My hope is that people will come away from reading my new book with an understanding of just how precious our tiny remaining fragments of rainforests are. There’s a film being made that will continue into next year about what I’ve done with the forest, so I’m looking forward to seeing that come together in 2025.

The Magic of an Irish Rainforest: A Visual Journey by Eoghan Daltun (Hachette Books Ireland) is out now. Follow Eoghan on Instagram or X @irishrainforest

Blinis

with Burren Smoked Irish Organic Salmon and pickled beetroot

courtesy of Burren Smokehouse

We owe this recipe to Donal Skehan, Ireland’s talented and lovely young chef who has published several cookbooks and has his own cookery shows on TV.

He writes: “These wonderful little blinis make a fantastic base to show off some of the finest ingredients and there really is no finer than Birgitta Curtin’s Burren organic smoked salmon. The beetroot is a bit of a cheat’s solution to pickling but I find it works great, if you are making these up at the last minute.”

Serves 8 INGREDIENTS

For the blinis

120ml milk

1 x 5g sachet of active dried yeast

125g strong white flour

1 tbsp caster sugar

1 tsp salt

120ml buttermilk

2 large free-range eggs, separated

1 tbsp melted butter, plus more for frying

For the garnish

250g Burren cold smoked Irish organic salmon

Crème fraîche

Fresh dill

Optional - for the quick pickled beetroot

250g beetroot, finely chopped into cubes

5 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp caster sugar

Sea salt and ground black pepper

METHOD:

For the quick pickled beetroot, combine all the ingredients for the pickled beetroot in a bowl and allow to sit in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

For the blinis, pour the milk into a small saucepan and heat until luke-warm. Whisk in the yeast and leave to stand for 6-8 minutes until the mixture becomes foamy.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and sugar with a generous pinch of salt and make a well, in the centre.

In a large Pyrex jug, mix together the buttermilk, butter and egg yolks. Whisk in the foamy yeast mixture and pour into the dry ingredients. Mix until you have a smooth batter and then cover and leave to stand in a warm place for 30 minutes. Beat the egg whites in a clean bowl until you have stiff peaks. Using a metal spoon fold this into the batter.

When you are ready to fry the blinis, heat a large non-stick frying pan over a medium high heat and brush the pan with a little melted butter. Add teaspoonful amounts to the pan and fry until golden on each side.

Allow to cool completely before topping with a generous dollop of crème fraîche, a slice of smoked salmon and some pickled beetroot.

Burren Smoked Salmon Cakes

When preparing a good Christmas brunch for friends and family, it is important to select easy recipes, and this is one of them. Ready in 40 minutes, it can be quickly done and kept warm in the oven.

Serves4

INGREDIENTS

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

4 cups grated potatoes

2 x 180g Burren hot smoked Irish organic salmon, flaked 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion

1 tbsp whole-grain mustard

2 + 1 tbsp chopped fresh dill (or 1 + 1 tsp dried), divided 1/4 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper 1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided 1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream

1 tbsp capers, rinsed and chopped

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 100°C. In a large bowl, lightly beat the eggs with a fork. Add the chopped onion, mustard, 2 tbsp fresh dill (or 1 tsp dried), breadcrumbs, pepper, and salt, and stir. Add the flaked smoked salmon, then shred the potatoes into the mixture. Stir everything to combine.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large nonstick frying pan over medium heat until hot. Fill a 1-cup measure (or a small ramekin) two-thirds full with the salmon mixture and firmly pack it down.

Unmould into the pan and pat to form little patties. Cover and cook until browned on the bottom, 3 to 5 minutes. Gently turn over and cook, covered, until crispy on the other side, 3 to 5 minutes more.

Transfer the cakes to a baking dish and keep them warm in the oven, covered with tinfoil to prevent drying out. Wipe out the frying pan and, with the remaining 1 tbsp of oil, fry off the remaining salmon mixture.

Combine the sour cream, capers, lemon juice, and the remaining dill. Serve the salmon cakes with the sour cream mixture.

WHISKEY TALKS

Living The Dream

It’s not often that someone gets to make a living from their passions, but John Cashman, Head of Brand and New Product Development for Powerscourt, is doing just that. We recently caught up with John, and as always, he’s in good humour and full of energy. Despite the buzz, there’s a relaxed vibe about him, no doubt from finally being back home.

John is a Wicklow man through and through. It’s where he grew up, where he lives, and finally, where he works. He has been in the drinks industry since the day he left college. He first started with Irish Distillers as a Brand Ambassador, which led him into their sales team. From there, John joined Gilbeys before landing at Cooley Distillery, which was later bought by

Beam Global. This expanded his role from Brand Ambassador for Cooley whiskey to becoming Global Brand Ambassador, which not only took him around the world but also added a catalogue of brands to his portfolio. John credits these companies and the mentors who guided him along the way for the opportunities he’s had. He has nothing negative to say—every role,

every brand, and all the trips to new and existing markets gifted him an abundance of knowledge and experience from across the globe, all of which he puts to good use at Powerscourt Distillery. This knowledge has given John the right perspective to lead Powerscourt’s direction with whiskey. “It’s a gem of a distillery,” is how John describes it.

John’s love for Wicklow and his role at Powerscourt has also led him into the food side of things. He is keen to shine a light on all that is great about Wicklow. Powerscourt Distillery shares this ethos when it comes to pairing their whiskeys, as they have made a concerted effort to support local producers, only sourcing further afield when absolutely necessary. They even have resident food historian Santina Kennedy on board. You have to admire their philosophy: using the best local ingredients available, whether for food pairings or the grains they select for distilling. “You get out what you put in,” says John.

John is also heavily involved in Wicklow Naturally, a single promotional voice that tells the story of food and drink produced in County Wicklow. Their website is full of inspiration, events, and updates— definitely worth checking out if you enjoy food and drink.

John first became involved in liquid development at Cooley Distillery, where Noel Sweeney was the Master Distiller. Noel, a legend in the industry, later joined Powerscourt before retiring. John absorbed as much as he could under Noel’s guidance, which made developing Powerscourt’s whiskeys and finishes that much easier and quicker, thanks to their established working relationship.

John loves tasting new whiskeys, but one of his favourite parts is presenting a tasting and being there when someone tries a whiskey, perhaps for the first time. It’s exciting to see the joy when someone takes a sip and smiles. For John, it’s all about sharing whiskey and how it can bring people together.

When it comes to choosing a whiskey, John has been spoiled through his work, appreciating different types as he went along. But what does the man from Wicklow drink? He’s quite enjoying Powerscourt single malt, a favourite of his wife’s as well. He’s also long been a fan of Maker’s Mark and Bowmore for its perfect balance of peat, salt, maritime influence, and subtle bourbon notes.

John loves pot still whiskey but is finding a lot of fun in the flexibility of grain whiskey, which he believes is underrated. “Grain whiskey can be more open to taking on unique notes from casking and various finishes. They can

be light and approachable, and finishing whiskey in a stout barrel can add malty notes, among others.” John believes the grain whiskey made at Cooley was some of the finest he has ever tasted.

So, what’s next? As with everything in whiskey, it takes time. Hopefully, in the next twelve to eighteen months, they’ll release their pot still whiskey, and there are even rumours of a 25-year-old single malt. In the meantime, John is working on a new estate series he hopes to have ready by the middle of next year. Keep an eye out—Powerscourt takes its time to do things right.

John’s knowledge of the industry is extensive, making it a delight to chat with him. Next time you’re in Wicklow, perhaps pop by for a coffee in the café, a dram at the bar, or even a tour. Check the website for their many fun events throughout the year.

www.powerscourtdistillery.com

Wild

at heart

of Catalunya later confirmed a diagnosis. He cried tears of joy, feeling understood, and that he truly belonged in the world.

In December 2020, just in time for Christmas, the couple returned to Ireland to live closer to Seán’s family in Cobh and soon, Seán launched Irish Wildlife Sounds with the mission to record the vocalisations of every regularly occurring bird species in Ireland. Four years on, he’s recorded nearly 200 different species, both native and migrant, the most recent of which was a yellow-legged gull, recorded a few weeks ago in Cork City; and he has no intention of stopping anytime soon.

Seán has also lovingly recorded his thoughts on nature and belonging in his memoir, Nature Boy, and earlier this year audiences across Ireland learned about this remarkable person after filmmaker Kathleen Harris’s thoughtful documentary, Birdsong premiered on Irish TV screens on RTÉ One. It’s a beautiful portrait of a life immersed in nature.

Meg Walker talks with ornithologist and naturalist

Seán Ronayne, who’s recorded the sounds of nearly 200 bird species across Ireland and is passionate about sharing his love of wildlife and nature with the world.

I’m writing this after spending a cold morning in a church to attend a sound bath. Surrounded by the vibrations of singing bowls and shamanic drums, I lay on the mat thinking of Seán Ronayne and his unique connection to sound. Growing up in Cobh in Co. Cork, Seán was nicknamed ‘Nature Boy’ by his classmates, due to his love of the outdoors and passion for observing birds and other wildlife. He always felt different but took great pride in the appreciation he had for the natural world.

Years later, as a young adult, he found socialising and making eye contact difficult and had a uniquely sensitive ear, something which brought stress and fascination in equal measure. The noise of a lorry roaring down the road or whizz of a coffee machine would be

far more jarring to Seán’s ears than most people might imagine. And yet, this sensitivity was Seán’s superpower, for he could make out the birdsong of a winged creature fluttering through the trees high above.

Seán’s love of birds led him to pursue a career in ornithology, which took him all over the world. After a short return to Cork, he met his partner Alba, a Catalan native, while working in a bar. They later moved to Catalunya and it was there that Alba returned home from college one day following a lecture from a member of the Asperger’s Society of Catalunya, suggesting Seán might be on the autism spectrum. He took an online autism spectrum disorder (ASD) test and immediately recognised himself in the list of questions. The Asperger’s Society

Knowing he’s travelled all over Ireland to record as many birds as he can, I wonder what places left the greatest impression. “The places that make me feel optimistic, I’ve had to seek those out, and I think the way to move forward is with love and passion for what is worth saving. One of those places that stood out was the Skellig Islands, especially after 3pm when the tourist boats left and Alba and I were alone out there. We felt like the odd ones out – it was a place for nature rather than people. Everywhere I went, there were birds and things to see and, of course, hear. There was no road or boat noise and very little plane activity. It was really beautiful and pure. When we were up by the monastery on Skellig Michael, I realised the soundscape we were listening to had been unaltered since that period in the 6th century when the monks built that monastery. So we were getting an earshot into what they would have heard back then. Then there was the Starling roost at Lough Ennell in Co. Westmeath. It had me in awe to see and hear so many birds move as one. You could feel it. We’re talking about a quarter of a million birds that have come from all

Portrait by Chris Maddaloni.

over Europe to winter in that one central location, and having them dance over our heads was a real eye-opener as to how powerful nature can be.”

I ask Seán about his ASD diagnosis and how it made him feel to learn that part about himself. “It’s a strange situation because nothing about me changed; I didn’t develop ASD, it was something that was always there. It enabled me to understand a massive part of what makes me function in the way that I do. There was a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions because I know I’m different to other people, but I’m happy with my life and the way I live it. And although there’s a massive amount of work behind what I do, and a lot of that is self-driven, the ASD allows me to go into hyper-focus. Also, in a sense, it was a forgiving process because there were moments in my life, looking back, where strange things happened and I didn’t understand why, and I felt like it was because of my actions or decisions. But I understand now that ASD was behind a lot of those things.”

“For me, the natural world is one big wonderful puzzle that keeps on giving,” enthuses Seán. “Every time I’m out there, I see and hear mysteries that I want to understand. When I go for a walk, I’m looking and listening, and asking questions. I want to be able to identify everything. I know one person will never find all of those answers in a lifetime, but that doesn’t matter. The quest of constant learning and discovering is what I live for.”

Seán has recorded a digital album of wild Irish soundscapes free from human noise. A quarter of the proceeds of Wild Silence go to BirdWatch Ireland, and he hopes it brings listeners a sense of calm in an otherwise chaotic world. “Listening to nature is scientifically proven to be calming. These are the sounds of nature that we have evolved with over many thousands of years. On the other hand, our mechanical noise, the anthropogenic noise, which is something that has happened in the last 150 years, is proven to have quite the opposite effect. I’m constantly trying to escape that. And when you do escape, and you get to those places where you’re surrounded by nature, it’s the most amazing thing. The sound of the birds, the sea, the creaking trees works wonders.”

Seán and Alba are now expecting a baby, a daughter they’ve already named Laia, who is due at the end of October, and Seán has a second Irish

Wildlife Sounds album ready to launch on the day she’s born. Half of it was recorded in Catalunya and the other half in Ireland, a fitting tribute to Laia’s half-Catalan, half-Irish heritage. As expected, he cannot wait to pass on his knowledge to the next generation. “Alba and I complement each other in many ways. She loves helping people, so she could teach our daughter those values, and I will teach Laia to love nature. I remember my grandfather, my father’s father, bringing me out to rural Cobh and showing me different birds. He passed away when I was young, but the memories I have with him and my father together are of us all being out in nature. It’s like the passing of a torch. My grandfather passed it to my father, my father passed it to me, and now I’ll pass it to Laia.”

In his memoir, Seán shares the story of a lonely Christmas spent in Seahouses in the UK when he missed being home in Ireland. So what’s Christmas like for Seán now that he’s back living here? “For me, Christmas in Cork is all about being with my family and friends. My happiest Christmas memories are all from here and I love where I come from. I’m from a small family – I have one brother – so we all go to my parent’s house and have a meal together and just focus on being a family. Alba and I are both vegetarian so if my parents are cooking, we’ll tell them to do their usual roast and we’ll bring an alternative source of protein to have in place of the turkey.”

Listening to Seán speak so animatedly about birds, I’m curious to know what species we should keep an eye and ear out for as we approach winter. “In winter, we get a lot of migrants that are fleeing the cold and harsher conditions in the far north and the northeast, where the ground becomes frozen and they can’t feed and survive.

Nature Boy: A Journey of Birdsong and Belonging by Seán Ronayne (Hachette Books Ireland) is out now. Kathleen Harris’s documentary, Birdsong is available on RTÉ Player. Follow Seán on Instagram @irishwildlifesounds

The easiest one to encounter from that direction is a thrush called the Redwing, a close relative of the Blackbird. It has a white stripe over the eye called the supercilium, a brown back, a creamy spotted chest and a red wing. When they fly, you see this flash of red, and they have a high-pitched, metallic call. They’re very prominent nocturnal migrants and when they’re migrating at night, they call en masse, so if you’re walking around on a calm night, you can hear them.”

“One amazing thing is to go to the Wexford Slobs where there are thousands of geese that all feed in the fields there. At nighttime, they fly en masse offshore to little sandbars for protection, and to hear thousands of wild geese fly over your head is really moving. These spectacles, they’re all around us. We just need to let them in.”

Seán has a few final words of advice to share with us all: “We need to realise that we are not the most important species on the planet, and the land we walk upon isn’t ours. We’re only here temporarily, and this idea of territory, that we own this space, is a very anthropocentric way of thinking. If we look at the land around this space we share with many other species, I think the way to treat these spaces will come naturally.”

I have a strong feeling we’ll be hearing a lot more from Seán in 2025 and cannot wait to hear what he gets up to next.

WINTER WONDERLAND

Inchydoney Strand

This holiday season why not wrap up and explore some of the many beautiful walks Ireland has to offer. From tried and tested old favourites to stunning green spaces across the island, a festive ramble is just the tonic, if you’ve overdone it on the turkey. You might even be lucky to hear those sleigh bells ring amidst the glistening snow.

Inchydoney Strand

Great beach walks don’t get much than this stretch of golden sand in Co. Cork. Perfect for a barefoot winter paddle, brisk walks or a run up and down the dunes. Lying sheltered in Clonakilty bay – and just a 10-minute drive from Clonakilty itself (pudding anyone?) this stunning beach was named best in Ireland by TripAdvisor in 2019.

Florence Court

The civility of this magnificent Palladian mansion contrasts vividly with the wildness of its Co. Fermanagh grounds and

Florence Court

landscapes. This is a walk where time seems to stand still amid lush parkland, thick woodland and the mountainous backdrop of Benaughlin and Cuilcagh Mountains. Located eight miles from Enniskillen, you’ll find the famous Florence Court Yew, which legend has it, is the parent of all Irish yew trees.

Waterford Greenway

Carve an unforgettable path through the stunning landscapes and historical sites of Ireland’s Ancient East, the longest offroad walking and cycling experience in the country. At 46km you’ll be well warmed up if you take it all in. Since it opened in 2017, this fantastic greenway has become a firm favourite with locals and visitors alike. Local tip: O’Mahony Cycles in Dungarvan offers great bike rentals at a reasonable price.

Waterford Greenway

Glenveagh National Park

One of Ireland’s six national parks, Glenveagh is a remote and hauntingly attractive wilderness of rugged mountains, deep glens and pristine lakes a walker’s paradise. The park is home to a 19th century castle, beautiful grounds and the highest peak in Co. Donegal, Mount Errigal. A special protected area, Glenveagh’s flora and fauna found its way there during the last ice age.

For the exotic horticulturist, as well as those who enjoy delightful walks, head to Belfast’s Botanic Gardens. Start from any of the seven entrances into this oasis of calm in the city centre. A great addition to an itinerary if you’re visiting Titanic town this winter. Check out the Palm House’s tropical plants and birds of paradise.

The Mourne Mountains

There are no shortages of rambles, walks and climbs with beautiful views at Northern Ireland’s highest and most dramatic mountain range, in Co. Down. They just feel even more rewarding in the chillier months of the year. The Wee Binnian Walking Festival take place annually.

Keem Bay

Our country’s islands are at their most remote in winter time, and Achill Island in Co. Mayo is the perfect example. Keem Bay at the western end of the island is a wonderful cliff-top loop peering into the wild Atlantic. Basking sharks, a giant plankton-eating fish, have been spotted casually enjoying a swim off this beach, which is one of the most photographed in Ireland.

If you still haven’t found what you’re looking for, try the famous cliff-top trails here on Howth Head. Just a few miles from the centre of Dublin, you can enjoy magical views across the city, Dublin Bay and, on a good day, right up to the Mourne Mountains in Co. Down. U2 drummer Larry Mullen and TV presenter and podcaster Vogue Williams are among those who call this part of the capital home – so you never know who you might cross paths with on your daily dander.

The Dark Hedges

Pick a crisp winter morning or an evening winter sunset and you can have a quiet stroll and the perfect photo of this celebrated Game of Thrones film location in Co. Antrim. The walk is not long along this avenue of beech trees but the location is totally memorable. TV fans will recognise it as The Kingsroad in Westeros. Winter is coming!

Cliffs of Moher

Walking in one of the most outstanding coastal landscapes in Ireland is like being on the edge between earth and sky. The walk may be challenging in winter but it will be worth it for the mesmerising views. The cliffs have featured in films such as The Princess Bride plus Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Now part of the Burren and Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark, it supports sustainable tourism and is home to 35 species of birds.

Keem Bay

The Mourne Mountains

Glenveagh National Park

The write stuff

Zainab Boladale has several strings to her bow. Born in Lagos, Nigeria and raised in Co. Clare, she studied journalism at Dublin City University. In 2017, she became the first person of African heritage to work in the RTÉ newsroom, firstly presenting RTÉ Television’s children’s show, news2day before moving to the regional news show, Nationwide in 2019. Now, the television presenter and reporter, who is also a content creator, public speaker and filmmaker, can add ‘newly minted author’ to her alreadyimpressive CV.

Braids Take a Day, her debut novel, was published in September. It’s aimed at the young adult (YA) readership, a genre of which she’s a long-time fan.

TV presenter and author Zainab Boladale tells Claire O’Mahony about finding the time to write her first novel and why she wants to be free to explore lots of different creative disciplines.

“I always knew that if I started writing, this was the field I wanted to start with because some of my favourite authors are in the YA field, so it was just something I always knew that would align with me,” says the 28-year-old, citing Lemony Snicket and Jacqueline Wilson (“She’s actually coming to Dublin this month, so I’m super-excited for that!”) as some of her influences.

The book is a coming-of-age story exploring both Nigerian-Irish culture and self-discovery. It tells the tale of a 17-year-old girl called Abidemi, who lives in Ennistymon in Co. Clare, and who just finished her Leaving Cert. Her father is going on a business trip for three weeks, leaving Abi with a lot of freedom and she’s excited for what summer will bring. She comes from a Nigerian Black background and in her area, there’s nobody to do her hair. She learns to do her hair herself and learns more about Black hair culture, but when she meets a fascinating woman from Nigeria, her life begins to unravel. “One of the reasons Abidemi is infatuated with this Nigerian woman is because she represents the woman Abidemi would like to be. But also in meeting this woman, family secrets are revealed,” explains the author.

Juggling both the demands of her

day job and writing the book was a challenge, she says. “Because I work full-time, there were a lot of weekends given up to really just putting myself in the flow state, trying to write the book. I travelled down to Ennistymon for over a week to put myself in the space so I wrote half the book there, then the rest during weekends in Dublin.”

Last year, Worthy, a short film she made in October 2022 on a shoestring budget, was featured in the Gaze International LGBTQIA Film Festival, as well as the Queer Spectrum Film Festival. “It was experimental because it was my first year of being a director and being a writer for screen, outside of a journalistic style. It’s only three minutes long, but it’s about a queer woman who’s questioning her work after a serious breakup,” she explains. Underlying all the strands of what she does is storytelling and she would find it difficult to choose just one field to stay in. “I like to do a lot of things and I’m curious about lots of things, so I wouldn’t be able to shoebox myself into just one thing,” she says. “I love journalism and I love meeting people, but I also love that standalone time of creating fiction as well, so I’m open to allowing myself to explore all the fields I’m interested in.”

Will another film come first, or another book? “I think right now, because I really enjoy the book process, I want to allow myself to continue on this strand,” she says. “But I’m not closed up to film whatsoever. I have a script I would like to develop, but again, everything requires time and money. Time, money, and patience! I do have stories I would love to develop for the

film space, but again, it just comes down to time.”

When she first joined RTÉ, Boladale became the target of racist abuse, much of it coming from a YouTube channel which was subsequently deactivated after news coverage of her experiences. “That has died down but outside of that, I think I’ve been very lucky in terms of I’m working in a programme that is, for the most part, positive. Also, my interests are in positive spaces.”

Her strategy for coping with online racism is the prodigious use of the block button. “Also, I don’t really engage in online back-and-forth, because I know as soon as you engage with one, you are committing to engaging with many. I’ll just quickly use that block button and go about my day.”

She’ll celebrate this Christmas by spending time with her family, with good music and food. “Christmas is a bit interesting for me because I come from a Nigerian Muslim background. Christmas is celebrated not in the conventional religious way. In Nigeria, Christmas is celebrated by all, regardless of religion, in a more partytime way, if that makes sense,” she explains. “Christmas, for me, has been more about that time to wind down and have family around.”

She loves to cook, as does her partner. “Last Christmas, we cooked chicken because, controversially, I don’t like

a

turkey. I think it’s dry. I know some people get really wound up when you say that! I prefer chicken or leg of lamb. I wouldn’t particularly do the mash but I do a lot of rice. Also, I’ll do a Nigerian meat pie, which is nothing like a mince pie whatsoever but like a much bigger version of an empanada. So I tend to cook my Nigerian dishes mostly and then throw in a couple of sweet treats.”

After the flurry of promotional activity that surrounded the publication

of Braids Take a Day, she can also look forward to enjoying a little downtime. “I’m happy out, to be honest, I’m really happy with how the book has been received, which is something you’re always anxious about,” she says. “I’m now trying to take a breather after it because it’s all been a lot, which is amazing, and I’m thankful for it.”

Braids Take

Day by Zainab Boladale (The O’Brien Press) is out now.

Almost Live From Minneapolis BRIAN NATION:

Gone but not forgotten, Brian Nation, former Master Distiller for Midleton Distillery in County Cork, flew off to join the O’Shaughnessy team in Minneapolis as their Master Distiller. Brian shocked most of the ‘whiskey world’ with his departure from Midleton to Minneapolis; but then, as the man has said himself many times, “I would probably have said they were mad”. The O’Shaughnessys wanted Brian to bring his skills and knowledge to America, to produce the best Irish American Whiskey. Using a mash bill of malt and unmalted barley, which will then be triple distilled, staying true to Irish whiskey, they are making American whiskey the Irish way. Family and tradition have driven this venture, fusing Irish skills with American ingredients to create an innovative liquid portfolio.

Recently, we caught up with Brian for a Q&A.

How did you enter the whiskey industry?

My background is chemical and process engineering, so I had no expectation of ending up in the whiskey industry after college. But after working in pharma and oil refining for very short periods, I took a role as an

environmental engineer at Irish Distillers Midleton, Cork, in 1997 and ultimately stayed there, working in different parts of the production plant. I became Master Distiller in 2013—replacing the then Master Distiller, Barry Crockett. This was a very proud moment, as you can imagine. I continued in this role until 2020 when I made the decision to take on a new challenge and create a new style of whiskey and build a brand from the ground up in Minneapolis. Creating Keeper’s Heart Whiskey has been a really exciting opportunity, and I am thoroughly enjoying the challenge.

What fuelled your passion?

My passion was fuelled by a complete interest initially in the process of whiskey making. This passion increased once I got into the sensory side of things and began understanding the various inputs and processes that can impact the sensory experience of whiskey.

What is the trickiest part of distilling?

For me, the trickiest part of distilling is when you are trying to develop something new, something that has rarely or never been done before. The reason is simply that you

have nothing to compare it with. You have to trust yourself and your team’s judgement to determine whether or not this distillate style will make a great whiskey.

How fun is your job now?

I love my job. I am so fortunate to be in a fun industry. You work hard, but you also have a lot of fun along the way. The joy of being part of a team bringing to life a new brand and style of whiskey is like nothing I have ever experienced before in my professional career. Not many people get this opportunity in life.

Will there be any more funny videos?

I truly hope so! Keeper’s Heart embodies the Irish personality, so we don’t take ourselves too seriously and we like to have fun along the way.

Do you travel as much as you did before?

I travel way more than I did before, simply because when you are building a brand from the ground up, you want to meet as many distributors, consumers, and customers as you possibly can to tell the story of Keeper’s Heart Whiskey and to build strong relationships and advocates for the brand in as many markets as possible.

What does your working week look like?

My work week varies a lot, but it generally has me at the distillery or the office on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays, and attending events either locally or in different states midweek. I have a great team of distillers here at the distillery whose experience, passion, drive, and competence give me the opportunity to be out in the market helping to build the Keeper’s Heart brand.

What excites you about the industry in the states?

The industry in the States, like Ireland, is quite innovative. You see a number of distilleries starting up, carving out their own style and place in history. It really excites me to have Keeper’s Heart Whiskey recognized as one of the forerunners in producing innovative, great-tasting, and high-quality whiskeys.

What’s the difference in the pride you feel for your Keepers Heart and that of the amazing whiskeys you created in Midleton?

That’s a hard question to answer. I was very proud of my previous role and the history at Midleton and everything we achieved

What’s the biggest pro with distilling in the US compared to Ireland?

I actually feel that distilling in Ireland and the US is very similar in terms of the level of regulation when it comes to the styles of whiskey you can or can’t produce. Each country has its own rules and you have to stick to these guidelines, which I think are good for the protection of the styles, so no complaints there!

Out of all the brands you have represented, which one sticks out? It has to be Keeper’s Heart, as it is the brand we have developed from scratch. It brings together the best of both Irish and American whiskey-making traditions, which for me is really exciting and something I’m proud to be a part of.

Favourite city/country to promote a brand?

Cork, Ireland. In the US, it’s hard to choose, as Keeper’s Heart has been so well received in so many cities and states. If I had to pick, I’d say the Twin Cities (Saint Paul/ Minneapolis), the home of Keeper’s Heart, and probably Chicago..

the impact it has on our distillates. I also love using wine barrel finishes for our current releases of Keeper’s Heart Irish + American Whiskey and Keeper’s Heart Irish + Bourbon Whiskey.

New lines for the future?

I’m really excited about the impending release of our American Pot Still, which is triple distilled in copper pots. This is due for release in 2025 and will be followed by our Triple Pot Distilled Rye and Triple Pot Distilled Bourbon, most likely in 2026 and 2027.

How important is the visitors’ centre?

Our visitors’ centre is really important for building the Keeper’s Heart Whiskey brand and building advocacy in our hometown of the Twin Cities. We offer tours and tastings, as well as excellent food and cocktails. It has received numerous awards, and we are really proud of it. We have visitors from out of town, and many of our distributors from across the US come to visit us. We’ve even had visitors from Ireland!

up. There is an enormous sense of pride in seeing Keeper’s Heart Whiskey on shelves in over 21 states in the US and in Ireland. We’ve achieved more than I could have imagined since launching in 2021. The recognition, awards, and accolades to date make me really proud to be part of this Keeper’s Heart team.

meeting people, telling our Keeper’s Heart story, and building advocates and ambassadors for our whiskey.

Favourite wood to work with? don’t have a particular favourite, but I have become much more familiar with virgin American oak and really appreciate

Do you have a default whiskey?

Keeper’s Heart Irish + American Whiskey. I love the influence of American rye, bringing an extra dimension of flavour, taste, and complexity to an Irish-forward whiskey.

Is there a style of whiskey that is more to your taste than others?

I’m definitely a Single Irish Pot Still whiskey drinker, and that’s why it’s so exciting to use that style of distillation and apply it to American whiskey, which is what Keeper’s Heart is all about.

Is there a dream dram out there that you have yet to try?

Our fully matured and released Triple Pot Distilled Keeper’s Heart American Whiskeys, which will soon be on the market!

Festive Folklore: Ireland’s Christmas traditions in times past

Modern Irish Christmas celebrations mirror many customs globally, but a delve into Ireland of old reveals an array of unique customs, some of which are practised today, reflecting themes of spirituality, folklore and community. Claire O’Mahony chats to writer, broadcaster and folklorist, Aedín Ní Thiarnaigh about the Irish Christmas past.

HOMESPUN DECORATIONS

Our homogenised age means we share the same kind of Christmas adornments all over the world. But in days past, Irish festive traditions were distinctive and simple, according to folklorist and writer, Aedín Ní Thiarnaigh, who is based on Inis Meáin, the second largest of the three Aran Islands. “Irish people were mega-sustainable back in the day just because we had to make do with what we had,” she says. “The Christmas tree is a relatively new tradition in Ireland and the typical Christmas tree is a pine, which is not a native plant. If people did have a Christmas tree, it would be any small evergreen tree, with just the top chopped off and brought into the home.” Decorations differed from today’s tree ornaments, which are often plastic-heavy. “The tradition was that people would save any nice paper that came into the house. Packages that came from family who had emigrated to America – and there’s a huge connection here with emigration, and its impact – would also be wrapped

quite nicely and that paper would be saved throughout the year, and cut into paper chains. Ivy and holly from local woodlands were also gathered. Holly with berries was especially prized,” explains Ní Thiarnaigh. “Holly with berries is actually quite difficult to come by because berries only grow on the female plant, and they will only grow if the plant is being pollinated by a male plant. Sometimes they would paint the holly white and add an extra bit of colour that way. People would use ivy to create lovely garlands and decorate around the home.”

THE CHRISTMAS CLEAN-UP

We’re familiar with the concept of a spring clean, but going back generations in Ireland, it was Advent (starting on the Sunday nearest to November 30 and ending on the fourth Sunday before December 25) when the house got its most rigorous cleanse of the year. Cottage walls were whitewashed, everything was scrubbed, and chimneys were cleaned. “We have a Blackberry Festival here on Inis Meáin and last year, we did a folklore collecting project where we asked about the different ways that blackberries were used, and also their brambles,” says Aedín. “The bramble or the dris [bramble as Gaeilge] was collected at the beginning of Christmas and put onto a rope and dragged up and down the chimney. If people were

coming home, it was to have the place clean but it was also in honour of the festival, in respect for Christmas and the idea that the Holy Trinity were nearer to their home at that time.”

LET THERE BE LIGHT

A long-standing Irish Christmas tradition is the lighting of the Christmas candle, to be placed in the window, ostensibly to welcome Mary and Joseph and offer them shelter, but to also herald a welcome for any wandering travellers. “It was lit on Christmas Eve, often by the youngest child of the house, and would remain lit over the 12 days of Christmas,” Aedín explains. A hollowedout turnip was sometimes used as a holder. “Turnips were readily available and this was also a fireproofing exercise as it kept the candle steady.”

MIDNIGHT MASS AND CHRISTMAS EVE

In a deeply Catholic country like Ireland, the celebration of Mass at midnight on Christmas Eve was, and still is, very important. Communities would gather at their church to pay homage to the birth of Christ. But its origins are far more ancient. “It’s an echo of our pre-Christian culture because in the Celtic way of living, the day started when the sun went down. That’s why we have those Christmas Eve traditions, the biggest of course

being Midnight Mass, although that’s a Christian tradition,” says Aedín. Households generally had special meals on Christmas Eve as well. “They might cut the Christmas cake or have the Christmas pudding,” she says. “There would be a special drink as well. Although we have a reputation as a ‘drinky’ culture, people didn’t have access to alcohol long ago because it was expensive. It was a big thing to set the money aside to have something like a bottle of whiskey at Christmas that could have been shared with family who came home and with neighbours who came over to celebrate. But really, there wasn’t a massive amount of excess. These were items that people were saving up for the whole year, broken out for the first time at Christmas.”

THE CHRISTMAS CRIB

Large cribs, depicting the scene at Bethlehem – with the Baby Jesus usually the last to place, on Christmas Eve –were to be found in churches across the country, as they are today. The crib was revered but the straw in the crib’s stable was also very important. “Everyone who attended Midnight Mass or the Mass on Christmas day would bring home some of the crib’s straw,” says Aedín. “It was considered to bring luck for the year, and especially if someone in the family maybe wasn’t able to attend Mass, you would bring some straw to them.”

Aedín Ní Thiarnaigh

FEASTING

Turkey is the norm for Christmas dinner these days, but going further back, this wasn’t the case. “On Christmas Eve, people would have had a fish supper, as it was still Advent [a penitential season where fasting was observed]. Then after Mass, you’d have treats,” notes Aedín. “The Christmas dinner itself would likely have goose or beef, and maybe some ham. There would also be seasonal vegetables including potatoes, cabbage and turnip.”

CHILDREN’S GIFTS

These hark back to a simpler time, when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Bluey were aeons into the future. “Toys, if they were lucky, would have been sent over from America,” says Aedín. “But really, it would have been more homemade things; wooden toys, games, things that were made locally and purchased in your local shop. Maybe they’d get a new piece of clothing, but it was all very simple and sustainable.” One of the best things children from generations ago could hope to find in their stockings was a far-flung fruit: an orange. “Oranges were a big treat.

They were an exotic fruit and they were sweet; kids would love to get them in stockings.”

WREN DAY, LÁ AN DREOILÍN

Whether its origins lie in pagan times, or its roots lie in Christianity, no one is sure. Celebrated on December 26, this special day sees the “Wren Boys”, a group of young men dressed up in costume, walk the streets of towns and villages, going house to house, singing songs and dancing, with a wren which has been hunted (artificial birds are now used) and placed in a box on top of a staff, decorated with holly and ivy. The traditional song sung on Wren Day goes:

The wren the wren the king of all birds/ St Stephen’s Day was caught in the furze/ Her clothes were all torn, her shoes were all worn/ Up with the kettle and down with the pan/ Give us a penny to bury the ‘wran’/ If you haven’t a penny a halfpenny will do/ If you haven’t a halfpenny/ God bless you!

Today, Wren Day is still practised across the country and particularly in parts of the West and South West of

the country. Monies collected during the parade are generally donated to charities and if you don’t give money, you risk having the wren buried outside your home, potentially inviting bad luck. The spectacle itself draws both locals and tourists in their droves. “It’s mayhem. The whole idea of it is that it’s supposed to be crazy and all rules are off because everyone’s in disguise,” notes Aedín. “It’s very ‘carnival’ and in that European tradition. Excess and disguise and divilment and all those things, for one night only.”

NOLLAIG NA MBAN

January 6, the feast of the Epiphany, when the Three Kings visited baby Jesus, is traditionally the date when women flung off their aprons, stopped domestic duties and had a good time; men would have to step into their places. It sounds archaic and it is, but it was very important to many generations of Irish women who were the predominant homemakers. Nollaig na mBan has taken on a new interpretation in recent years, with women marking the day with arts and cultural events – although sumptuous food and drinks and great banter is still a given.

For more information about Aedín Ní Thiarnaigh, and her wildflower walks on Inis Meáin, see her Instagram page @blathannafiaine

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: ‘Strawboys’ by Rob Heaslip, image by Amy Sinead Photography (also on page 72); Aedín Ní Thiarnaigh lives on Inis Meáin; a candle was traditionally placed in a window to welcome wandering travellers.

FROM FARM TO GLASS

- An Interview with Michael Scully, owner of Clonakilty Distillery

Clonakilty is a friendly town with a vibrant feel. It must be, as when eighth-generation farmer Michael Scully faced planning permission challenges for a distillery on his farm, he looked just fifteen minutes away, to his local town of Clonakilty. He chose a bustling spot near a roundabout to build what has now become the shining beacon of Clonakilty Distillery. Perched high above the road on the Wild Atlantic Way, its beautifully lit golden stills are sure to catch the eye of many passersby.

Clonakilty is quite close to the coast, but Michael’s home farm is even closer. They have been farming land right next to the Atlantic Ocean for eight generations. It was here Michael had hoped to build, but alas, it wasn’t to happen. Not to be down, it gives more space back to the grains they are growing for the whiskey, while they use the whey from their dairy herd to derive the base spirit for their gin and vodka, giving the spirits a rather unique velvety texture on the palate. The spent grain is used to feed the herd when needed.

Although the distillery could be considered the heart of the enterprise, I’m sure Michael believes the heart is on the farm. The farm provides for the distillery, providing the finest ingredients for its spirits, but its location is fully exposed, bestowing a unique profile to the spirits. Thankfully, Michael has an existing shed that he has been aging his whiskey in. This unique maturation gives a mild saline touch, more like a gentle kiss from the sea breeze. There are not many distilleries with such a unique location. Dingle Distillery in Kerry is

also somewhat exposed to the ocean, and Bowmore Distillery is on the island of Islay, off the coast of Scotland. Their gin is named Minke, inspired by the minke whales who visit the coast, where as many as thirty or forty minke whales will visit over a year. However, for Michael, the land gives plenty, as does the sea air and the sea itself. They forage on the shoreline for rock samphire for their gin. Not only is the farm providing, but Michael is endeavouring to be as environmentally friendly as he can, while also supporting other farmers who grow

barley nearby. As Michael says, it all “goes full circle, grass to glass.”

It is certainly worth popping onto YouTube and checking out their videos. You see how stunningly beautiful the location of the farm and warehouse are, with Galley Head Lighthouse twinkling nearby. You also get a sense of warmth from the town of Clonakilty, providing a cosy spot for the distillery. Michael also happens to narrate one or two videos, and if he gets bored making whiskey, he could certainly be successful at voiceovers.

Although I think Michael has found a sweet spot in life, he’s older and wiser, which means he knows not everything can go your way, but by taking the time to do things right, everything slips into place that bit easier. He has the right people in the right places, giving him the time to continue to build this venture up.

A question that was buzzing in my head was, with a successful farm, how did he end up running a distillery? Michael laughs, admitting that, had he been told ten years before he would build a distillery, he wouldn’t have believed them. Michael does enjoy a glass, and seeing the vibrancy coming back to the whiskey world, he saw a new avenue for his family and his farm.

Take the time and visit. What you will find will endear you to the place and its way of doing things. It shows from the front of the house to the distillery, farm, and whiskey. They ferment their wash for up to 110 hours, rather than the regular 65 hours. It’s about taking the time to create a whiskey that gives a real taste of Cork. There’s confidence created in the product, as they are in no hurry to rush the whiskey. Once the team feels the whiskey

is just right, they will release it, but not a moment before. The folk at Clonakilty are in this for the long term. After all, when your family has lived and farmed there for so long, the roots run deep.

The distillery is on the Wild Atlantic Way, plus there is a rather large sculpture of a humpback whale tail standing outside to guide you in. Michael is certainly delighted to have created their first Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey, doing so using 100% Cork-grown barley, triple distilled in copper pot stills before resting and maturing in their Atlantic Ocean warehouse. As a pot still enthusiast himself, it has been an accomplishment to

MAY YOUR MOCKTAILS BE MERRY AND BRIGHT

Christmas is often the season of excess, when food and drink becomes the focus of our festivities. So, whether you’ve simply had your fill of the hard stuff or just prefer to take a teetotal approach to the holiday season, this mocktail recipe is sure to leave your taste buds tingling. Give it a try this December and see what you think.

Virgin bramble rosemary spritz

Sweet blackberries, tangy orange zest, and woody rosemary mingle together to create a thoroughly refreshing and unforgettably delicious drink.

Makes 6

Prep: 15 minutes, plus cooling

Cook: 15 minutes

Ingredients

300g fresh (or frozen) blackberries, plus about 100-150g extra to serve

60g runny honey

1 medium orange, pared zest and juice of 1/2

6 small rosemary sprigs, plus extra to serve

About 1.5 litres soda water, to serve

Method

Put the blackberries, honey, orange zest and juice, and rosemary sprigs in a small saucepan over medium-high heat.

Bring to a simmer and then bubble for 1015 minutes, stirring and crushing lightly every now and then, until the blackberries have completely broken down.

Press firmly through a fine sieve into a bowl, scraping the underside to get as much juice as possible (discard the pulp and aromatics).

Transfer to a jug and let cool (chill for up to 2 days ahead).

To serve

ivide the blackberry syrup between glasses (about 2-3 tbsp in each). Fill with ice, top up with soda, and stir. Slice the remaining orange into half-moons and add to each glass, alongside a rosemary sprig and a few fresh blackberries, if you like.

Biscuit bake-off

Will you choose naughty or nice?

SWEET: Vegan

Jammy Dodgers

Ingredients

250g Plain Flour

150g Ground Almonds

120ml Melted Coconut Oil

120ml Maple Syrup

20ml Vegetable Oil

2 tsp Vanilla Essence

1 tsp Baking Powder

Pinch of Salt

Specially Selected Raspberry Conserve Icing Sugar, to sprinkle

You’ll also need: Biscuit cutters – approx. 5cm and a smaller one to make a whole in the centres. Use round, star or any shape you like.

Method

Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3.

Put the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt into a bowl and whisk well with a balloon

whisk. In another bowl mix the coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla essence and vegetable oil together. Pour this mixture into the dry mix and mix well. Allow to rest a while, then roll out to the thickness of a pound coin.

With your chosen cutters – cut out 40 biscuits. Cut a small hole in the centre of 20 of them. If you want you can emboss the top of the biscuits.

Using a palette knife transfer to lightly greased baking sheets – allow a little space between them. Bake for 7-10 mins – till the edges are just browning.

Allow to cool. Then add 1/2 teaspoon jam on top of the whole biscuits – then top them with the cut-out biscuit. Sprinkle with some icing sugar and serve.

SAVORY: Herb & Cheese Biscuits

Ingredients

170g Salted Butter, at room temperature

50g Mature Cheddar Cheese

25g Parmigiano Cheese

220g Plain Flour

50g Ground Almonds

5g Fresh Chopped Herbs

Black Pepper

Extra Herbs, to garnish

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.

Finely grate the cheddar and the Parmigiano cheese. In a bowl, add the flour and the ground almonds, season with some black pepper and mix well.

Chop the butter into small chunks and rub into the flour mixture. Add the chopped herbs and the grated cheese and rub in with your fingers until you achieve a soft dough.

Roll out on a floured surface to the thickness of a pound coin. Cut into shapes with your favourite cutter. Carefully put onto greased baking sheets and cook for 12-15 minutes.

After baking, decorate with small sprigs of herbs whilst still warm.

Allow to cool then serve. Delicious on their own or serve with a cheese board.

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LOCATION of FAMILIES we have ASSISTED over the past 16 years.

The foundation was set up by Brendan and Terry Ring, following the death of their daughter Cliona, from an inoperable brain tumour in 2006, aged just 15. They witnessed firsthand the financial burden faced by families with seriously sick children. Since its launch, Cliona’s Foundation has supported over 1300 families across 31 counties, and they expect at least 200 families will apply for financial assistance in 2024 equating to €500,000 in family grants. Cliona’s Foundation Unit 22, Groody Business Centre, Castletroy, Co. Limerick, V94YA07, Ireland. Tel: 061 331 333 | Email: info@clionas.ie | web: www.clionas.ie

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The Ultimate Go Wild Christmas Film

Apparently, we spend up to six hours on the sofa watching TV on Christmas Day, when the country settles down to enjoy their favourite festive movies. Whether you’re a ‘Die Hard’ non-traditionalist (can I get a Yippee-ki-yay!) or a classic conformist who’s seen ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ for the 20th time, just how well do you know your ‘Bad Santa’ from your ‘Love Actually’? Here are 10 cracking questions to get you warmed up. Pass the popcorn!

1. Which Irish actress played Doris Walker in the original ‘Miracle on 34th Street’?

2. In ‘Home Alone 2’, Brenda Fricker plays the pigeon lady who befriends Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin McCallister in New York’s Central Park. But what county in Ireland is she originally from?

3. ‘The Holiday’ stars Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet as two forlorn girls who swap homes for Christmas. But what was the full name of Winslet’s character in the nineties mega-hit Titanic?

4. Not strictly a film, but big screen Boyle native Chris O’Dowd starred in the 2018 Christmas-themed drama podcast ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ about a man struggling with homelessness. Which actress, born to Irish parents in London, featured alongside him? Here’s a hint … you might think of her a being a bit shameless.

5. Bob Geldof is famous for the iconic festive charttopper and charity juggernaut ‘Do They Know it’s Christmas’? but can you name the band whose film he had a cameo in, in 1997?

6. ‘Angela’s Christmas’ is a 30-minute Netflix film by award-winning author Frank McCourt. Which iconic singer, who tragically passed away in 2018, can you hear in the closing credits?

Quiz

7. Liam Neeson stars in the timeless festive favourite ‘Love Actually’, but what musical instrument did his young son Sam, played by Thomas Brodie-Sangster, learn to master in time to woo his sweetheart at the school Christmas concert?

8. In the Christmas Eve gone crazy movie ‘Gremlins’, Mr. Wing sells Randall Peltzer a Mogwai called Gizmo under strict instructions to keep it away from sunlight, water and food after midnight. But here in Ireland a gizmo is better known as slang for what?

9. Ennis in Co. Clare was recently turned into a Christmas wonderland for a new Hallmark film called ‘Christmas at Castle Hart’ starring Mean Girls alumni Lacey Chabert. Which Dublin actor features as her leading man?

10. It wouldn’t be Christmas without ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’. Which renowned Hollywood star turned down the role of George Bailey to star in another festive film called ‘The Bishop’s Wife’?

How well did you score?

0-3: Not quite Grinch level but it’s back to full-time elf-ucation for you.

4-7: Santa’s little helper, keep at it!

8-10: You’re officially the star on top of the tree.

Answers: Maureen O’Hara, Dublin, Rose DeWitt Bukater, Anne-Marie Duff, The Spice Girls – Spiceworld, The Movie,

Dolores O’Riordan, Drums, A gadget or small device you don’t have a name for, Stuart Townsend, Cary Grant

Skibbereen

Kinsale

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SALTED CARAMEL ESPRESSO MARTINI

Coffee aficionados are going to love this decadent cocktail, inspired by the humble yet heroic bean many of us enjoy daily. Put a pep in your step with this irresistible Salted Caramel Espresso Martini recipe from Leo Higney, Head Mixologist at Malmaison Belfast in Co. Antrim. Perfect as an after-dinner drink or as a dessert alternative. “Christmas is one of the most special times of the year,” he says. “There’s nothing like seeing our guests in the festive spirit, and what better way to celebrate than with a cocktail.” Leo’s top tip for trying this at home, to ensure optimal taste and flavour, is to make sure the glassware is chilled before you pour. Cheers to that!

What you will need:

Coupe Martini Glass

Ingredients:

25ml Absolut Blue Vodka

25ml Tosolini Espresso Liqueur

75ml Salted Caramel Coffee Syrup Tuile for garnish (French wafer)

How to make your festive tipple:

Step 1:

Add all the ingredients to a Boston tin or cocktail shaker.

Step 2: Fill with ice and shake well.

Step 3:

Fine strain into a chilled coupe.

Step 4: Garnish with a tuile.

CHRISTMAS

Novelist, memoirist and broadcaster Carlo Gébler reflects on a Christmas spent at home in Co. Fermanagh sans electricity… one he and his family will look back on with fondness for years to come. Portrait by David Barker.

New Year’s Day

Friday, 1 January 1999

I’m writing this on New Year’s Day because only today have I been able to catch up, journal-wise, on the Christmas that’s just passed. Christmas Day 1998, Friday a week ago – how strange to note this was last year! – my wife, the five children and I were at home in our house outside Enniskillen, and nothing happened, nothing I remember, but the next day, St. Stephen’s Day, or Boxing Day, that was different.

Sometime in the afternoon when it wasn’t yet dark, though I knew it would very soon become very dark, I stopped in the hall by the barometer, the one I’d inherited from my father. The needle was as low as it could go. Some unpleasant climactic event was coming, no doubt about it. It was in the air. The electric lights wavered and went off, and in the living room the television signal collapsed and the screen went black. Then the lights came back on and the TV fizzed back to life. I decided to get the storm lamps from the shed. Outside, the sky was the colour of zinc and the wind howled. This is like

without juice

walking in a wind tunnel, I thought as I tramped across the playground towards the shed. I opened the shed door carelessly, and a ferocious gust snapped it back against the lintel and some of the screws holding the hinges popped out and pattered onto the concrete. The world was out of joint, no doubt about it.

I found my lamps, both caked with bird muck, shoved the door shut and fled back inside the house. A few minutes later, I was in the kitchen cleaning the glass of one of the lamps when I heard a rumble unlike anything I’d ever heard before. It was coming

from the direction of the electricity pole that supported a grey transformer and that was on the edge of our garden. I looked up and saw a great ball of fire drop from the transformer and slide down the pole like an animal to the ground. All the lights in the house wavered and then they went out, and this time, they did not come back.

The children broke out their torches and chased about the darkening house, squealing with excitement. I went out and got wood and banked the potbellied stove. The fire roared and water kettled in the stove’s back boiler. Later, when I turned on the kitchen tap, the

water was scalding. My wife lit dozens of candles. She set them in every room, on every shelf and ledge and surface. The house looked like a church. There was a lovely smell of warm wax. I lit the lamps as well but they gave off a lamp-oil smell, a fishy smell, not nearly as nice.

There were 12 coming to lunch the next day, Sunday, 27 December. So that Saturday, St. Stephen’s Day evening, by candlelight, my wife made apple strudel and roasted a ham using the old 1945 New World gas cooker she’d bought in Shepherd’s Bush market in London for £5 sometime in the early 1970s. The cooker, because of its age, had holes everywhere, including its back plate, which meant we could see the gas jets roasting the ham reflecting on the kitchen wall behind.

We whiled away the rest of the evening playing pool on a little pool table that one of the children had got for Christmas. It was impossible to distinguish orange from red by

candlelight except by lifting the ball from the table and bringing it to the flame. The opportunities for cheating were endless but no one tried. Later we played Jenga and, because we couldn’t see, we built a much higher structure than we would have if there had been light.

At the end of the night, the children read aloud to each other from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, published June 1997, another Christmas present.

It took a long time for several hours to pass that miraculous evening. Time went much more slowly without electricity. It was also less fractious. I didn’t have to say to the children that, no, they couldn’t watch Men Behaving Badly. I didn’t once have to explain the nine o’clock watershed. I didn’t have to ask if the volume could go down on Jungle Mania 94 (16 Absolutely Firing Jungle Anthems). I didn’t have to

intervene because one child had usurped another’s turn on Crash Bandicoot. With no power, all the usual points of friction were simply impossible. They simply couldn’t happen. At bedtime, I even heard one son mutter, “I quite enjoyed myself this evening.”

In the morning, I woke to the stove being riddled by my wife and one of the children shouting, “Oh, it’s my dream come true.” I opened my eyes and looked out. It had snowed overnight. And even more miraculously, two burly men from Northern Ireland Electricity appeared on the doorstep ten minutes later.

“We’ll fix that transformer now,” one said. I felt unexpectedly depressed by the news. No power might mean more chores, but life without television was quieter, better even.

“You noticed I didn’t encourage them,” said my wife when the NIE men left the doorstep and went to their van to get their stuff.

She put kindling in the stove and it caught with a roar.

“We’d better get cracking,” she said. “The guests will be here at one.”

The children raced out to the snow.

Five minutes later, dripping with slush, they were back in, wet and rosycheeked.

We put their soaking things by the roaring stove. Woollen mittens went bone dry in minutes by this method. Outside, the NIE men laboured at our pole. The power came and went and came and finally went again.

“Good,” said my wife.

But a few minutes later the power was back on, definitively this time.

“Whoopee,” the children cried, rushing in a mob for the television. “EastEnders.” They clearly didn’t share my adult aversion to power. But my wife did. She now went around the house and turned off every light that had come on and the central heating as well. She wanted our electricity-less life to linger for a while.

The guests came and went. At bedtime, as the children raced down the corridor, they screamed, “It’s cold. We’re going to report you for cruelty to children.” Yes, it was cold; we’d kept the heating off in order to extend the illusion of electricitylessness. They got under their covers and didn’t show their faces until the next morning.

On Monday, 28 December, there was still snow and I went out in search of sledges. I found some in the stockroom in the toyshop in town: I got two for a tenner. The electricity came and went again all that day too, but we mostly kept it off and we only used it once, briefly, for a spot of hoovering. Yes, otherwise, we went without because it had been so lovely going without. Only at nighttime, when no one noticed, did I fire up the central heating just before bed.

“Oh no,” said my wife, when I met her a few moments later, clutching an armful of hot-water bottles she’d prepared and was about to put in everyone’s beds. She didn’t approve of the central heating being back on. “There isn’t quite that quality of sharp coldness,” she said, “that makes getting

into bed with a hot-water bottle all the nicer, is there, not if the central heating is on?”

It was still pretty cold but I agreed. With the heating on it wasn’t as deliciously cold.

“I can hear the boiler rumbling,” she said. “Oh well, that really is the end of my Christmas,” she added.

Tuesday, 29, Wednesday, 30, Thursday, 31 December followed, days of snow, tobogganing, snowman-building, slithering, sliding, snowball-making, snowball-throwing and endless drying in front of the pot-bellied stove of wet coats and scarves and mittens and coats and the evocative smell every day of damp wool drying and sometimes wool

scorching when it was too hot, and though the electricity was generally back (now and again it did go off but only for a while) there was a lovely shared sense among the family that the best night of the season, the best night of the year, was the candlelit one, when we couldn’t tell the colour of the balls on the little pool table.

And now, on the first day of the New Year, and the start of the last year of the 20th century, already what is so very recent – that short time when the electricity was off – seems historical and lost. The speed with which we hurtle on is dizzying as well as terrifying. Could we just go a little slower occasionally and not rush so much?

Extracted from A Cold Eye: Notes from a Shared Island 1989–2024 by Carlo Gébler (New Island, €19.95), out now.

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The Abbey Hotel

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Burren Smokehouse!

Take the stress out of holiday shopping with the Burren Smokehouse! Offering a range of delicious smoked Irish organic and wild salmon, along with thoughtfully curated gift hampers, it’s your go-to for Christmas gifting. Easy online ordering and fast courier delivery make the holiday season a breeze. Christmas made simple! www.burrensmokehouse.ie

Carrygerry Country House

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Photo Donegal Castle: Martin Fleming

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Ashford Castle

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The Arklow Bay Hotel

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FOUR CLASSIC & ELEGANT COCKTAIL S To Try At H ome

There are cocktails and there are cocktails. Most of us enjoy a cocktail now and again but they are getting pricier but for some cocktails, you need so many ingredients, and utensils, it becomes tiring and/or overwhelming, before you even start.

We forget there are some super classic and elegant cocktails that don’t require you to have every spirit on the market. Below we have chosen some super easy cocktails for you to try your hand at, at home.

TOOLS – Ok, so we said simple but you will need some tools, although we have suggestions for substitutions that you could find at home.

• A cocktail shaker or a clean jar with no aromas.

• A jigger for measuring or an eggcup will suffice.

• Glassware, coupes and martini glasses are similar enough that they can substitute for each other. Or try a sundae glass.   A strainer, once it’s clean and has no aromas you can use it.

All recipes are for two

MARTINI - Vodka or gin, your choice. As claassic as 007.

• 2 measures of gin or vodka

• 1 tbsp of vermouth

• Ice

Place all ingredients in your cocktail shaker and stir for the James Bond style or shake for the classic style. Strain the martini into a martini glass or similar.

A CLASSIC DAIQUIRI - Refreshingly elegant.

• 2 measures of white rum

• 1 measure of lime juice

• 1 tbsp of simple syrup (sugar water 2:1)

Ice

Place all ingredients in your cocktail shaker and shake it. Then strain the cocktail into a coupe glass or similar.

WHISKEY SOUR – One of my favourites, relatively simple to make and looks impressive.

• 2 measures of whiskey

• 1 measure of lemon juice 1/2 measure of simple syrup (sugar water 2:1)

• 1/2 measure of egg-white

Ice

Put all your ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake. Always taste before serving to make sure it’s to your particular liking. Then strain the cocktail into a tumbler.

SIDECAR – Another classic and slightly reminiscent of the Mad Men era.

• 2 measures of cognac 1 measure of triple sec (orange liqueur)

• 1 measure of lemon juice

Ice

Place all your ingredients into your cocktail shaker and shake well. Once happy, strain the cocktail into a coupe glass or similar.

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