HERE at the Ballymaloe Cookery School, we run three-month certificate courses every year for students who want to gain the skills to earn them a living from their cooking. 

WELL, Lent is almost over and if you are one of those virtuous souls who have been abstaining for the past seven weeks now is the time to feast and savour the rewards of your fasting. 

TAMIL NADU in South India, particularly the Chettinad area, is a ‘road much less travelled’ than many of the trendier tourist destinations like Goa, Rajasthan and Kerala but intriguing, particularly for those who have a penchant for temples, architecture and of course food. 

Nowadays Hot Cross Buns are traditionally eaten in Ireland on Ash Wednesday and on Good Friday. This practice would have been frowned on in the past when these were black fast days and the people would scarcely have had enough to eat, not to mention spicy fruit filled buns.

Ireland’s national dish of bacon and cabbage is often a sorry disappointment nowadays, partly because it is so difficult to get good-quality bacon with a decent bit of fat on it. 

AT LONG last I’ve discovered the secret of how to give a totally stress-free dinner party.