I love the creative side of cooking. It is what keeps me doing it.

Good morning. Here’s everything you need to know before you start your day.

This general election paid too much attention to focus groups and polls which allowed the media people to pontificate instead of finding real news, writes Terry Prone.

Looking for a weekend break with a difference? The Pullman restaurant at the Glenlo Abbey Hotel gives guests the opportunity to dine in original carriages from the Orient Express – and it’s magnificent, says Vickie Maye.

A bit of background music can be thoroughly enjoyable while eating — but can it also enhance the taste of the food?

A takeaway is to be included for the first time in the list of 100 Best Restaurants in Ireland.

The phenomenon of comfort eating is well established but many of us don’t realise how much our brain influences our attitude to food, says Jonathan de Burca Butler

ENGLAND:

For many people, bookshops conjure fond images of intimate readings, in-store cafés and delight at the discovery of a new author. Despite this, many high street bookshops are under threat thanks to the rising popularity of eReaders and online shopping.

From food tourism — holidays that are all about the restaurants — to annual pilgrimages to high-end eateries, the way we eat out has been transformed.

Anyone who has flown from Dublin, Cork or Belfast into T1 in Heathrow will recall how long a trek it was to arrivals. Well say goodbye to all that, and hello to the bright, shiny T2.

Heston Blumenthal has undergone a hip operation.

Firebrand butcher Jack O’Shea is to open his first Irish steakhouse in Brussels before the end of March — by which time he hopes to have settled his public spat with celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal.

TV chef Heston Blumenthal has shut his gourmet London restaurant after it was hit by an outbreak of the same vomiting virus which forced him to close the Fat Duck five years ago.

Pól Ó Conghaile's quick guide to some restaurants where you're guaranteed to get into the Christmas spirit ...

Music fans wax lyrical for 120-year-old record

I THOUGHT the slow cooker and pressure cooker had gone out with the flood, but I was quite wrong.

Nine Irish restaurants have been awarded Michelin stars, among them two new recipients of the coveted accolade.

This week's highlights include Cracking Crime, which revisits the murder of a prison officer from Kerry.

A slice of history will be served on Monday when the world’s first test-tube burger, made from lab-grown meat, is cooked and eaten in London.

From painting the shed in soft hues to a homemade hanger for the hall, this week’s list of wishes from Esther N McCarthy is all about making the house beautiful.

Little Chef could disappear from Britain’s roadsides after more than 50 years after fast food bidders tabled offers for the restaurant chain.

All we know is Mrs Doyle would not be impressed.

The magical world of the gastronomical lab can render taste buds stunned, says Joe McNamee, but is it really where the future of food lies?

Strictly Come Dancing winner Louis Smith, comic Ronnie Corbett and supermodel Elle Macpherson are among the guests who will take part in Graham Norton’s bid to set a new TV chat show record.

THE head chef disliked me from the off.

LAST WEEK, in a fascinating experiment, a psychologist assembled 59 volunteers — all of them mothers — in a room. He settled each into an armchair with a Santa hat, mince pie and four glasses of sherry, for which, he noted afterwards, they seemed inordinately grateful.

The stars behind a potential Christmas number one single which aims to raise money for the Hillsborough families today called on the chancellor to waive VAT on it.

THE wild game season is well and truly underway again.

The Cork-based spice company Green Saffron has doubled the number of employees from six to 12 in the last two years.

Matthew Gilsenan is one of the trio who makes up the Celtic Tenors, a group that has topped the charts in the US, Canada, Germany, Britain and Ireland.

IT’S POURING down with rain in Waterford and we haven’t even got on the ferry yet to embark on our holidays.

The Sun on Sunday sold three million copies after it hit news stands across the country for the first time, Rupert Murdoch said.

Rupert Murdoch’s newest newspaper launched with a familiar mix of celebrity news, scantily clad women and defiant language.

The first edition of the Sun on Sunday will start rolling off the printing presses tonight with newspaper executives hoping the new title will emulate the success of its defunct predecessor the News of the World.

Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal is famous for his scientific approach to cooking.

SIMPLICITY must be a complicated thing.

U2 were named Band of the Year at the GQ Men of the Year awards last night.