Neidín is already on the steroids getting ready to haul The Menu’s enormous carcass west to one of his most favourite annual food outings, The Dingle Food Festival (Sept 30-Oct 2) in association with the Blás na hÉireann National Irish Food Award.

The Leeside ladies Ali Honour of Ali’s Kitchen and Kate Lawlor of Fenn’s Quay head for the Big Smoke for the third in a series of dinners to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the formation of Euro-Toques Ireland, all cooked by the chef-members themselves. 

The Restaurants Association has changed the name of their former Foodie Town destination initiative, now calling it Foodie Destination 2016.

PRANDIAL PATRIARCHS

Despite all the words this page has expended on a myriad of wines, the reason we are interested is because they all have one thing in common — “the power to banish care”.

One of the great national initiatives of recent times is Culture Night (September 18) and, most fittingly, food has come to play a great part in proceedings. 

According to some Canadian research, men find the scent of grilling meat more arousing than any perfume.

Food news with Joe McNamee.

Father’s Day is tomorrow so this week I want to focus on wines your dad will probably like. 

Fáilte Ireland has launched the Irish leg of the 7th EU Eden project, promoting sustainable tourism across Europe with this year’s theme Tourism and Local Gastronomy. 

New Year Resolutions are usually tedious things such as “visit the gym more than once a week”, “pay off the Visa bill every month” etc. This week I am proposing some pleasurable resolutions which will be no hardship.

The Cork Folk Festival provided a feast of great music and good fun, writes Eoin Edwards

Over the course of The Menu’s career as a professional stove-jockey many moons ago, the apex of his career remains a prolonged spell as apprentice to sorcerer Seamus O’Connell of the Ivory Tower.

If The Menu could ever rid himself of the microchip implanted in his neck by Mrs Menu, he’d while away many an afternoon in his beloved L’Atitude 51, (www.latitude51.ie).

THE last week of November was Rhone Wine Week organised by the ever busy Simon and Emma Tyrrell of Tyrrell and Co. who import a range of wines from the region, including one that Simon himself makes called Les Deux Cols which featured here a few weeks ago.

TESCO’S autumn wine festival continues until Oct 2 with more than 300 wines on offer and a further 5%off when you buy any six bottles.

Before the begrudgers let rip with a broadside, implying The Menu’s life is one long holiday, The Menu would like to point out his current sojourn in West Cork is strictly research — for his return in September to one of the nation’s longest running food festivals, A Taste of West Cork, Sept 10-16.

Some eagle-eyed readers will recall no doubt recall The Menu’s debut column kicking off with an appeal for old china crockery to stock The Tearooms at the heart of the restoration of Fort Camden, in Crosshaven, ‘star’ of Diarmuid Gavin’s RTÉ series Dirty Old Towns.

SOMETIMES it would strike you that wine buffery is like some sort of kooky cult religion.