Hot tip

Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers new paperback series, the River Café Pocket books, cost around €13. They feature delicious recipes from London’s acclaimed River Café.

* Gubbeen Venison Salami: I have just tasted some of Fingal Ferguson’s Gubbeen venison salami. It is very good stuff and very moreish — a perfect standby for nibbling and entertaining or indeed as a present for Christmas.

* Bandon Christmas Farmers’ Market — Saturday, December 16: There will be lots of tastings of seasonal produce, including homemade christmas puddings, mulled apple juice, a special oyster bar offering freshly opened Roaring Water Bay oysters with Tabasco and lemon juice, gourmet gift hampers, Martin Carey’s award-winning spiced beef and fresh duck from Ballydehob, free-range turkeys from Beechwood Farm in Kinsale and lots of other lovely stuff.