Darina Allen’s Buttermilk panna cotta vinegar and honey

WE PACKED our bags recently and headed for the US ready to launch the Kerrygold Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food and Wine in New York. 

We had a terrific guest list of media, speakers, friends and well-wishers. David Tanis of the New York Times, April Bloomfield of the Spotted Pig, John Dory Oyster Bar, The Breslin and Dining Room fame, blogger extraordinaire David Lebovitz, Christine Muhlke of Food and Wine magazine, Niall Gibbons of Tourism Ireland, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Paschal Donohoe and Kerrygold our festival sponsors were all due to attend.

But we hadn’t reckoned on the weather taking a turn for the worse. Sunday was a crisp sunny day, but by Monday New York was whipped into a frenzy of panic by the forecasters, who predicted scary blizzards and 24 to 30 inches of snow.