November's Food Festivals & Events

Castlebar Indoor Christmas Market 

Castlebar Christmas Market in Co. Mayo, will take place on Saturday 24 & Sunday 25 November in the Events Arena at Breaffy House Resort from 10am-5pm. With lots of new traders taking part this year it will be a great start to the festive season and a chance to pick up Christmas gifts, crafts, tasty treats and more.

Food and Design Winter Fair at Belvedere 

The 2012 Winter Fair will take place in Belvedere House in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath on the 24 & 25 November. The Winter Fair at Belvedere features contemporary collections of jewellery, interior products, gift ware, textiles, cards, ceramics as well as local food producers all indoors in the Courtyard at Belvedere.

 

Food & Wine Magazine Christmas Show

The FOOD & WINE Magazine Christmas show 2012 is back from the 30th November to the 2nd December  in the RDS Main Hall in Ballsbridge. It will be a three-day food and drink extravaganza, that will show you how to recreate world class dishes in the comfort of your own home!  There will be a Chef's Kitchen, the Artisan Market, a Wine Experience Theatre and a whole host of free masterclasses. Tickets to the event cost €20 but there is an early bird option for €15.

Galway Continental Christmas Market

The third annual Galway Continental Christmas Market will take place from 23 November – 22 December in Eyre Square. A jam-packed schedule comprising of a whole host of different events is promised for the Market’s duration, including  entertainment from Galway’s top live bands and DJ’s, performers, puppet shows, storytelling, school choirs and carol singing. Santa’s Grotto will be run by local charities and the popular Bier Keller will play host to various events throughout the duration of the market alongside offerings of festive treats, artisan food products and Christmas gift ideas.

Listowel Food Fair 

Taking place in  Co. Kerry from the 31 October to 4 November this fair promises to be better than ever. Some of the events on offer include a Food & Literary Taste Trail, a Herbal Medicine Trail and an Organic Gardening Class. There will also be a Food Village and Craft Fair, a Saturday Kitchen Live Demonstration and a Farming Seminar with Minister Simon Coveney and lots more.

Limerick Georgian Quarter Christmas Market 

This Christmas market takes place for 3 days only in Limerick City from 23 - 25 November. Visit the the stalls located throughout No. 1 Hotel & Spa & Pery Square which will include local artisan food producers, arts & crafts, Christmas gifts with a difference and much more.

Taste of Louth 

On 10 & 11, November Taste of Louth takes place in The Marshes Shopping Centre, Dundalk, Co. Louth. There will be demonstrations from Neven Magurie, Clodagh McKenna and Brian McDermott and a  big Taste of Louth Cupcake Challenge. Tickets are €10 for the cookery demonstrations and you can buy them through the Taste of Louth website.

Wild and Slow – Wild Food Harvest Festival:

Slow food Ireland presents Wild & Slow 2012, a unique festival that celebrates everything that is good about Irish food: fresh, local, traditional and wild. It takes place in Macreddin, Co. Wicklow on the 10 & 11 November. There is a huge of range of workshops and events on offer including curing, pickling, foraging, stalking, bee keeping which is just for starters. There will also be a food village offering visitors a chance to sample homemade foods.

Waterford Winterval 

Throughout Waterford City from 30th November to the 23rd December a big winter festival will take place with a huge range of events happening. There will be storytelling, Christmas markets, movies, craft workshops, an ice rink and lots lots more. There really is something for everyone at Winterval 2012.

Lunching Around Ireland

Last week saw me trapse through the bottom half of Ireland for a mixture of business and pleasure. This whistlestop tour brought me to Wexford, Limerick and Galway and it was the perfect opportunity to try out some new places I wouldn't normally get too. Now as we all know the locals always know the best places to go so I got a few to divulge their secrets on where to go to for a lunchtime feed and I think I have found some gems!!!

La Dolce Vita - Wexford

This Italian cafe might be one of the best kept secrets EVER. Having lived in Italy I am notoriously hard to please when it comes to Italian restaurants. A lot of restaurants entice me in with promises of perfect pastas, pizzas and tiramisu but few deliver. La Dolce Vita is perhaps the BEST Italian food I have had outside Italy in a long time!! Forgive all the capitals but I really can't emphaize how special this little place is!!

The menu in La Dolce Vita offers paninis and other lunchtime fare but we were here for pasta. Or so I thought until I saw the specials menu - swordfish, venison, ossobuco - Oh where to start!! So after having a few quick steathly peeks at what other diners were eating we settled on two specials - Spagetti with Taleggio and Tomato and Ossobuco with Germolata.

The spagetti was delicious perfectly cooked and really flavoursome with the taleggio melted through it.

The Ossobuco was divine, the meat was falling off the bone and the sauce was light but tasty and it was covered with wondefully fresh gremolata. The portions size are huge and perfect for sharing. Great if you are looking for a Valentines lunch this week!! Of course then we decided it would be rude to leave without trying the tiramisu and an espresso, both of which rounded off the meal.

One other lovely thing about this restaurant is that the owner was really involved in the running of the place and would come out to check on us and make sure we were enjoying ourselves. It was a lovely touch and the fact that he gave me one of my favourite italian chocolates on the way out has endeared him to me forever!! The only thing wrong with this place is that it isnt closer to Dublin!!

La Dolce Vita don't have a website but you can find them on Menupages here

 

The Sage Cafe - Limerick

Our Limerick local told us to get down to The Sage Cafe early as the place is jammers at lunch and as soon as we arrived we could see why. This cafe is easy to spot with its inviting green exterior and funky decor. All the food looked very inviting from their daily specials right down to their desserts which are homemade along with all their breads, jams and chutney. After crawling intently through the menu we both finally settled on the fish pie. The pie was gorgeous not too dense and topped with fluffy mashed potato. This is a great lunchspot and so if you are in Limerick why not give this little spot a go and team it with a visit to the Milk Market for a perfect food filled morning out. Apparently Mike Hogan from the Cranberries owns the restaurant too. Now there is a prime bit of local gossip for you!!

For more info on the Cafe click here

Cava Spanish Restaurant and Tapas Bar - Galway 

This is a tapas restaurant but lunch is served here daily. The menu includes loads of gorgeous Bocadillos (Spanish Sandwiches), lovely soups and salads, stew and some specials which are changed to relect what's in season. I was very tempted by the sounds of the chickpea stew with chorizo and meatballs but instead I went for their great offer of a soup, sandwich and coffee for only ten euros. So for ten euros this is what you get:

 And look at that for a sandwich, full of serrano ham and manchego:

 And a delicious bowl of broccoli soup:

The lunch food here is tasty, filling and great value. I will definately be back for a return visit and hopefully I can fit in a dinner visit next time.

For more info on Cava Spanish Restaurant click here