Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Happy birthday to Gwen from Roddy Doyle!
Not to be outdone with my personally inscribed book, Gwen just received this 40th birthday message from Roddy Doyle via my very successful publisher sister who gets to hobnob with famous writers.
Oh dear, Irish Celebrity Chef thinks I can cook!
My bother just sent me a personally inscribed book from Neven Maguire. The pressure is on now to take it up a few notches! Anyone for Lamb Shanks Osso Bucco (page 68)?
Saturday, 23 October 2010
October 23rd 2010 - 140 days since we arrived
Thursday was my birthday. Gwen had no foreign trips planned for me but I will let that pass as it was not a big milestone like hers. She took me on a surprise trip to New Orleans last year for my big one so I cannot be complaining. I did have a lovely birthday though which started with the best breakfast in Kinsale at Cucina after which we picked up a nice bottle of wine and some steaks at Barretts butcher for that nights dinner. I should mention that the weather is still amazing here so still cooking outside on the grill/BBQ. With the steaks we did some nice mash potatoes with kerrygold butter, sauted fresh spinach and mushrooms and a home made very amateur "demi-glace" that I did as per Anthony Bourdain in Kitchen Confidential which is the book I am currently reading. He suggests a quick and easy home version by just reducing equal portions of good beef or veal stock and red wine down and then thickening at the end with some good butter. He has a few other other simple tips in his book about making professionally looking meals at home that I am driving Gwen nuts with at the moment. This morning when making French toast for the girls she asked if I was going to garnish it with finely chopped parsley! I didn't but it did look (and taste) really good dusted with powered sugar and a drizzle of maple syrup.
The girls are now on mid term break from school so on Friday they were allowed wear their Halloween costumes in as part of a national uniform free day for Unicef. (each child donates a euro). Here is a picture of the two of them heading out that morning.
Friday, 22 October 2010
Congratulations to my big brother Conrad who last night won the 2010 Emerging Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year.
Dublin Fri, Oct 22, 2010
DUBLIN-BORN CONRAD Burke, who is the founder of the Silicon Valley solar energy company Innovalight, was named Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year at last night’s ceremony.
He spent the earlier part of his career working for large multinational organisations in Germany, Japan and the US, where he gained the experience and confidence to start his own venture from scratch.
Accepting his award last night Mr Burke said that he was honoured, shocked and “very, very flattered”. He thanked all of his “great” employees in Silicon Valley.
Innovalight has developed a portfolio of patented technologies and materials that allow crystalline silicon cell manufacturers to produce solar cells with higher conversion efficiencies.
And its patented Cougar Platform technology allows cell manufacturers to break through the efficiency ceiling of current cell designs.
Innovalight has hired engineers and chemists from leading solar and materials companies around the world to work towards its objective of lowering the cost of solar energy.
The company now has 55 employees. The team has filed more than 60 patents and presents at leading solar conferences.
In 2006, Mr Burke received the Technology Pioneer Award at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
His company has been profiled in Time magazine and by CNN in recognition of its having developed one of the most revolutionary semiconductor materials to be seen in the past 50 years.
© 2010 The Irish Times
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
A quick Roman Holiday and Happy Birthday Gwen
Gwen had a huge birthday this weekend and all she wanted was a trip to Italy so as the obliging husband we headed to Rome on Friday evening returning on Monday morning. We stayed at the Romanico Palace Hotel which just off Via Vittorio where much of the movie “La Dolce Vita” was centered around.
We arrived late Friday night when Gwen experienced her first ever meal on Italian soil at Cafe Strega which was basically just Pizza and Pasta but oh boy how good the pizza and pasta is over there and that pretty much set the tone for much of our activities over the next few days as we visited so many other street cafes to sample as much food and as many Chiantis that we could.
Saturday morning we started at Pepy’s for unbelievably good coffee and pastries like I have certainly never tasted before. We then hit the Trevi Fountain and Spanish steps (as one does in Rome) building up a good appetite for a Panini Lunch at the famous Café De Paris where coincidently my brother and wife had their wedding reception back in 1994. After lunch we took the metro to the Vatican and Vatican museums where we spend hours getting completely overwhelmed with all the statues, art, frescos, tapestries etc.. We must have walked ten miles on Saturday. There was quite a funny incident on St. Peter’s square later on where a car full of older ladies managed to avoid all the security and drove right onto and around the square completely oblivious to all the Italian police men chasing behind them.
After all the walking we took a well deserved rest at some lovely café (cannot remember its name) and sat outside under an awning as it lashed rain for a while. Being stuck there we took the opportunity to enjoy another margarita pizza and another nice glass of Chianti. Once the rain stopped we headed back to our hotel to rest, freshen up and head right out again for dinner. A margarita pizza as appetizer, Spaghetti alle vongole for Gwen and a seafood variety with pasta for me. I am pretty sure there was some nice Chianti in there somewhere. We had desert and coffee in another café after dinner and then hung out for a while at the Trevi fountain which you really do need to see at night time.
Sunday we started with breakfast at a Café on Nazionale and then spend a good few hours touring the Coliseum, the Forum and The Palatine. Truly amazing sights and the size and scale or the Coliseum really does take your breath away. I had seen all these places back in 1994 but was way too young and stupid at the time to properly appreciate them (or Rome) so the trip was like a first for me too.
As you can guess we visited two more Cafés on the way back from all day’s sightseeing. One called the Theatre Café and the other I forget bit it was on Via Firenze. Seriously they are very difficult to walk by when you smell and see what they are serving!
Later that night we met Derek and Amy Able for dinner who coincidently happened to arrive into Rome on Sunday. We know Amy and Derek from Dallas and were in Rome celebrating their 10 year wedding anniversary. Facebook was the reason the dots were joined that we all happened to be in Rome that same weekend!
Derek and Amy – congratulations again on your big milestone, it was fantastic catching up with you and we hope you enjoy the rest of your time in Rome and Paris. After dinner (really nice restaurant near the Trevi Fountain) we sampled a few more street side cafés and our final Chiantis while catching up on all the latest Dallas news!
That was it! We headed back home on Monday morning. It was a brilliant weekend and Rome is truly one of the greatest places on earth to visit.
..and again Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife Gwen who is now a quadragenarian! You did it in style babe!
Ciao!
Some pictures from the trip are located here - http://picasaweb.google.com/dazzerb/Rome2010#
PS: Gwen says thank you to everyone for all the birthday emails and texts over the weekend. She got hundreds of messages!
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