“Six In The City” is RTÉ’s newest reality entertainment series. Based on the success of a pilot episode, which aired during RTÉ’s “Format Farm” season this autumn, “Six In The City” will return to RTÉ 2 this March for a full series of 6 episodes.

Lorna Hackett of WAKA TV telles me: “We are currently accepting applications from candidates in every Irish city, asking people to show us what makes a great night out in their city. The series will be recorded from January until March.”

“We are looking for couples and pairs (friends, colleagues, etc.) in every Irish city to take part in this RTÉ television show. The pair will showcase the best that their city has to offer in terms of dining, socialising, events and activities. Participants in the show get the chance to show off the best of their city’s social life, and they will also get to visit two other Irish cities for great nights out, all expenses paid.”

“The most successful pair in hosting a great night out, as voted for by the others taking part, will win a €1,000 city break to the European destination of their choice.

SIX IN THE CITY

Do you & your better half have a fantastic social life?

How About Showing The Rest Of Ireland How It’s Done?

With the chance to win a European Party Break worth €1,000

RTÉ Two’s hit reality show, Six In The City, is back in March, and we’d love YOU and your partner to be the stars.

We’re looking for party-loving couples from all across Ireland to compete in an exciting city vs city challenge.

You’ll host YOUR perfect Night Out in YOUR City, and you’ll also enjoy a weekend party break in two other Irish cities – all expenses covered.

Three couples, three cities and three great nights out. The couple judged to host the best night out wins the €1,000 prize. That could be YOU!

REQUIREMENTS

YOU’RE AGED OVER 21 – NO UPPER AGE LIMIT.

YOU LIVE IN – DUBLIN, CORK, LIMERICK, GALWAY, WATERFORD, MULLINGAR, KILKENNY, SLIGO, DERRY, NEWRY, ARMAGH, BELFAST ETC

YOU’RE INTERESTED IN – POSSIBLY MUSIC/ FOOD / DANCING / CINEMA /COMEDY/ FINE DINING / AND EVERY SHADE OF PARTY PURSUIT IN BETWEEN.

YOU LOVE GOING OUT IN YOUR CITY & YOU’RE DYING TO SHOW THE WORLD WHAT MAKES IT GREAT.

To apply send your name and a contact number to: info@wakatv.ie or call   01 – 6611384     and ask for Trevor.

Lorna Hartnett WAKA TV             (01) 661 1384       and             085 77 080 52

Bringing the Buffalo home

Last weekend was the first time that Toons Bridge Cafe was selling buffalo meat. Called there Saturday morning and it was great to meet up with owners Toby Simmonds and Jenny-Rose Clarke and also with buffalo farmer Johnny Lynch. There was quite a selection of the meat and, don’t worry, the cafe/shop will be open from 11.00am every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

By the way, they sell much more than meat. There are some great cheeses on displays, especially the mozzarella and ricotta. They also do local produce and we helped ourselves to some of De Roiste’s black and white pudding. Don’t forget that they also have a great selection of Mediterranean products, much the same as you see on their olive stalls at the markets, including the English Market.

And if you have time to pause and sip, there is the lovely little cafe.

The Mozzarella came in a plastic bag with its fluid, “the only way to sell Mozzarella” said Toby. We enjoyed that in the classic manner (below), with tomatoes and basil. The following day, the ‘leftovers’ were put to good use, mixed with some marinated Shiitake Mushrooms (from Ballyhoura Mushrooms) and a little salad. The mushrooms added another dimension and we had an enjoyable mix on the plate.

Two fillets were next up and they quickly cooked and were served with pommes boulangères and some greens, not forgetting a lovely Spanish red. Perfect. Next day, we tried the round roast, cooking it slow and low as advised. Very little fat here so the meat could dry out quickly on a higher heat. Served it with roast spuds and parsnips. Very enjoyable.

Aside from buffalo meat having 90% less fat, 67% less cholesterol and 45% fewer calories, the opinion here is that, taste wise, the buffalo meat is not that far away from the more usual beef. After all, Le Buff and Le Bouef are closely related. No doubt, the traditional steak accompaniments, such as onions and mushrooms should also go well with the Toons Bridge newcomers.

The ricotta can be quite versatile but this time we stuck with it as a dessert, copying the lads in the Mills by drizzling it with a local honey and it worked fine. Also had some grilled pears with toasted walnuts on hand but this was really a second dessert rather than a match.

Also got a tip from Karen on twitter to try spinach & ricotta cannelloni. Next time! There are many ways of using all these fantastic buffalo products from Toons Bridge – indeed they had a recipe for Pot Roast with Red Wine available last Saturday. So why not try it and get yourself down to the lovely cafe before meat stocks run out!

American Pale Ale, 7.5%, 75cl bottle, €7.99 Bradley’s

Dark amber colour and a really bitter taste. Sufficient initial head soon reduces to a thin lacy cover. A really good balance of malt and hops (which they grow themselves). The bitterness doesn’t make your mouth pucker but it is obvious enough in the dry finish. Good body, made for food, and should perform ably at the table. Maybe that’s why I served it in a Reidel glass!

Tipperary Brewery White Gypsy, where Cuilan Loughnane is owner and brewer, intends this ale, one of a series of four beers, as a food beer and Cuilan says this is great with spicy dishes and grilled chicken. So you might well see it in restaurants in the near future and that would be no bad thing.

Russian Imperial Stout, 7%, 75cl bottle, €7.99 Bradley’s
Have been enjoying the excellent Irish craft stouts over the past 12 months and thought I might get on well with this one from its initial caramel aromas.
The ample head soon settled down to a see through cap but the toasty flavours remained intense and smoky right through to the dry finish.
The stout, like the ale, is part of a series, the big bottles aimed at the restaurant market. Indeed it, and the others, carry a food pairing recommendation.
Didn’t have a steak handy for this one but did have a chunk of Gubbeen Smoked cheese. Like all good pairings, neither dominated and they proved a good match.

Also in the series (not tasted, yet!):
German Doppelbock 750ml ABV:7.5%, A sweet malty beer with a juicy toffee finish. A perfect match for venison and roast pork and terrific with sweet vegetables.

Belgian Dubell 750ml ABV:8%, A dry slightly spicy beer with a fruity finish. An excellent choice for grilled oily fish like tuna and salmon.

It’s been a very busy year for Irish actress Eve Macklin, whose acting career seems to be only going from strength to strength. We last saw her on our screens in ‘Titanic: Blood and Steel’, and in the next few months we will be seeing her in TV3’s ‘Deception’ and the feature film ‘A Thousand Times Good Night’, which stars Juliette Binoche and U2’s Larry Mullen. But for now she’s staring in the 3^rd series of Irelands biggest TV drama, RTE’s ‘Love/Hate’…!

I met Eve when she was a guest on the Today Show here in Cork, and was not letting her go home until she agreed to have a coffee and give me an exclusive interview! I didn’t have to beg too much and it wasn’t long before we were sipping lattes and talking about her latest role as gangster’s moll Georgina in Love/Hate and her time as a singer in Irish band Republic of Loose.

Q. How does it feel to be part of a very successful show?

It was quite over whelming initially, and exciting. Its something that I didn’t really expect, I know that I’m part of something huge, which is great, But I really didn’t expect to get so much attention. I just work away and hope I’m doing a good job, I sometimes pinch myself and think its just too good to be true! Even on the way to my first day on set I was still thinking they were going to change their minds!

Q. How did you get the role?

Maureen Hughes, the Casting Director has always been very good to me. I had asked the previous season if there was anything going that I could audition for, but there wasn’t, and then my agent called me to a meeting with Maureen. I went in not really knowing anything about the part I was going for as they keep everything so secretive on the show, but I was lucky and my character is in the 6 episodes of the current season.

Q. Are there any similarities between you and the character Georgina?

Georgina can be quite naive but then again, so can I… We are quite similar in some ways, well apart from I’m not married and don’t have a drunk husband. I think that we both find happiness from the simple things in life and are both happiest when were surrounded by the people we love, there are certain qualities we share, it think that’s why I found her so easy to play.

Q. As an actress is this a dream job for you?

Its one of them definitely! It’s amazing to be given the opportunity to be able to work with some of the best people in the industry in our country! And on such a well respected show. I’m very much a home bird so it’s lovely to be able to work and go home to my own bed after! And as corny as it might sound, I miss my dog (her beloved 13 year old Jack Russell, Maggie) too much when I work away!

Q. What has been the general reaction since your first scenes from Love/Hate aired?

It’s been very positive from my friends and family. I met my best friend Nicole the day after my first episode aired for a coffee, and she was pretty much shouting about it to everyone in the café, it was embarrassing …I was like cool it or we go somewhere else! I haven’t really been recognised in the street or anything yet, its funny I did a crisis pregnancy advert a couple of years ago, and I seem to get recognised for that everywhere.

Q. Have you been invited back for the next season?

I honestly don’t know, I know nothing yet, but I’d love if that were a possibility. I’m just so grateful to be working, and hope I get more work from it. I just have to keep my head down, stay focused and keep working! Hopefully it will all pay off.

Q. What were you doing before Love/Hate?

When im not acting, I volunteer in a transition home in Dublin for men who are recovering from addiction. But I’ve done everything from being a waitress, temping, a teaching assistant, I’ve even been an assistant chef! I’m good at adapting when I needed to eat!

Q. How did you first get into acting?

Professionally I started in musical theatre in London’s west end. I got a role in Les Misérables just after finishing college, but I had been dancing and singing from a very young age but in college I did a combination of dancing, music and drama, I took a shine to the improv drama side of things.

 Q. Tell me about being on the West end stage?

I had just finished college in London and this opportunity came along almost straight away, I would have been out of my mind to turn it down. It was pretty cool to be in a show where I never got tired of the music. I loved it but it does take a lot out of you, I was in it for 14 months. I learnt so much from it, both personally and professionally but I decided that acting was the way forward for me, and not musical theatre.

Q. You’re also an accomplished singer. Tell me about this?

I was about 15 when I met Mick Pyro from The Republic of Loose, I went to school with his sister. He wrote me some songs and we gigged as Eve ill Jones for a couple of years while I was still at school… a few years later after I had returned from London, I bumped into Mick again and he asked if I would do some vocals on an album they were doing, the album turned out to be the very successful Aaagh! I was with the band for about 3 years, they were great times.

Q. You also went off to LA for some time, was this to try and get work?

Yes and no… I’m quite ambitious, and I love being educated. I’m happiest when I’m learning new things. I wanted to take classes in the Groundlings improv company in Los Angeles and as my mom is an American citizen (she was born in New York) I luckily have a passport too. I decided in early 2008 that I was going to go and I stayed for about 6 months, I really enjoyed it. It’s a hard place to live but I totally understand how it works over there now.

Q. What’s next for you?

I’m just hoping that the universe sends some more work my way so I can continue to do what I love doing… telling stories!!

Love/Hate is on RTE 1 Sunday nights at 9pm

Dark amber colour and a really bitter taste. Sufficient initial head soon reduces to a thin lacy cover. A really good balance of malt and hops (which they grow themselves). The bitterness doesn’t make your mouth pucker but it is obvious enough in the dry finish. Good body, made for food, and should perform ably at the table. Maybe that’s why I served it in a Reidel glass!

Tipperary Brewery White Gypsy, where Cuilan Loughnane is owner and brewer, intends this ale, one of a series of four beers, as a food beer and Cuilan says this is great with spicy dishes and grilled chicken. So you might well see it in restaurants in the near future and that would be no bad thing.

Russian Imperial Stout, 7%, 75cl bottle, €7.99 Bradley’s

Have been enjoying the excellent Irish craft stouts over the past 12 months and thought I might get on well with this one from its initial caramel aromas.
The ample head soon settled down to a see through cap but the toasty flavours remained intense and smoky right through to the dry finish.
The stout, like the ale, is part of a series, the big bottles aimed at the restaurant market. Indeed it, and the others, carry a food pairing recommendation.
Didn’t have a steak handy for this one but did have a chunk of Gubbeen Smoked cheese. Like all good pairings, neither dominated and they proved a good match.

Also in the series (not tasted, yet!):
German Doppelbock 750ml ABV:7.5%, A sweet malty beer with a juicy toffee finish. A perfect match for venison and roast pork and terrific with sweet vegetables.

Belgian Dubell 750ml ABV:8%, A dry slightly spicy beer with a fruity finish. An excellent choice for grilled oily fish like tuna and salmon.

What is Spotify? Well, it’s an online music player. Nothing new there, right? I mean we’ve already got iTunes, Grooveshark, Eircom’s Music Hub, and a plethora of other options. Can Spotify really offer anything new? The answer is a resounding, definitive… maybe.

Unlike Grooveshark and Eircom Music Hub, Spotify doesn’t run in the browser – you’ll need to install a program. There is a browser app in Beta, but it won’t be generally available until next year. The program is more responsive than a web app, but you’ll need to download it on every computer you want to use it on. The reason for this is that Spotify combines your offline music and online music into one global library. The local component of this library will depend on the computer you are using at the time.

The online library is free to stream and pretty extensive. That said I was able to catch it out by requesting 80s Irish music – Mama’s Boys, Those Nervous Animals and Light a Big Fire were nowhere to be found. Only the first one really surprised me – much of the Mama’s Boys back catalogue is readily available on CD. On the other hand, anything remotely mainstream, however old, seems to be available. The Sultans of Ping were there, and the entire Undertones back catalogue. It found re-releases of In Tua Nua albums, and even the truly cheesy one-hit-wonder Clouds Across The Moon by The Rah Band (don’t look it up – you have been warned!). Pretty impressive – even for a curmudgeon like me. Any tracks you find online can be added to your library and playlists, to be streamed on-demand, or may be purchased and added to your offline library for anything between €1.59 and €0.60 per track, depending on how many credits you pre-purchase.

The free version gives you the aforementioned free streaming, access to your own library of mp3s, social networking and the ability to sync with your iPhone or Android. Unfortunately you will have to put up with the occasional ad when streaming music. The ads can be removed with the €4.99/month Unlimited subscription. The €9.99 premium subscription gets you internet streaming on your mobile device, and some other bells and whistles.

As a standalone music player, Spotify doesn’t compete with Winamp or Foobar2000 in terms of supported file formats, functionality and expandability, but covers the basics, and will keep most happy. On one of the test systems I used, clicking the “Play Queue” menu item crashed the program, every single time. The interface is sensibly laid out, and the dark grey color scheme saves it from looking like an iTunes clone.

All in all, the Spotify service is a good addition to any music lover’s arsenal.

Just because we are into Autumn/Winter ’12 doesn’t mean it has to be all dark and dreary. Lets have some fun and inject a pop of colour and personality with floral.
Delicate blooms have taken a back seat for Autum/Winter ’12 its more elegant, ornate and decorative prints as see on the catwalk for Erdem, Preen, Emporio Armani to name but a few.  Here are some tips to get the look:

To clash or not to clash, that is the question?  Clash your floral prints separates for a more individual look taking or keep it simple with statement piece paired with neutrals.

Trans seasonal floral: Bring your summer floral pieces into Autumn/Winter with layering fine knits, chunky knits with belts, scarves, tights all in this seasons key colours cobalt blue, bottle green, purple, burgundy and red.

Scale:  It is all about the scale of the print……if you are petite go for small print so they won’t swamp you and the larger you are go for a large print.  Prints works really well on curvier shapes as it defuses the light and any problem area’s are not as obvious as with a block coloured oufit

For more than 30 years this former factory worker and mother of three young children has stood up to the brutal Chinese government and its police force. Right now she’s at their mercy again, in a police detention centre.

Mao’s activism started in 1988 when she was working in a soap factory. She became pregnant with her third child, violating China’s family planning regulations. She was ordered by officials at the factory to have an abortion but she refused, determined to continue with her pregnancy and give birth to her baby.

She was taken by force to a nearby psychiatric hospital where she was injected with various drugs in an effort to abort the pregnancy. Despite this, Mao miraculously gave birth to her third daughter, Wu Qingxia, though the drugs she had been forced to take left Wu with many health problems.

When she returned to her job after giving birth, she was immediately dismissed for missing work even though this had been because she was detained in the hospital.

Since then Mao Hengfeng has dedicated herself to standing up for people like her, whose human rights are abused and violated by the Chinese state, particularly families at risk of forced eviction.

Millions of people have been forced from their homes in China to make way for private developers. Many have been beaten and tortured, even killed for resisting. Some are so desperate that more than 40 protestors have set themselves on fire to protest evictions in the last couple of years.

Mao was taken away by men believed to be plain clothes police officers on 30 September. The police have since told her family she is being held in Yangpu police detention centre in Shanghai.

Amnesty International believes that she was arrested because the Chinese authorities wanted to prevent her organising any protests during the 18^th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party this month.

We believe Mao is in real danger because she has been tortured before. In 2010 she was sent to a ‘re-education through labour’ camp for taking part in a protest calling for the freedom of Liu Xiaobo, the imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner.

After an international campaign led by Amnesty International members around the world, she was released early on medical parole. She had serious injuries, including loss of feeling along one side of her body, signs of bleeding in her brain and difficulties staying conscious.

As I write this, word has come to us from her family in China that she has been again sentenced to a ‘re-education through labour’ camp. She was charged with ‘disturbing social order’ and refused permission to see her husband.

This makes Mao’s case all the more urgent, but we know you can make a difference. International pressure forced China to allow her family to visit her during her first detention in a labour camp, and to release her when her physical condition worsened.

Please write immediately calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Mao Hengfeng to His Excellency, the Chinese Ambassador to Ireland, Mr Luo Linquan, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, 40 Ailesbury Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.

Colm O’Gorman is Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland.

Outside it was gloomy but inside (left) at the Chapel Steps  it was bright and busy. This is Bandon’s newest restaurant, just 8 weeks after its upgrade from cafe status. The signs are promising. It is a lovely space and a big crowd was in last night (Thursday) and great food on the table.

And no great surprise with the top notch food when you are learn that the Head Chef is Kevin O’Regan (ex Electric) and that he is concentrating hugely on the marvellous produce available in the area.

Kevin, along with the owners Sean and Siobhan (her Dad, along his brothers, ran the place as a butcher’s shop from the 1960’s), have instigated a series of speciality evenings.  Wednesday is a great night for steak lovers – choose from an 8oz Fillet, a 10oz Rib-eye or 12oz Sirloin with all the trimmings for only €20 per dish. Thursday is fish night and I took advantage!

But back to the start and a very warm welcome as we came in from the dark and the wet. Had a chat with restaurant manager Caroline O’Flynn as we settled to the table. We had already been told about the wine special, supplied this month from the McHenry Hohnen vineyard in the Margaret River Region of Western Australia.

Having met founder David Hohnen (he also founded New Zealand’s famous Cloudy Bay and is busy now preparing his Porker legs for the Christmas trade) hardly a month back in Ballymaloe, we naturally went for his wine (Sauvignon blanc Semillon).

Quite a choice of starters and appetisers here. CL went for Pan Seared Rosscarbery Black Pudding – with crubeen croquette, chilli jam and smoked pancetta. Chef Kevin loves his crubeen and this was a great combination to get the meal underway. And so was mine: Home Smoked Duck – with beetroot, port and burnt butter vinaigrette.

Fish, collected early in the morning in Union Hall, is a regular on the menu and there is a good daily choice but an even better one on Thursday. I went for that special: Spiced Monkfish, butternut squash puree, with roast vegetables, chilli, lime and parsley emulsion. Just enough spice to liven it up without dulling the fish flavour. Just loved it, the freshness, the flavours and the combination of the various textures. All for €15.00. A special for sure.

CL also enjoyed great value even though her €17.00 dish wasn’t a special but a regular part of the menu. It was Roast Cod with roast peppers, chorizo, tomato and olive ragu. Another really lovely fish dish and another with a smashing super tasty sauce. Healthy also.

After all that good eating, we treated ourselves to dessert at a fiver each. She really loved the lively flavours of her Autumn Berry and Lemon Roulade with berry coulis and sugared almonds while I was equally happy with my well made Sticky Toffee Pudding with toffee and vanilla sauce, rum and raisin ice cream. This was a piece of real pudding, the sauce an enjoyable addition rather than a disguise.

Then we met Siobhan who told us about the history of the place and the apprehension ahead of their big step-up from cafe to restaurant. Two months in and it seems that the big step is worthwhile. Early days yet of course but a good start is half the battle. Best wishes for the future then to Kevin, Siobhan and Sean. The Chapel Steps is just a short trip from the city and one that is well worthwhile. No penance here!