The main course was a labour of love, requiring a new (double) cherry seeder and a great deal of patience and finding space in the fridge, overstuffed for the season. To me, it looked festive with its glossy cherries and a crisp watermelon. Continue reading
Tagged with Irish culture …
What we are reading at the moment: Hilary Mantel, Donal Ryan, Emma Donaghue, Colette Ní Ghallchóir
A little snippet, a snapshot, insights that convey so much. A sentence that describes one man’s grief ‘Chris, his poor heart smashed…’ is an example of how much emotion is expressed in so few words. Continue reading
A Chat with Ryan Kelly
Ryan Kelly reflects on the need to know our history and share our stories, including a need for this history to be spoken about and taught in schools. Continue reading
Famine Era Paintings
A collaboration between two groups—one based in Connecticut and the other in Cork. Continue reading
Reflections on Beckett provoked by ‘Dance First’
Beckett’s life, gravely played by Gabriel Bryne, unspools magnificently in a sequence of austere performed memories. Continue reading
On the Good Ship Ulysses
We parked the car, grabbed our backpacks, and made our way up the passenger stairwell. In my backpack was James Joyce’s Ulysses, bookmarked at the final chapter, ‘Penelope’, which I planned to finish reading whilst on board the Ulysses, travelling to Dublin to visit iconic landmarks mentioned in the book. How meta. Continue reading
Irish Film Festival Reviews: Tarrac & Dance First, That They May Face the Rising Sun, and more.
Tarrac, a heart-warming Irish language comedy drama set on the Kerry coast in Dingle… Joyce feels like someone we can know, though probably not like very much….The scaffolding and the bedrock of this visually sumptuous film is what it does with landscapes and cloudscapes and the imposition of the human impress on them. Continue reading
Mercurial Meditations on Life and Death and the Everyday
The transience of human life is something that Arthur returns to throughout this collection of essays. Continue reading
Halloween Oíche Shamhna Recipes
In Ireland at Halloween, it is just as easy to buy Barm Brack from a bakery or even the supermarket. But here is a lovely traditional recipe that is easy to make with simple ingredients to bring the taste of Halloween here. Some bakeries would put a ring for marriage or a pea for poverty. Continue reading
The Long Arc of a Hurley Ball
An Irish-Australian story told in tribute Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh, ‘High King of Irish Broadcasting’, and a GAA/Australian Football League connection. Continue reading