iFoods

Twitter and new blog

2011-12-17T12:16:00.001-08:00

All the latest is over here on Twitter
Follow @NiallHarbison

New restaurant review site that I have set up
Skinflint Pizza review

Test post

2011-09-18T13:14:00.000-07:00

List of things about social meda

2011-06-05T12:52:00.000-07:00

50 Social media B2B Case studies and you can also see a full selection of eBooks here

kjdshf

2011-05-07T11:27:00.000-07:00

New feature allows you to see who views your Facebook profile.

Macaroni Salad

2011-02-27T10:23:00.000-08:00

Viral video of the day
Selection of the viral videos of the week

How to Make Fried Chicken - Video Recipe

2011-01-20T13:34:00.000-08:00

Private chefing
How checks your Facebook
Video Production

Superyachts

2011-01-17T13:55:00.000-08:00

Getting a job on a superyacht
Superyacht A Interior
Eclipse Roman Abramovich Yacht

Chicken Korma Video Recipe

2010-12-18T11:28:00.000-08:00

A Simple Video Recipe for a Chicken Korma with step by step instructions.

How Web 2.0 sites are struggling.
Who views your Facebook?
New Facebook Business Pages

Food Video

2010-12-04T04:25:00.000-08:00

Chicken Bake with some tasty vegetables and video recipes.

Who views your Facebook profile
50 Social media blogs
50 social media blog posts
10 sports viral videos
Brand viral videos Youtube

Food Blog Cooking Videos

2010-11-20T15:50:00.000-08:00

In this new food blog you can se everything you need to know about cooking.

New Stuff

2010-11-13T12:09:00.000-08:00

Here are a selection of the news posts from the 2 blogs I am working on....

50 best social media blog posts

50 Best social media blogs

Biggest sports pages Twitter

Vidic Macheda Goals

Man Utd Blog

2010-10-20T06:25:00.000-07:00

Looking for a clinic. What clinic

Links

2010-06-08T08:23:00.000-07:00

Looking for online insurance then this is the site for you. The site is a new Irish website that offers a wide range of insurance quotes including the best home insurance prices in Dublin. You'll also find some great quotes for Health insurance Ireland.

They also do a great job on Home insurance and for all you drivers out there motor insurance in Dublin is also well priced.

Restaurant Reviews Dublin

2010-04-19T04:44:00.000-07:00

We have started reviewing as many restaurants as possible from the Dublin Area over on the Lookandtaste blog and the most recent of those is Cafe Novo which is a restaurant at the Westbury Hotel in Dublin.

Dublin Restaurant Reviews

2010-04-11T14:18:00.000-07:00

The new blog over on Lookandtaste features restaurant reviews that we will be posting up on a daily basis. We will be featuring some of the best Irish restaurants including these early reviews for Odessa Restaurant Dublin, Cafe Mao Restaurant, Saba Restaurant Review and the Avoca Village cafe review.
Facebook marketing
How social plugins work
How does Facebook advertising work

Free video recipes

2010-04-01T14:21:00.000-07:00

We have just launched our new free section on the site which feature some of the following recipes...

Smoked Salmon
How to fry a steak

HEston Blumenthal recipe
Irish beef goulash
Roast Beef
Mexican Soup
Orange and almond cake
Basic Pancakes

Some of our new recipe content

2010-03-08T15:04:00.001-08:00

Over on the Lookandtaste site we have just launched a load of free content where we will be aggregating all the best food content from Youtube and curating lots of food recipes from bloggers all over the world. The feedback that we have been getting for some time now is that people want to see lots and lots of recipes and the plan will be to add over 5000 over the next 3 months to really bulk out our content offering and make sure you don't ever get stuck for something to cook in the kitchen ever again!

Here are some of the great video recipes that we are starting with...

How to make chocolate truffles
Perfect scrambled eggs
Rick Stein Video Recipes
SpatchCocking a chicken
Home made Mayonnaise
Parmesan Chicken with Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver

Gordon Ramsay Video

2010-02-13T14:53:00.000-08:00

Gordon Ramsay Before He Was Famous
New Conrad Gallagher Restaurant Dublin - Salon des Saveurs
Jamie Oliver TED
Gordon Ramsay Cooking Videos
Food Blogging
Irish Social Media
Facebook Fans Pages
Video Production Ireland
Social Media Monitoring Tools
Social media Free E book
Bing Augmented Reality Maps
Superyacht Jobs in the sun. These are dream yacht jobs

New Projects

2010-02-13T14:37:00.000-08:00

For those of you checking in here to see what is happening with iFoods I have moved. You can find all our new cooking videos over on Lookandtaste as well as all the latest food stories and news on the food blog.

I have also started a social media agency in Dublin.

Facebook

Carrot And Leek Soup

2009-12-30T15:23:00.000-08:00

A simple carrot and leek soup from one of our videos on Vidvend. You can download or license any of these recipes.

Dream Job On Yacht

Video Licnse Cooking recipes

2009-10-12T09:26:00.000-07:00

10 Minute Chicken Stirfry Video Recipe
Beef Wellington Video Recipe
Apple Sauce Video Recipe
Aubergine Caviar Video Recipe
Balsamic Reduction Video Recipe
Beef Black Bean sauce Video Recipe
Blackberry Smoothie Video
Boning A chicken Video Recipe
Broccoli Soup Video Recipe
Browning Meat Video Recipe
BUtter Nut Squash Video Recipe
Cajun Chicken Burger Video Recipe
Carrot and Coriander Soup Video Recipe

License Video For Cooking Websites

2009-10-12T08:25:00.001-07:00

We made this video over on our new website Vidvend which lets publishers, agencies and brands license videos with full licensing for whatever they choose. You can see 100s of the videos here. Below is a video for home made chips or french fries so as you can see the quality content we are producing.

Get Food Porn For Your Website Or Blog

2009-08-21T08:27:00.000-07:00

For the last couple of weeks we have been working away on the next stage of FoodandFizz and I have to say I am pretty excited about it. Put simply it allows you to embed lovely food porn into any website that you might own and have a constantly updating stream of food photos. Food Bloggers can either embed their own photo stream or bigger publishing sites can have a beautiful recipes page that updates automatically with 20 recipes every single day. Hopefully this will turn out to be a wet dream for publishers who need traffic all over the web and we can then roll out the next stage of Foodandfizz. You can see a video here on how it works here and here is a live stream of photos. Go ahead and get it on your site now and see what you think

Look And Taste Show Episode 4

2009-05-29T13:24:00.001-07:00

Social media monitoring

Look And Taste Show Episode 3

2009-05-27T08:35:00.001-07:00

Lookand Taste Episode 2

2009-05-22T07:11:00.000-07:00

Getting a job on a superyacht

The Look And Taste Show Episode 1

2009-05-21T11:04:00.000-07:00

Food Social Media
Superyachts

This blog has a new home

2009-01-09T13:11:00.000-08:00

This blog has got a new home, you can find it here

I have been blogging here for some time but the new blog is bigger and better and will hopefully make a good read!

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New video Diary

2008-10-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

For those of you still following the blog here just wanted to update you with one of the latest episode from my new video Diary! Come check it out at the new blog here

Food Social Media

Simply Zesty

2008-09-21T06:47:00.001-07:00

I have started a new company called Simply Zesty which does online PR and social media. We blog about social media every day on the main blog covering subjects like Twitter and facebook as well as doing video interviews like this one with Jon Snow. You can check out some of the services that we provide here and the clients that we represent here. If you need social media for your business contact us here
Food Social Media

Test post

2008-09-21T06:47:00.000-07:00

World Blog League

2008-08-07T02:20:00.000-07:00

We have been working on a new project for about a month now that we launched quietly yesterday that we hope will help users find the best food blogs in the world. The idea came about when we started listing all the food blogs in the world a couple of months ago and the fact that we wanted to offer a more in depth view of each individual blog. So if you own a blog you will now be able to have it listed here and your profile page will include a screen grab, introductory 30 second video about yourself, a brief description and photos of your latest posts. The general public will then be asked to vote on the best blogs and there will be a huge resource there for lovers of food blogs to filter out the good ones and if you are lucky enough to be one of the best blogs near the top of the league then you should be nicely rewarded with traffic back to your blog. As always let us know what you think of this new project and if there are any ideas or features that you would like to see included in the next round of updates. Enjoy!
Food Social Media

iFoods Weekly Episode 3

2008-08-01T05:44:00.000-07:00

In the third episode of the weekly show the guys are talking about their meals of the week, 50 cents legal battle with Subway, what to eat to save money during a recession, paying kids to stop crime using fast food and the blog of the week Fig and Cherry.

To subscribe to the weekly show and see it on the home site click here

Superyachts

Episode 2 iFoods Weekly show

2008-07-31T06:44:00.000-07:00

Here comes the second installment of the weekly iFoods show that wraps up the latest from the internet food world. You can see the full version here and you can also download directly as a podcast from iTunes. Don't forget to add a video comment over at the new iFoods blog.

iFoods Weekly Episode 1

2008-07-31T02:49:00.001-07:00

This is the first ever episode where the guys talk about the hot topic on the internet food scene at the moment which is the battle between tastespotting and foodgawker as well as discussing Barry’s recent visit to the Fat Duck Restaurant. The guys also introduce us to the charms of Average Betty.

Looking for your Facebook Profile

iFoods Weekly Episode 1

2008-07-31T02:49:00.000-07:00

New Weekly Video Show Added to the New Blog!

2008-07-17T00:27:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

We've just added the first episode of a new weekly food news/reviews show onto the new iFoods blog here

We really hope you enjoy it and please give us as much feedback as possible, constructive criticism and just outright criticism will help us make something interesting for everyone.

There will be more additions to the new blog over the next few days so keep posted.

iFoods.tv Blog on the move

2008-07-14T01:07:00.000-07:00

Well after a year and a half of writing the old blog it is time to move on and take the iFoods.tv blog to a new level. We have added new contributors and will be hosting podcasts as well as a new weekly video show that rounds up the latest news from the world of food. The new blog will be hosted on the iFoods.tv site which you will find here and you will also need to change RSS feeds which you can do by signing up here. I will personally continue to maintain this blog but the big action will be over at the new site, hope to see you there soon!

Cilantro Lovers Unite

2008-07-10T01:45:00.001-07:00

I love cilantro, I cook with it all the time and feel that some meals just cannot be made without it. Much to my surprise I found that there is a strong, vocal and growing anti cilantro faction (they even have a website ihatecilantro.com). As a chef, I find picky eaters among the most difficult people to deal with. I have found though that most peoples dislikes are psychological and they can generally be turned, knowingly or not. I have recently learned however that a dislike of cilantro is generally genetic and probably an allergy. To these unfortunate souls, cilantro is likely to taste like soap flakes, blood or ear wax to name a few possibilities. Luckily I don't experience this, but I wouldn't wish it upon anyone either. I just hope they are working on a cure for this horrible illness.
One of the lists it featured on, entitled gross foods included blueberries, maple syrup, oysters, eggs, mushrooms and sour cream among others. Perhaps I'm losing touch with the common man, but without these ingredients the world would be a darker place. Opinions please... am I alone? Do others share hatred for these wonderful foods?
For the fortunate among you who love cilantro, enjoy our member submitted recipes here.

What a Weekend

2008-07-07T03:54:00.000-07:00

Following a weekend of incredible display of athletic abilities we are unsure as to who we are more impressed by. Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer's incredible performance in the Wimbledon final, or Joey Chestnut and Tekuru Kobayashi immense ingestion at Nathan's 93rd Hot Dog Eating Contest. Nadal endured for 4 hours and 48 minutes to emerge victorious over 5 time Wimbledon Champ Roger Federer in what was probably the greatest tennis final ever seen. On Friday in Coney Island, Joey "The Jaws" Chestnut stepped up against Tekuru "Tsunami" Kobayashi to try to prove that last years victory over 6 time champion in Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest was no fluke. Amazingly after the new 10minute time limit both competitors were tied on 59 hot dogs, but still hungry for more. Chestnut took the title after a 5 hot dog eat off. We see in both events a change of the guards, a new era and a bright future for both new champions. Rumours are already circulating that Nadal, who began to eat his tropy immediatly after it was presented to him plans to quit tennis and join the competitive eating circuit. Bad news for the likes of Chestnut. Nadal to win the hot dog eating contest in 2009? Watch this space!
Here at iFoods we are taking a break from competitive eating and over indulgence in general. Hot Dogs take a back seat to fresh fish and vegetables. Take a look at our delicious Salmon with New Potatoes and Asparagus. Very healthy and guaranteed to impress.

Cardiac arrested

2008-07-07T03:33:00.000-07:00

Last week we had a man pay over 2 million for his lunch. This week we have a guy who would rather fake his death than pick up the tab… repeatedly. Milwaukee man, Robert Farnam routinely fakes heart attacks in order to avoid paying for meals and cab fares. Nobody is going to demand payment from a dying man, its better for business just to rush him out the door. He was arrested last week after a doctor in a hospital he was unnecessarily rushed to recognised him... again. In fact, he is on probation with five priors for similar offences this year alone. Charged with fraud and habitual criminality, if convicted he stands to serve 2yrs 9months. Perhaps it would be easier to just pay the bill. Once again, further proof that there is no such thing as a free lunch. If you want to cook a meal that is easier on both your heart and your pocket, take a look at our healthier seafood recipes.

Nathan's 93rd annual Hot Dog Eating Contest

2008-07-04T06:32:00.000-07:00

While unlikely to be a favoured event among gourmets, Nathan's annual Hot Dog Eating Contest is the biggest event on the Competitive Eating ciruit and it kicks off at noon today Coney Island Brooklyn. Originating at the same spot on the same day in 1916 when 4 immigrants decided to settle who was the most patriotic on who could eat the most hotdogs in 10 minutes. Today the 93rd event will be watched by +30,000 people live and and 1.5million viewers at home. All eyes will be on reigning champ, 24 year old Joey "Jaws" Chestnut and his rival and 6 time former champion Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi who no doubt is eager to reclaim the title. While no more than a novelty to most and unlikely to become an olympic sport anytime soon, these 'eateletes' take their jobs very seriously and follow rigorous training schedules and diets. Chestnut fasts and stretches his stomach by drinking enormous quantities of milk and water, while Kobayashi weight trains to increase metabolism and eats larger and larger amounts of food followed by exercise to prevent fat gain which can impede gurgitation on such mammoth proportions. Between the two of them they hold some impressive and interesting records

Chestnut
66 hotdogs (and buns) in 12 minutes
47 Grilled Cheese Sanwiches in 10 minutes
8.8lbs of fried asparagus
9.4 lbs of pulled pork in 10 minutes

Kobayashi:

57 Cow brains in 15 mins

58 Bratwurst sausages in 15 mins

While I cannot see where the joy of food comes into such competition, it certainly makes for compulsive watching, and these guys certainly have their techniques down to a fine art. Here is a clip of the boys in action this day last year. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drZPCAsPWl4

I wish them both well but I certainly don’t envy them. And for the gamblers amongst you, I’d put my money on Kobayashi looking to reclaim the title, dont let his size put you off.

For a more civilised meal that wont split the seams of your stomach, browse through our fantastic selection of video recipes

Watermelon to put you in the mood

2008-07-04T02:07:00.001-07:00

While oysters, asparagus, chocolate and of course alcohol have long been recognised for their effects as aphrodisiacs, it seems that they are now joined by an unlikely fruit, the watermelon. While tasty and filled with goodness, it has never been likely to feature on the menu for a romantic meal for two... up until now. New research has found that fresh watermelon yields the same results as Viagra. I'll spare you the science, but if you are looking for that extra boost, it seems you will have to eat your own bodyweight in one sitting to ensure the desired results!

Anyone for a Food Fight?

2008-07-02T03:01:00.000-07:00

While this picture may look like it has been taken from the latest zombie or vampire movie, what you may mistake as blood is in fact tomato juice! Anyone stuck for a holiday destination filled with culture, sun and of course culinary adventure may want to consider Valencia, Spain. What attracted me there (I’m thinking of returning) is the annual Tomatina held in Bunol each year at the end of August. It is a week long festival of music, dancing and food all building up to a paella cooking contest (get a head start with our online paella video recipe) and the largest food fight in the world! Generally not an advocate of wasting food, La Tomatina has to be seen to be believed. Picture 40,000 people let loose on the streets with truckloads of tomatoes to fire at one another. Needless to say it quickly becomes a mess, but it is all in the spirit of fun and there really is a great atmosphere and a great festival.
Everything gets cleaned up and they say the acidity of the tomatoes in fact helps to clean the streets. I would definately recommend it though as I'm sure you can imagine, its not for the faint hearted, anyone afraid of getting a little messy and needless to say anyone who doesn't like tomatoes!
If I've whetted your appetite for tomatoes, be sure to check out our tomato based video recipes here. And if you do happen to make it to this years Tomatina, I hope to see you there!

Water More Expensive Than Oil

2008-07-01T07:39:00.000-07:00

I always thought it no coincidence that Evian spelled backwards was naïve. I cannot justify paying for water when if flows freely from the taps, and in some cases (Coca Cola’s Deep River Rock) the bottled stuff has been proven to come from the very same. When bottled water was first marketed in Ireland sometime in the 1980’s, people thought it was some sort of joke, an early April Fool perhaps? Whoever was selling it must be a fool, and anyone buying it a greater one. A wise man would have put his faith and money in people’s tendency to fall in line and cough up for it because it has since snowballed into a multi-million Euro industry growing steadily every year.
Everything changes with time and sure enough we now have a range of still, sparkling, mineral, spring, flavoured and distilled waters designed to suit all tastes (?) and pockets. Now perhaps I am getting old or perhaps I always have been the very doubting Thomas who said there was no room in the marketplace for bottled water, but a line has to be drawn somewhere.
Fillico Beverly Hills, bottle water from a spring in Kobe Japan and sell it in fancy bottles at a staggering $100/bottle! Before you go running out the door to hydrate yourself with this super luxurious H20 that I can only assume holds the secret to eternal youth, keep in mind that they only fill 5000 bottles per month (that and the fact you can fill a glass in your kitchen for free). I’ve heard of people selling sand to the Arabs and Ice to the Eskimos, but besides detoxifying rap stars, Michael Flatley and Britney Spears I cannot think of a single person who might be prepared to buy this stuff. A man wiser than myself once warned me never to underestimate people’s stupidity, I guess Fillico are heeding this warning!

Buffet Lunch for $2.1 million? Hope its all you can eat!

2008-06-30T03:59:00.001-07:00

We’ve heard it all before, though after reading this there’s surely no question. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Zhao Danyang, a Chinese businessman is forking out $2.11 million after placing the winning bid for lunch with the iconic business man, and now richest man in the world Warren Buffet. At such prices you would expect a never forget meal with top quality service and charming conversation all of which you are likely to receive while dining with Warren at the Smith & Wollensky steakhouse (click here for the recipe for the perfect steak that wont break the bank!) in New York.
I have had the wonderful fortune to cook for Mr. Buffet in the past, and he certainly is an interesting and insightful man, not to mention a pleasure to cook for. However, if its financial advice Zhao is chasing, I have some for him right here. Anyone who pays 2.11 million for lunch for two, regardless of who it’s with needs to cut up their atm and credit cards! Let’s hope he keeps space for dessert!
As much as I joke, this is really for a great cause. Annually foor the last 9 years, Buffet has been auctioning his presence at a power lunch to the highest bidder all for the benefit of Glide, a San Francisco based charity project to help the poor and homeless get back on their feet. Buffet has also pledged to leave the majority of his fortune to the charitable foundation set up by his good friends Bill and Melinda Gates.

New tools for blogger

2008-06-27T05:58:00.000-07:00

This post is only really relevant for people like me who use the Blogger platform to post their daily musings. Just thought I would share the following link that will allow you all to test out their new tools while they are still in BETA.They have basically made it so easy to format posts etc that you need practically no knowledge of HTML anymore and you can easily drag and drop photos around the screen etc. So there really is no excuse if you have been thinking about starting your own blog, go on get writing! Link to Blogger BETA new tools

iFoods on RTE news discussing recession

2008-06-26T09:37:00.000-07:00

With news of a recession in Ireland being officially announced this week we were approached by RTE(RTE 6 News on Friday evening) news to film a piece on how tech might be one of the sectors that could ride it out and possibly prosper during a recession. With the Irish economy heading into some very choppy waters the tech sector might be the one saving grace. The problem with the Celtic Tiger is that a lot of the phenomenal growth we have seen has been based on the construction sector and with the slowdown kicking in we need to find other ways of growing our economy. I am a firm believer that as a country there are a lot of positive things happening and they we are very well positioned to ride this out. It is vital that we diversify our economy and tech is an industry that is crucial to our overall success. Not only do we have some of the biggest companies already here in Ireland due to our low corporation taxes but we also have some incredibly exciting and innovative people working on exciting projects that will help fuel the economy and create more jobs and wealth on our little island. As an example of the great things happening in Ireland here are some of my favourite innovative sites in Ireland that I am tipping to make it big over the next 12 months......

Louder Voice

A very cool review site that well known blogger Conor O'Neill is building

Tom Raftery
Although not a site or product Tom is a well respected social media expert who's blog makes great reading. Any Irish person who shows up in 6th place on google when you type in "Tom" has to be doing something right!

PutPlace
A very cool site that allows you to store lots of personal data online. Joe Drumgoole runs this company that is making waves internationally and that I personally think will go to a whole new level in the next 12 months

Twitterfone

For those of you familiar with twitter you will find this service invaluable and you will be hearing a lot more about this service and it's creator Pat Phelan

Faceparty hits back at its users

2008-06-26T05:20:00.000-07:00

I just saw this post by Mike Butcher on Techcrunch UK and thought it was worth a mention. I feel sorry for these guys, they're trying to add value to their service and increase the user experience and all they get is grief for it. It just shows how the net is changing and it's users are becoming more demanding all the time. Because of the valuations being put on the facebooks and myspaces of this world people automatically assume all websites have the capabilities to deal with thousands of e-mails/requests a day, luckily at iFoods we haven't reached the thousands a day yet but we get our fair share. By the way, Mike Butcher of Techcrunch is in Dublin tonight for a Techludd/Techcrunch event in No.4 Dame Lane so if you're interested in stopping by register for it here

Finnish Empire State Burger

2008-06-25T04:38:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine from Finland is paying me a visit next week and just thinking about his visit brought back memories of one of the most amazing burgers I've ever seen. I was in Finland last summer at a wedding and while in Helsinki we visited a burger restaurant. They had a burger called the Empire State Burger on the menu which was basically 3 burgers on top of each other! It's apparently the largest commercial burger available in Europe. Two guys in our group gave it a go, one Finnish and One Irish. Needless to say we were there a while but Finland most definitely won, with the Fin not only polishing off the burger (or 3) but he then proceeded to finish his fries and drown everything with a pint of coke. The Irish guy struggled for nearly 50 minutes to get the burger down, didn't touch the fries and couldn't speak for 3 hours after eating. Watching him struggle through was one of the highlights of the trip!

Handy tip for those of you getting a summer this year!

2008-06-24T07:08:00.001-07:00

I was just surfing around on the net and I stumbled across this article. It's an absolute genius trick which I tried at the weekend, more out of curiosity than necessity, and it worked a treat. So, if you get the chance to get the BBQ going this summer this might come in very handy indeed.

Weight Loss Revolutionized?

2008-06-20T07:23:00.000-07:00

We’re all familiar with the Morgan Spurlock adventure Supersize Me, where he subjected his body to non-stop nutritional abuse consuming nothing but McDonalds for an entire month. As a result of his experiment, besides gaining some 24.5lbs he also suffered from mood swings, sexual dysfunction and liver damage. While much of this came as no surprise, it did (if only for a short while) spur many to reconsider their nutritional habits. It is often the way with such ventures that we change our habits until the next calamity catches our focus (Michael Moore, Al Gore, the list goes on).
We may now have a new, if not unusual recruit to join the race, no doubt he is already being groomed to take the stage. Chris Coleson of Virginia has shed a whopping 80lbs in 6 months on a diet consisting almost exclusively of McDonalds. While not a mission that would appeal to me or anyone familiar with their ingredient list, on paper it is quite an achievement and if I met the fellow, I might even congratulate him. However, I am curious as to the state of his insides.
While Coleson’s wife may once again recognize the man she married, Coleson must be only one McSalad away from irreversible brain and liver damage, not to mention sexual suicide. On the contrary, perhaps the answer lies in perseverance, Spurlock was a quitter and only lasted a month while Coleson persevered and achieved his goal. After all, a wise man once said “Most people achieved their greatest success one step beyond what looked like their greatest failure.”
But really, I cannot advocate this and no one should attempt to repeat it. A healthy balanced diet and regular exercise is the only way to safely lose weight.
This month at ifoods.tv we are presenting a selection of healthy summer salads and healthier barbecue alternatives like our very own perfect burger*.

*incredible weight loss not guaranteed ;)

World's most Expensive Burger

2008-06-20T00:21:00.000-07:00

Price $170 (£95)

Ingredients
Japanese Beef
White Truffles
Tempura of onions in Cristal Champagne
Pata Negra prosciutto

As you will all realise at this stage I am always on the hunt for the perfect burger after the hunt started about 2 years ago while I became facinated in the caribbean after eating a burger that was very near to perfection in a small beach hut in St Maarten. One of the first recipes that we ever filmed for iFoods.tv and one that was always going to make the cut was for the perfect burger and it was heavily researched with as many experts consulted as possible to ensure we came up with something amazing. That was a year ago and although happy with the video I am always monitoring the burger horizon for other great burgers and ways to improve on what we have already. We recently added videos from our partner CHOW and I was very interested to see their take on the Perfect Hamburger as it gave a great insight into the American angle of the debate. Now today I have just been reading about an incredible new hamburger that has burst on to the scene in London and could be trying to steal the limelight from burgers all over the world. This incredible burger costs a whopping 95 pounds and has me thinking about flying over there for lunch today.

The Fat Duck Restaurant review

2008-06-19T06:28:00.001-07:00

Food Social Media
Posted by Barry Harbison

Lunch at the Fat Duck – June 2008

I had lunch at the Fat Duck last week – I’ll get straight to the point…it was phenomenal and it deserves all of the critical acclaim that it receives. What is quite entertaining is the reaction I get from everyone I tell about it (and I do tell everyone who will listen!). Some of the guys at work went straight out and booked a reservation based on my glowing review whereas some people I talk to can’t understand how anyone could spend such an amount of money on one meal!!

Here are some of the highlights of the experience.

Bray itself is a beautiful little English village, about an hour outside of London, on the banks of the Thames. It seems to be made up of one street, lined with ivy covered cottages, a town hall and two pubs (one of which is the Hind’s Head – Heston Blumenthal’s gastro pub which looks well worth a visit). For such a small village it is home to two very famous restaurants, the Fat Duck and the Waterside Inn (run by the famous Roux family).

I was understandably excited about eating in a restaurant that has recently hovered between first and second in the list of best restaurants in the world but I had one concern…everyone knows that Heston Blumenthal is famous for his experimental techniques, I was curious as to how these techniques would translate into good solid food.

The restaurant itself is in a modest terraced building on the main street – it is unidentifiable apart from the trademark sign.
On arriving, the staff were a good mixture of friendly but formal and the first impressions of the dining room are that it is small but perfectly proportioned, making excellent use of the period features such as the ceiling while employing modern design ideas to create space.

After a few minutes of debate we decided to go for the tasting menu, for both the food and wine. 17 courses of food with 8 specially selected glasses of wine to accompany it – it was going to be a long and enjoyable afternoon.

The first offering was a pallet cleanser and boy did it do its job. Billed as “Nitro-green tea and lime mousse” it was prepared at your table. The waitress brought over a pot of steaming liquid nitrogen which we were informed was minus 180 degrees Celsius. She dropped a mixture of lime, green tea, vodka, egg white and sugar into the liquid nitrogen and within seconds we were presented with a scoop of the mousse, topped with green tea powder, which had the consistency of meringue on the outside. Green tea mist was sprayed over the table to complete the sensation – it left your mouth feeling totally cleansed of all taste and ready to take on the flavours to come.

Next was an oyster, served in its shell, injected with horseradish cream and accompanied by passion fruit jelly and a touch of lavender. It was an interesting sensation but the flavours mixed brilliantly. After these two courses and the friendly approach of the staff I plucked up the courage to ask if I could take photos of the food. Many restaurants in London of far less quality don’t allow diners to take any photos in the restaurant for fear of annoying their “celebrity clientele” – no such pretensions at the Fat Duck.

Next was “Pommery grain mustard ice cream, red cabbage gazpacho”. A beautiful mixture of flavours

At this stage they were outdoing themselves with each course more spectacular than the previous. The next course continued that trend. The waiting staff were very knowledgeable about the dishes and explained each one in turn. This was “jelly of quail, langoustine cream, parfait of foie gras, oak moss and truffle toast” – each element was supposed to remind us of the essence of oak. Of course this wasn’t just about the flavours, it was about the sights and the smells as well. First, we were presented with a box that looked like Listerine strips and inside was a strip of oak resin that dissolved on your tongue – a strange sensation with a subtle woody taste. Next, a large piece of moss was placed in the middle of the table and liquid nitrogen was poured inside which covered the entire table with a mist that smelled like a forest. The food itself was delicious, in particular the langoustine cream and the truffle toast.

Next up was the (in)famous snail porridge. Once again, beautiful flavours – the porridge was a soft grain and was infused with parsley, the snails served out of the shell and the ham added an intensity to the dish. There was also a mystery spice involved that we couldn’t quite put our finger on but it brought the dish together.

Next dish was “Roast foie gras benzaldehyde with almond fluid gel, cherry, chamomile”. Again a delicious combination, the foie gras wasn’t overly heavy and the almond gel was a perfect addition but, bizarrely, the cherry was the standout item in this dish, it had this incredible intensity about it that came from the cherry being dipped in amaretto and the stem being replaced with a shard of vanilla pod.

The next dish was mysterious in many ways, simply billed as “Sound of the sea” we didn’t know what to expect. First, we each got a large sea shell with earphones sticking out – attached to an ipod shuffle which played sounds of sea. Then out comes a glass dish, sitting on top of a base of sand, which was designed to look like the ocean. To the left was edible “sand” made out of tapioca and fried baby eels to add crunch, in the middle was a mixture of sea weed and oysters, clams and mussels out of the shell and on the right was a foam that resembled waves washing up on a beach. The seaweed and fish were very tasty but the “sand” looked better than it tasted.

Next was the last of our main courses, “Ballotine of Anjou pigeon, black pudding made to order, pickling brine and spiced juices”. I’ve never tried pigeon as it always struck me as such a small bird it would be difficult to get any decent meat from but for a small dish like this it suited well. The meat was tasty, not what I expected as it was quite gamey, but once again the flavours really stood out, particularly the black pudding with a chocolate like consistency.

Next up was another scientific marvel, “Hot and iced tea” – this was somehow served in the same glass, one half of it was hot and the other half of it was iced cold so it was possible to sip both at once – quite refreshing at this stage in the menu.

There followed two small courses, the first was a delicious ice cream cornet (the size of your thumb) along with the story of the woman who is thought to have invented the edible cone. Then a small packet of sherbet, reminiscent of something I used to eat as a kid, except this one had an intense pine taste and the dipping stick was a piece of dried vanilla pod.

Next was the only traditional dessert on the menu, “Mango and Douglas fir puree, bavarois of lychee and mango, blackcurrant sorbet, blackcurrant and peppercorn jelly”. It was a selection of intense fruit flavours with the mango, lychee and blackcurrant flavours standing out.

Now the craziness begins. We are presented with a jug of milk, a bowl and an individual box of cereal. The cereal looks like corn flakes but instead they are little dried pieces of parsnip – again the flavour really stood out but it was the sensation of eating corn flakes as a dessert which stood out.

The crowning glory…”Nitro scrambled egg and bacon ice cream, pain perdu, tea jelly”. This was another dish prepared at your table, in a marvellous big copper pot on a stove. The waitress brings out half a dozen eggs in a box but when she cracks the first one in there it isn’t egg that comes out but what looks like scrambled eggs before you cook it. It turns out the stove isn’t required as she adds liquid nitrogen to the pot and proceeds to “cook” the ice cream in the same way you would cook scrambled eggs.

The ice cream, which looks identical to scrambled eggs, is then placed on top of a caramelised wafer thin slice of bacon, tomato jelly and the pain perdu, which resembles either French toast or a large hash brown. This is served with a “cup of tea” which is actually a cup of jelly which tastes exactly like a cup of tea! It really was an incredible sensation, the contrasting texture and flavour as well as the perception of what you are eating. But on top of all of that it was really tasty!

With our coffees we got a selection of petit fours, including a violet tart that was an amazing shade of blue…but I was still thinking about the bacon and egg ice cream for most of the day!

I didn’t bother mentioning the wine that we had with each course but they were very well matched and there were a few definite highlights.

All in all I would say that it was a great experience, my worries about science and food proved to be unfounded and, despite the size of the bill, I emerged a very satisfied customer.

Is Tastespotting making a comeback?

2008-06-18T01:18:00.000-07:00

A news flash has just arrived from Tastespotting! As most people at this stage know it was suddenly and unexpectedly shut down last Friday the 13th (coincidence?), with nothing but a post it note on a bare site to say goodbye. Much speculation followed as to the reason of their overnight departure, with copyright issues over the images on their site, or the infamous Tastespotting stalker being pushed as the likely reasons. This speculation has been quashed with 2 new notes, firstly assuring us that while there are legal issues, it is not copyright related, certainly has nothing to do with stalkers and that they hope to be back online soon! The second note is alerting Tastespotting lovers worldwide of a new addition to the NOTCOT family. Liqurious (Great Name!) is a tastespotting for drinks and it looks just as cool as tastespotting did. We wish them all the best and hope to see Tastespotting back up alongside it asap.

New Firefox 3

2008-06-17T14:22:00.001-07:00

After many months of waiting Firefox 3 is out today and must say it is working really well and seems to have been worth the wait. If you want to view all your favourite cooking sites that usually take ages to load then do one thing today and download it and experience lightening web browsing and my personal favourite which is full screen viewing which makes even the worst designed sites look slick. You will not be disappointed.

Tastespotting clone FoodGawker goes live

2008-06-17T11:54:00.000-07:00

With the ashes still simmering on the corpse of the much loved Tastespotting site it was inevitable that copies of the site would start popping up within a couple of days and that is exactly what Foodgawker is, a carbon copy of the site whose closure is being mourned around food blogs on the Internet. I applaud the creators of this site for getting the new version up so soon and providing a resource for the many foodies missing their daily hit of "food porn" but I have to admit I am worried.... Tastespotting was clearly taken down due to copyright infringement which is a shame but part of the modern world we live in and although they seem to have flagged in their T&C's that no infringements will be tolerated but although I am unable to compare to tastespotting's T&C's as they no longer exist but I would Imagine they would have covered themselves pretty well. So what worries me is that I can't see what Foodgawker are doing differently and why the big bad lawyers who probably closed down tastespotting won't be knocking on the door over at foodgawker very soon! The second aspect that worries me is that the slighted Tastespotting which is part of the NOTCOT series of designs sites would not take offense themselves are somebody blatantly ripping off their site and profiting from all their hard work. Foodgawker are claiming that they want to provide a refuge for all the poeple missing the original site but also claim a couple of lines later that advertising will have to be displayed in order to cover costs. Fair play to them for getting the site up so quickly but I am pretty sure we haven't seen the end of this one and don't be surprised to see Foodgawker go the same way as the magical tastespotting pretty soon if those lawyers get their claws out again!

Update:Another clone has just been spotted in the form of Newtastings

Very cool chef trick with egg

2008-06-17T11:22:00.001-07:00

I'll let the video do the talking on this one! Never had this one in my repitoire but if I was being hyper critical I'd say he split the yolk!

Robotic Restaurant

2008-06-17T00:02:00.000-07:00

This could only ever come from Germany....The first restaurant that has no waiting staff and instead relies only on mechanical delivery of the food. The system is incredibly impressive even if it is lacking in personality but I suppose what makes up for it the most is the fact that you will not feel obliged to leave a tip.

Incredible McDonalds Burger

2008-06-16T10:20:00.000-07:00

There was a bit of a backlash against McDonalds a couple of years ago in the media when all the attention was focusing on obesity and our horrendous diets with movies like Supersize me highlighting the scary nature of the food served up in fast food joints. Well the good news for MacDonald's was that due to their very deep pockets and huge marketing team they were actually able to grow their turnover and and profits and are expanding and growing at a rate of knots. All they had to do was bring a few celebs in to endorse products and start promoting their salads (most of which have as much fat as the burgers anyway) and selling apples and bags of fruit. If you were one of the people promised never to eat there again and then fell back into your old ways(I must admit I have eaten a couple in the last few years due to the fact that I enjoy it when I have a hangover!)then you really should watch this video. It really is quite incredible!!

A Taste of Dublin

2008-06-16T03:07:00.000-07:00

Around the world there are more and more food festivals that aim to act as a showcase for local restaurants and we had our very own version this weekend here in Dublin. These festivals are popping up everywhere with "A taste of Northern Ireland" and "A taste of Cork" coming soon. I wasn't able to attend this year as I had a busy couple of days with iFoods and attended a wedding in the country over the weekend but to be honest probably wouldn't have gone anyway. For those of you not familiar with the concept you buy a ticket (the cheapest of which would set you back a whopping 25 Euros) and are then asked to pay for all the food on top of that again. For those of you not familiar with Ireland and the rip off prices that we are forced to pay here this would be a classic example of the exploitation we are forced to put up with.

I got back to Ireland last year and missed last year's festival as we were filing the iFoods.tv videos which was a shame as I heard amazing reports about the festival with people universally embracing it as a fantastic idea. This year however the tide seems to have turned as I spoke to several people who attended the event and were not impressed and all mentioned the steep prices and minuscule portions they were served up. On the flip side I also know 3 people who had stands at the event (I will not go in to the details of how much it costs to hire a stand but I'll just say it is not for the faint hearted)and the general feedback was that they would be watching the level of business garnered from the event very closely and would probably not take a stand next year. Most people probably think the restaurants are cleaning up and making a fortune at the event but the reality is the festival takes a large % of all sales making it more of a PR event for the restaurants involved rather than a money making exercise. As one of my friends said "it is only normal to get pissed off when paying 8 Euros for 6 chips and a small sliver of fish after paying in to the event". With the economic winds changing and people growing tired off rip off Ireland will the festival continue to thrive and continue to be the cash cow the organisers hope it will be? I suspect it will but they may have to restrucure prices and think about their customers rather than trying to stuff their pockets.
Below is an intro video to this year's festival

Tastespotting Is gone!

2008-06-13T09:57:00.000-07:00

Something strange has just happened to a website I love and one that’s been becoming very popular for foodies on the net. Tastespotting.com has left the building! I tried to get on there this morning, as I have a look at it at least once a day, and it just had a note posted on it saying ‘Thanks for a great 18 months! In light of recent legal complications, NOTCOT will no longer be operating tastespotting’. I’ve scoured the web to find the legal complications and there are two possibilities being offered:
1.Copyright infringement reasons around the photos used on the website; and strangely
2.Some commenters on blogs are questioning whether it could be down to the mysterious tastespotting stalker
I’ve heard some things in my time but a food blogger stalker?? It’s a crazy dangerous world wide web out there. I would imagine that copyright laws have been violated somewhere along the line and that they published something belonging to a company with big nasty lawyers behind them! As far as clean design and a tool for driving traffic tastespotting was second to none and will hopefully pop up again under under a different name or with their issues solved.
If anyone knows the real reason let me know as I’m really curious as is nearly every foodie who’s ever used it.

Insane technology

2008-06-11T13:54:00.001-07:00

This is a food blog by nature but I have just come across something so cool that I had to share it with you all. My computer playing days are a long way behind me but this new technology that has been developed in Israel will probably change the way we not only play games but also interact with our computer in the future. I follow technology blogs daily and there are always 1000s of new inventions profiled but this is far and away the most interesting project I have come across in years. This has basically made the nintendo Wii look like something from the 80s. Even the music rocks!

Frog's heart served up still pulsating

2008-06-05T03:41:00.000-07:00

After my post last week on live fish I was sent a few emails with links to other videos that will be even more disturbing to you if you find even sushi a step too far. The first is of a fish moving on the plate and the second features a Frog being sliced open and it's organs being eaten while they are clearly still warm and practically living. Is this a step too far? Would you try it? Warning please do not watch if you are in any way sensitive or would consider yourself a fan of the RSPCA....

For More Cooking Videos Click Here

Something New on iFoods

2008-06-04T01:03:00.000-07:00

We have been working on something new for the past couple of months on www.ifoods.tv that is incredibly exciting for us to produce and is going to be incredibly useful for all the iFoods.tv users around the world. It is about 2 weeks away now at this stage but as a little teaser I thought I would share some of the photography for the project. As always this will be the first place that you read about the project and get the latest news. Sorry about being so coy about this but there are a lot of big nasty competitors out there who would love to get their hands on this idea which as far as we know is the first of it's kind. While you wait enjoy these beautiful photos......

Living fish served up to diners

2008-06-01T05:40:00.000-07:00

I know a lot of people who get put off by the thought of eating sushi because of the fact that it is raw fish and the idea really freaks them out! In news that will shock people around the world things have gone to a whole new level! Don't think you'll be seeing this recipe on iFoods anytime soon!

Fish
Uploaded by krs601

Break from the Norm

2008-05-30T07:31:00.001-07:00

Normally I try to share something funny or give you some interesting news on iFoods.tv but today there is a break from the norm and I am just going to share a link. You must click here to see the best food pictures I have ever seen! 100% the best food pics I have ever seen!

New Videos on iFoods

2008-05-30T07:05:00.000-07:00

We are always looking for ways to improve iFoods.tv and we are happy to announce today that we have just added a series of new videos to the site from our content partner CHOW. You'll find some great little tips from around the kitchen like How to cut an Onion without crying and How to make an easy cappuccino and these videos will hopefully help to turn you into the most proficient and talented chef you could possibly be! Hope you enjoy these videos and watch this space next week for even more big news!

Mid summer sizzler

2008-05-29T10:06:00.000-07:00

This post may not be totally relevant to all of you people who are living around the world but for those of you in Ireland the great news is that iFoods.tv is putting on a summer party on the 6th June along with The Digital Hub that will involve a huge BBQ, booze, great music and Wii competitions on massive screens with spot prizes, what more could you want from a summer's day? The whole idea of the party is to bring all the technology companies from the Hub (and beyond) together and create a special evening where we can all let our hair down and relax. Tickets have just gone on sale and are limited to 250 (70 gone this afternoon alone) so if you want to enjoy some great food and a bit of craic you can email us at info@ifoods.tv and get your ticket for 10 Euros (includes food and a couple of drinks).

iFoods Picks up 3rd

2008-05-28T05:22:00.000-07:00

Post by iFoods.tv CEO Sean Fee

It’s been a long week of travelling and celebrating because we were named 3rd best European web2.0 startup at an awards in Barcelona on the 21st of May! Had an absolute nightmare journey to the event but it was all worth it to meet some really great people, see some really great projects and, of course, pick up the prize. I ended up arriving to the event 5 minutes before the presentations started looking like a red-faced ball of sweat (I know, not pretty but we’re talking the heat in Spain mixed with the fact I had to make an hour and a half journey in 50 minutes!) and 25 minutes minutes later I had to present iFoods to the judges (There was a fellow Irishman in Tom Raftery on the panel which for some reason settled my nerves a little) and the audience. The presentation went quite well apart from a few minor technical glitches (believe me I was one of the lucky ones). I’d also have to say I was at a distinct advantage being a native English speaker, if I’d have had to do that in a second language the sweat would have started to pump again, so fair play to all the presenters who aren’t as fluent as I am in English.
Long story short, iFoods came third in the contest behind Zilok who came first and unltdworld who pipped us to second. I have to say that we were delighted and surprised to come in the top 3 and especially to be alongside such great projects. Zilok is a website which allows you to rent from your neighbours in an ebay like fashion which I can see making serious waves across the internet, unfortunately it’s not available in Ireland yet. Unltdworld is a project which I think has great potential and a great sentiment behind it. At unltdworld you can build a profile and make friends like on most social networks but this one is dedicated to the social entrepreneurs of this world, the entrepreneurs who not only look to build successful companies but who also hope to give something back to society whilst they make their millions. I felt a particular connection with unltdworld because we’re hoping to build iFoods into a company that does a lot of charity work and makes lives better and I’ve already created my profile on it.
After the event I had to drop my car at my hotel before heading out to meet everyone for dinner and of course I got lost around Barcelona, like a typical bloke calling back to Dublin to have a friend direct me over the phone rather than asking a stranger for directions, and ended up missing the dinner. I Had a flight to London the next day at 9am (an hour a half from Barcelona) so it was probably for the best anyway, I heard there were a few sore heads in the morn.

Burger King Launches Huge Burger for 6 People

2008-05-27T08:49:00.000-07:00

In an attempt to take on the traditional pizza market Burger King has invented a burger that is fit for 6 people and quite frankly disgusting looking. How anybody can think that a huge bun stuffed with all sorts of shite can become a viable alternative to the pizza is beyond me. I am starting to think that most of these crazy food releases are all about generating publicity rather than actually pleasing customers and are quite clearly the work of marketing gurus rather than anybody remotely interested in food. This will never ever take off but what it has done is get a lot of people like me writing about Burger King which is probably missioned accomplished! Why not try making a real burger instead.

An Edible Anus

2008-05-20T15:30:00.000-07:00

I think the title of this post and the pictures do all the explaining. This could only have come out of Belgium, I just wonder what the world is coming to!!

The Ultimate Blog List

2008-05-20T00:43:00.000-07:00

Just an update for the 100s of people who are emailing requesting to have their blog included on the ultimate blog list.....We have gathered all the links you are sending us and will be releasing a new updated version by the middle of next week. The exciting thing is that it will not just be a list of food blogs but will also have a lot of additional info on every food blog in the world, all will be revealed next week. I know it is frustrating if your own blog has not been included on the list yet but do not worry we have all the data and it WILL be included on the new list. The aim over the next month is to make this a lot more interactive and have the ultimate resource for foodies, watch this space....

iFoods in LA Times

2008-05-14T03:07:00.000-07:00

Feeling a bit under the weather after being up all night after eating some bad sushi yesterday my mood brightened when I was sent a link to this article in the LA times today. Always good to get the recognition for all the hard work we have been putting in on iFoods and now to complete my day I'm off to find the scumbag who sold me the sushi!

Ultimate blog list and driving traffic through iFoods.tv

2008-05-13T02:50:00.000-07:00

Hi guys and thanks once again for the great reaction to the ultimate list of food blogs from around the world. I was surprised that we had missed so many of you but all the emails and requests have been noted and we will be updating the list in about a week once we have all the missing links. So if you know anybody who has a blog and is not listed please feel free to tell them to email us at info@ifoods.tv

As I said in my last post this is the first(very small)step in a much bigger programme we are introducing over the next month to drive traffic towards food blogs and foodie sites all over the world. The programme is pretty wide ranging and innovative and again if you would like to be included please feel free to contact us at info@ifoods.tv

To give you a flavor of what is included in the programme here are a few pointers.....

1.The project will be tested with 10 food bloggers who we will sign up over the next couple of weeks.
2.They will receive free banner advertising on iFoods.tvas part of the deal.
3.Upon succesful testing of the project there will be 2 main goals we hope to help food bloggers around the world achieve.....

Drive Considerable anounts of traffic to their sites

Share the profits we make on iFoods.tv with food bloggers to help monetize their content.

For anybody who is interested in participating in this project and would like some more details please do not hesitate to contact us for further details at info@ifoods.tv

List of all world's Food Blogs

2008-05-09T13:33:00.000-07:00

This is a note to all food bloggers around the world. We have just completed an exhaustive search of what we think is every food blog on the planet and even though there are 1000s there is a good chance we missed a couple(if you do not see your blog contact us at info@ifoods.tv. It is the first phase of a new range of features designed to promote food blogs so if you are a food blogger and are interested in driving traffic to your site please contact us at info@ifoods.tv

Gordon Ramsey Video

2008-05-05T03:23:00.000-07:00

I though I had just about seen every piece of Gordon Ramsey footage that ever existed what with him saturating TV sets on both sides of the Atlantic and 1000s of random clips on the internet but I cam across this little gem on a user's profile on iFoods and I must say it gives a good insight into the lifestyle behind the cameras. It is done by an Australian TV channel and it is fascinating near the end to see how Ramsey deals with accusations that his swearing are not well received in Oz! Well worth a watch!

Egg and muffin toaster all in one!

2008-05-01T05:44:00.000-07:00

Following on from the perfect poached egg I introduce to you the not so perfect poached egg! This little contraption has come from the USA which can be of no great surprise in the land where everything is made easy for you! I haven't actually had the chance to try one out yet but I am pretty sure that the egg would taste awful! I can however see this becoming a big success with time poor professionals and with a slick design it is better than popping into McDonald's for and Egg Mcmuffin

More big news!

2008-04-30T14:47:00.001-07:00

After being so quiet for a month it is now 2 posts in one day! This one is short but when I said some big things were happening in the background (most I can't yet reveal due to signing stuff prohibiting me to) I wasn't just giving an excuse for lack of posts here recently! Well iFoods.tv is now making waves around Europe with us making the last 10 of the European startup of the year! After the public vote we were actually first so hopefully we have a chance in the last 10 in Barcelona on the 21st May! If not it's a good excuse to escape the Irish weather for a bit of sun!

New videos and podcast recipes

2008-04-30T02:41:00.000-07:00

First of all I must apologise for the lack of posts here in the last month! This is to do with a whole range of new updates on iFoods.tv and some pretty major developments that will be happening within the next couple of weeks. We will be unveiling the new updates soon and as always this will be the first place you will find them. One update that I can tell you about is our new recipe pod casts that will be available from next week onwards. These are relaxed video recipes and cooking tips as well as interviews with well known foodies that you will be able to download from itunes. As a sneak preview here is a sample of one of the videos that we will be offering, a simple guide on how to make the perfect poached eggs. Send in your requests on what you would like to see on the podcasts in the future and hope that you enjoy the new content you will be seeing here soon.

Tasty Menus

2008-03-20T09:06:00.000-07:00

You have all seen the video recipes on the web that are designed to be practical and for everyday use at home but I have been asked by a couple of people in the last month to share the food that I would cook for clients. Its been a while since I have written any menus and I must say it is something that I miss. I find it the most exciting part of being a chef, letting your imagination run wild and created dishes on paper that will be brought to life at a later stage. When I write menus I picture walking through the markets in my head looking for the best produce and indeed some of the best dishes will actually come into your head as you are out and about shopping for produce.

So I when I sat down last week to write menus for our new catering business minted I was bursting full of ideas and knowing that these would be served at a whole host of special events it was essential to make them extra special! I have always been of the opinion though that a menu should read very simple and the real skill is bringing it to life on the plates and beating people's expectations. Let me know what you think of these examples and if they would leave you salivating or you'd rather pop down the local Mcdonalds?

STARTERS

Organic Irish Smoked Salmon with New Potato Salad, Pickled Cucumber and Lime Crème Fraiche

Pan Seared Scallops with Crispy Bacon, Watercress Salad and Warm Balsamic Vinaigrette

Cappuccino of Asparagus with Aged Parmesan and Truffle

Warm Tartlet of Roasted Peppers, Caramelised Onions and Air Dried Tomatoes with Aubergine Caviar

King Prawns with Ginger, Chilli and Lemongrass broth

Antipasti Plate with Prosciutto, Marinated Artichokes, Spiced Olives,

Parmigiano Reggiano and Roasted Onion Foccacia

Seared Duck Breast with Wilted Chinese Greens, Hoi Sin Sauce and Crispy Noodles

Roasted Fois Gras with Toasted Brioche, Caramelised Pears and Calvados Reduction

Lobster Salad with Grilled Asparagus, Summer Herbs and Saffron Aioli

Salad of Smoked Chicken, Green Beans, Quails Eggs and Basil wit

Citrus Vinaigrette

MAIN COURSES

Pan Seared Fillet of Beef with Celeriac Purée, Truffled Potatoes, Wild

Mushrooms and Thyme Jus

Slow Roast Rib of Kobe Beef with Glazed Baby Vegetables, Fondant

Potatoes and Fresh Horseradish

Herb Crusted Fillet of Lamb with Marinated Vegetables, Sundried Tomato

Couscous and Basil Oil

Risotto of Fresh Langoustines with Garden Peas, Saffron and Braised

Scallions

Pan Seared Tuna with Mango and Papaya Salsa, Glass Noodles and Baby

Fennel

Fillet of Sea Bass with Basil Mash, Sautéed Spinach, Baby Ratatouille

and Saffron Cream

Breast of Free Range Chicken Wrapped in Prosciutto Stuffed with Leeks

and Parmesan and served with Polenta and Char Grilled Aubergines

Local Lobster Tail with New Potatoes, Asparagus and Herbed Hollandaise

Fillets of Sole with Panko and Wasabi Crust, Braised Asian Greens and

Marinated Tomatoes

Fresh Pasta with Roasted Red Peppers, Char Grilled Zucchini, Porcini

Mushrooms, Roasted Garlic and Rocket

Desserts

White and Dark Chocolate Mousse with Sable Biscuits

Fresh Seasonal Wild Berries with Sweet Mascarpone and Amaretto
Biscotti

Warm Chocolate Tart with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Lemon Tart with Raspberry Sorbet

Banana and Coconut Crumble served with Baileys Ice Cream

Classic Tiramisu

Sherry Trifle 2008

Fresh Figs Baked with Thyme and Honey and served with Sweetened

Sicilian Ricotta

Passion Fruit and Lime Mousse with Red Berry Reduction

Selection of Irish and French Farmhouse Cheeses

Video Blogging and Chefs Videos

2008-03-18T07:44:00.000-07:00

Video blogging and restaurant reviews

You will have noticed the lack of activity in the blog in the past week and there is a very good explanation for this. Firstly we are moving the blog over to the main iFoods.tv site which will mean typing in a new address but we will keep you posted on that and secondly and more importantly we are turning the blog into a video blog or vlog. There will still be plenty of regular posts like this but we are adding the new video angle to bring you some exciting new content including...Interviews with top chefs, restaurant reviews, trips to foodie destinations, new simple video recipes and a whole host of other food related items!
Although most of the content will be based in Ireland with the odd international excursion it will remain relevant to all you worldwide readers and hopefully provide an interesting insight into the world of cooking, restaurants, chefs and excellent produce. We are currently filming the initial material and will be launching within the next 7-10 days, watch this space!

Funniest Food Picture Ever!

2008-03-16T15:47:00.000-07:00

Due to the fact that my email address is pretty easy to access on the internet I end up getting sent about 100 spam emails every day of the week which can be incredibly annoying and I usually delete them without even glancing at them. I did however open one by mistake today and saw this photo which totally cracked me up! Hilarious!

Gordon Ramsey Versailles

2008-03-15T14:25:00.000-07:00

Gordon Ramsey is continuing to expand his empire around the globe but he may have bitten off more than he can chew with his latest venture by opening a restaurant in one of the most prestigious places in France, the palace of Versailles. After a few years of rapid expansion Ramsey's restaurants can now be found in such far flung places as Dubai, New York, Dublin and Tokyo. Most of the restaurants have been a massive success with only The London in New York coming under pressure with the opening being delayed and restaurant reviewers being mixed. Overall the restaurants have been a success and even though Ramsey himself spends minimal time in each one the level of service and the quality of food have remained high enough to ensure they have received excellent reviews and made Ramsay's pockets deeper.

I have a feeling though that taking on the French in their own back garden could possibly be the biggest mistake he has ever made. See the French are a peculiar bunch and I can guarantee you that if there is one thing that will really piss them off and boycott a restaurant it will be an English chef coming into a sacred palace and aiming to take on their own chefs in the race for 3 prestigious Michelin stars.

I am a huge fan of Ramsey but I really do think he is making a move that he will regret for a long time by trying to move into France. I have worked in the French Alps as a head chef for 6 months in the past and believe me the French do not take kindly to foreigners, especially "les Rosbeef" as the affectionately call the English, coming into their country and trying to beat them at the profession they are best known for! I personally think Ramsey is doing it more for PR reasons and to raise his profile further rather than for pure culinary reasons.

As I said I am a massive Ramsey fan but if he succeeds with this one I would be very surprised indeed! When the French kick him out with his tail between his legs don't say i didn't tell you so!

The Mixed Grill Experience

2008-03-06T03:38:00.000-08:00

Due to the power of modern technology I am posting today from Starbucks in Piccadilly Square in Manchester. I have been working here for the entire day and have literally been through the entire menu with caramel hot chocolate being the latest. The good thing is that if I miss my aeroplane back to Ireland later the amount of caffeine I have consumed will enable me to swim across the Irish Sea instead.

The blog has been quiet for a couple of days and I would love to say it was down to hard work but it was actually due to the fact that I was playing golf on the beautiful Mount Juliet Course near Kilkenny in Ireland. The game of golf included a free meal which after a 7 mile trek I was looking forward to immensely. To my surprise an old classic that has totally gone out of fashion appeared on the menu, The Mixed Grill. Now just the name brings back memories of an age gone by with old smelly hotels from the 80s springing to mind. The Mixed grill was as much a mainstay on menus of the past as risotto, eggs Benedict and sundried tomatoes are abundant in our restaurants and bistros these days. Despite other exciting choices on the menu I thought I would dip my feet back into the water and see if it had somehow evolved into the new and improved Mixed Grill of 2008.

The good news is that it has! I'm not sure if it was the novelty or the plush surroundings or the fact that I had walked half way across Ireland but I needed a real mans dinner and that is what I got! Stick your sundried tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and slow roasted peppers up your arse; I want lamb chop, slow roast shoulder of pork, bacon, sausage, fried egg, and lots of bread all on the one plate from now on! It was a plate full of meat, it was hot, it arrived promptly and it did exactly what it said on the tin! I must commend such a prestigious hotel and their chef for having the balls to put something so outdated on their menu and making it a huge success. Even though I wouldn't eat a mixed grill everyday of the week I just wish more chefs would cook classics like that instead of hiding behind their bottle of walnut and coriander oil. Am off to get some sort of coffee flavoured lunch now!

Food Network Chef Sacked in Disgrace

2008-03-03T09:58:00.000-08:00

Top Chef Robert Irvine who for a number of years had a show on the food network called Dinner:Impossible has just been sacked in disgrace for lying about his CV. In one of the funniest and brazen episodes in celebrity chef history he basically made his whole CV up and blagged his way on to the biggest food network in the world! Among some of his most outlandish claims that have since been exposed as tall tales are...

-Claiming he made the cake for the Prince and princess of Wales at their wedding.

-Claimed he was given a knighthood for his services

-Cooked for a series of US presidents

He made a career out of all these lies and the tall tales had grown so much over the years that he ended up writing his own autobiography and even launching a company producing merchandise bearing his name. Now I really must saw this is one of the funniest stories to come out of the cooking world in a long time and to be honest with you he deserves the career he has had! Anybody that good at the bullshit deserves a job on TV and the fact that nobody in the states even bothered to check up on a little thing like a knighthood is something I find hilarious!

The end of TV cooking

2008-02-28T12:56:00.000-08:00

I had a very interesting conversation with one of the top TV producers in Ireland a couple of days ago and the general gist of it was that the glut of cookery programmes on television was coming to a tipping point. You can't switch the TV on these days without some sort of cookery show with practically every format under the sun being rehashed to saturation point. He said that networks were cooling on the idea of commissioning new shows and although there remained success stories out there a lack of quality was starting to appear. For every Kitchen nightmares and Masterchef there is a Guerrilla Gourmet and a food poker but lets not forget that we have come a long way in the last few years from the starting point of Ready Steady Cook as a daytime show. The new raft of TV shows has thrust cooking into a new light and made it a "sexy profession" again which is a good thing however I am glad that the powers that be are addressing the problem.

MasterChef 2008
One of the 100s of shows on TV is masterchef which I have been following for the last few weeks and it is exactly the sort of show that exposes all the wonderful aspects of cooking. The standard was outstanding for amateurs and I can assure you that some of the food they were producing would not have been out of place in a Michelin stared restaurant. Producing that standard consistently for large numbers of people is a totally different challenge but the contestants were excellent and admired by all the quality chefs appearing on the programme including 3 star Michelin chefs from France. An excellent advertisement for the profession of cheffing.

What a difference a year makes!!!!

2008-02-28T02:05:00.000-08:00

A year ago I was sitting in the middle of the Caribbean on a boat with a couple of days to spare as I was waiting for guest to arrive. With bad weather outside and all the DVDs exhausted I thought I would try something practical and use my small picture camera to film a recipe and post it on a blog. Here is the first video and as you can see it is a pretty simplistic affair coupling my own poor editing skills with shoddy camera work!
I thought it would be fun to post the odd recipe but nobody could have predicted where it has led just one year later! The blog pretty much exploded over night with one video for "The Perfect Steak" receiving 50,000 hits alone and 2 months later I had quit my job on the luxury yacht to come back to Ireland and set up the site and film videos with a film crew!

A few months after launching and you can now see our videos throughout the world on partner sites and on iFoods itself where people now upload their own videos and photos and we are building a community for foodies! With videos appearing on mobile phones in the USA at the start of March things are certainly moving pretty fast! The next year should also be very exciting with plans for cocktail and wine videos along with some other exciting developments that are under wraps at the moment but you will all be first to hear about! Thanks for sticking with iFoods from the very first days!

Cheeseburger in a can, WTF?

2008-02-27T01:27:00.000-08:00

Horrific news this week from Germany as two new products are unveiled taking standards of food production to a level I really never thought we would reach! This sounds like something I am making up but believe me it is true, I would like to bring to your attention the cheeseburger in a can and powdered red wine that you have to mix with water! What is the fecking world coming to? A CHEESEBURGER IN A CAN???? If this company makes 1 penny from this I will have lost all faith in mankind! I can just about see the case for the wine, say perhaps you are trekking accross the poles and fancy a tipple, rather than carrying a box of wine just tuck the sachets into a pocket. Does it actually contain alcohol? Can you choose between a Merlot and a Bordeaux? Oh dear oh dear, what were they thinking. I was going to write about what a disaster the burger in a can is and what the world is coming to etc etc but to be honest I really don't think I need to, it's pretty feckin obvious that it is a lamentable tale and the video below with Johnothan Ross sums it up pretty well! I just wish I could have been in the board meeting the day somebody suggested the burger in the tin and it's merits were being discussed! Perhaps they signed the deal and sipped a few sachets of wine to celebrate!

Fiji Water...The Celebrities Favourite

2008-02-26T07:07:00.001-08:00

Very interesting programme on panorama last week about the bottled water industry that highlighted the enormous damage we are causing the environment and our planet by consuming such ridiculous amounts of it. They highlighted the case of Fiji water which has cornered the high end market in only a matter of years. It has become incredibly popular in the States and won't be long before the Masses are drinking it here in Europe but the damage that it is causing in beautiful Fiji is quite extraordinary. The programme highlighted the fact that there is this outstanding spring of immense quality within miles of villages that have people dying of diseases because of lack of clean water. Instead the water is being bottled at the source and transported 1000s of miles around the globe to sell for a small fortune. Having worked for the rich and famous for many a year I am used to seeing a trend emerge (it eventually filters down to us plebs!!) and without exception they are usually damaging to either a group of people or the environment.

What annoys me about Fiji water and indeed bottled water in general is that it is a total and utter luxury that is damaging the planet simply because marketing people have convinced us we should consume our water from small plastic bottles. Before the 1970s bottled water was practically unheard of and there certainly weren't people dropping dead from drinking tap water. Now are you telling me in the 21st century with all our technological advances and health and security measures that by drinking tap water we are going to keel over and die? The exact same filtering methods are used in producing bottled water as tap water and if you are that worried by a filter! I have been drinking it for a couple of weeks now without any problems whatsoever!

The problem is that with consumption increasing at scary rates (from 3.3 billion bottles in 1997 to 15 billion in 2002 in the USA alone) there is a certain laziness ingrained into our cultures to carry a plastic bottle around. Now i realise that it is an incredibly convenient option when on the move but use a bit of common sense and pour a jug of water and leave it in the fridge and drink from that, believe me you won't die. The big problem is celebrities who endorse this sort of water but just look at Marilyn Monroe and James Dean....they wouldn't have known what bottled water was if it smacked them in the head and they were gorgeous, so if you think that Fiji water is going to make you younger and have better skin like Christina then the world really is a sad place. Pour yourself a glass from the tap tonight and let the Fijians enjoy their own bloody water in the future without shipping it half way around the world for our deluded visions of grandeur.

French Food to be protected by UN

2008-02-25T07:15:00.000-08:00

A farcical notion has emerged from France The French president Nckolas Sarkozy wants la cuisine française to be listed by Unesco, the UN agency, as part of the world’s cultural heritage. Now I do agree that they have contributed a large amount to world cuisine over the last couple of hundred years with great chefs like Escoffier inventing some of the great culinary dishes that we now take for granted. The French have not only contributed fantastic dishes but they also have also pioneered ways of producing ingredients that have raised the bar around the world. Just take fois gras for example, a standard in any fine dining restaurant around the world and 100% French in its history, current production methods and probably in the way it is served.

Nobody is doubting that the French have contributed so much to the food we eat today and the way it is prepared but to grant them protection under Unesco is a silly idea. I see it as a problem for the French themselves on two different fronts...

1.They are basically admitting that the food they have created is of great historical importance which means that it won't evolve as it has done. If you set very rigid ways of producing food into laws then you lose the reason it reached that level in the first place which was constant tinkering and evolution to ensure we ended up with the best product available after trial and error.

2.The French have been fighting a losing battle for 10 years now to remain as the most exciting and innovative country with regard to food and by signing up to this they have effectively lost the battle. New countries around the world are taking up the mantle and producing innovative food just as the French used to and they are not looking for any certification, quite simply the proof is in the pudding!

This sounds like a call to voters rather than sensible policy to me and I am sure that the arrogant French will lap this up and Sarkozy will gain the additional popularity he craves. I just think you should let the food do the talking rather than have some bigwig 1000s miles away certify food that we already know is amazing by quite simply placing it into our mouths!

Food Questions Answered

2008-02-22T09:25:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been following a recipe and become totally and utterly confused with the terminology or wished that you had a chef to answer all your questions? Well today we are launching a new service which means that you have a team of professional chefs to answer any questions that you might have relating to food. We are aiming to provide an answer to any food related question within 10 hours when you post in the iFoods forum. We have designed a category for all the iFoods recipes and you are also able to create your own categories to ask questions related to your own recipes. So next time you are stuck with a blunt knife and need to know how to sharpen it, want to know what to do with the mountains of food you have left over or are not sure of how to peel a mango you can post the question in our forum and one of our professional chefs will have an answer to you within 10 hours! Try it out and see what you think!

Last night we attended an awards ceremony for emerging businesses organised by the Bolton trust and had a fantastic evening. We were just pipped to the post and the winning prize of 10,000 by breakout concepts but had a lot of fun and still got 1,500 Euros!

World's best food country

2008-02-20T09:02:00.001-08:00

I am sure that many of you have already guessed who the winner of the prize is and for those of you worried that it might be Scotland or Wales I am very happy to announce that the winner in my quest to find the world's best food country is.....Italy! In all fairness how could it ever have been anywhere else, it was pretty much a no contest apart from their neighbours the French who only lost by a short head with their defeat having more to do with their arrogance than culinary matters. Oh Italy, where do I start? If I had to be any nationality apart from Irish it would probably be Italian and in some respects having spent a lot of time amoungst them we are very similar in our love for the craic, the only difference being they like their craic over an expresso with an amoretti biscuit whereas we wash our own brand of craic down with 10 pints of Guinness and 20 John Player Blue.

Instead of talking about all the wonderful dishes they have in Italy or their choice of sensational ingredients or huge choice of outsanding restaurants and chefs I'd rather just tell you one story that for me sums up the whole country......

I was working for a billionaire and we had just pulled the yacht into Syracuse in southern sicily for an overnight stopover on the way to Greece. Up at 6am I found the owner on the aft deck fully dressed and ready to step off the boat, "come on Niall we are off to the market" he said. Now this billionaire was more known for partying until 6am but we headed off at a brisk pace as the sun rose over Sicily. The market was a hive of activity and I found myself surrounded by lobsters literally just out of the water, marinated vegetables, whole swordfish, sweet baby tomaotes and all sorts of culinary treats that made what we call a farmer's market in our cities look quite frankly pathetic! These people do this every day of their lives and you could see the passion in their eyes, they lived for the food.

Eventually the billionaire led me down an alley way and into a little vegetable shop which had hams hanging from the roof and barrels of wine dotted arounb the room. We were warmly embraced and offered seats that were hastily gathered. What followed was food that was so remarkably simple that it couldn't be called a specific dish but rather a tasting menu of simple ingredients. We had thin slices of the best ham I have ever eaten, crusty bread, Parmigiano Reggiano with aged balsamic, marinated artichokes, simple sardines and griled aubergine. When they brought small glasses of wine I at first thought they were mad seeing as it was only approaching 7am but after some persuasion I had a glass and it formed the perfect partner to the never ending selection of treats coming our way. The mama of the family was making our feast in a small open kitchen within our view and as the son brought the food to our table the husband and daughter helped other customers. We laughed and joked in our pigeon Italian with our hosts and I have never felt as content in my entire life. This is only one story of my food experiences in Italy but like many other people I have had 100s of similar experiences over the years all over Italy. I know you are probably thinking that we were treated like kings because I was with a billioanie and that the normal Joe would never recieve such lavish service and to a certain extend I was thinking the same thing during the meal. It was only when we were leaving and our hosts managed to pry who we were and what we did from a slighty tipsy chef that I realised they had no idea beforehand, this was their standard service and I guarentee if you went to that place tomorrow you would be treated exactly the same way.

As I sauterned up the street slightly tipsy at 8 in the morning with the billioanire I thought to myself that I really was a useless asshole! Here I am trying to marry fancy fois gras with reductions and over the top desserts with garnishes that take hours to make when the real food heroes are down that alley making real food everyday of the week for a handful of euros and serving it with wine in plastic cups. They didn't need a 200 million Euro yacht or fine silver, or ingredients flown in from all over the world to produce their magic, they were smart enough to use the ingredients they have at hand and keep it incredibly simple to create a feast that would grace any table in the world.

If I die tomorrow I am demanding that I come back as an Italian!

Do Not Read This If You Are Vegatarian

2008-02-19T05:49:00.000-08:00

A debate has been raging in my own head for a couple of years now as to what is the best type of meat out there. There are as you would imagine three main contenders....lamb, pork and beef and even though there are plenty of other fantastic meats out there like game, poultry and venison they don't have the range of possibilities that the big 3 have! This is by no means the definitive answer on the subject as I am still in some doubt myself and my personal favourite changes weekly however after lunch today I have settled on Pork as my favourite meat at least until my next great meal and my fickle mind has been dragged off in another direction again.

I had a very simple bacon and cabbage roast lunch in a local pub today that got my mind racing on the whole subject again. Sure you can have a great steak or slow cooked oxtail, a great Irish stew or tasty lamb kebabs but I got thinking about the number of options there are with pork and it is quite literally staggering....A simple bacon buttie(sandwich for those not familiar with this), roast pork with lovely crispy crackling, black and white pudding, 1000s of varieties of sausages worldwide, Ham and pea soup, stuffed pork tenderloin, crispy pancetta, proscuitto, BBQ ribs, glazed ham, Pork ramen noodles and i could literally go on with this list from now until 2010 but I am sure you are getting the message. I think I am about as close as I possibly could be right now to agreeing in my own head that Pork is the finest meat, although I am going for a burger with friends tonight so that might all change.

World's Best Food Country (2nd Place)

2008-02-18T08:12:00.000-08:00

2nd Place France

5th Place, South Africa
4th Place, Spain
3rd Place, America

I don't think there was ever a doubt that France would make it into this list but the fact that the strong favourite has been beaten into second place is a real turn up for the books.
When you think of good food France is probably one of the first countries that springs to mind and if it were not for the quality of our winner France would certainly have taken home the honours! I could go on about the reasons why France didn't win but I personally think there is more value on focusing on it's merits and with an entry of this quality there are no shortage of those!I've been lucky enough to spend a lot of time in France and it is clearly evident that the people live for their food. What i love the most is their culture of food and their respect for the value of the local artisan producers. In a world that seems to be obsessed with bigger and cheaper supermarkets and with bulk buying it takes a stubborn group of people to ignore the lure of the cheap quick fix but the French seem to be fighting their corner well! Don't get me wrong, you will still find plenty of big supermarkets in France including Carrefour, one of the world's biggest but the French would never allow their small local food suppliers to be treated as they are elsewhere in the world. This passion for food manifests itself all the way through the supply chain and I can say with some confidence that French produce on a whole is the best I have ever seen. Chefs (and France has the best standard of these in the world) can only be as good as the produce you give them and in Frane they have the best selection of truffles, fois gras, chicken, game, vegetables, seafood, cheeses, breads and every other kind of ingredient you care to name.

What I love the most about france is that it really doesn't matter if you are in a local bistro or a 3 star michelin restaurant, you will be guarenteed to be served great food at a modest price. Top that all off with some of the world's best wine and a surly french waiter and what more could you possibly ask for!

Chocolate Brownie Recipe

2008-02-17T11:52:00.000-08:00

I didnt write a post about Valentines day on the day as that is what every man and their dog seems to do. My logic on the situation is that you should treat your better half with food and surprises all year round instead of when the marketing people deem it right! You could shower people with presents, take them on holidays or splash lots of cash on them but I have never seen people happier than when they receive food unexpectadly as a gift. Think of a surprise meal somebody has cooked for you, a home made birthday cake, friends cooking you a BBQ or a surprise breakfast in bed and they are all bring back fantastic memories. Food has a way of bringing people together and most of our fondest memories will involve some form of edible treat! I am going to put what I preach into practice this week and make these brownies and share them around friends. I learnt this recipe from an American family who came onboard one of the botas I worked on. They are completly and utterly delicious and couldn't really be any easier to make! The recipe is below and for those of you who struggle with cooking the video demo is here.

Chocolate Brownies

* 340g Unsalted Butter
* 340g Bitter Sweet Chocolate
* 175g All Purpose or Cake Flour
* 140g Coco Powder
* 600g Sugar
* Salt
* 6 Eggs

Step by step

1. Set up a bain marie or double boiler (a bowl over a small pot of simmering water);

2. Keeping it on a very low heat add the butter and chocolate to the bowl;

3. In a separate glass bowl sift the flour together with the cocoa powder;

4. Pour the melted chocolate and butter into a large glass bowl as soon as it has melted;

5. Grease an oven dish with a little bit of melted butter using a pastry brush and then sprinkle with a liberal dusting of flour;

6. Add the eggs in one at a time to the chocolate mixture while continuing to whisk constantly;

7. Combine the dry ingredients with the chocolate mixture and fold them together using a spatula;

8. When the mixture is smooth and velvety fold the sugar and a pinch of salt into the mixture;

9. Pour the mixture into the greased oven dish and use a spatula to spread it around the tray evenly;

10. Bake the brownies in the oven for 40 minutes at 180C/360F;

11. Remove the brownies from the oven and place the dish on a wire rack to help cool them down;

12. Make sure they are cooked by inserting a cocktail stick or skewer, if it comes out clean without any wet mixture they are cooked;

13. When the brownies cool down flip them out of the tray and portion them up making sure to serve with a glass of milk.

Damian Foxall Round the World

2008-02-15T14:39:00.001-08:00

Watching Damian Foxall the heroic round the world Irish sailor tonight on the Late Late show made me think of my career sailing the oceans. When I say that I sailed the oceans it is technically true, I did sail across the atlantic and pacific a couple of times but I was lucky enough to do it in the comfort of one of the finest boats ever to be made, the 100 metre Tatoosh. For those of you who dont know I worked for Billionaires for a few years as a personal chef but that is a whole different story.

What annoys me so much is that in this modern modern day world of celebrity culture any old randomer who lives in a house for 12 weeks or happens to be a good gardener is propelled to ridiculous heights whereas people with real talents and huge courage like Damian are not given the respect they deserve. Let me tell you something...Sitting in the middle of the ocean on any sort of boat, yet alone a a 60 foot flimsy craft as sailed by Damian is very very fucking scary! The nearest land mass can be 1000s of miles away, the waves crashing over the boat and you are feeling as sick as a dog, you are literally totally and utterly alone! Well Damian was in that situation whereas I was in a similar situation but had the luxury of 6 engineers to fix any mechanical issues, Facebook access via internet, 3 chefs, a cinema, beer and a double bed. It is very hard to explain just how hard it is sail under the situations that Damian Foxall faced day in day out and most people will never understand what it is like (it can best be discribed as going to work tomorrow, staying there for 3 months, getting drenched every 5 minutes, getting very cold, going to the gym every 3 hours, sleeping very little, eating hydrated food, feeling like you have the flu constantly, non stop concentration, not seeing another person, missing your loved ones and not having a change of underwear)so that is why this man needs to be rewarded beyond the 15 minutesd of fame his achievements will receive.

I would love it if our culture changed and we could reward people like Damian Foxall as they should be rather than making huge stars out of peoople who have no evident ability and whose only talent is not wearing underwear on a night out!

10,000 Euros coming our way?

2008-02-15T13:07:00.000-08:00

One of the first things a business needs is a good business plan and we drew ours up when we launched last summer. We always knew that we would have to follow it to the letter if we wanted to be a success and now it turns out that the business plan itself could be bringing in a nice wad of cash! We are down to the last 3 in the prestigious Bolton Trust award that is taking place this Thursday infront of Venture capitalists, assembled media and business leaders. I had to do a photoshoot for the awards this morning which sadly meant I had to put my list of best food countires on hold for a couple of days! The good news is that we could win 10,000 but the bad news is that I have to make the presentation infront of 100 people! I'll be nervous but there could be one hell of a party Thursday night!

World's Best Food Country (3rd Place)

2008-02-14T06:36:00.000-08:00

3rd Place
America

This is a selection that I know before writing is going to cause a lot of debate especially from people who have not travelled to the USA before! America is one of the most stereotyped countries in the world and that doesn't change when it comes to food with most people probably thinking about burgers, chips and hot dogs as they read this! The reality I am happy to report is totally different with some of the world's best food coming from the states these days. Yes you will find burger joints and junk food easily but you will also find these in the other countries on the list. America is like a huge melting pot of cultures and what that produces is some of the most unique and diverse culinary treats that you are ever likly to find.

Forget the burgers! When i think of America I think of the great diversity of New York and it's 1000s of restaurants, or the clean and vibrant cooking happening in Los Angles, or the rich and souful food of the south, or quality Tex Mex at it's best, or the trendy food in Miami etc etc. See America is like 10 countries rolled into one with lots of different flavours mingling together to create a huge variety and choice of dishes. If you add to that mix some of the world's best produced ingredients along with some very highly trained chefs you have the perfect mix for a country to make it in at number 3 on this list! I just know a lot of people are going to disagree with this and have a preconcieved idea of American food all being served in Hooters but I also know that the people who are thinking that are the people probably have never been to the country to sample it's delights!

Food Network Slip up

2008-02-13T09:57:00.000-08:00

I remember being in the states watching this live and I still think it is one of the funniest freudian slips I have ever seen on TV! The best part is that she just tries to keep a straight face and play it off! Priceless!