Across Ireland, masters in the culinary arts strut their stuff

By BostonIrish.com... (not verified)
May 5, 2016


By Judy Enright
Special to the BIR

It’s all about food and creative menus in Ireland these days. If someone tells you the food in Ireland isn’t good, they have either not been here for about 30 years or they have made some horribly poor choices in restaurants or pubs.

Irish food today is often amazing and can be as gourmet and delicious as anything you might find in Paris, anywhere else on the continent, or in the States. Many Irish chefs have trained elsewhere before returning home to share their skills.

Today, there are many well-known Irish chefs, including Darina and Rachel Allen, Neven Maguire, Derry Clarke, Ross Lewis, Oliver Dunne, Dylan McGrath, to name just a few. Excellent restaurants can be found everywhere from village to city, east to west, and north to south.

Lots of challenges come up, but Fódhla makes it happen

By Sean Smith
May 5, 2016
Sean Smith

When the time came to work on their first recording, the members of New England Irish trio Fódhla literally had to meet each other halfway.

That’s how it is when one-third of your band lives in Greater Boston and the other two-thirds in Portland, Maine. Fortunately, Mill Pond Studios in Portsmouth, NH, lay equidistant between them, and owner/operator/engineer Jim Pendergrast kindly allowed the trio some rehearsal time there before letting the tape roll. Their six-track CD, “Notes from Mill Pond,” was released in December.
Fódhla will perform locally on May 28 in the Arts at the Armory Café, 191 Highland Avenue, in Somerville, sponsored by notloB Music [see notlobmusic.blogspot.com for full details].

To Aoife O’Donovan, looking back while going forward seems to be the right mix

By Sean Smith
May 5, 2016
Sean Smith

It’s a pretty familiar rite of passage: You’re within sight of age 30, or maybe a little past it, and the label “young adult” no longer seems applicable; somewhere along the way, for better or worse, you’ve become a full-fledged grown-up. Then the death of a family member ushers in a period of reflection and reminiscences of youth – a time that seems simultaneously closer and farther away than you might’ve thought.

May's Here and There

By BillI ODonnell
May 5, 2016
BillI ODonnell

Derry’s Richard Moore – Freedom In Forgiveness – At age 10 and a student at the Rosemount Primary School near Derry’s Creggan Estate, Richard Moore was on his way home from school on May 4, 1972, when a rubber bullet fired by a British soldier ten feet away crashed into his face. He lost his right eye and was left blind in the other. His blindness could have left him bitter and withdrawn, but instead he kept up with his music, which was already a big part of his life, while his strong, supportive family made all the difference.

Irish language immersion day set at Elms College on May 7

By BIR News Room
May 5, 2016

The Irish Cultural Center of Western New England will hold its fifteenth Lá na Gaeilge (Irish Language Day) on Sat., May 7, at Elms College, Chicopee, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

This will be an opportunity for those with an interest in the Irish language to deepen their knowledge and appreciation of this vital component of Irish culture.

The program consists of language classes at all learning levels, from beginner to advanced. Workshops (tin whistle and dance), and conversation groups will be held in addition to the formal classes.

Obama’s ties to, and interest in, the island of Ireland are ongoing

By  Frank Costello
May 5, 2016
 Frank Costello


 In his only visit to Northern Ireland – at Belfast Waterfront Hall, on June 2, 2013, and tied to his participation in the G8 Summit held in County Fermanagh – President Barack Obama pledged that the United States “will always be a wind at your back.”

In remarks that day, Obama noted the “wounds that haven’t healed, communities where tension and mistrust hangs in the air,” and “the walls that still stand.”

Given that during more than seven years plus of his presidency he has presided over an administration that has had to deal with the rise of ISIS in the Middle East and a domestic economy emerging from the global financial collapse while addressing health care reform and gun violence at home, it can be said that Barack Obama has kept his word.

THE PHONE CALL Speaking with the Other Side

By James Dolan
May 5, 2016
James Dolan

I was asleep when the phone rang. Who could be calling at this hour? I reached over to answer it and said: “Hello, who is this? “It’s me Joan,” came the reply. “Is this some kind of joke,” I said. “No! No! Don’t hang up; it really is me. Occasionally they allow someone to make contact and you know how persistent I can be.”

Ireland offers a model in how to secure solid foreign investment

By Joe Leary
May 5, 2016
Joe Leary

Our current presidential campaign will only intensify over the next six months. Speech after speech, newspaper articles, and radio and television news and commercials will be coming at us every day from many angles and interests. With the Democrats and the Republicans trying to put the best faces on their candidates, it will be difficult for us to understand what is being said and how best to react.

One thing we might concentrate on is America’s place in the world and, specifically for the readers of this newspaper, how the campaign rhetoric might impact Ireland.

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