DOMHNAIGH -- On May 25, 1798, in Co. Wicklow, as the British authorities began to receive news of people rising up in several parts of the island, anxious loyalist militia units committed two massacres of men they suspected of being rebels. In Dunlavin, 28 or…

Avoca Cafés and restaurants, with 14 locations throughout Ireland from Mount Usher in County Wicklow to Moll’s Gap in County Kerry, serve luscious lunches, dreamy confections, and sweet treats to eat-in or to take- away. Even some of the best cooks in the country supplement their own baked goods…

            It may be a cliché, but everyone really is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day! Aran knits, tweed caps, and shamrock-emblazoned scarves come out of the closet on the 17th. If you’re cooking, that means your treasured Irish recipes emerge, too, ones that everyone loves and expects on the most celebratory day on the…

It was mid-afternoon of July 22, 1864, and the Confederate infantry of General Cheatham’s Corps of John Bell Hood’s Army of Tennessee was breaking through the Federal…

At the Commemorative mass for Anne Devlin in St. Catherine's Church, Meath Street, Dublin on Sunday 14 September, 2014 I gave the following Eulogy:

"As we celebrate this decade of centenaries, it is easy to forget those who went before, and without whom many of these events would not have happened.

One such person was Anne Devlin, in…

     In my latest cookbook, Delicious Ireland: Forty Years of Fabulous Food, I wrote about experiencing my first Irish breakfast: “We all treasured Ireland for reasons of our own, but none of us thought much about the food then — except breakfast, perhaps, when we would sit down with…

Most of the stuff in my novels comes from my imagination but I owe a fair amount of what I write to a pub called The Rocking Chair where there’s such a variety of characters that you’d need to be brain deaf not to pick up some nuggets. …

            It’s peach season in most places around the country, a time for crisps, cobblers, pies, upside-down cakes, and these delicious baked peaches. No crust or crumble required, just stuff and bake for an easy, elegant dessert.

Baked…

Round Lough Derg's holy island I went upon the stones,

I prayed at all the Stations upon my marrow bones,

And there I found an old man, and though, I prayed all day

And that old man beside me, nothing would he say

From “The…

"Every civilization in this world built on top of the one they conquered. You go to Rome or Jerusalem or Paris, France, and it's cities stacked on top of towns, stacked on top of villages, stacked on top of one man's house built on top of one man's…

         Imported asparagus are available all year round, but there’s nothing to beat the flavor and texture of those locally grown in its short spring season: in Ireland, traditionally beginning on April 23 and ending on Midsummer Day. Although its delicate flavor and seasonality make…

Our educated guess is that Dr. Theodore Thaddeus Dominic O’Kelly came to Guatemala around 1696. He might be a surgeon from the ranks of the Jacobite Army that fought in Aughrim. According to his account, he was an Ulsterman born in Loughgall (County Armagh) around 1658.

In…

Have a read below to find out more about this captivating, mad, "Irish-American Maurader!" This is a blog post from my own "Ildaite…

(Clockwise, from top): RUSH, Co. Fingal, Margaret M. Johnson; MINI POTATO CAKES, Sribaz/Dreamstime; TEMPLE BAR MARKET, Dublin, Margaret M. Johnson; MIDLETON FARMERS MARKET, Co. Cork, Margaret M. Johnson; GALWAY FARMERS MARKET, Galway,…

I see his blood upon the rose

And in the stars the glory of his eyes,

His body gleams amid eternal snows,

His tears fall from the skies.…

Of all the great men and women of that era, was there a more gallant figure than Joseph Mary Plunkett, or a more hopeless love than that of Plunkett and Grace Gifford? They were to be married in a church on St Stephen’s Green on April 23, Easter Sunday, 1916, but history…

To bear His heir, perfection

No stain or fault, detection

This House of David's promised place

Her conception full of grace

Original sin, suspended

Eden's triumph, upended

I AM's ark of flesh and blood. 

Whose prophecy withstood

Herod's…

It’s a safe bet that you’ll find slices of this cake offered in tea rooms, coffee shops, home kitchens, and take-aways throughout the Emerald Isle. It’s a “standard” to which bakers often add a personal touch — think extra lemon (or orange) zest in the cake or fresh herbs in the drizzle — and it would be…

Praise to the Lord in all His glory.

(Note: This was originally posted April 9th, 2020) 

Last week,…

It was two days before Christmas 1917, as James McCudden pulled gently back on the control stick of his British S.E. 5 biplane. He had spotted what appeared to be a German two-seat scout flying slightly higher, a little over 18,000 ft, to the west of him, over Peronne, about 90 miles north of Paris. As he got closer, he recognized it as a Rumpler.…