Love it or hate it, fruitcake is one of Christmastime’s most iconic foods. I make no apologies for being one who loves it, and over the years I’ve amassed quite a collection of recipes from sources near and far. While we might…

Cranberries take center stage this month in both sweet and savory dishes. One of my favorites is this quick bread, sweet enough for dessert but not-too-sweet for breakfast or afternoon tea. The versatile little berry is widely available in…

“The wran, the wran, the king of all birds,

on Stephen's day was caught in the furze.

His body is little but his family is sweet

so rise up landlady and give us a treat.

And if your treat be of the best

your soul in heaven can then find its rest.

And if your treat be…

Kissing a wife or lover under the mistletoe at Christmas is derived from an old Roman custom that honored the god Saturn. The Romans associated mistletoe with peace, love, and understanding and hung it over doorways to protect the household, as well as protection from witches and demons. Hanging…

As we celebrate our 6th Anniversary this month, we really do feel honored to be part of our customers' gift giving for so many special occasions. These are mainly happy occasions, but we are also mindful that gifts are often purchased for loved ones who need a special thought when life gets tough. We love to hear from customers on why a…

Who doesn’t love carrot cake? I sure do, and when I learned there was actually a day devoted to celebrating it, I couldn’t wait to make one in its honor. For the record, food historians suggest modern carrot cake probably descended from carrot puddings popular during the Middle Ages when sugar and other sweeteners…

Mincemeat, a mixture of chopped dried fruits, spices, and spirits, is a favorite holiday ingredient most often found in pies and tarts. It was developed more than 500 years ago as a way of preserving meat without salting or smoking, and gradually cooks sweetened it by adding ingredients like apples, oranges, and…

A newly produced DVD follows on from an exhibition that was held in Dublin throughout the summer of 2017. The exhibition was called "The Irish Potato Famine (1845 to 1852)," and its purpose was to commemorate the 170th anniversary of the Famine year 1847.…

O.K., it should be obvious (hopefully) that I am not a man.

But dear old dad definitely is... and as, like it or not, I've always been dad's girl I've acquired a bit of an insight into what makes certain types of men…

“Nollaig na mBan,” or “Little Women’s Christmas,” is an old custom that’s still celebrated by women all over Ireland. It goes back to the days when large families were the norm. Men never lifted a finger in the house to help, and were never expected to. If a man washed the dishes, he would be called an “auld…

Cuireadh do Mhuire was composed by Máirtín Ó Direáin (1910 – 1988), the great Irish language poet from the village of Sruthán, on Inis Mór (Inishmore), the largest of the Aran Islands, in Galway Bay.

Ó Direáin penned this beautiful and delicate verse at Christmas 1942, when the whole world was at war and his…

It was well past sundown in a village named Bethlehem, just beyond Jerusalem, in the hills of Judea, on a surprisingly mild winter’s night.

Now the Roman occupiers of the kingdom of Israel required that all men go to their own towns…

When I lost my Mum and my husband within two days of each other, my whole life crumbled around me.  I very slowly learned how to live again, with the help of my then two teenage boys and my grandchildren. Since then, my Christmas has changed, with my daughter now being the host of Christmas lunch, with family coming…

In light of all the terrific Christmas-flavored postings lately, I've been prompted to share an excerpt from my historical novel "The Lockwoods of Clonakilty," a scene based on a little adventure my own family had a few…

Alright, lads. Your lady is out celebrating Nollaig na mBan (Women’s Christmas) with her girlfriends. Traditionally, this is your turn to take on a larger share of the household chores. Here are a…

January 6th is celebrated in Ireland as "Women's Christmas" (Nollaig na mBan).  More commonly known in other parts of the world as the Feast of the Epiphany, it marks the end of the Christmas period in Ireland.  It is known as "Women's Christmas" because of the…

Yes indeed, what to do?  After the festivities are festivitied - after all the ceremonies, the lighting of candles, the opening of presents, the cooking and the eating…

"Here's to the three birds! May you always have a bird on the table, a bird in your glass and an eagle in your pocket."

I first heard that toast when I was very young from an elderly neighbor. It was a toast from her childhood in the early 1920s. The toast her mother and uncles always used. Already something of an antique in Jazz Age America.…

Messines - I had the privilege to travel to Messines with the Island of Ireland Peace Choir last weekend. This is our story.

Don Mullan, author, humanitarian and Christmas Truce ambassador, stood in front of two graves in Messines, Belgium. On the left was Private T Delaney of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, who died on Christmas Eve 1914 and on the right,…

My dad, Guard John Murphy (Killimor, Ballinasloe) died in Our Lady’s Hospice (Harold’s Cross, Dublin) aged forty-four, leaving my mother, aged thirty-nine, with ten children aged two and a half to eighteen years old.

On Christmas Eve of 1945, we spent most…