Coping with life

Thu, Sep 11, 2008

When you wake up in the morning do you wish you could go back to sleep? Does getting through each day seem difficult and exhausting?

Get to know your grapes with The Twelve’s wine tasting package

Thu, Sep 11, 2008

Whether you’re winging it when it comes to wine, or a wannabe sommelier, a new wine tasting package from The Twelve in Barna will bring you up to speed on choosing and appreciating wines for all occasions.

Festival foods

Thu, Sep 11, 2008

For those who do not attend festivals such as the Electric Picnic, Mantua, Solas, etc, you may wonder what the standard of food at such a festival is like in 2008. Perhaps you have children who attend these outdoor festivals and worry that they will be eating lots of greasy burgers and dodgy frankfurters. Indeed my own memories of concerts are that you could smell the chip vans long before you saw the concert stage, and yes it is a miracle that more of us were not as sick as dogs (we probably were but nobody cared too much).

Well have no worries about today’s fans; they are spoiled for choice at most festivals. Gourmet coffee stalls, falafel sellers, and gourmet sausage rolls are commonplace, and at the recent Electric Picnic concert there was what can only be described as a feast of great food available. In fact I believe that Tom Doorley and the Bridgestone Guide were to be there and review the food on offer. There were venison burgers, ostrich burgers, impala burgers, whole roast pig, sushi, fresh bagels with caesar chicken salad, and lots more.

Organic salmon and vegetable fritters with wild rocket and vegetable dressing

Thu, Sep 11, 2008

Wild salmon would be far better for this dish but due to the sustainability of wild salmon the organic salmon makes a good substitute.

Shimmer in the nude

Thu, Sep 11, 2008

Bobbi Brown is renowned for her beautiful and natural looking make-up collections and the newest shimmering nudes edition is no different.

Meet your eye-deal match with Bare Escentuals

Thu, Sep 11, 2008

Bare Escentuals introduces the most wearable trio of complementing colours your eyes will ever meet. This family of easy-to-apply eye shadows has been tried and tested on a wide range of skin tones and eye colours to ensure these shades will be wearable on you.

Colours have been tried and tested to assure day long, year round wearability. Following the purely natural ethos of Bare Escentuals make up the 100 per cent pure bareMinerals eye shadows have been specially formulated with just the right amount of coverage and opacity. Each collection includes a light, medium, and dark bareMinerals eye shadow colour for different areas of the eye.

Galway Shopping Centre to hold fashion show in aid of Croí

Thu, Sep 11, 2008

Ensure you’ll be stepping out in style for this year’s party season with a visit to the west’s top fashion event with Galway Shopping Centre. Taking centre stage on October 1 in The Ardilaun, Galway Shopping Centre retailers will showcase their latest autumn/winter collections that include the best of this season’s party trends. The fashion show this year will be held in aid of Croí and will be hosted by well known TV personality Daithí Ó Sé.

Galway Future Homes & Building Exhibition for November

Thu, Sep 11, 2008

Galway Future Homes & Building Exhibition will return in November with inspiration, ideas, advice, and designs for anyone building, extending, or refurbishing their home.

The Galway Future Homes & Building Exhibition is the place to be for those who want to expand their business and increase their sales further. The exhibition takes place in the Radisson SAS Hotel on November 15 and 16. The show is on schedule to be a huge success and will open its doors to the public from 10am to 8pm on Saturday 15, and from 11am to 6pm on Sunday 16.

Take a load off your mind with energy-saving laundry pair

Thu, Sep 11, 2008

Do a full load of washing in just 18 minutes with this energy-saving laundry pair from US manufacturer Maytag.

home ground

Thu, Sep 11, 2008

I find that many people only think of planting bulbs when they see the bright yellow rows of daffodils in flower by our dual carriageways in spring, or when blown away by the magic of bluebells in flower in our local woodlands and so on, again in spring. Now is the time for planting such bulbs, not when they are actually flowering during the spring months of the year. Tiptoeing through the tulips is all well and good provided that they are planted in time during the autumn for February to April effect.

Galway’s first taxi rank?

Thu, Sep 11, 2008

This photograph was taken about a hundred years ago and shows a number of side-cars lined up in the Square while waiting for custom. I am not sure when hackneys became taxis, but a century later they are still lined up in the Square. They had less traffic to compete with then.

A heavy shadow over Coole

Thu, Sep 11, 2008

In Roy Foster’s impressive biography of WB Yeats* he tells an interesting anecdote concerning the sinking of the RMS Lusitania off the Cork coast on May 7 1915. The Galway writer Violet Martin (the second half of the caustic but amusing Sommerville and Ross duo), was walking by the sea near Castletownshend, Co Cork, when she saw the Lusitania pass in ‘beautiful weather’. Half and hour later, as the ship steamed passed the Old Head of Kinsale on her way to Liverpool, it was torpedoed by a German U-boat. Nearly 2,000 people perished.

I have written about the sinking of the Lusitania before, telling the tragic story of young Annie Kelly of Newbridge, Mountbellew, who followed her boyfriend, William Murphy, to America only to be turned back by emigration for failing her medical examination on Ellis Island. She was sent home on the Lusitania, which left New York minutes before her boyfriend arrived with a permit allowing her to stay.

Galway in mourning for air crash victims

Thu, Aug 14, 2008

Fifty years ago today, a Dutch KLM Super-Constellation airliner named Hugo De Groot crashed into the Atlantic, about 100 miles off the Conamara coast, with the loss of 99 lives. The plane was en route from Amsterdam via Shannon with eight crewmen and 91 passengers. Nobody survived. It was the worst disaster involving a single plane in the history of commercial aviation up to that point.

Pure Sense - the natural alternative to shaving foams and gels

Thu, Aug 07, 2008

This 100 per cent natural product leaves your legs feeling re-vitalised and smooth after one drop. Pure Sense is an innovating alternative to shaving foam, that moisturises and smoothes your legs before, during, and after you shave. Containing sesame seed, soya bean, and grapeseed oils, menthol, lavender, and other natural ingredients, Pure Sense leaves your legs still feeling silky smooth the next day.

A new revolution in laser and skincare treatments

Thu, Aug 07, 2008

The Galway Laser and Skincare Clinic specialises in laser hair removal, microdermabrasion, glycolic skin peels, photo rejuvenation, Restylane, and tattoo removal. Located in Calbro Court, just off the Tuam Rd, the clinic is central and convenient, which means you can get your beauty treatments done on your lunchbreak.

Philadelphia, here we come

Thu, Aug 07, 2008

If like most people your knowledge of what to do with cream cheese extends to spreading it on a cracker with a sprinkle of chives, a new website launched by Philadelphia cream cheese is worth a visit.

Coffee — the uber-cool beverage

Thu, Aug 07, 2008

When I was a lad the really cool thing to drink was Irel coffee. This came in a bottle and was a sticky black treacle like substance which you mixed with sugar, hot water, and a lot of milk. Later came Nescafé powdered coffee in a tiny tin, not much bigger than a tin of shoe polish, and if you used more than a half teaspoon you were in mega trouble. As time marched on pubs started to serve food and we had Cona coffee machines, which were good if your cup was served directly after it was made, however it could be (and often was) two, three, or four hours old. I have several memories (some quite recent) of sending coffee back while complaining that it was burnt/old only to be served a new ‘fresh’ cup from the same disgusting brew. The ‘fresh cup’ was inevitably accompanied by a comment like, nobody else complained!

Smoked chicken salad with mango and caramel cashews

Thu, Aug 07, 2008

This tasty Mediterranean style salad recipe comes from food company Kylemore. The nuts, seeds, and olive oil provide lots of heart-healthy monounsaturates.

home ground

Thu, Aug 07, 2008

It has been a strange gardening year so far. In my garden at least, plants are beginning to flower that have already flowered earlier this year while some spring shrubs are only coming into flower now. I’m not complaining, though, as flowers at any time are welcome. Another thing that is very noticeable this year is the beautiful scents in my garden. Such a variety of perfumes from lilies, buddleias, etc. They really brighten my days.

The concept of creating a scent garden is not a new idea but actually began in Persian palaces over 2,500 years ago. Through the ages the scented garden has gained in popularity.

Turn your bathroom into a futuristic fantasy

Thu, Aug 07, 2008

The award-winning Strip collection by Aquamass is part furniture and part sculpture, comprising practical bathroom furniture in smooth, elegant curves and born from designer Michel Boucquillon’s desire to create a bathtub collection representing sensuality, warmth, and serenity.

E-paper

Read this weeks E-paper. Past editions also available from within this weeks digital copy.