Delicious dining options at The Latin Quarter Bistro

Thu, Oct 23, 2014

The Latin Quarter Bistro opened its doors in May and has gradually made its mark on the Galway food scene. The bistro offers a diverse menu of flavoursome dishes using local seasonal ingredients served in casual and relaxing surroundings. Chef Patrick and his team carefully source their ingredients to create classical bistro dishes with a modern Irish twist.

Breakfast club

Thu, Oct 23, 2014

Having spent a few years of my teens and early twenties meat free, I am still in the habit of scanning a menu to see what is on offer for vegan and vegetarian folk. As I recall, it was the smell of a smokey bacon burger after one too many fermented apple juices on a student night out that brought me back to being a practising carnivore. Just as well really, as a column featuring vegetarian food in Galway would have been very short lived. The vegetarian option is sadly still all too often the afterthought when planning a menu.

The gathering storm

Thu, Oct 23, 2014

The threat of another famine in 1879, within living memory of the horror and catastrophe of the Great Famine some 29 years earlier, brought renewed terror to the vulnerable tenant farmers in the west of Ireland. This time it was not just the humble potato, but severe weather conditions which devastated crops and feed stuffs over a three year period. Farm incomes dropped dramatically, landlords fussed that rents would not be paid. Whereas some landlords were patient, others warned that evictions would follow if rents were not paid on time.

Remembering Foggy Spelman

Thu, Oct 23, 2014

Paschal Spelman may have been given that name at birth, but to the many thousands of people (especially old Galwegians) he entertained down the years, he was simply known as ‘Foggy’.

Lowering the old wall

Thu, Oct 16, 2014

Church Lane was a dark place up until 1983 because of the very large high stone wall that ran the length of it. This was part of a wall that was built around St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church and its adjoining graveyard. The removal of most of the wall and its replacement by the railings that once surrounded Eyre Square was one of the earliest ideas for improving Galway as it prepared for the Quincentennial in 1984. This project transformed the area around the church, making it much more attractive and opening it up to the passing public. It let a lot of light into the city centre.

The Dohertys of Carrigan were not ‘land-grabbers’

Thu, Oct 16, 2014

Galway Diary received the following statement from Adrian Martyn (great-great-great grandnephew of Peter Doherty, senior), who was shot dead at Carrigan, near Craughwell village on the night of November 2 1881. I am pleased to carry Adrian’s clarification:

Mexican food — it's so hot right now

Thu, Oct 16, 2014

There is something spicy happening in Galway. Mexican food, one of the biggest food trends of recent years, has gone mainstream, and Galwegians are going loco for it.

Blood pH test available at Health and Herbs

Thu, Oct 16, 2014

Health and Herbs is an integrated health clinic and herbal dispensary situated at No 9 Sea Road, Galway. It was founded in 1999 by Dr Dilis Clare, who is Ireland’s only GP also qualified in herbal medicine.

Health and Herbs offers a wide range of health services including herbal medicine consultations, a choice of therapies, herbal dispensary, vitamins, supplements, and nutritional advice. Health and Herbs also offers a wide range of tests including testing for vitamin D levels, food intolerance, and coeliac disease. These tests are currently unavailable at many GP practices.

Physiotherapy that comes to you

Thu, Oct 16, 2014

Homecare Physio is a well established and expanding company set up by local health care professional John Butler.

Great savings on prescription medicines at O’Beirn’s Pharmacy

Thu, Oct 16, 2014

O’Beirn’s Pharmacy, Henry Street, Galway, has recently come under new management, and is introducing a number of price reductions. Prescription medicines at O’Beirn’s are now at similar prices to the UK and other EU countries.

Is your thyroid killing your weight loss and energy?

Thu, Oct 16, 2014

Nothing affects your health and weight loss like low thyroid function. It drastically limits your energy and ages you well beyond your years. It can mean you are operating at 50 per cent of normal power – mentally and physically. It makes weight loss almost impossible because you burn 400 or 500 calories less than normal per day. It can limit or stop your weight loss no matter how much dieting or exercise you do.

Thyroid hormones affect every cell in the body. Low thyroid can be at the root cause of depression, poor digestion, constipation, poor circulation, and feeling cold, fatigue, poor skin and hair quality, fertility problems and low sex drive – it is connected to everything. It of course causes big weight gain and can especially contribute to stomach fat.

The Land War: A desperate duel between Parnell and Forster

Fri, Oct 10, 2014

The continued unrest, murders, and large-scale protests as the Land War careered dangerously through the Irish countryside, led at last to some reform. William Gladstone’s Second Land Act of 1881 proposed broad concessions to the tenant farmer. But Parnell, the very effective leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, was not satisfied. He said that tenants were still vulnerable to rent arrears and poverty resulting from poor harvests. He urged that the Act either accommodate these concerns, or be rejected.

Eighty years of Jes rowing

Fri, Oct 10, 2014

Maurice Semple’s book Reflections on Lough Corrib has a very good section on the history of rowing on the river and lake. The first clubs were formed in the mid 19th century, and competitive rowing has been a feature of Galway life since. A number of pupils in Coláiste Iognáid came together in October 1934 to ask the school if it would consider setting up a Jes Rowing Club. Happily, it did, and thus began a history of great achievement which continues to the present day.

Banana and oat breakfast muffins

Thu, Oct 09, 2014

Recently I have had to reprimand my children for their overuse of the ‘N’ word. It is something that I, like many others, find deeply offensive. I have, I think, brought them up well and feel aggrieved that this is how they repay me. Such outrageous behaviour goes against everything that I believe to be right. It started off innocently enough with the five year old slipping the odd ‘N’ word into a sentence. I may have turned a blind eye, anything for a quiet life. Then all of a sudden it escalated into using it everywhere, at every possible opportunity, to my complete mortification. Out loud and in front of other people.

Delicious seafood at Mary’s Fish Shop

Thu, Sep 25, 2014

Mary of Mary’s Fish Shop would like to thank all those who attended the shop’s recent fish cookery demonstrations. Building on the success of her first demo day last Easter, Mary was joined by the Galway Bay FM roadcaster and several top chefs, all of whom seemed to be enjoying the day as much as the customers who were happy to eat the fruits of their labours.

Heat things up at the Gaslight Bar & Brasserie

Thu, Sep 25, 2014

Summer may be over but the fun-filled nights and get-togethers continue at the Gaslight Bar & Brasserie. Boasting an ideal location in Eyre Square, the all-singing, all–dancing, rather fabulous Gaslight Bar & Brasserie offers the perfect solution for those looking for a city centre option for a party venue.

“What they have created is a superbly sociable, bright, airy, space called the Gaslight Bar & Brasserie,” said Lucinda O’Sullivan of the Sunday Independent. With its warm, vibrant, atmosphere, and DJs playing laid back soul, classic disco, and feel-good vibes every Friday and Saturday night til late, the Gaslight Bar & Brasserie is heating things up.

A Claddagh family, one hundred and fifty years ago

Thu, Sep 18, 2014

The title of this photograph is “A Claddagh Family” and it dates from c1865. It is from an album discovered some time ago in Chetham Library in Manchester in which all of the photographs are of locations in Galway city or county. It is interesting to note that a photograph of this exact group in a different pose, almost certainly taken on the same day, is in a different album in the National Library of Ireland. This second  image is titled “The King of the Claddagh” but we do not know his name.

‘The people are mightier than a lord’

Thu, Sep 18, 2014

Week III
Scotland did  not have the explosive combination of  Michael Davitt’s organisational and inspirational skills, and Parnell’s power of command, and genius for leadership that turned the Land League into a highly effective weapon of agitation. For decades the Scottish crofter had no effective power, except occasional physical resistance,  to stop  evictions from their homes to make way for sheep, and deer.

War victims come to Galway

Thu, Sep 04, 2014

At 11.15am on September 3 1939, Neville Chamberlain went on radio to announce that Britain had declared war on Germany. Hitler was still hopeful of a diplomatic resolution and to this end, he issued strict orders for U-boats to follow the Prize Regulations under which attacks on passenger liners were prohibited. Unfortunately, the first ship that was sunk by a U-boat was the SS Athenia,  which was carrying 1,418 passengers and crew. She was about 200 miles off the west coast of Ireland at the time.

Scotland: A history not unlike our own

Thu, Sep 04, 2014

On the morning of April 27 1746 the Duke of Cumberland calmly moved his army of 8,000 men into position before a colourful Scottish array of 7,000 highlanders, including about 150 Irishmen then serving in the Irish Brigade in France. The place was Culloden, south east of Inverness.

E-paper

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