Thanks to our lovely readers for your great London tips. I followed some of your recommendations and also scoured out some of my own. I started off in Camden. Wonderful, wonderful Camden, where people have more piercings than skin, where punk never died, and where all sorts of flower-power people mingle freely with almost every [...]

I was down in the Hook Peninsula in Co. Wexford last week and I have to admit before I left I wasn’t even sure where it was. I associate Wexford with Rosslare and getting the boat to France each summer, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that Hook Peninsula is a lovely place with lots to [...]

It’s been too long, London. But this week I’m heading over for a while. My last food memories of the city involved lots of Vietnamese food in Camden and too many curries. Bring it on. Now, I’ve significantly less money to spend, and I’ll be spending lots of time in two very different areas: Pinner [...]

After my recent unplanned trip across Europe due to the ash cloud where I had to stick to a strict food budget, it got me thinking about the best and worst culinary holidays I have been on in terms of value for money.  Obviously it’s only an overview but some places stood out more than [...]

I was one of the plebs caught up in the travel chaos the other week and marooned abroad because of the plume of ash. An extra week in the sun sounds rather nice doesn’t it? Well it was complete hell and there was no sun in the south of Spain because it was busy shining [...]

After one too many bouts of self delusion – “put it on the credit card and it’s free” – the one or two trips a year to pricier hotels or spas had to come to an end. It was always beyond my means. I still wanted a break away, and in gorgeous Ireland. But hotel [...]

Taqueria El Milagro This Monday, SnackBox tests out the deep south’s Mexican treats. There are quite a few Mexican food options in Dublin. Round these parts we have Acapulco, Cactus Jack, Mexico to Rome, The Alamo and El Paso, to name but a few in the capital.  I’ve only ever eaten in Acapulco and The [...]

Snack Box’s Louisiana luncheon This Monday, SnackBox takes time out from recording an album with his band Hoarsebox to take us on a comprehensive culinary tour of New Orleans. So there I was in foodie paradise, New Orleans, with six people who all share the same love/hate relationship with food as I do. I want [...]

SnackBox is in Mississippi  with his band Hoarsebox recording an album – check out their distinctly  un-southern tunes here. This Monday, he tries out traditional southern… sushi. In between several ‘chicken on a stick’ based meals each day, I found the time to go to a sushi bar called Two Stick in Oxford Town. Now [...]

We get pancakes, they get the biggest party in the world. Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras is what they call today in the deep South. The logic is the same as our tradition: get as fat and fucked up as possible because there’s forty days and forty nights of misery on the way. Mardi Gras [...]