A gang of us went to The Gift of Life ball in the Radisson Blu in Little Island. Hosted by an amazing trio of Cork ‘transplant sisters’, the inspirational Sally Nagle, Annie Foley and Lynda O’Mahony, in memory of their dear friend, Bishopstown lady Isabel Terry-Byrne, who sadly passed away in October last year. It was an uplifting, fabulously fun night, I’m booking my tickets for next year! www.ika.ie
I don’t venture east that often, but I met a friend for lunch at The Castlemartyr Hotel in East Cork and I was very glad I did. They’ve just added monkfish tacos to the lunch menu and they are ridiculously good. It’s even in the shape of a fish! Ticking all my boxes there. The best lunch I’ve had in a long time, salivating at the thought of it and looking at my limp homemade tuna sanger at the desk.
We went to Cinderella in Cork Opera House and it is a belter. One of my favourite moments was when they reenacted the queues from Lennox’s. Hilarious! www.corkoperahouse.ie
My lovely friend gifted me this book, The Divorce, by Moa Herngren. It charts the unravelling of a marriage, and at first I was totally on the wife’s side, then the narrative shifts to the husband’s point of view. Very enjoyable, and thought provoking. The best bit about reading it was peering over the top every now and then and watching my husband loosen his imaginary collar. No harm keeping them on their toes, am I right?
If Wham, A-ha, and Tiffany are musical highlights for you then you probably know all about Popscene in Cork already. Anyway, it’s a themed bar dedicated to the 90s and 90s. It’s on the first floor of The Voodoo Rooms on Oliver Plunkett Street and you’ll be right back in the era of stonewashed denim and neon everything else from the moment you spot the Rubik’s Cube tables and the karaoke booth. Yes, a (hopefully) sound-proofed booth where you can belt out Whitney, Cyndi, and Abba tunes at top volume.
I was so impressed with how good the Corkmas parade actually was. I think some of the St Patrick’s Day parades from the 1980s, with their undecorated bin trucks and frozen majorettes, had put me off parades for a while. But this was so well organised and featured seriously talented performers and really good floats. It was Christmassy and bright and everything you’d want a parade to be. There were dancers, stiltwalkers, music, giant baubles, and carol-singing, from groups including the Barrack Street Band, Cork Community Art Link, The Montford School of Dance, Joan Denise Moriarty School of Dance, and LUXe. Everyone who was at this year’s parade will be sure to go next year and so will everyone they tell about it so I can see this having to take in a few extra streets next year.
It takes something pretty special for me to even consider an up-and-down-in-the-one-day trip to Dublin. And Nick Cave and the Bad Seed’s Wild God tour at 3Arena was just that. I’ve seen Cave at venues including Lissaird near Skibbereen and at the Marquee in Cork and love his manic, powerful songs as much as the more mellow and haunting ones. Had presumed this concert would be at the quieter end of things and was delighted to be proved wrong. Wow, the energy and passion was just brilliant. And I was impressed too with his engagement with the audience. Just a tip if you’re going to any Nick Cave gig in future though — put away the soul-sucking energy-stealing mobile phone device for the duration — he does not like people texting friends or live-streaming or recording bits of the concert while he’s singing.
A Man on the Inside, Netflix. When I read the series description, I didn’t get much further than the words ‘Ted Danson’, ‘spy’ and ‘nursing home’ before hitting play pretty swiftly. If you can’t tell, A Man on the Inside sees Ted Danson play a retired widower who, when following his daughter’s advice to find a hobby or a job to occupy his time, signs up to become a spy in a nursing home. Each episode is only 20 minutes long so it can be binged in a day — which I did — and while it’s a fun comedy it also tackles heavy topics like grief and loneliness, so be prepared for the occasional gut-punch moment.
My Kindle. It was my birthday in November and my boyfriend surprised me with a Kindle. I’ve used the Kindle app on my phone occasionally over the years, usually to read something on a plane or in a waiting room when I’ve burned through my physical book, but I was shocked not only by how much I enjoy using it but by how many books I’ve been burning through in the last few weeks. Despite hitting a reading slump in recent months, I’ve finished eight books since I got the Kindle and very satisfyingly reached my Goodreads goal of reading 50 books (and still climbing) in 2024.
Wonderlights. I popped along to the media night at Wonderlights in Fota House and Gardens a few weeks ago and I was so surprised by the transformation. Wonderlights is an immersive light installation at the venue this festive season and it is its first time opening in Cork with other locations in Dublin. It is a truly magical journey following the lights and an adjoining festive food market has food and drink options, including hot chocolate and mulled wine. A really special night in Cork and perfect to get into the Christmas spirit.
Wrappos. Because I live quite close to Yings Palace I had no excuse not to hop on the wrappo bandwagon and try the hottest Chinese order in Cork at the moment. Imagine a three-in-one dipped in batter, rolled in spice bag seasoning and dipped into curry sauce and you’ll have an idea what you’re getting in the order. It’s carb heaven for takeaway fans and at just €6.50 for two wrappos it’s no surprise they’re flying out the door. Read more about them here.
For all the tack and over-consumerism, I will still never get sick of seeing the Christmas lights switched on for the first time. This month, I kickstarted my festive season with a Christmas-themed stay in The Galmont Hotel in Galway early in November. It included plenty of mulled wine, a visit to the Christmas market and a special screening of Love Actually. Ever since, I’ve been soaking up the festive spirit any which way I can – and trying to stop myself from buying everything Grinch-themed in Penneys.
This month I checked out Achara on Aston Quay – a new Thai restaurant in Dublin that has been getting rave reviews. My friend and I opted for the Grilled Chicken Khao Soi and the Beef Cheef panang curry – and I have not stopped thinking about that curry since. Great food, friendly staff, and a buzzy atmosphere – what more could you want?
This month I hit a milestone of 50 rides at my spin studio, echelon. For someone who has really struggled with exercise over the years and tends to give up after a few weeks, hitting that mark felt like an extra big achievement.
Ballygarry Estate Hotel and Spa. Nádúr Spa in Ballygarry Estate and Hotel has had a little upgrade since I last visited, and it’s just glorious. The Kerry spa has extended its thermal suite area into its beautiful landscaped gardens with an additional hot tub and two outdoor baths. The placement of the baths at the foot of the Kerry mountains was too dreamy of a location to pass up so I opted to delve in. There are three types to choose from, a seaweed bath, a sea salt bath, or a floral aromatherapy bath. With my book and complementary fruit in hand, it felt like the world was a million miles away.
Chez Jules, Edinburgh. This month I spent a few days in Edinburgh and to keep my TikTok algorithm happy, I finally decided to take a trip to Chez Jules. And let me tell you, my For You page didn’t lie. Nestled in the heart of Edinburgh’s new town, Chez Jules is something straight from a rustic French village. From the red and white checked table covers to the quaint decor. They’re known for their take on steak frites and it lived up to the hype. It holds a special place in the hearts of locals and you can see why by the friendly laid-back atmosphere, or maybe because the prices are fantastic. A three-course lunch from just £9.90? Oui oui.
Wicked. If you’re a regular reader of our monthly loves, you’d know that I’m a fully-fledged musical theatre kid, so you wouldn’t be surprised to find that Wicked features for me this month. I’ve had a love-hate relationship with musical adaptations over the years but I can safely say that it is just perfect. It’s a love letter to musical theatre fans and my teenage heart is so full. And it’s not just for MT lovers, from LGBTQ+ representation to shining a light on disabilities, animal rights and female friendship, it hits to right notes for many reasons.
Fréwacka/Fréamhacha (dir. Aislinn Clarke, available 2025 on Shudder). The 69th iteration of the Cork International Film Festival brought with it another brace of incredible Irish-made features – not the least significant of which should be director Aislinn Clarke’s debut horror full-length Fréamhacha (roughly meaning ‘earthly ties’), also titled Fréwaka for international audiences, as the film flits between an Gaeilge, English and smatterings of Ukranian. What begins as a tale of a young healthcare professional escaping her own personal tragedies with a posting to a home-help assignment in the remote West of Ireland, becomes a chronicle of visceral struggle. The long-established lines between humanity and the otherworld are blurred; generational trauma and institutional misogyny are explored with occasional injections of divilment; and the individual repression and disconnection that was asked of generations of Irish individuals is laid bare. Part of the Cine4 programme of Irish-language feature films, it bows on horror-themed streaming service Shudder sometime in 2025 – and is a must-see, wherever it will become available closer to home.
Naive Ted – Output: Works 2013-2021 (The Unscene, available for streaming and download on Bandcamp). I have been on record as saying that the wildly-varied (and at-times unhinged) work of Naive Ted, the lucha-masked alter-ego of Killarney-born turntablist and producer Andy Connolly, will, in time, be studied and pored over in the same way Ireland’s young music nerds are only now beginning to do over the works of contemporary domestic pioneers like composer Roger Doyle. With two turntables, a sequencer and a laptop, Ted and various partners-in-crime went from foundational boom-bap hip-hop, to exploring connections with ambient, folk and the Irish musical tradition, and outward to some genuinely outré techno and electronica. This compilation of essential madness from his self-published canon, spanning eight years of consistent releases and live activity, will doubtlessly serve as that gateway upon its eventual rediscovery, years from now.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Nintendo, available on Nintendo Switch). At long last, after over nearly four decades, the titular princess of the storied Legend of Zelda videogame series gets her own (official) adventure. Simply put, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom inverts the age-old ‘damsel in distress’ themes, sending Zelda out on a rescue mission, after the usual hero of the tale gets sucked into calamity first this time. What unfolds is a neat, and very cute, distillation of the series’ latter-day physics puzzles and problem-solving, melding it into a compact, top-down adventure in the style of the series’ beloved earlier entries. Perfect for dipping in and out of over the winter as a ‘cosy’ game – and definitely aided in this regard by the ability to interact with all the doggies you meet along your path.
