Between January 1, 2016 and January 1 of this year, Andrew Taylor lost over 100 pounds, going from 335 to 212 lbs., on a diet of nothing but potatoes. “I haven’t weighed myself since January, but my clothes all fit the same,” he told me over the phone this past June. Irish America covered Taylor’s story earlier this year (February / March), but we thought we’d check back in … [Read more...] about Andrew Taylor’s Year of Nothing but Potatoes
Food and Drink
Ireland Has Highest Alcohol and Tobacco Prices in EU
Ordering a whiskey or a pint in Ireland may find you with a subtle pain emanating from your wallet. A newly released survey found that tobacco and whiskey costs are 70 percent higher in Ireland than the rest of the countries in the EU. The National Off Licence Association director Evelyn Jones greeted the news with an attack on the Irish government, saying that the results of … [Read more...] about Ireland Has Highest Alcohol and Tobacco Prices in EU
Sláinte! Eat Your Veggies
While most people think of Ireland as a nation of “meat and potato” eaters, vegetables and dairy products are also a vital part of the Irish diet. One of my favorite Irish proverbs concerns Ireland’s most famous vegetable: “Be eating one potato, peeling a second, have a third in your fist, and your eye on a fourth.” For me the adage implies: Always have a back-up … [Read more...] about Sláinte! Eat Your Veggies
The World’s Irish Coffee Champion
The Buena Vista is Best! Drinking legend has it that in 1942, when Foynes was the foremost transit point between Europe and America, a flight to New York was returned to Ireland due to bad weather. The airport bartender, anticipating grouchy passengers, decided to add a little sweetener to their coffee, a hefty slug of whisky was sneaked into their drinks and Irish Coffee made … [Read more...] about The World’s Irish Coffee Champion
Sláinte: Let Them Eat
Irish Christmas Cake
Not so long ago, when my daughter was a child, life was very different. The world moved at a slower pace and I had time on my hands. It was the era before cable TV and the internet. The phrases "fast lane" and "couch potato" and "net surfer" had yet to be coined. Time stretched like soft taffy, begging to be filled and I industriously did so – especially in the weeks preceding … [Read more...] about Sláinte: Let Them Eat
Irish Christmas Cake