A day never to be forgotten, a memory to stay forever.
First Lady Michelle Obama and Bono entering Finnegans of Dalkey, waves to us behind the main bar. video by Oliver McCabe Select Stores.

Click here to watch:
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Michelle Obama and Family arriving to Finnegans Dalkey click here :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3bhrP1sO0c

Bono waving to Oliver Finnegans Dalkey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ79Bz0O3mo

Michelle Obama and family leaving Finnegans Dalkey click here :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNnX9q1So60

Bono arriving Finnegans Dalkey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbsxy-lNDOo

Michelle Obama cavalcade leaving finnegans click here :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9bAGWW7PtU

First lady Michelle Obama has adopted healthy eating and fighting childhood obesity among her pet causes. Her first book, “American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America” tells of her experiences planting the first vegetable garden at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt’s time and shares stories of other community gardens across the country.

Obama, who did not accept an advance and will donate all author proceeds to the National Park Foundation, sat down recently to discuss the book.

Q: What inspired you to write the book?

A: My own experiences being a mom, trying to feed my kids right. What I realized when I started making some simple changes like … adding more fruits and vegetables. Getting the kids to farmers markets. Engaging them in the process of understanding where their food was coming from. They took an interest, and their health outcomes changed pretty dramatically.

I thought, if I don’t know these things, what’s going on in other households where people have less information, fewer resources? So I started thinking about how a garden could begin a really good conversation. … The book is another extension of the garden.

We tried to make this book pretty user-friendly so that kids would open it up and get engaged just from the pictures. And we wanted to tell other stories. … There are thousands of wonderful community gardens all across the country. I had visited some, and I wanted to tell that story, too, and also use the book as a way to talk about the work that we’re doing with childhood obesity and childhood health (the “Let’s Move” initiative). So when we talk about that, we throw in a few recipes.

Q: What about the beehive and the concern about the proximity of the beehive to the White House and the president’s basketball court?

A: Deep concern. Kids don’t like bees — what kid likes bees? And then I’ve got this other kid, the president, and he doesn’t like bees. It took a little convincing, but we had one of the staff who was a beekeeper. I assured everyone we would not be caring for the bees individually. We could just look from afar. We all coexist very well together. The honey is amazing. I eat it almost every day in my tea with my snack. We give it as gifts. … And it’s delicious.

Q: What is the biggest struggle in the garden?

A: We still struggle every day with it. Trying to figure out how to grow the right melon — we still haven’t been successful with watermelon. Our pumpkins are still a little lame. We’re doing some potatoes — I hope they turn out. This is the first season of red russets and different varieties. We won’t know for another month or so how those are going.

Finding the proper structure for a public community garden (was hard). At first we didn’t have beds that were enclosed, and we found that a big rain would come through and wash everything out. Fortunately we had gardeners who would help readjust everything. We found having those beds worked, especially since we have a lot of little kids coming through. It makes it easier for volunteers to come and not pull up the wrong thing.

This is the 4th year of the Dalkey Business Group Local Schools Competition which is held during Dalkey Book Festival presented this year by Mary Kingston and Gordon Snell. Select Stores Oliver McCabe and RTEs Mary Kingston came up with the idea of a drawing competition with the themes ‘Circle Of Friends’ for juniors and ‘The Lilac Bus’ for seniors ‘In Honour of Maeve Binchy’, with the kind support and time of Maeve’s husband Gordon Snell who is the Judge for this years event. The prizegiving will be held this Saturday June 15th at 4.30pm at the Maeve Binchy Garden Dalkey Library. Many thanks to our sponsors The Jelly Bean Factory, Country Bake, Select Stores, Borea Construction and Dalkey Business Group. Also many thanks to our event co-ordinator Sara Macken. The winners and runners up of competition can be seen in Select Stores Dalkey during Dalkey Book Festival 2013 and the rest all over our heritage town of Dalkey. The participating schools are Castlepark School, Sharavogue School, St. Patrick’s School, Loreto Primary Dalkey and Harold Boys School. And Many thanks to all the local children who did (as always) an amazing job of drawing their idea/vision of the chosen themes to commemorate Maeve Binchy and as Gordon said ‘She would have loved this!. Miss you Maeve x

Highbank Orchard Syrup

“Irelands answer to maple syrup”, this sweet and delicious, pouring, organic orchard syrup, is the first of its kind. Grown and produced by Highbank Orchards in Kilkenny, Ireland. With years of research, Highbank launched the Orchard Syrup in 2010 at Savour Kilkenny.

Totally organic, this unique, healthy product is made from Irish, organic apples from the farm. Highbank Orchard Syrup is completely organic made from our apples only – no pesticides, no artificial fertilisers or preservatives. Stored at ambient temperature, Highbank orchard syrup has a shelf life of over 2 years.

Ingredients
•Irish organic apples, no added sugar.
•Free from artificial colours, additives and preservatives.
•Suitable for vegetarians.

“So, apples is what you get, and what they make is a syrup that is also a tonic. This is a great product, and it has already edged West Cork honey to the margins when it comes to the morning porridge here at Bridgestone Central. But it’s not just breakfast that benefits from Highbank Syrup: slug it on some ice cream, or a slice of warm apple tart, and you have orchard heaven”.

Sally McKenna, Bridgestone Guides

Storage of Highbank Orchard Syrup

Highbank Orchard Syrup is produced from our organic apples, PRESSED FRESH directly, after harvesting in the Autumn. It gets its natural sweetness from the natural occurring fructose in the apple and is suitable for long-term storage. We have put a shelf life on it of at least two years.

Once the bottle is open it is best consumed within 6 months as there may be moisture in the air and its hydrophilic properties may pull the moisture into the syrup, eventually allowing fermentation to begin.

Orchard Syrup is an AMBIENT PRODUCT that does not need to be refrigerated but is good for the STORE CUPBOARD or table, even when open.

Uses

Drizzle on porridge and muesli, pour on ice cream, pancakes and desserts, glaze your ham, sausages or vegetables, flavour your stews, oat cakes and breads. As a hot healthy drink or in whiskey. Drizzle on cheese (particularly blue cheese), on pate and game terrines. Delicious on bananas as well as poured on Waldorf Salads! Just some of the uses and suggestions coming from our customers.

Orchard Syrup Salad Dressing

A light and simple to make salad dressing.

Ingredients

1 part Highbank Orchard Syrup
50ml lemon juice
1 part olive oil
crushed garlic to taste

Shake the ingredients together and pour over the salad and toss.

Tully B’s Chimichurri

What is it??

Chimichurri is a blend of parsley, garlic and chillies plus other herbs and spices and then mixed with 100% extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar to infuse all of the flavours together while creating a unique and traditional dipping sauce and marinade. There are three different versions of chimichurri to cater for those who like it with a kick, with a fiery kick or those who like it easy going on their taste buds.

Where is it from??

Chimichurri is famously from Argentina where the sauce is an everyday accompaniment to their daily meals.

What can I use it with??

The sauce goes incredibly well with steak and is renowned by Argentinean people to be the best steak sauce in the world and who can argue with a country who are undoubtedly recognised for having the best steak in the world!!!

The sauce also goes very well with chicken, fish, pasta and more. Chimichurri sauce is also perfect as an appetizer, served with chunks of crusty bread that can be dipped into the sauce. This is an extremely versatile sauce and because it is an oil and vinegar based product you do not have to worry about the product going off anytime soon!!

Delicious Salad dressed with Chimichurri

8 cups baby spinach leaves

1/2 medium red onion, sliced and separated into rings

1 (300 gr) can mandarin oranges, drained

1 1/2 cups sweetened dried cranberries

1 cup honey-roasted sliced almonds

1 cup crumbled feta cheese

1 cup balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing, or to taste

Mix salad well and top with red onion, mandarin oranges, cranberries, sliced almonds and feta cheese in that order.

BEETROOT, PUMPKIN AND FETA SALAD

Ingredients:

600g butternut squash

2 medium beetroot bulbs

150g feta cheese

200g baby spinach

Organic Extra Virgin olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Description:

Pre heat oven to 200 degrees. Chop up butternut squash (can leave skin on if preferred), into 5 cm cubes, place in a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. bake till tender.

Peel and chop beetroot into 5cm cubes, place in a pan and cover with water. Add a sprinkle of salt and cook over a medium heat for around 20 mins. Drain.

Place washed baby spinach in a bowl. Add partially cooled beetroot and butternut squash, sprinkle with feta. Drizzle with olive oil and salt to taste.

KIDS GREEN SMOOTHIES AND JUICES FOR THE SUMMER

All recipes will make 8 ounces or 250ML.

Please wash all fruit and vegetables before use. Buy local/organic if possible!

1. SUPERKID SMOOTHIE (energy)

½ lime juice squeezed
3 small apples juiced
1/4 of cucumber juiced
1 tablespoon of Pineapple peeled and cubed
1 tablespoon of a ready to eat avocado peeled and stoned
Ice if you like
Method: blend for 30 seconds pineapple, avocado, wheatgrass, spirulina, ice with juice of cucumber, apples and lime.

2. TASTES GUT!! Smoothie (immune boosting)
100g of local natural unsweetened Natural Yoghurt
½ a cup of Rice Milk (you can use other milk alternatives if you wish)
1 Banana peeled
½ a level teaspoon of MGO100 Manuka Honey or local honey
2 drops of organic natural vanilla essence
½ level teaspoon of spirulina
Ice if you like
Method: Blend the whole lot, Easy Peasy!

3. I’M GOING BANANAS light smoothie (sport/activity)
A handful of spinach juiced
3 small apples juiced
1 banana peeled
ice if you like

Method: juice spinach and apples, then add juice to a blender with banana. Blend for 30 seconds.

4. KIDS DETOX JUICE (cleansing)
1 large carrot juiced
2 small apples juiced
1 stick of celery juiced
A small handful of spinach juiced

Method: juice everything in a one by one in a juicer.

Tip 1: when juicing always start juicing with hard fruit and vegetables such as Apples and Carrots then move onto softer fruits or vegetables like celery, spinach and limes.
Why? Because you will get more juice from your fruit and vegetables this way rather than them mostly ending up as pulp in your juicer bin for the compost heap.

Tip 2: soft fruits like pineapple, mango, papaya, kiwi and banana can only be blended in a blender for smoothie recipes and not juiced for juices, if you juice with them they will only end up as pulp in your juicer bin. Wasting your time and money!

Tip 3: Always make your juices and smoothies freshly and drink them slowly (not fast) so your digestive system can process and absorb nutrients properly and easily. If packaging, use a flask or good plastic/glass bottle for upto 1 hour usage.

Tip 4: Always have your juices and smoothies for breakfast or lunch and not for dinner because they could ferment with your evening meal and make you feel unwell as your digestive system is preparing to rest and is not fully functional.

Tip 5: Enjoy yourself and have fun creating your own recipes with your parents, make sure you clean up after yourself.

Health on the Hill part of Dalkey Book Festival 2013
Patrick Holford, Bernadette Bohan and Dr. Marilyn Glenville
Saturday June 15th and Sunday June 16th
€12 each per talk. Special on Sunday June 16th Female Health Day €20 for 2 talks.
Venue:Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel Killiney
Tickets on Sale at Select Stores Dalkey Only call 01 -2859611
sponsored by Select Stores Dalkey, Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel and Dalkey Book Festival.

Eating organic food, good healthy food is a necessity not a luxury, and often people say ‘I am trying to watch my spending, it costs too much’, well we are here to de-bunk that ideology.

1. Compare our prices with conventional food at the supermarket, a lot of our certified organics lines are cheaper than what your local supermarket offers conventional produce, what this means is that for the same amount of money you are currently spending at the supermarket, you can get local organic produce…

2. Eat seasonally, seasonal foods are cheaper by far. It makes perfect sense too, if something is in season, its grown locally, is in abundance and doesn’t have to travel far to get to you, that equates to fresher, healthier and tastier produce as well as cheaper by comparison.

3. If you are new to organics, make a gradual transition over to organics, start with replacing five lines a week with organics lines.

4. Eat better, rid you cupboard and life of processed inert foods and fill your fridge with energy giving foods that will nourish you. Buying fresh is truly cheaper than buying processed, convenience foods. Try making your own foods from raw ingredients.

5. Create a menu and shopping list and stick to it, decide what you are going to eat for the week and buy only those items you need. Make your own pie (perhaps a raw apple pie), make your own bliss balls, or lemonade. Make sure that nothing goes to waste, freeze what you don’t use and add to smoothies and soups, preserve and dehydrate.

6. Eat the whole food, did you know that the greens and stalks of the cauliflower can be eaten, dehydrate the orange skin (Hmmm add to cakes and raw chocolate), bake and roast your potatoes with the skins on, juice the whole fruit, save the pumpkin seeds and eat them (learn more). Reduce food waste, save your money and be healthier