It was a wonderful weekend in Dingle at the 2nd Annual Dingle Food Festival. I judged on Friday, see www.icecreamireland.com for all the winners of the Blas na hEireann National Irish Food Awards. I was happy to see that all my favorites in the Healthy Division were chosen as winners. The top price in this category was awarded to Just Food – Organic Food for Life, a family run Cork business that submitted their Cranberry Nut Muesli. I met Deirdre Hillard and family at the Farmers Market. It’s good to see such hard working, down to earth people with a good product get the recognition they deserve. Other winners in this category were Foods of Athenry for their spelt bread and sugar.dairy free brack and Largo Foods for their truly satisfying Tayto Velvet Crunch. On Saturday I gave a Book Signing at the Dingle BookShop followed by a very succesful cookery demo. I made the Tofu Cutlets with port wine, rosemary and mushroom sauce, maple squash and broccoli with sundried tomatoes and fresh basil. Maybe it was the atmosphere of the lovely little St. James Church, the professional setup and/or the audience that made me feel totally comfortable, but I had a blast and the comments from everyone who came up to sample the food and buy a copy of Coming Home To Cook said I was “very entertaining.” There was a great craic in Curran’s saturday night, as well as a singing session. On Sunday I sampled some of the delicious foods on the Taste Trail and at the Farmers Market Stalls. I met Valerie O’Connor, a Limerick based food writer and photographer who took a book home to try a recipe and review the book. Check out her blog www.valskitchen.com.