Chocolate tea:You can't have too much of a good thing, especially if it's chocolate, which might explain why "Chocolate Week" at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin runs for a fortnight, from next Monday until March 30th.
The chocolate-themed afternoon tea in the Lord Mayor's lounge will feature eclairs, profiteroles, gateau opera, marquise and marble cake, and if you still haven't overdosed, the mixologists in the bar will be making chocolate martinis, with vanilla vodka and creme de cacao, garnished with a mini Easter egg. The chocolate afternoon tea will be served from 2.30-5pm, and costs €29 per person. Bookings: 01-6766471.
Cheese Olympics
The World Cheese Awards are coming to Dublin (Sept 29th-Oct 1st), and it's the first time in the 20-year history of the event that the judging will be done outside the UK. More than 2,000 cheeses from Europe, the US, South Africa and Australasia will be airfreighted to Dublin for the judging, which will take place in Simmonscourt.
Buy a bunny
Buy a cute 10g Lindt chocolate bunny in Superquinn stores nationwide this weekend or next for €1, and you'll be helping to equip a Cystic Fibrosis out-patient unit at Temple Street Children's Hospital. The Swiss chocolate company has donated the bunnies, and the full purchase price will be donated to the cause.
Mini treats
The Honeybuns brand of cakes and biscuits are all gluten-free and some are also dairy-free, yet they still manage to be moist, rich, and totally delicious. Emma Goss-Custard - great name for a cake maker - uses polenta and ground nuts instead of wheat flour, and olive oil and ground almonds instead of butter in her dairy-free recipes. The downside is the calorie count, which is scarily high. However, Honeybuns now come in mini versions, on sale here in two varieties - Coppice Cake (based on a German hazelnut torte recipe, with cranberries and dark chocolate buttons) and Heathcliffe Brownie (a dark chocolate brownie with West Indian orange oil). From coffee shops and delis including Puccino's, Newbridge and Lara Lu, George's Street Arcade, Dublin 2.
WEB WATCH: www.gastronom.ie (a selection of the best posts from the Irish food blogosphere). mcdigby@irish-times.ie