ON STREAM: The University of Limerick offers its students many places in which to eat different types of food; a new addition, called Millstream, has the kind of style not usually associated with campus restaurants.
It opened last month, next to a new engineering building (also designed by Murray Ó Laoire Architects). Local designer Jo Slade, in conjunction with Catherine Murphy of Campbell Catering, created the interior in the very fashionable colour combination of yellow, black and brown. Double-height corner windows look to trees that bank a stream running through the campus, and the atmosphere is one of fine dining with food that we found to be very good and fairly priced. All of which means it's heartening to hear that Millstream's clientele is already stretching beyond the university. There are wine and tapas evenings every Thursday and Friday from 5pm to 7pm, but for the moment the restaurant does not open at night. It can be hired for private functions and would make an ideal venue for a small wedding. For more details and reservations call 061-202272. Eoin Lyons
SITTERS ON SITE
It's not always easy, having a baby and a life. But if a party calls and you don't have an inexhaustible supply of babysitting relatives and neighbours, head for the web. Babysitters.ie is a precocious little website: in the two months it has been running, it has attracted 150 parents searching through the database of 7,805 babysitters. Potential babysitters post their details, including what they are and aren't willing to do, for free. Parents pay €25 to join, followed by a monthly fee (price varies depending on how long you subscribe for), and can enlist as many babysitters as they like. The system works slightly differently to a normal agency service, as parents do the vetting and have more control over who is in their home for the evening. Gold and silver stars are awarded to babysitters who have references, but it is up to the parents to check these. www.babysitters.ie. Nicoline Greer
IN BLACK AND WHITE
Last year Brazilian photographer Elis Taves brought a slice of Irish life to Brazil with her Irlanda exhibition. This week she introduced Brazilian faces to Ireland when she launched a book of photographs and an exhibition called City of Children. The children in the 30 black and white portraits were photographed at a Christmas party organised by the local Society of
St Vincent de Paul in Taves's home town of Belo Horizonte. She produced the photographs after volunteering at the centre, which provides food and warmth to 5,000 children. City of Children is at Oscar Wilde House, American College, Merrion Square, Dublin 2, until Thursday. 10am-4pm, Mon to Thu. Nicoline Greer
GARDEN HEAVEN
Mary Reynolds is an Oscar-winner in the world of gardening. Three years ago she won a gold medal at Chelsea Flower Show. Since then her career has been blooming, and she has undertaken projects for Kew Gardens, the BBC and Galway's Eyre Square. Tomorrow she takes people around her own designs at St Brigit's Garden, in Galway. Jenny Beale, who established the not-for-profit garden a year ago, instantly fell for the feel of Reynolds's "Celtic Sanctuary", which won her accolades at Chelsea. They created four separate gardens: Samhain, Imbolc, Bealtaine and Lughnasa, designed around the idea of the cycle of life, and including the wildflowers of the west of Ireland. The garden is surrounded by a 10-acre forest, trails and a fairy fort. Afternoon with Mary Reynolds, tomorrow, 2.30pm. Tours of the garden will be followed by a question and answer session, €6.50 per adult. Book on 091-550905, www.galwaygarden.com. Nicoline Greer
DOWN RICK'S WAY
Padstow in Cornwall, home of Rick Stein's seafood restaurant and cookery school, has become a lot closer now that Air Southwest flies direct from Dublin to Newquay. One way of getting there is to enter a competition being run for Bank of Ireland MasterCard customers, details of which appear in this month's CardTalk newsletter. The prize, for two, includes return flights, two nights' accommodation in Padstow, a one-day fish and shellfish course at the cookery school and dinner at Stein's exceptionally popular restaurant. Gordon Ramsay was recently quoted as saying that this is the only cookery school he can personally recommend, so presumably it also offers courses in anger management. For details of the school and the restaurant visit www.rickstein.com. Tom Doorley
OPEN DOORS
"Why the heck would I want to photograph doors?" responded Galway-based photographer Nick Hitchcox when a friend suggested that he aim his camera at the colourful entrances to shops and houses in the southern French town of Pézenas, where they were both spending some time. "But then I looked at them more closely, and I discovered these details, these patterns." Hitchcox got snapping, honing in on the tiny flaws and signs of age, the chipping paint, the ageing wood. What resulted was a series of more than 60 pieces that look as much like vast abstract canvases as they do photographs, a number of which are on show in Connemara. Although he had a few doors opened curiously - and, in some cases, furiously - in his face while he took the photographs, Hitchcox expects a positive response to the exhibition when it tours to Pézenas later this year. The Doorways of Pézenas continues at Starraic studio, in Roundstone Arts Centre, until Wednesday; www.hitchcox.com. Belinda McKeon