`Thoughts of Christmas brings great joy and gladness to our hearts and rightly so," writes Jim Tynan, the food supremo of Portlaoise's superb The Kitchen and The Foodhall. "But such an event brings lots of preparation work, and so I hope to help you with this great task and make it more enjoyable."
Tynan's way of helping us is to run a series of five classes over five weeks, looking each time at a different aspect of the Christmas rigmarole. The first class, on Tuesday, October 6th, kicks things off with The Big Stir-Up, when all manner of Christmas baking is explored. A week later it will be the turn of party foods, and week three looks at the big feast itself. The following Tuesday, Tynan takes a look at the Christmas meal with a difference, concentrating on roast goose and vegetarian cooking. Everything is wrapped up on week five with a class on Christmas goodies, such as Yule log, mincemeat pies, cakeicing, and the other bits and pieces. The price for the five classes is £75, and they run every Tuesday between October 6th and November 3rd at The Kitchen, in Portlaoise. Full details from Tynan on 0502-62061.