Be Our Guest Carol Anne Rushe

Be Our Guest Carol Anne Rushe
(Date:22 March 2011)

Well, our first two guest blog posts have been going down a storm! Lorraine Griffin and Johnny Cool certainly have been popular! The next to step up to the plate is one we've been waiting for, for a while! North west lass Carol Anne Rushe from the brilliant carolanneskitchen.com is a kindergarten teacher living in the middle of the desert in Doha, Qatar, (right) who loves food, and everything to do with it! You can find out all about here here. It's a little bit long, (we got carried away with the chats!) but we promise, it's so so worth the read!

So Carol Anne, tell us about how you got into blogging about food,
and why?

I first got into blogging when I was in final year in college. It was definitely an influence from my sisters who had been involved in social media for quite a while at that stage and they encouraged
me to start sharing my foodie experiments with people. I started
up a blog that didn’t end up being very successful, but then a
couple of years later, I got back in to it and along came www.carolanneskitchen.com which is just under a year old. I’m having so much fun with it and learning lots every day.

I love the idea of blogging, I experiment with a lot of foods, travel to some amazing places and usually have some random banter to fill people in on. So, I thought why not! It’s an easy way to share and also since I have started blogging, my interest in photography has become one of my favourite parts of my blog.

What is your main inspiration for Carol-Annes Kitchen?

I would definitely say that my inspiration for my blog is mainly food related. Although my biggest inspiration is my mum, growing up with her cooking was amazing. We were spoilt rotten with freshly baked breads and cakes, the yummiest soups and dinners that I can only dream of now, being so far from home! My sisters, like myself have become enthusiastic foodies as well and when we have a family get together, we talk a lot of food!! Mum still tells us amazing stories of growing up on her mother’s farm in Clare Galway, making their own black pudding and warming the newly born Poults (turkey babies) in woolly socks by the fire.

Judging by your site, and the lovely creations you cook up, you're very much a food lover eh?!

Oh yes indeed! In my spare time, if I ever have any, I also read recipes upon recipes from my fellow foodie bloggers from all over the world and I tend to indulge myself in the odd recipe book when I’m looking for something new. Right now, I’m in between Rachel Allen ‘Entertaing at Home’ and Julia Child ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’. I love their styles and homely approach to cooking.

After a fun-filled day in the classroom, I usually end up going straight in to the kitchen, playing around with my camera or checking-in online. (You can find C-A on Twitter and some amazing food photos on her Flickr too!). I find myself looking up foodie blogs and discovering new recipes. There are so many out there today and a lot of fresh and creative ideas are popping up all the time. It’s a great community to be involved in. In between checking in with everyone on Twitter, looking up new posts, checking out the Irish Foodie news at www.Irishfoodbloggers.com and with the new monthly Irish Foodie Cookalongs, I get to keep up to date with all the foodie biz at home and kept on my toes in the kitchen!

And do you get home to the good old green sod much? I know you celebrated away in Qatar for St Paddys Day!

I get to go home about 2 or 3 times a year and always make sure I check out somewhere new and exciting! I love checking out the offers at home when I’m having a root around mylunch.ie. It’s always great to see what’s being served up for lunch and I usually end up reading up on a new restaurant to visit the next time I’m home. If something appeals to me on the site, which it usually does, then I’ll just have to try it.

I really enjoy going out to eat and my typical kind of lunch would be a big group get together. I love having lunch surrounded by friends, everyone nattering away and plus, everyone orders something different, so lots to sample! One of my all time favourite lunch time treats, when I get to go home to the West, is popping in to Shells Café in Strandhill, Co. Sligo. They serve up some of the most amazing grub, delicious sweeet treats, BLT’s to die for and yummy daily specials.

What about your fave foreign lunch spots then? As a lady of the world, you must have great experiences!

Well, one of the nicest fancy lunches I have been to has been in the Market by Jean-Georges in the W Hotel, Doha. 5- star ‘working lunches’ are becoming hugely popular here. Diners in Market can choose a 3 course meal from an á la carte menu, giving you options such as Fresh Caesar Salad, Tomato Soup, House Burger, Parmesan Chicken and Popcorn Ice-Cream or Mango Cheesecake. So simple, yet to die for.

Friday Brunches are quite common in the Middle East too. You can eat, drink and be merry for 4 hours on a Friday afternoon in most of the 3-5 star Hotels dotted all over Doha. Picking and choosing a little bit of everything and if you’re lucky, the chefs walk you through all of the meals and tell you exactly how they were made.

I think the best place for an al fresco lunch has to have been in Al-Balad, in Downtown Lebanon. An amazing spot for people watching in this beautiful city, sipping an ice-cold Almaza and nibbling on freshly baked Arabic bread and the tastiest hummus with meat and pine nuts I have ever had. Although al fresco dining here in Doha is beautiful during the balmy winter months. My favourite place here has to be Souq Waqif in. Order a Shisha pipe, some traditional local tea and sit back and enjoy the sun as passers-by indulge themselves in some local crafts.

Throughout all of the traveling I have done, I have tasted so many local, traditional dishes. Tajine and Kuchari in Egypt. Tofu, Curries and Laddu in India.

Freshly caught fish off the coast of Hikkaduwa in Southern Sri Lanka, a visit to a Sri Lankan family’s house gave me the opportunity to sample exotic tasting lentil curries made simply with fresh coconut milk and spices.

Hammour and Lamb dishes throughout the gulf, lots of hummus variations too…cumin, lemon, meat and pine nuts! In Nepal, butter masala was my favourite choice, served with paneer and buttery, hot naan.

I love visiting countries and sampling the local cuisine, it is always exciting and usually a little researched, so I know what to look forward to!

What about your favourite dish?

If I were to choose my favourite dish to make I could be here all day, I would have to file them under categories and then list my top 5 of each. I dabble in so many different types, experimenting and attempting to create something tasty. However, if I had to choose something, I think one of the nicest things to make is bread. I think it’s quite a therapeutic process. I grew up watching my mother bake bread for us and whenever we came in from school, there was a fresh batch waiting for us to be lathered in butter. I hold on to those memories and often transform those into recipes.

You mentioned that you love keeping up to date with the Irish food community, it's something really special going on at the moment isn't it?

Watching the Irish food community grow in the way that it is now is really amazing. One thing I regret is not being at home to take part in the meet-ups, especially the Inishowen Irish Food Weekend, which sounded spectacular! As well as other Irish Foodies like Donal Skehan, Rachel Allen and Imen McDonnell who are really putting this amazing community on the map and more people are becoming so much more attracted to this fun and creative environment. I really hope to go back to Ireland in the next few years and become more of a part of it.

I love these new pop-up restaurants that are happening throughout Dublin. When I first heard of Lilly Higgins’ Loaves and Fishes Supper Night, I was so impressed with the idea and then CrackBird jumped on the scene and I’ve been hearing such amazing things from home about it. I’m hoping to be home this summer so I can be a bit more involved with the Irish Foodies scene.

And finally, as we ask all our guests, what's your favourite comfort food?!

My all time favourite comfort food, when I’m feeling ridiculously lazy and all that appeals to me is a dvd and a major laze on the couch, is rustling up a home-made lasagna, some fresh garlic bread and guzzling down a few glasses of the vino, of course. Hangovers are treated in the same way, something gluttonous and cheesy, usually pizza and it has to be made with buffalo mozzarella and cherry tomatoes, delish!

Wow, now that's a story and a half! Be sure to head on over to Carol Anne's site to say hello, she's sure to welcome you with open arms!

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Be Our Guest Carol Anne Rushe

Be Our Guest Carol Anne Rushe (Date:22 March 2011)

Be Our Guest Carol Anne Rushe
(Date:22 March 2011)