Polly Says Hey Pesto!

I first met Yvonne Carty quite a few years ago at my very first networking event, run by the Offaly and Laois Enterprise Boards it was held at Durrow Castle which lies deep to the south of Laoise near the borders of counties Tipperary, Carlow and Kilkenny.



Yvonne Carty, the creative genius behind Hey Pesto! lives close to me and yet I'd to travel some distance to meet her. I recognized her as someone I 'knew' by sight immediately and on gentle probing discovered that she is in fact from nearby Tullamore but lives a little closer to hand - in the same village as me!!! That in itself tells a tale about the kind of life I was living prior to our initial formal introduction, it was frenetic to say the least. Thank goodness fate had intervened and rendered me unfit to continue, demanding a break from all that I knew while introducing me to so much more...

As well as being incredibly busy with her catering business Yvonne is actively involved with the Geashill Tidy Towns committee in organising the brand new Muc Fair in Geashill, Co Offaly on 31st July 2011. (Contact the tidytowns committee for information regarding stands, etc) Without a doubt she's a lady with community conscience and can be seen here promoting Tipperary Tastee's, although she did sneak in a taste of Offaly by using locally produced cream in her main course (wink!)


For more information on Hey Pesto! why not check out their Facebook Page?

Polly Rises To ITICA Challenge...

Yesterday, over on my other blog 'Vinca'a-In-Tha-Kitchen', thanks to Hey Pesto's Yvonne Carty, I introduced the concept of Ireland's very first National Fish & Chips Day! Yes, you read that right, participating chip ships all over Ireland were selling their very finest fish and chips for half price in celebration of this new event in Ireland's history.

Anyway, as usual in the Pierce household, one thing lead to another with the end result being that I made a jokey bet with Sandie, from Paper Play Challenges that I would make a card to celebrate. What a laugh?! I mean, who in their right mind would be celebrating fish & chip day - for goodness sake...

Well, for one me! I took myself off to my local Italian chippers, Macari located in Tullamore's Market Square and treated myself to the best fish and chips since New Years Davy 2009. Just in case you're wondering why I made a point of emphasising the fact that Macari's is Italian, yesterdays feast was supported by ITICA (The Irish Traditional Italian Chipper Association).

For the sum of €3.75 I enjoyed freshly cut chips and fresh cod cooked in a lovely light and crispy batter which was piping hot and absolutely delicious. In fact the whole family enjoyed an Italian-Irish dinner of fish and chips last night, DG in Luigi's, Monasterevin and the rest of the brood in Macari's at different times throughout the evening. Apparently the promotion has paid off as both outlets were superbly busy...

Later on in the evening, inspired by my full stomach and having ingested so-called brain food, I set about my task. For a while I just sat there and wondered if I should call a halt to the proceedings, after all, it was only a joke. But as time wore on and my other two cards were finished, it slowly began to dawn on me that I've at least a couple of stamp sets with an overall fishy theme running through them.

Sadly I can't recall the name of the first set, although I think it could be a Glitter Girls set for men, the large fish is from one of Anita's See D's Sets and the smaller fish and the air bubbles are from PaperTrey Ink's 'Pond Life'. The image is coloured with Pro-Markers Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Colour Box Chalk Inks, using a sponge dauber to achieve the desired effect.

I wrote the sentiment: 'Celebrate National Fish & Chip Day!' in a black Sakura gel pen, as I didn't really expect to be able to find a suitable rubber stamp at such short notice! All the card and ribbon is from The Paper Mill Shop at Junction One, in Antrim.

All in all I enjoyed the challenge. It certainly was an unusual one and I only wish that I'd have realised what day it was just a little earlier, because as usual for a Wednesday night this challenge lead to burning of the midnight oil, yet again!

I hope you enjoyed reading about my exploits as much as I enjoyed pitting my wits against what can only be described as a bizarre challenge. Suffice to say that my friends and colleagues at this morning's BNI meeting were thought it hysterical when I held my card up as an example of how to put an image together using smaller stamps in a multi-stamp image!

Polly Pierce
Vinca Cards

Offalian's Triumph

This morning I checked into Microsoft Outlook to see what delights had landed in my inbox and was not disappointed to spot the Offaly CEB December Ezine. My attendance of events organised by this group is unfortunately infrequent; due to previous commitments clashing. I keep an eye on things though; just in case...

In the wake of a whole swathe of award ceremonies it was a natural progression to publish some of the Offaly success stories; many of which had to do with food. Some; admittedly, in a somewhat round about way, but nevertheless come under that category!

Strangely enough this accolade must be awarded to Agetek who are based in Tullamore. Their stange name belies the fact that this company won the 2008 OCEB Enterprise Of The Year Award; but how is this connected with the subject at hand, ie Food? Well, simply put these guys manufacture doors for kitchen units and I'm sure we're all agreed that they are an integral part of the food preparation area...

On a much larger scale the Silver Award for cheese making was presented to Ralph Haslam of Mossfield Organic Cheese for his cow’s milk cheese with garlic and basil at the 2008 WORLD Cheese Awards which were held in Ireland for the first time this year; featuring over 2,400 entries from around the globe.

This award winning farm is situated at the foot of the Slieve Bloom Mountains some six miles from Birr, County Offaly. Having undergone organic conversion in 1999, Mossfield began production of award winning organic cheeses in 2005 and are hoping to expand into the field of yoghurt and ice-cream production in the future.

On a National Scale; the overall winner of any success story has to be Glenisk the overall Winner of National Organic Award 2008 for their Glenisk Irish Organic Butter. Glenisk Irish Organic Butter was judged the best of more than 100 entries in the 2008 National Organic Awards, organized by Bord Bia in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture.

The Cleary family business has been based in Killeigh, Co Offaly producing a range of organic yoghurt and milks for over twenty-five years. Sourcing quality organic milks from fifty farms across the island of Ireland; harvesting 90% of all organic milk produced, this company has gone from a dream to Award winning reality.

Another notable winner; the 2008 OCEB Enterprise Of The Year - Artisan Award was presented to Ballyshiel Artisan Foods who lovingly create a deliciously tempting range of speciality confectionery and chocolates; hand made using authentic family recipes. Their range includes Toffee Dulce de Leche (used in making Banoffee pie), exquisite Chocolate Sauce, Karina Handmade Chocolate's which include old time favourite; Macaroon Bars.

Ballyshiel Artisan Foods promise is that all their quality products are gluten, preservative, artificial flavouring, hydrogenated oil and fat free making them suitable for coeliac's and vegetarian's.

Also included in the list of Offaly CEB finalist's was Yvonne Carty of Hey Pesto! Who specialises in making entertaining a stress free adventure of the culinary variety. Catering for corporate and domestic customer's Yvonne has her craft down to a fine art and having sampled some of her wares I can heartily agree!

I'm sure we can all agree that the above list makes interesting reading for us Offalian's! It's nice to hear of anyone in the region succeeding in business but to be honest it's even better when this applies to food. At a time when there's less money available to splash out on expensive treats it's good to know that we have some award winning products right here on our door step. What's even nicer is that the quality of these products is assured...

I hope you enjoy checking out the links as there are some terrific products and companies to be found. Be thankful that Polly didn't launch into one of her famous rants about the dangers of eating 'normal' foodstuffs...

Polly Pierce

Fine Hand-Crafted Wedding Stationary & Greeting Cards For All Occasions: Affording You The Gift of Time