Castle Hotel Macroom Open Day!

'I have lived in Macroom all my life and I have never seen a Castle Hotel bedroom!' - A recent posting on The Castle Hotel Facebook Page by one of our locals.  So this got us thinking! Lets have An Open Day!

An Open Day - As the definition goes: 'an occasion on which an institution is open for inspection by the public, also called: open house.'

On so many occasions we are required to 'open the house' for the purposes of an official industry inspection, for example, Failte Ireland or The Restaurant Association of Ireland.  Such inspections are vital for our classification, membership of groups and indeed the ability to win awards! (As we did recently for The Best Customer Service in Cork by The Restaurant Association of Cork).

 

But even more importantly we would like you, our locals, our valued customers, to 'inspect' us. Your opinions matter to us!

So please come to our Castle Hotel Open Evening on Tuesday June 25th between 6 and 8pm!

• Have you ever wondered where they do all that laundry?
• Or thought where do they bake all those delicious 'Next Door Cafe' treats! 
• Like to see our chefs 'live' in The Castle Hotel kitchen?
• And view our bedrooms, including our Bridal Suite?

Enter a competition on the evening to win a FREE night at The 4 Star Castle Hotel!

 

Please come along on June 25th - we would love to show you around!

 

 

 

www.castlehotel.ie

 

Traffic - Can you see me now?

I finished work at The Castle Hotel one evening recently and headed out for a run. Decked out in my newly acquired high vis vest, I felt assured that all manner of on-coming traffic could easily see me. How wrong I was! My short evening run consisted of dodging everything from cars, bikes and buggies, but possibly most annoying was the oblivious young couple overtaking the footpath, forcing me out into the path of the near approaching bus!

On I went, on the pavement, off it, back on again. Maybe this hideous aluminous vest is'nt as bright as I thought? Keep running, keep watching, keep thinking.......maybe in their defense, the driver was watching other traffic in his path, maybe the cyclist's eyes were on the busy traffic junction ahead, the couples' eyes solely on each other?

It made me think of The Castle Hotel's many different 'aluminous vests', our web presence, everything we do to direct traffic into our path! Like runners, we want traffic to see us but unlike runners, we want that traffic to hit us! 

Our blog, twitter, website, facebook, youtube and so on. We can't assume that all the traffic out there can see us. We're working everyday to make our vests more and more aluminous, so that we stand out to you, our traffic. Hope you can take some time of your busy day today to have a look!

Pat Ryan's Quick & Easy Pancakes

It's Pancake Tuesday! Here's our head chef Pat Ryan's guide to quick and easy pancakes!

Ingredients:

1 large egg, 5 teaspoons sugar, 1 1/3 cups milk, 1 cup flour, 3/4 teaspoon baking powder, 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil (optional)

Directions:

1.In a bowl or mixing jug, whisk together egg, sugar and half of milk (2/3 cup).

2. Add the flour and mix throughly.

3. Then add remaining milk (2/3 cup) and baking powder. It should be the consistency of thick cream.

4. (Optional): Add 1-1/2 tsp oil if you have trouble with sticking.

5. Beat until smooth.

6. Pour about a soup spoon sized amount onto a pre-heated lightly greased frying pan or griddle (You will need to start about medium high heat but after a few rounds you will need to drop it back to medium).

7. Flip with a spatula when the top is all bubbly (should be a lovely golden colour), and cook the other side (~45 seconds/side depending on stovetop).

8. Remove from pan and pile up on a plate (cover with a paper towel until served).

9. Serve with whatever you like and enjoy.

Wolves, Monks & Pregnant Women!

Thinking of popping the question this Valentines Day?

Valentine’s Day often signals the end to a concentrated period of people popping the question which began in December, continued through the Christmas period and now reaches a crescendo on February 14th!

At The Castle Hotel, our Wedding Team have put together some suggestions for our followers on the all important unique proposal!

Recreating a First Date: Tell your valentine not to make any plans for February 14th, then make all the arrangements to recreate your first date. In your own words, say that you've recreated the moment because it was the moment you met the person you're going to marry, then get down on one knee and pop the question!

Photo Album: Make an album of your relationship, with pictures of the two of you during important moments, and on last page write "what will the future bring? How about marriage?"

For the techies: Create your own podcast proposal and sneak it onto her iPod.

So if you're busy practicing your proposal routine, you could of course let us take care of the smaller details like, champagne, chocolates, flowers, dinner, luxury accommodation............

Good luck with your proposals! At least you won't have to worry about ancient folklore, where if they saw a blind man, a monk or a pregnant woman, it was believed that the proposal would not be accepted as these signs were thought to bring bad luck. If, however, they saw wolves, this was a good omen which would bring good fortune to the marriage!?

For more expert Wedding opinion, visit our Wedding Afternoon on February 24th, from 12 to 4 pm.

January 6th: ‘Women’s Little Christmas – Nollaig na mBan’

The 6th of January is Epiphany in the Western Church tradition and Christmas Day in the Orthodox. In Ireland we know it as ‘Nollaig na mBan’ or ‘Women’s Little Christmas’ – what a great idea for us ladies!

Traditionally at Women’s Little Christmas, the men do the housework and the women go out together. Historically the only job in the home that the women have to do on January 6th is to light the candles to celebrate the Epiphany Festival.

As you men will be so busy with this housework, we thought we would help you along with a recipe in case you wished to cook for the lady in your life! I think it has to be with something light, elegant, tempting and an antidote to the recent Christmas excesses, so scallops with chilli and ginger anyone?

The Castle Hotel's Women's Little Christmas Recipe:

Scallops with chilli and ginger

You will need up to six scallops per person.

Slice a clove of garlic, a small chill and a piece of ginger and fry in some good olive oil until lightly coloured. Ideally leave the oil for a little while to develop the flavour.

Wash and dry the scallops on kitchen paper and season.

Heat up the oil and throw in the scallops, cook for a very short time - a minute maybe - no more. Then turn over and cook the other side.

Throw in some chopped coriander and serve immediately. Have with a green salad or a spicy dressing and a lot of good white wine!

Castle Cranberry!

No Irish Christmas would be the same without this rich cranberry dish. It's more than just a sauce and is excellent the day after on turkey sandwiches!

Ingredients:

1 package of fresh cranberries, 2 packets of lemon jelly (you could use 1 lemon and 1 orange), 1 cup chopped pecans, 1 can crushed pineapple (drained), 2 cartons of cream cheese (at room temperature), 2 cups sugar.

Method:

Roughly chop the cranberries, or blitz them with a food processor, and put into a bowl with the two cups of sugar poured and mixed through them. Leave for 30-45 minutes. Mix up both packets of jelly as per packet instructions and add to the cranberry mixture along with the drained pineapple and chopped pecans. Pour half of the jelly mixture into a shallow dish and allow to set in the fridge. Once set, smooth the softened cream cheese over the set jelly until covered and top with the rest of the jelly mixture. Put this into the refrigerator and allow to set. Serve with turkey or an rich meat such as goose or game.

Serves: 6 - 8

'What's great about being a Macrompian?'

The Gathering 2013 is only around the corner! It will be a spectacular, year-long celebration of all things Irish!

At The Castle Hotel Macroom we're busy planning and creating Gatherings for a range of different groups and interests.  A gathering can be anything from 2 people upwards and for any reason you wish!  There are so many reasons why people just love and miss Ireland!

So what's great about being a Macrompian!'.......What would you miss about living in Macroom or what do you miss if you live somewhere else now?

Here's a little of what we think is great about Macroom:

1. Watching a show at the Briery Gap, our local theatre.


2. Strolling around our local market and filling a picnic basket with fine food like olives, locally made cheese, & bread and heading to Gougane Barra the source of The Lee, St. Finbarr’s Hermitage, to escape it all!

3. Taking a visit to Ireland's only Toy Soldier Factory at 'Prince August'.

4. Learning the skills of fly angling in the beautiful scenic and peaceful surrounds of the Lee Valley. The Sullane, Foherish and Lee Rivers provide the perfect fly angling conditions.
5. Visiting the historic Bealick Mill a 19th century cornmill, beautifully restored, famine exhibition, & local records.
6. Don’t forget our beautiful authentic pubs, with Saturday night Live Music in Dan Buckley's Bar from 10pm!


7. Remembering 1922 – step back in History and visit Beal na Blath – site of Michael Collins shooting in 1922.
8. The other Castle – explore Macroom Castle, a 13th century stronghold of the O’Flynns, Lords of Muskery.

9. Walking! Macroom has some of the most unspoilt and rural regions in which to walk.

10. A statutory Nature Reserve, The Gearagh, represents the remains of the last Post-Glacial Alluvial Rain Forest found in Western Europe, which was formed at the end of the Ice Age. Over one hundred species of flowers, plants and ferns to be found here.


Need more inspiration? Have a look here.........

Maybe you've never been to Ireland and you're tracing your roots? There is a global Irish diaspora of 70 million. Are you one of them? Instead of waiting for you to find us, we’re inviting you back for The Gathering Ireland 2013. It might just be the perfect time to come and find out more about your forefathers and forge a deeper connection with our country.

See our Gathering Package on our website

And remember inviting someone to come to Ireland for The Gathering 2013 is as easy as writing a short note! It's easy to be PART of it.............