Jingle Bells

last week we launched the Diva Christmas Specialties menu! we did this simultaneously with La Vie en Rose's christmas room, which is amazing - and its next door to us in the village! the evening was packed with many people from near and far - trying cakes and mulled wine, and deciding on what to buy for christmas gifts. we were delighted so many showed up for the occassion and have loads of christmas orders for the big day!

if you weren't able to join us last week, have no fear! you can see what's on offer with our new Christmas Specialties Page, on this blog. (See Above) we've got a massive range of unique you-can-only-get-at-Diva cakes, more traditional types, tarts, seasonal breads, bite sized savouries, chutney, and lots of ginger flavoured delights!

if you are interested in ordering for christmas we also have photos of last years specialties on our facebook page, (see link on the sidebar).

here's wishing you a merry merry chrismas season from all the Diva's at Diva,

Taylor

Turkey day!!

A 22 pounder, perfectly golden, juicy and beautifully stuffed!!

For those of you who live in North America, Thanksgiving is one of the most, if not THE most popular holiday of the year...no presents, except for maybe a bottle of wine or two, and just hanging out with friends and family and gorgeous food.

Since I have been living in Ireland for almost 13 years, I really try to recapture that Thanksgiving feeling, both at home and at the cafe.

When my girls were little, i would keep them at home and we would get the dinner going together...when they started secondary school that wasn't as easy, but they still look forward to it every year.
People in Ireland always ask me ,"What is Thanksgiving?", and I have always replied, "It's the first meal the Native Americans had with the Pilgrims."  That's what we learned in school... but upon further investigation this year, I found out that the tradition was brought to New England from the Puritans emigrating from England, who continued to carry out their tradition of  Days of fasting and Days of Thanksgiving.  The days of Thanksgiving coincided with the end of the Harvest.  I also found out, other countries besides North America celebrate a "Thanksgiving".  In Germany it's called, Erntedankfest. In Korea it's called, Chuseok. In Japan, Labour Thanksgiving.  And a few other countries just call it Thanksgiving...Liberia, Grenada, Norfolk Islands and The Netherlands.
I am not too sure what each of these countries eat, but I do know that the one thing that is tradition in the American households is, Turkey!  For the past 3 years that we have been serving Thanksgiving Day dinner in the cafe, we have gotten big beautiful free range birds.
I have tried so many different ways to cook my bird, and I think I have perfected my technique.
I will provide a step by step in the next blog post for those of you wanting to roast a Turkey for your Christmas dinner....One hint, the basting involves butter and white wine!
One of my Grandpa Bob's tricks was to add beer to his stuffing, that is one tradition that I have kept for the past 23 years, since I started making my own turkey dinner...  Over the years different traditions have crept in and I look forward to making them every year...
For those of you coming to our Thanksgiving Dinner in the cafe.. The menu looks something like this:
Aperitif upon arrival
something tasty on your table...
Organic green salad with candied nuts and a local Irish cheese
Free RangeTurkey, roasted garlic parsnip and potato mash, Grandpa Bob's stuffing, butternut squash and apple 'gratain', roasted brussel sprouts, french green beans and gravy...all made in house
Dessert will include, pumpkin pecan pie, homemade cinnamon ice cream and a molten chocolate cake
coffee or tea.

Here are some photo's from last year :)

Sour cream apple pie with a streusel topping

Deviled Eggs with a Martini Twist! 

Center Piece with vintage dinnerware 

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Hope to see you there!!

www.divaboutiquebakery.com!

www.divaboutiquebakery.com

its official! we now have a dot com address on the world wide web! we've been a bit backwards about the whole concept, but diva has been an ever evolving business and gathering point since its opening 10 years ago in kinsale. we started as a coffee shop, baking from home. then renting a kitchen down the road for 3 years! when we up and left for ballinspittle 6 years ago, the new cafe space had little room for more than 12 people! the amount of food we managed to make in that space was incredible and extreamly challenging. 14 months after,  the cafe/deli expanded into its current incarnation. we knew we were good at baking so we expanded to making our own fresh bread everyday with the kitchen we had, rotating staff nearly 18 hours a day! the time had come to try out a newer and braver idea opening a bakery across the street! would it work? were we crazy?
 We are now aproaching 2 years of being open in the deli/bakery.  its been a wild ride, and its seems to still be heading up and up!

during this entire 10 years a website had been niggling away at us, but in the madness it never really transpired. shannen got the domain secured this year and a splash page to keep the space warm till it becomes it's full blown website self! its cute and we hope it helps more people find their way to cafe, bakery, and ballinspittle village! you can reach our blog, twitter, instamgram, and facebook page all from the website.

more to come!

taylor