Welcome to another edition of Chip Paper’s FREE monthly digest for all subscribers which spotlights some of the best things we’ve eaten, cooked, listened to, explored, watched/streamed or read recently which we hope will inspire you. A monthly highlights reel, packed full of suggestions, exclusively for our entire Substack readership.
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Travelling
We ventured to Wales last month and explored Pembrokeshire, which is a part of the world we’ve never been to before. We’re writing it up for a ‘Everywhere We Ate In’ post, our new snappy food-led travel guide series. ICYMI, the first three: Krakow 🇵🇱, L’isle-sur-la-Sorgue 🇫🇷 and Stockholm 🇸🇪.
Every single asparagus dish we ate in Wales (which was every meal!)
Speaking of Great Tastes Patrick hightailed it to Clonmel last month for a stint judging the Irish round of the Guild of Fine Food’s Great Taste Awards 2024. This week he’s heading to the Blas na hÉireann judging in Dublin.
Reading: A Pair of New Cookbooks Perfect for Summer
We have long wished for a Sprout & Co. cookbook and finally it’s here! Authored by co-owner Theo Kirwan (with an intro from fellow co-owner and brother Jack Kirwan) if you ever felt tired or uninspired coming up with salad ideas Saladology is for you! They talk about novels being page-turners but this book has so much vibrancy, colour and delicious recipe inspiration, page-after-page, that it will possibly be your most-thumbed recipe book this summer –– get it, stat! Kenny’s has the best price on it right now
here on Subtack a lot). She’s a no nonsense, full-on flavour food writer and have adored and made so many recipes from Live Fire that we just know this is going to be another smash hit. This is broken up into seasons and is all about simplicity aimed at grill-side entertaining and offers effortless fire-licked menus for every occasion, whether night or day, spring, summer, autumn or winter. Same price at Dubray and Eason.
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Reading: Here On Substack
Solo Travel Tips from Beth O’Brien on Tastebuds — we have never done solo travel, backpacking and hostel-hopping but this felt like a great insight for the uninitiated.
“In a Muddle” from Ciara O’Hartghaile on GORSE, where she talks about seasonality and the muddle the food system leaves us all in, regularly.
Have only visited Vienna once (in the depths of winter) but went to the opera and had wurst, schnitzel and Sachertorte. This Postcard from Vienna on
In a recent post we shared 15 podcast series to sink your teeth into –– most of which have been compiled over the last two years of this very monthly mailer’s ‘Listening’ section, which delves into podcasts and episodes to tune into so we thought we would compile a whole heap to give you audio inspo!
It’s curious –– Russell is the half of us that works a full-time job in radio as a producer and yet it’s the other half of us, Patrick, who tunes in to far more podcasts....
This month we’re starting to gather our little gate lodge together, condense its contents and make the move after six years of living here. Over the next few weeks and months you may find some more reflective pieces here on Substack about the move, the memories we’re packing up and the fresh start we’re embarking on as we leave the “countryside” (i.e. the outskirts of Ireland’s largest town) after six years and move back to the city.
It’s bittersweet, we have made this little patch - which had nothing in it when we got the keys - our home, so it’s a sad occasion, but we’re also excited and eager (remember this piece: An Open Letter To All The Kitchens We’ve Hated). This will be a new location and a brand new, modern apartment, which feels right for us right now. It won’t be the last time we move, but this time it won’t be as stressful as couriering our accoutrements across the Irish Sea…
Thanks for reading! Chip Paper is brought to you by Patrick Hanlon and Russell Alford, also known collectively under our brand name: GastroGays. Food and travel writers, Sunday Times Ireland restaurant critics, broadcasters and content creators, based in Ireland. This is our home of food long-reads, deep-dives and guides. You can find us elsewhere on Instagram, TikTok and our website GastroGays.com.
Love this round up! Good luck for the move!
Thanks for the mentions guys! Love your Substack x