Tú Magazine November 2020 (issue 7)

November 2020

no. 7

TĂş The 'No Frills' Women's Magazine

Women in Business | Wellness | Food & Drink | Fashion | Creative | Education | Technology | Culture | Home & Garden

Editor's Note

Title EDITOR

ELKE

O'MAHONY

November is here and with it the 2nd lockdown. Thankfully, it is in times like this that we discover our inner strength. The Wilder Gardener discovered that she has a bit of a green thumb and we are delighted to welcome her to the TĂş team and taking us on a journey to her wild garden adventures. Reading her article will make even city dwellers smile.

It is difficult to stay positive in times like these as Bethan and the foot whisperer share with us. Stress can seem overwhelming and how to cope can be the key to a calmer state of mind.

Getting the house ready for the time when we can invite friends and family again? Elaine has some great green cleaning tips handy - and you save some money as well.

Jacqui is still out walking but with the 5km radius currently in place, the streets of Cork are her 'hunting' grounds. This month she upcycled an old picture frame with a robin and Make! has ideas on how to transform toilet or kitchen towel rolls into trendy napkin rings.

With the colder evenings settling in, we have some tasty winter warmers soups and some boozy hot chocolate.

The team wishes all our readers a wonderful November

Elke & The Team

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TABLE

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CONTENT

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NOVEMBER

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Editor's Note

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The Team

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Business

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Wellness

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Sustainability

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Food & Drink

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Creative

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Shop

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Culture

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Fashion

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Home & Garden

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Travel

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Tú Time

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The Last Page

2020

The Tú Team Bethan is the Counsellor & Psychotherapist at the Blarney Wellness Centre and has over 15 years experience working closely with people to make and sustain changes in their lives. Bethan also facilitates Understanding Children Courses and offers Parenting Support - a safe place to work through how best to support children, their emotions and behaviours. http://blarneywellnesscentre.ie/

Elke is a food writer, event manager, business consultant for the food & tourism industry, recipe developer and trainer for Social Media for Business, Time Managment, Microsoft Office, PR & Marketing amongst others. She has worked with corporates as well as artisan producers and start up companies. When she doesn't write or talk about food she can be seen in her attic craft room creating gifts for friends. www.biasasta.ie

Elke O'Mahony, Editor, Food & Drink, Creative

Bethan O'Riordan Wellness & Wellbeing

Judy Wilkins is the General Manager of the award-winning Rising Sons Brewery. She has over 30 years experience in the hospitality industry and has a particular interest in beer - from its history to its production. Judy has hosted many successful food & beer pairing events. Her motto: If you dont like beer, you just haven't found the right one yet. www.risingsonsbrewery.com

Judy Wilkins Beer Expert

Hi, I’m Jacqui. I’m originally from Wexford and living in Cork for the past six years. The move from my home county to the rebel county was exciting, stressful, expensive but very much worth it. I turned my hand to upcycling to ease stress initially, then discovered it is a very economical and fun way to really make your home your own. I am now an avid upcycler and would love to share my experiences with you.

Jacqui Murphy Upcycling Expert, Creative

Imelda loves fashion but doesn't follow trends, creating her own unique style. She is known to be always dressed for the occasion as her credit card bill can attest to.

In her fashion column she shares her style with, creating outfits for today's women from leisure to gala as well as wardrobe staples to create your unique look.

Imelda Barrett aka Mel B Fashionista

Pat Murphy Wellness & Wellbeing Elaine Butler from Living Lightly in Ireland is a writer, speaker and researcher on all matters sustainable. She's been tracking her family's efforts to live more sustainably on her blog and social media channels for over 4 years now. In order to maintain objectivity she doesn't do sponsored posts and is funded by readers of the blog. As well as being a mum and a wife she's a designer, and is currently studying for a Masters in Product Design for the Circular Economy in NCAD, which is being funded by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

Elaine Butler Sustainability & Environment

Pat is a clinical reflexologist, yoga & meditation teacher at Blarney Wellness Centre. She has over 22 years experience working with all ages from babies to the elderly, utilizing proven therapies and techniques to help with anything from stress to sleep issues, fertility, pregnancy and so much more. She’s passionate about the power of the mind/body connection and our ability to heal ourselves. http://blarneywellnesscentre.ie/

The Wilder Gardener is a great addition to the Tú team, taking us on a journey through her ‘Learner’ garden and sharing her adventures with us. Calling herself ‘a total novice, chancing her arm’, her writing will nevertheless have you in stitches, while you still learn a thing or two along the way- just as our wilder gardener does. You can expect creative solutions, beautiful imagery and the trials and tribulations of her family who regularly get roped into the latest wild ideas… follow her adventures also on Facebook under @thewildergardener

DM aka The Wilder Gardener Photo Credit: Crena Garden Adventures

Meet:

Ciara Crossan Your Name: Ciara Crossan Your Business: WeddingDates.ie Tell us about you: Born and raised in Cork, I travelled the world for 2 years after university before coming home and setting up WeddingDates 12 years ago. I am a proud single mother of 7 year old twin boys and am an advocate for female entrepreneurship and equality in the workplace.

How long have you been in Business: It will be 13 years in February Was it a start-up? Yes, started with a laptop and a copy of the yellow pages and went from there!

Your ideal client/customer: An independently owned hotel or wedding venue and all suppliers to the wedding industry.

Biggest challenge for you: Juggling the competing needs of my large client base between UK and Ireland, developing my team and the strategic direction of the company.

Biggest Reward for you: The relationships with my loyal clients. Seeing my clients achieve results in terms of wedding bookings via WeddingDates is really rewarding and many clients have turned into friends. I love developing long standing relationships in my industry.

Best Tip: Don't be afraid to delegate.

Best habit to have: Diary management - being organised with your time is vital when you run a busy business. You have to be very strict on where every hour goes.

How do you relax? Yoga, spending time with friends, Reading, cycling with my boys.

Future Plans? We are fundraising at the moment to pivot the business for a post-COVID world.

Any advice for fellow Women in Business? Build your network - being self employed can be very isolating, it is important to have a network of fellow business people who understand your particular challenges as your friends with regular jobs just won't get it!

What would you be if not this? Probably Head of Sales for an Irish SME.

The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer

Nolan Bushnell

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WeddingDates.ie connect engaged couples with their dream venue and suppliers for their wedding day as well as helping wedding venues and suppliers to drive revenue with our software offering.

Ciara was awarded Business Woman of the Year in 2019 by Network Ireland.

Ciara Crossan Wedding Dates Ireland Ltd.Unit 18 Airport East Business & Technology Park,Rathmacullig West,Ballygarvan, Co. Cork, Ireland, T12 AV62 Tel. 021 237 3490 www.weddingdates.ie/

Meet you on LinkedIn LinkedIn can be a powerful tool for individuals and companies looking to make new connections, generate leads, and build their brand.

According to the Omnicore, LinkedIn is the most commonly used social network for business owners and marketeers to include in business to business marketing.

LinkedIn is also a useful tool for hiring and finding a suitable job with 87% of recruiters using LinkedIn to match potential staff to clients. While job boards and career websites have typically been among the top channels for finding qualified job applicants, the use of social professional networking sites for recruiting has exploded over the past few years. According to LinkedIn’s own research, these sites (one of which is LinkedIn) have seen a 73% increase in job recruitment usage, compared to a 15% increase for internet job boards and a 16% decrease for staffing agencies.

A properly optimized LinkedIn profile and company page increases your chances of ranking in Google search, giving you more valuable real impact. Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn has no filtered feed.

Linkedin in Numbers: 675 million users over 46% active users (monthly) 63 million LinkedIn users are in decision making roles 57% male, 43% female members Average income per user $46K+ LinkedIn gives you the ability to showcase your expertise, like an online CV. Using LinkedIn professionally can help open doors and opportunities, networking and 'meet' potential partners.

Tips on posting: Mind your spelling & grammar Posts without video perform better Long written articles work better while posts with an average of 40-50 characters are better performing Share inks, articles, and content that is relevant to your target audience.

When you post an update to your LinkedIn company page, it appears in your followers’ feeds, regardless of how often they have interacted with your posts in the past.

This means that all your efforts to build your page are rewarded with a captive audience. Sharing your content on LinkedIn gets it in front of your current connections and followers; and using LinkedIn advertising extends its reach even further by allowing you to target your distribution to industry influencers and potential clients.

Tips for a professional profile on LinkedIn: Use a good profile photo, not a logo (unless you are setting up a company page).

Add your title incl. company name (Director at Company), not just owner/director etc.

Highlight your achievements Update regularly Post regularly

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Written by Elke O'Mahony. She is running Bia Sasta, a Food Event Management, Consultation and Food PR & Marketing company. She gives regular training on PR, Social Media for Business, Microsoft Office, Time Management and Interview Skills and CV preparation. elke@biasasta.ie www.biasasta.ie

THE SLEEP FACTOR

Wellness

by Bethan O'Riordan

Much of the therapy work I do with clients is developing their compassionate best or inner ally who helps someone to be their best in a situation. This version of themselves has their best interest at heart and helps develop to qualities such as patience, sympathy, empathy, strength, emotional flexibility in difficult situations and kindness towards themselves. A lovely antidote to stress. For exercise to practice this check out www.compassionatemind.co.uk.

"I TRAVEL NOT TO GO ANYWHERE, BUT TO GO. I TRAVEL FOR TRAVEL’S SAKE"

Stressed Out?

We all suffer with stress. It can be moments in the day that are stressful (getting kids out of the door in the morning, anyone else?!?) or it can be periods of time in our lives.

So what is stress?

Robert Louis Stevenson

Stress is our body and mind's way of protecting us. Strange isn’t it. The human body and mind has been designed and wired to work on a 'better be safe than sorry' system. What this means is that our bodies are always scanning the environment we are in for potential threats or danger and creating an internal response to make us step it up a gear and respond. This scanning through our senses happens, before we are aware that it is happening. There are so many types of stress - here’s a great podcast discussing them: https://rathpeaconrambler.blog / and click on Second Breakfast – stress.

Stress creates chemical changes in our bodies, increases adrenaline and cortisol that pump the message to our brain something along these lines “YOU ARE NOT OK, THIS SITUATION IS TOO MUCH. EVACUATE!”. And more often than not, this is when we react. We shout, get angry, the mind becomes confused and we have a starbust of self-righteous thoughts.

And whilst I am writing a little tongue in cheek, this is actually very difficult for us. No-one like to loose it or feel out of control.

But that’s exactly what stress is. It’s a feeling that things are too much and we cannot cope. The problem with loosing it is that we can then feel deep levels of guilt and shame after. And they can be difficult emotions to come back from.

What we are looking to develop in therapy is the skills to respond to stress. This starts with noticing what your triggers and responses to those triggers are. It may be certain people, situations or sensory overload – common sensory triggers are too much movement around us or too much noise. So once you have worked out what is stressful for you in your life it’s about deciding what you’d like to do about it. Do you remove the stress or develop the qualities and skills to respond differently?

The time to relax is when you don't time for it SYDNEY J HARRIS 07|

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Bethan is offering counselling & psychotherapy for adults and adolescents in a private practice in Blarney.

Early morning and late evening appointments available.

Bethan has over 15 years experience in the field and is fully qualified.

Take care of You

by Pat Murphy.

Kindness comes from the heart As I type, Ireland is heading into our second lockdown and the closing of mine and many other businesses yet again for the duration, the abiding question I’m hearing and asking is “how are you coping?”.

The usual answer of “grand, same as everyone else” has been replaced with the truly honest “I don’t know” And I really don’t. Just like you, I’m up and I’m down and I believe in the importance of being honest in our responses without dragging the concerned party down but more importantly I believe that we must be honest with ourselves, to truly acknowledge our emotions, to see that they exist because we are human after all, with all of our depths and troughs, our smooth and hard edges, our darkness and our light.

The duality of being human plays a major role in holistic therapies and yoga practice. Knowing how to be happy doesn’t mean that you consistently are happy because all the knowledge in the world cannot prevent life’s struggles from showing up. Especially in the harsh reality of a global pandemic where our media is so full of negativity, where statistics seem to be the most important piece of information, where fear and anxiety are fed more and more until we feel completely overwhelmed and oftentimes powerless.

However all is not lost because moments of sheer happiness present themselves when you least expect it, moments that seem small but are far from when you realize that they were given from the heart without need or desire for extremes of gratitude or public fanfare or multiple shares on social media.

They are just given. Just because.

Life’s extremes highlight 3 types of people, those who help, those who hinder and those who do nothing, I often see the third group as the “inbetweeners”. If I were to ask you to think of anyone from any of the groups I’ll bet that someone pops into your head immediately.

Pat Murphy is a clinical Reflexologist at Blarney Wellness Centre 08|

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We all know those who spend their lives helping others, it’s their lifeblood and their reason for getting up in the morning. They don’t ask for praise or a statue of themselves in the park or a label on a bench.

Kindness comes from the heart and to that end please let me explain the photo below. The mug was a completely unexpected gift from a long term client.

There’s nothing like the taste of coffee from a gifted mug. The barmbrack or teabrack was a gift from one of my mask customers and it was delicious. The slippers were one of the biggest surprises from our very own editor Elke. And not only are they beyond cosy they also activate my reflexology points when I walk! What an unexpected surprise. And finally, the pastry cutter was gifted to me by my lovely mother in law Sheila just before she passed away one year ago.

It’s vintage and I’ll treasure it forever. ❤ Kindness really does come from the heart.

Mind yourselves.

Pat

Green Clean

by Elaine Butler Cleaning is not a subject that's close to my heart. Quite the opposite. It's the bane of my life and something that seems to need doing way more than is reasonable.

My husband and I have never done well with proprietary cleaning products with both of us experiencing respiratory issues when exposed to them. Not surprising when a research study found using them to be equivalent to smoking 20 a day. So when we got married we ditched them and switched to food-grade chemicals like bicarbonate of soda and vinegar instead. The impact was massive, not only on our health but also on our shopping bill.

As I see it there are 2 types of cleaning; visual cleaning where you want something to look clean, and sanitising where you want something to be germ free. We're constantly being told that we live in an overly sanitised world and that our obsession with killing every microbe in our homes is leading to a whole host of autoimmune conditions. For this reason you do not want to be santising your entire house. Unless you're going to be eating food from your mantelpiece, a weekly wipe down with a clean damp rag is more than sufficient to clean it.

The only areas you really need to sanitise are those where dangerous microbes could infect your system, namely the kitchen and the bathroom, and perhaps a floor if you've young children. Before you sanitise something it's essential to make sure that it's free from all organic matter, as this renders sanitising chemicals ineffective.

Studies have shown that washing something in hot water with soap or detergent is the best way to remove both organic material and germs. For a belts-and-braces approach you can follow a wash with a wipe down with either 70% proof alcohol, >10% acidity vinegar or .1% strength bleach, leaving the item or surface to stand for 10 minutes before wiping again with a damp cloth. Bleach is notoriously tough on the respiratory system so if you use it make sure the space is well venitlated.

We need to be very careful about overusing sanitising chemicals because when they get into our waterways they kill all the microorganism that water life depends on. For this reason anti-bacterial soap or sanitising laundry products are a complete no-no.

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Plus they're completely unnecessary because soap/ detergent does the job prefectly well without them so buying such products is just pouring money down the drain.

In our house the dusting is done with a damp rag, the sinks are scrubbed with bicarbonate of soda, the glass is polished with vinegar and washed surfaces are sanitised with 70% proof alcohol. We do buy some proprietary products, mostly because DIY food-grade recipes didn't work.

These include Lilly's Eco Washing Up Liquid, Winni's Dishwasher Tablets, Sonnet Laundry Powder and Lilly's Eco toilet cleaner. All of these products are as eco-friendly as we could find. Some are the same price as leading brands, while others are cheaper. I'm lucky to be able to get refills of all except the dishwasher tablets which avoids a huge amount of plastic waste.

If you want to check the environmental impact of a particular brand the Environmental Working Group website (ewg.org) has a very useful brand search option. I've also written quite a few articles on cleaning on my website for anyone who wants to dive deeper into this issue. In them, I also list compostable cleaning equipment that I've road tested.

Here's to healthy, sparkly homes that protect us and the planet.

Elaine Butler publishes the sustainable living guide Living Lightly in Ireland. This website has all the information you need to live more sustainably in Ireland; from where to shop, to what to cook. In order to maintain objectivity she doesn't do sponsored posts and the website is funded by readers. As well as being a mum and a wife she's a designer, and is currently studying for a Masters in Product Design for the Circular Economy in NCAD, which is being funded by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. For more information please go to www.livinglightlyinireland. com for tips & resources

Food & Drink Food News

Products we love

The Irish Quality Food Awards have been cancelled for 2020 due to lockdown

Kinsale Mead Kinsale Mead have released their limited edition of barrel aged gorgeous 3 year-old berry mead. Available from selected off-licenses and directly from www.kinsalemeadco.ie/

Kinsale Mead has just released their latest barrel aged mead. Online tastings are available during lockdown The Irish Restaurant Association has called upon the government to provide guidelines for December

Wild Rosehip Shrub The Greene family aka Wild Irish Foragers know a thing or two about natural remedies. Rosehip is packed with Vitamin C - perfect for the cold winter

Food & Wine is back in print via the Business Post Hotels are still open for local staycations - check out your local hotel for a little getaway Greenes Restaurant in Cork is offering Greenes at Home - all you need to enjoy chef Bryan's award-winning food Guinness launches alcoholfree dark beer called Guinness 0.0 10|

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Available from selected retailers and www.wildirishforagers.ie

Mimi & Dan We just discovered Mimi & Dan, a family business based in Dublin creating beautiful personalised pizza boards. The business started during the first lockdown for the whole family to get involved.

Find them on Facebook 2020

Winter Warmers Autumn sees hearty dishes appearing in home kitchens and restaurants. Root vegetables, the last of the summer crop and game are playing a major role on plates around the country. Here we have some tasty yet easy recipes for you.

Vegetable Soup 1 onion,finely chopped 225g carrots, cleaned and chopped 225g butternut squash, peeled & chopped 2 large potatoes, cubed 900ml vegetable or chicken stock lemon juice (optional) seasoning Olive Oil & Butter Heat the oil & butter in a heavy saucepan. Sauté the onions until translucent. Add the carrots and potato, stir well, cover and cook gently for 5 mins.

Potato & Leek Soup Adding chopped Frankfurters makes this humble soup a hit with the kids 1.5-2kg potatoes (peeled and cubed) 1 large onion (peeled and chopped) 2 medium leeks (cleaned and sliced) 2 medium carrots (peeled and chopped) 1l vegetable stock Bunch parsley (chopped) 1 tbsp oil 4 Frankfurters (sliced) Salt & Pepper to taste

Add the squash and cook for 5 mins, stirring occasionally. Now add the stock and seasoning, stir well, cover and cook for 30-40 mins, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are tender. Add lemon juice to your liking.

Leave to cool and transfer to a blender and blend until smooth - or leave chunky.

Extra: fry some garlic slices with some freshly chopped parsley and oregano and sprinkle over

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In a pot over medium heat, cook the onions, leeks, and carrots slowly until the onions turn translucent but not brown. Add the potatoes and stock, bring to a boil and simmer until the potatoes are cooked. Season to taste and add almost all of the parsley.

If you like to puree the soup, do this now either by using a hand-blender or a masher. Don’t overmash the soup, you still want some texture in the soup. Return to a low heat and add the sliced Frankfurters and heat through (they are already cooked so only need to be heated).

Serve in warmed bowls, sprinkle the rest of the parsley over and add a slice of brown bread.

Winter Warmers Warming Carrot Soup Carrots are the star of this soup and the addition of chilies gives this soup its kick and sends warm waves to your tummy. (Photo is a stockphoto as I ate the soup before taking photos)

1 tbsp olive oil, 1 large onion (chopped), 675g carrots (sliced), 1 tsp each of ground cumin, coriander and chilli powder, 900ml hot vegetable stock, salt & pepper to taste Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and carrots and cook gently – stirring frequently – for a few minutes until the onions become translucent (you don’t want them to brown). Add the spices and, still stirring, cook for a few more moments until the aroma of the spices is released.

Stir in the stock, bring to the boil, reduce the heat so that the soup simmers and cover with a lid.

Cook for about 45 mins until the carrots are tender (time depends on the size of your sliced carrots – so keep checking). When done, leave to cool for a bit, then pour into a blender or food processor and blitz until smooth. Return to the cleaned saucepan, heat again and season to taste.

Serve hot with a slice or two of tasty bread.

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Tomato Soup No peeling of tomatoes needed and a perfect hug in a mug on any day

1 tbsp olive oil 1 onion, finely chopped 1 carrot, finely chopped 2 cloves of garlic, crushed 1 pack of tomato passata (500ml) pinch of sugar 300ml vegetable stock salt & pepper to taste fresh basil In a pot, heat the olive oil over a medium heat and add the onion and carrot and cook until the onions turn translucent (you don’t want them browned).

Don’t be tempted to speed the process by using high heat – you want the sweetness of the onion to come out. Add the garlic and fry for about 3 minutes, stirring to avoid the garlic burning. Now add the passata, sugar and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook until the soup thickens slightly – stirring occasionally. Season to taste. Add the basil (ripped into small pieces). If you like your soup smooth, let the soup cool slightly before using a hand blitz or simply enjoy the soup as it. Spoon into warmed bowls, garnish with a basil leave and enjoy with a slice of fresh bread. Serves 2 as lunch portion or 4 as starter in cups.

COCKTAIL BAR RECI PES, TEXT, PHOTOS BY BI A SASTA Boozy Hot Chocolate Warm your tummy with this indulgent hot beauty 225ml milk (we used full fat milk) 70g milk chocolate (or dark if you prefer) 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1 shot Kahlua (less or more if desired) 1 tsp sugar (optional) Whipped cream, mini marshmallows

White Cocoa Hot Chocolate This drink is quite sweet and indulgent - one glass goes a long way 225ml milk (we used full fat milk) 70g white chocolate 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1 shot Creme de Cocoa Whipped cream, white chocolate chips, mini marshmallows

Chop the chocolate into small chunks.

In a saucepan being the milk to boiling point.

Take off the heat and stir in the Kahlua and cinnamon. Add the chopped chocolate and stir well to melt the chocolate into the milk. Taste and

Chop the white chocolate into small chunks.

In a saucepan being the milk to boiling point.

Take off the heat and stir in the Creme de Cocoa and vanilla extract. Add the chopped chocolate and stir well to melt the chocolate into the milk.

see if you like to add some sugar (with milk chocolate it should be sweet enough).

Pour into a heatproof glass, add whipped cream and sprinkle over the marshmallows

Pour into a heatproof glass, add the whipped cream and top with the chocolate chips and marshmallows

ive t a e r C

Upcycling with Jacqui

There are three things that are a must for me at Christmas. The tree, a tradition that some say, dates back to roman times and the feast of Saturnalia, that occurred between the dates of 17th of December and the 25th of December.

I set a whole day aside or the decoration of the tree, not too early now mind, although might make an exception this year.

When the decoration is completed, I light the fire, sit back with a glass of mulled wine and a mince pie and basically meditate looking at my beautiful tree.

The Christmas Dinner with all the trimmings and I make no apologies to the woke people for this one, I love it. I love the smells, wafting around the house Christmas morning and everybody looking forward to the feast that is to come. I love the coming together of my family over said feast, the laughs, the chats and a game of poker in the evening.

My Christmas would not be complete without a robin or ten. I’m obsessed with them, I even have a robin tattoo. I have discovered that these cheeky birds are not as ancient as my tree but a recent addition to Christmas festivities. They originate from 19th century Victorian England when postal workers were dressed in red uniforms and so acquired the nickname of robins. Plus robins tend to appear in our gardens at this time looking for food and because it is colder they appear plumper because their feathers puff out to insulate them, making them even more lovable.

Here is a simple way to bring a robin into your home for Christmas.

Get a picture frame, you may have an unused one somewhere, it doesn’t have to be very expensive because we are going to paint it.

What I did with my frame was paint it the same colour as my fireplace. I like the idea of the frame blending into its surroundings so the robin will stand out more and most of us have some bits of the paint we have used in our sheds. I printed off a simple robin shape from the internet and put it behind the glass.

I used Cern’ Outliner for glass and tiles in black to draw the outline, and I used the outliner in gold to do the little dots.

Leave that to dry, then I used vitrail glass paints mixed with a little white vitrail glass paint to create an opaque effect.

You will get both outliners and paint online in art shops.

If you happen to let some paint spill out over the edges just get a cotton bud and nail varnish remover and clean it away.

It’s really simple and straightforward with no fuss and I must say I enjoyed this little upcycle project immensely and it could be a lovely Christmas gift also.

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Burlap Napkin Rings We are all for recycling here at TĂş and these burlap napkin rings are just perfect. Depending on the size of your rings, you get 4 out of 1 roll. These also make great gifts for the festive season You will need: clean, empty toilet rolls, metallic gold paint, glue gun, burlap ribbon (ours had lovely lace added), mini flowers, mini ribbon bows

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Measure the height of your napkin rings (we measured 2.5cm) and mark around the roll.

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Using a sharp craft knife, cut along the markings as straight as possible (no worries if your burlap ribbon is bigger than your roll as it won't be visible.

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Paint the inside of the rolls with the gold metallic paint (we used acrylic), giving it more coats if needed. The inside is visible and the metallic gold gives the napkin rings a finished look

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Measure the burlap ribbon to match the length of the roll and glue to the rings, trying to have no overlap, Leave to dry

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Now attach the flowers and bow to cover the seam of the burlap ribbon.

Repeat with the rest of them.

check out https://make-ire.com/ for more tutorials 15|

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TĂş Shop Pat Murphy of Blarney Wellness Centre is offering foot reflexology in her practice in Blarney. Pat is a certified practitioner with many years of experience. Please call 087-9721149 for details and to book an appointment.

During lockdown, the Rising Sons Brewery offered home 5l kegs of their award winning beers. Although open again, kegs can still be ordered from the brewery.

Orders need to be placed by midnight Tuesdays for pick up on Fridays. Please email you order to risingsonscork@gmail.com.

Handmade masks are available from Blarney Artsy Craftsy. Each mask is made by hand from 100% cotton with space for filters and elastic for easy wear.

Masks can be posted or delivered within the Blarney area (time permitting).

Please call 087-9721149 or follow Blarney Artsy Craftsy on Facebook.

Coming Soon Bia Sasta will be opening an online shop shortly with handmade items like these recipe collecting journals & planners. Email Elke at elke@biasasta.ie to be added to the mailing list to be one of the first to know about the shop going live or check www.biasasta.ie 16|

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Customised Mandalas can be ordered from our creative team member, Jacqui Murphy.

Mandalas represent wholeness and are said to focus the mind. The famous psychologist Carl Jung has used mandalas in his therapies, believing that it can balance the psyche. In other terms, it can look fantastic on your wall.

Please contact Jacqui on

Book of the Month

Grown Ups

Everything is under control until Cara, gets a concussion and can’t keep her thoughts to herself. In the subsequent unravelling, every one of the adults finds themselves wondering if it’s time – finally – to grow up?

Find out in Marian Keyes latest book €15 at Easons (on sale)

Music of the Month

Aoife Nessa Frances

We love Aoife's debut album titled Land of No Junction. A soothing voice with a soft timbre makes her music easy to listen to.

Her music videos are an extension to her voice with a relaxed atmosphere that eases you into your own little world

Film of the Month

Check Aoife out on Facebook for her music videos

On the Rocks

With On the Rocks, Sofia Coppola reunites with Bill Murray for another odyssey involving a father and daughter who are tailing a suspicious husband. A comedydrama, It received positive reviews from critics Currently AppleTV

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Details accurate at time of publication.

Information taken from websites of Easons, Facebook, Marian Keyes

Fashion with Mel B The Shirt Dress

leather jacket for this dress as it completes the look. The second dress is more a geometric

Hello Cáilini,

pattern but with the collared long sleeve

I hope you are all well. As the darker evenings are

features and gathered detailing at the waist it

approaching and there is a chill in the air it is nice

allows for a structure to the body which again

to feel the fashion industry is giving us ladies lots of

makes it easy to wear. Adding in a long winter

options for this season.

coat or jacket to this outfit will again make an

I recently purchased two “Shirt Dresses” from Zara which I am showcasing here in this month’s article & also a Zara jacket I had in my wardrobe to co-

impression for any outing. www.zara.com Happy shopping ladies till next time.

ordinate the look. They are so easy to wear and absolutely work for day time wear, evening or weekend and at a cost of €49.95 - very affordable.

The Black & White dress with the pattern of a horses’s head just flows so easily and allows for the wearer to definitely make a statement and feel comfortable either wearing heels or boots for the footwear choice. I love the cropped studded faux

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Home & Garden A NOOK FOR BOOKS

by Elke O'Mahony

Someone told me once that she doesn't trust a house to be a home if it doesn't have books in it.

Thankfully, she stood in my living room which houses a bookshelf filled to the brim with books. Next to the shelf (it's more like a wall unit) is my window seat that looks out to the road. Comfy, soft cushions, a nice cup of tea and a good book is all you need sometimes.

A reading nook is a place to relax, get transported into different worlds and leave the bustling outside miles away.

The bookshelf has been revamped in recent years with designers from IKEA leading the field. The Billy Bookcase can be adapted in shape and colour to suit most interiors. You can add glass doors

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and make the shelving unit part of the design.

A reading nook, doesn't have to be near a window, a comfortable seat with books stacked up next to it is just as cosy as a window seat.

Soft muted colours are best to not distract from the book but to add to the feel of escape. Snuggly blankets and stylish cushions complete the look.

A standing lamp ensures enough light to be able to read but still giving you that famous hygge (see last month's article).

Handmade shelving units can be just as stunning as commercially built ones.

Painting the units in the same colour as the walls, will help the books stand out

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more and make the room still look big and not overcrowded. Or simply make a bold statement by painting the shelf in a bright colour.

Either way, I am with Deirdre that books make a room homely.

Look out for our Gift Guide with ideas for the perfect book this season

The TheWilder WilderGardener Gardener

Garden ramblings from a mostly bewildered ‘L’ gardener with no gardening qualifications whatsoever…

In my garden this month

Text & Photos by @the_wildergarden

Autumn arrived in the garden, suitably attired as usual- unlike me. I had a great time wandering around taking my photosmindfulness made easy! It was the month that Fungie, the Dingle Dolphin went missing & the news isn’t hopeful. I found my own fungi treasure trove including the beautiful Earthstar Mushroom which I mistook for a wooden flower! I have an amazing pocket- sized foraging book ‘Food for Free’ gifted to me by my friend (online from Eason’s), and it tells you which mushrooms are safe to eat-apparently 2,970+ of the 3000 variations found in our isles are safe! I casually mentioned we could maybe try a few to ‘The Saint’ and he has been subtly checking to see if I’ve increased his life insurance policy & refusing to eat mushrooms since…! I would have checked & treble checked them in fairness…and in case of an accident, blame my friend for giving me the book in the first place…

Garden Quote of the Month:

I took a quote I love,” It’s not the singing, but the feeling of wanting to sing that’s important” and changed it to “It’s not the gardening, but the feeling of wanting to garden that’s important”. It covers most of my garden disasters. Thought it was a clever one myself…

What I Planted this Month

As a learner, I happily take the advice of the veteran gardener next door aka my sister-in-law. “Plant cyclamens & pansies” she said- so I did! She also delivered some of that weird ornamental cabbage which I am not a huge fan of- but it is holding its own I do admit.

Shout out to Fionnuala of Windy Acre Designs for her great garden designs & also her amazing voluntary work with the Clogheenmilcon Fen Project.

Gardening tip Compliments of the aforementioned Windy Acre Designs; Collect all those fallen leaves into a heap in the corner of your garden and it will, in time, make a beautiful homemade compost!

Disclaimer

Everything I know about gardening would fit into a pot plant - the small tiny plastic ones you’d use for seedlings…however, the amount of pleasure I get from chancing my arm in the garden is immeasurable. It will make this second #Covid19 lockdown more bearable for sure!

The TheWilder WilderGardener Gardener

Garden ramblings from a mostly bewildered ‘L’ gardener with no gardening qualifications whatsoever…

Text & Photos by @the_wildergarden

Things I learned more about this month:

Herbaceous: Nothing whatsoever to do with herbs-what’s that all about?? It’s a term used for plants that let their above ground growth die away in winter so that the rest survives under-ground to come back in spring, such as foxgloves, anemones, lupins and delphiniums. ‘Sacrificialaceous’ is a word I made up-it would describe that process better to beginners like me…

Annual/ Perennial/Biennial: The three most confusing words to differentiate whether you’ll get bang for buck when you buy your shrubs and flowers! Annuals live their whole life cycle in one year and die, biennials take two years to complete their life cycle, flower only in their second year and then die, while finally, the perennials live on. I think of them as smiles- I stock up on my perennial smilers such as Phlox and anemones as they will keep me happy in the long term. My annual/biennial smilers such as Cosmos/ Sweet William are still worth the spend as long as I’m happy with that once off seasonal smile!

You can add the first two together: What?? Yes, just to completely freak you out, you’ll hear ‘the knowledgeable ones’ otherwise known as TKO’s, casually namedropping the likes of, “Oh, yes, I planted my herbaceous perennials in the border today…”. Why doesn’t my brain retain this kind of basic information? Maybe it’s the wine…

Garden Visit

This month I visited a 100- acre wildergarden in a punt! The ‘Clogheenmilcon’ Fen is a biodiverse area of wetlands of thriving flora & fauna right on our Cork City doorstep- just before Blarney village. Follow A Load of Blarney/@Brandblarney on Facebook for updates.

It took a team of 6 with kayaks and a punt to put 21 bird boxes & 4 bat boxes up in the various islands on the waterway. All these boxes had been made voluntarily by one man- Eddie Byrne of Blarney Men’s Shed - during the last Covid lockdown in March/April and we had such an amazing day out on the strength of all his labour. It has been suggested that two of the team who shall remain nameless, may- just may- have erected one of the bat boxes sideways…so if you see any bats with head injuries or vertigo, they may have a connection to the Fen. Say nothing…

Special thanks to Sean our safety officer, Roisin & James our Zoologist & Ecologist, John & Finbarr our haulage contractorseveryone who lent us equipment, and last but not least, the almost octogenarian Father of the Fen himself-Ecologist Tom O’ Byrne, who gave of his knowledge as usual- while also rowing me around for over 3 hours!

I admitted to pangs of guilt, but he reassured me saying “Not at all my dear, you’re ballast!” I looked ballast up in the dictionary and apparently it means to give stability to a vessel by putting a heavy substance in the bilge…

To Follow

I get some great gardening tips by following certain pages or accounts on social media.

1. Facebook: @Irish Gardening is a privateFacebook page I joined- Very visual with plenty of photos/ideas/tips shared by the members.

2. Facebook: @windyacredesigns for garden design and consultations and handy tips for your garden.

3. Instagram: @liligardens -this is about gardening life on an actual barge!

4. Instagram: @the_wildergarden is my own humble account. Wink Wink…

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Travel Staycations With the 2nd lockdown in full swing, holidaying is not on the agenda for most of us Hotels are still offering rooms and breakfast with special deals available. Check out your local hotel for a bit of a treat from all the doom & gloom around.

Waking up in a soft bed, enjoying a bath before being served breakfast - no washing or cleaning up. Put your feet up and read the book you always wanted to read.

Some hotel offer deals with breakfast, dinner, early and late checkouts - perfect for a midweek break.

Bring your laptop with you if you have to do some work but being spoiled rotten by a team of staff might just be the distraction you need.

Follow your local hotel on Facebook & Twitter for the latest special offers.

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1. View from Montenotte Hotel 2. Room at The Imperial Hotel 3. Special offer from the Metropole All hotels are located in Cork City

TĂš TIME WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO

JUDY

DM

PAT

When Judy isn't busy running a successful business, she is enjoying her cosy woolly socks

The Wilder Gardener put her family to work but ensuring that everyone still had great fun

Pat was busy making masks for Halloween - who said you can't be stylish during a pandemic

ELAINE

JACQUI

Despite being a busy mum and running a successful website helping people becoming more sustainable, elaine also started studying Product Design for the Circular Economy

Jacqui has swapped the hills for the streets of Cork, living in the city, her 5km radius gets her around quite a bit.

ELKE Elke is still mainly ocupied baking for the Great British Bake Off

MEL B

Imelda is simply the best dressed person in the office

Love from the TĂş team

Elke & her Choccy Spoon

Stylish as always

Handmade Masks by Pat - can be purchased via Blarney Artsy Craftsy (Tel. 087-9721149)

The Wilder Gardener in the wild

The Last Page Thank you Tú would not have been possible without the support of some amazing women who have contributed their expertise and feedback.

Thank you to all these amazing women Love Elke

Disclaimer

The magazine has been created by a team of volunteering writers. All pieces have been researched thoroughly but we can't guarantee accuracy. All articles are opinion pieces.

Contact us We welcome submissions but don't guarantee inclusions.

Please email your submission to elke@biasasta.ie We are open to advertising but reserve the right on final decisions. Please contact the editor elke@biasasta.ie

Next issue out 1st December 2020 with more wellness, gardening, recipes, business, crafts & everything in between

Tú (You) is a monthly online magazine for women by women, published by Bia Sásta Editor: Elke O'Mahony elke@biasasta.ie Photos by: Elke O'Mahony, Crena, The Wilder Gardener, Pat Murphy, websites where appropiate, stockphotos by GraphicStock. Created with Canva and elements within