Sonas

There’s a story behind the bouquet of mint that is getting a lift in my car… I got one or two mint plants from the magical duo at - a year or so ago. It was left to wild in my plant beds … and wild it did! So much so, I now have a forest of mint, some of which I cut today to bring to the wonderful … who will turn it into the BEST cucumber lime kefir you’ve ever tasted. Both have stalls at … so go and get yourself some of those the most gorgeous, lovingly minded plants & delicious food & drink on the planet.

Scenes from the Spring Box - all tucked up neatly for the 1 hr trip home… and the sadness that comes from an empty bag … (IYKYK) but they joy of knowing the rest is in the fridge and ready for tomorrow!

Bliss. Homemade flatbread with roasted garlic oil, fine shavings of Sobhriste and thicker slices of Carraignamuc - raw milk cheeses, sustainably farmed, from the magical Darcie & Mike at - order your Christmas Cheese Box from them. You won’t regret it!

Caherbeg sausages (both sage and plain) seasoned with black pepper. A little Ayle Farm Tomato Relish spread down home made simple puff pastry. Form into long logs, dock with a fork, cut into portions, egg wash, and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Into the oven (gas mark 5) for 15-18 minutes. Cool. Pack for a perfect road trip snack. All ingredients locally sourced from Neighbourfood Ballincollig.

I met Colm from Horizon Farms on Thursday and he let me know that the courgette season is over! He thought he might be able to get me a few more for week after this one - but after that, they are done!

This means the Courgette Bread is also - sadly - finished for the season. It’s really important to us at Sonas Trading to always use Irish products - from the vegetables to the butter, from the wheat to the blueberries. We try to bake for the seasons and source from local producers who we know.

So - the Courgette Bread is available for the next two weeks only! If you like it, get it while you can. It freezes brilliantly too.

Available at the following Neighbourfood markets: Cork City, Ballincollig, Mallow, Cuskinny, Douglas, Kinsale, and Carrigaline.




mallow douglas



@

We are back at Neighbourfood Ballincollig (and all NeighbourFood markets) after an unexpected 2 week hiatus!

Ballincollig market collection on Wednesday September 22nd, 2021 (4:30 PM to 6:30 PM) Ballincollig market collection on Wednesday September 22nd, 2021 (4:30 PM to 6:30 PM)

Salted Caramelitas are the perfect indulgence - and so many layers of flavour! An Oatmeal Cookie base - buttery, rich, sweet but not overly so… Dark Callebaut chocolate … Salted Caramel made with Gloun Cross Dairy Double Cream and Irish Atlantic Sea Salt… and more of that Oatmeal Cookie golden on top.

Little love bombs of delight. I love making them because they make people so happy!

You can get these Caramelitas (as well as cakes and other indulgences) via Neighbourfood - Cork City, Ballincollig, Cuskinny, Douglas and now Mallow and Carrigaline!






douglas mallow

It’s so hard for me to choose which cake I love the most - but this Courgette Bread, available only when Irish grown courgettes are at their peak - is definitely vying for top place.

It’s a cake of memory - I used to grow courgettes with my father and I remember distinctly the pride of growing and eating my own vegetables! This cake came from that garden - so it’s probably amongst the first cakes I’ve ever baked. It’s warm and comforting, redolent with spices: the deep beat of cinnamon and ginger, with a whisper of nutmeg.

But most of all, it’s truly delicious. It’s not to sweet, and it has an amazing tender texture. I love it sliced with a cuppa, but it’s also amazing toasted and spread with melting butter or a smidge of cream cheese. It freezes well too. And it’s a great way to get the kids to eat more vegetables!

Get it at these Neighbourfoods: Cork City, Ballincollig, Cuskinny, Douglas and Mallow.


douglas

Hello salted caramelitas! Using the best of Irish products: Gloun Cross Dairy cream and butter, Irish Atlantic Sea Salt, Flahvan’s Organic Oats. Back now at .douglas ❤️

Evolution. And Cycles.
It’s funny how one small gesture can have such a ripple effect.
The beginning of the lockdown last year, and I felt like my head was going to explode. From one moment to the next, life as I knew it changed, irrevocably- or so it felt. I couldn’t see those closest to me because we didn’t live together.
After a few days lying abed, I started to pay attention to my garden (due in no small part to my weekly Neighbourfood shops where I got myself my food, safely, and also indulgences of plants and herbs).
I didn’t realise it until I started looking, but my garden had an entire wall of mature raspberry bushes! I started to pick them - and I sent them over to my dear friend’s dear daughters. I left bowls of raspberries at their door - a juicy summertime message that even though I couldn’t see them, I was always thinking of them.
I started baking - and along with the raspberries, I left them little treats. Caramelitas, cakes, and memories of my own childhood - milk bread rolls. I got a message back - could you make those milk breads every day? And I have - rain or shine, since then.
Those little bakes became Sonas Trading at Neighbourfood Cork City (thank you Simone for encouraging me!), and then at Douglas and Cuskinny and Kinsale…
And then, my friend Kevin (father of said daughters) and I opened Neighbourfood Ballincollig! All from a bowl of freshly picked raspberries.
And now, after a little break to establish Neighbourfood Ballincollig, I’m back to baking! And my raspberry bushes are offering their fruit again this year. Our treats will be on offer in limited quantities from this week onwards, for collection next week. We hope you enjoy.

.douglas

21st birthday cake.
Vanilla sponge cake with rhubarb curd, fresh strawberries, lemon buttercream and edible flowers.
Dairy free.
Thank you to the magnificent Rachel from Purple Squirrel for the most beautiful edible organic flowers. They made the cake absolutely perfect.
A good way to dip my toes back into baking before reopening on Neighbourfood!

We are back at NeighbourFood Cork City next week after an unexpected hiatus, and will be back at NeighbourfoodCuskinny NeighbourFood Kinsale and NeighbourFood Douglas the week after! Cinnamon rolls, milk bread, salted caramelitas, old time chocolate cake and peanut butter cookies galore!

Ingredients matter ... my best friend challenged me to make some classic Malaysian sauces for the ... a bit of a left turn from cakes and cookies - but this is the food of my people - and the most intense food of my memory. So I started dreaming up my sauces and then realised ... I need to make the mother sauces to be the base! And I have to make them - otherwise they do not taste right. Cili Kisar (translated to Ground Chili), chopped, softened, deseeded and ground. And Kerisik - roasted coconut paste that tastes like heaven. Tomorrow I make the sambal and the roasted ground spice mix ... and THEN I try my hand at the sauce! If I get this right... it’ll be a taste of home. .douglas

My Christmas present to myself! The magnificent new book - signed and personalised! ❤️ One of the best teachers I’ve ever had - elegant, witty, brilliantly foodie, precise and creative. The best present for the foodie in your life - you can get these at and at the that Ballymaloe supply!

Ingredients matter. For Christmas this year, we are making the ultimate Porter x Jamaican ginger cake (for those who don’t love fruit cakes!). Every element of this cake has been very carefully thought through - and the core ingredient is the phenomenal Rising SONS brewery Mídaza Irish Stout. Incredible flavour, complexity and depth of character, with hints of coffee and chocolate.

We use it both as an ingredient in the cake, and we pour over / soak the finished cake in Mídaza. It’s - quite frankly - superb. Mídaza is brewed in-house at the Rising Sons micro-brewery on Cornmarket Street in the centre of Cork, and is chemical and additive free. Brewed on site, in small batches with the best of locally sourced ingredients, this stout is available only on tap, so it’s a truly local experience!

We are so thrilled that Rising Sons agreed to partner with us on this delicious Christmas cake!

Available in limited quantities for pre-order only at these NeighbourFood markets: NeighbourfoodCuskinny NeighbourFood Douglas NeighbourFood Kinsale and Cork City.

Ramen of dreams ... golden dashi with some miso paste and fresh ginger, ramen noodles, topped with edamame, spinach, eggs from East Ferry soft boiled and marinated in soy and sesame, tempeh marinated in chili and tamari lentils with sweet potato. .douglas

A tester ... since our cinnamon rolls have been very popular, we decided to make a savoury version - a spinach, artichoke and cheddar roll! Absolutely delicious. Coming soon to .douglas

Coming soon to Neighbourfood ... part of our winter offerings. Pia made this cake up in her daydreaming - and it works just as well in reality! A Porter cake - rich with a Cork stout, melted butter, all spice - combined with a Jamaican Ginger cake - slightly bitter and dark with treacle, studded with crystallised ginger and perfumed with cinnamon and ginger. We have to admit we are not huge fans of dried fruit - and so we created this cake from the best bits of two standards and hugely reduced the dried fruit. It’s damp, slightly bitter from the stout, keeps for ages (and gets better with age), is fabulous with butter for mid morning tea, or dressed up fancy with cream and brandy sauce of dessert. It’s a solid cake. Available soon at .douglas

Pssst... these just went live on the NeighbourFood site - get them this week at NeighbourfoodCuskinny, NeighbourFood Douglas, NeighbourFood Kinsale and Neighbourfood Cork City! . buttery, full of cinnamon, not to sweet and made with our classic milk bread dough, these cinnamon rolls are soul satisfying, and created for a true friend!

Playing (ie recipe testing) with variants of our beloved milk bread rolls - a fully loaded cheddar cheese roll and a simple, not too sweet, buttery cinnamon roll. Coming soon to .douglas

When you have friends in cheese 🧀 Thank you Padraig for this gorgeous cranberry cheese! It’s so so good. Perfect morning after the market breakfast with from - such pleasures!

This is why I love - the absolute scent of these tomatoes from ! So fresh, so perfect - from farm to my table in a day. The abundance of choice and the ability to buy from the producer and know they are getting a fair price. Delicious!

Thank you Cork Billy... We are delighted you enjoyed the salted caramelitas! ❤️🙏🏼🍀 thanks for all you do to support local producers and products.

Taste of the Week. Salted Caramelitas by Sonas https://www.corkbilly.com/2020/08/taste-of-week-salted-caramelitas-by.html Sonas NeighbourFood

This is one of Pia’s favourite cakes, a vanilla cinnamon sour cream cake love note to Entenmann’s - a classic New York Brooklyn bakery founded in 1898. Entenmann’s New York crumb cake is legendary - and our cake is a riff on the original. It has a sublime crumb and pillowy texture, avanilla scented cake studded with cinnamon. It’s so simple, and yet so very tasty. You can order yours for next week from .douglas

Rhubarb and vanilla about to be roasted for the Vegan Carol Rubin Jewish Apple Cake! This will be used for .douglas

Mountains of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for