Jazz Supper

“Entertainment from Casa Havana Trio – an exciting Latin trio playing a mixture of sultry Latin hits and cool jazz standards along with some contemporary pop classics for added spice.

Enjoy a main and dessert for £25”

To book follow this link: https://themaclive.com/food-and-drink/jazz-supper-club-2014

 

 

On March 15 the MAC will be running the MAC Parish Hall Ceili.  The details are as follows:

MAC Parish Hall Ceili 

Grab some folk and join us on Sunday 15 March for a parish hall style knees-up to ring in St. Patrick’s Day.

What to expect: Live music, Ceili caller to help everyone with the moves and of course the return of our ‘lovely boys’ competition.

Come along, drink tea and eat some sandwiches. If tea isn’t your thing, our fully licensed bar by Canteen will be open and well stocked.

 

Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster today served up a new initiative aimed at giving more tourists an appetite to visit Northern Ireland.

Announcing that next year, 2016, will be Northern Ireland’s Year of Food, the Minister called on everyone to get involved in giving visitors a taste of what makes our local menus so special.

Speaking at the Tourism Northern Ireland annual conference, Arlene Foster said: “We have some of the best food and the best restaurants in the world, and the potential this has when it comes to tourism cannot be underestimated. Food tourism already generates over £350million per year to the local economy, but I believe there is significant room for further growth. That’s why I have asked Tourism Northern Ireland to begin preparatory work to develop the Year of Food initiative and have secured funding to allow them to do so.

“We know how good our food is, which is probably why we enjoy eating out so much, the recent Barclaycard report showing Northern Ireland people spend more on eating out than the rest of the UK is proof of that. Now it’s time to build on our growing reputation for excellence and give visitors even more mouth watering reasons to come here.”

In the lead up to and during 2016, there will be a series of packaged events aimed at tempting the taste buds of potential visitors.

Arlene Foster added: “We have a great story to tell, and this is a very exciting opportunity to really celebrate our food sector.

“We boast some world-class produce, not to mention talented chefs, restaurants, skilled cookery schools and a rich food heritage, all of which is becoming better known, especially in GB, which is our key market. The Year of Food will enable us to continue to raise our profile nationally and to promote Northern Ireland food tourism on the international stage.

“As well as specific events, the Year of Food will see support for industry through master classes and mentoring programmes, the development of new food experiences and trails, and development of a toolkit to enable a wide range of people across Northern Ireland to get involved in promoting their produce and their area.

“Many tourists already say that good quality food and dining is a key factor when choosing Northern Ireland for a short break, and I have no doubt that 2016 and the Year of Food will entice even more visitors to do so.”

I’m ashamed to say that this morning was my first visit to Comber Farmers Market.

I went with the intention of grabbing some delicious vegetables from Horners on my way into work.

Heading into Comber village, the place was hiving, lots of activity happening. Parking was great…I was able to park behind the bus station. However, there is plenty of parking in the Square and behind SuperValu.

I had forgotten to bring along some cash. However, this superb location had an ATM outside Tesco.

The food market is tucked into St Mary’s car park – just follow the ladies with their trendy shopping bags and various wheeled trolleys!

The market is well arranged with plenty of variety.

Mangetout Deli was there with the most delicious Portuguese tarts, but the wild mushroom and truffle oil tart caught my eye. Franck Breteche is one very talented chef!

Everything here is “Made With Love”, especially Margaret Cooper’s new Raspberry and White Chocolate Jam in addition to her Berry and 70% Dark Chocolate Jam which is launching soon!

I met the lovely people at Go Yeast who are “Micro bakers” from Donaghadee. They specialise in using organic flour and their passion is for sourdough. I wanted to try their Multigrain Sourdough, cracked malted rye, oats and sunflower seeds and spices including coriander, fennel & caraway.

To go with my bread I picked up some delicious Young Culmore made by Christo Swanepoel from City Cheese who makes his cheese from Organic raw milk in Milisle.

Alison from the Old Post Office Lisbane was there with an array of baked goods, difficult to resist those tempting fifteens!

Susan brought along her new Burren Balsamic Blackberry & Thyme Balsamic Vinegar which was deliciously fruity with a hint of thyme. This product would be an excellent marinade for game.

Charlie from Broughgammon had his usual selection of Cabrito goat. He explained that at the Comber market, he likes to try out some new sausage varieties. So today he had some chorizo sausage and a veal breakfast sausage. These were definitely worth trying!

A lot of locals come to the market to try the very popular sticky toffee pudding by Linda DeVecchis from Sticky Toffee Puddings. As I was super early, I was the first customer to try the new “Guinness and Bushmill’s Pudding.”

This is what I love about local markets, you get to meet the people that make the produce and more often than not they offer you a sample to try to tempt you. With ingredients like this I needed no persuasion. I bought a family sized portion, but fear not if you only wanted a single portion, she makes them in a cute single serving.

For all the fans of Keen Nut Butter, the smooshers brought along their new flavours including Almond Crunchy Maple and Smooth Cashew. So very decadent!

Time was fast approaching for me to leave so I raced to Neary Nogs. Here, I purchased some Lemon and Green Tea Chocolate to sweeten up the fact that I was going to be late into the office. (This was a huge hit – I would recommend some for your co workers!)

Conniseurs Bakery was there if you needed to stock up on your potato bread and soda bread. They also had some delicious looking pancakes. The Local were also there with their locally made chutneys.

Last but not least was the man I came to the market to see, Garth Horner with his fabulous range of local vegetables. Garth’s family have been farming the land in the Comber area for years and the expertise shows in the quality of the vegetables. There is something wonderful about buying the dirty carrots & parsnips, smelling the earth that connects us all to the land that produces our food.

I love the fact that there is no packaging and you can buy exactly what you need.

As I headed into the office to do my days work, my experience at Comber Farmers Market was a gentle reminder of the people behind our food and how important it is to support them. This is my preferred way to shop, it just takes a bit of forward planning.

Comber market has so much to offer and if you have a bit of extra time on your hands make sure to pop into Sugarcane Bistro for a cup of Suki Tea…all this  chatting, sampling and shopping is thirsty work!

Comber Market is on the first Thursday of every month. For further information please visit their website www.combermarket.co.uk

   

After months of preparation, Comber Farmer’s Market has a new website. www.combermarket.co.uk provides information about the traders who attend the market, the date when the market is on, advice for potential traders and contact details on how to get in touch with us.

Alderman Deborah Girvan who helps to run the market said, “The new website is another important milestone for Comber Farmers’ Market. As part of our funding application to the Big Lottery, we had included a budget for a website and had to have the money spent by the end of March. I am pleased to announce that we have finally got the website up and running and we are very pleased with the layout and design. It has been a lot of hard work and effort writing, proofing and gathering all the information and photographs. However, we now have a website that will let people know when the market is on and keep them up to date about what is happening at the market.