Pick up a ‘Pincho’ at Cava

To celebrate the annual Seville Tapas Fair, Cava Spanish Restaurant and Tapas Bar in Galway has launched a special Pincho Menu which will be available each evening throughout February. Popular in northern Spain, particularly in the Basque region, ‘Pinchos’ are small Spanish canapés which can be eaten in one or two mouthfuls and are usually eaten in bars or taverns as a small snack while socialising with friends. As part of the celebrations, Cava will also host a FREE sherry tasting evening each week throughout February on Thursdays between 6 and 7pm.

Spain is the nation of the ‘Fiesta’ and one of the first festivals of the year is The Seville Tapas Fair which takes place in February each year. A four-day event, the festival involves almost 50 restaurants and bars creating mouthwatering tapas and inviting guests to sample them with the accompaniment of beer, sherry or wine. Regarded by many wine experts as ‘underappreciated’ and ‘a neglected wine treasure’, Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes which are grown near the town of Jerez de la Frontera in Spain.

Cava’s Pincho Menu includes Serrano ham, quince and manchego cheese; dry aged sirloin with caramelised onions; grilled free range pork and Spanish ‘Torta del Casar’ brie; Piquillo pepper stuffed with crab; Smoked octopus; Chicken and roasted garlic mayonnaise. Serranitos, which are small sandwiches of grilled pork ham popular in Seville, will also be available. They are served with Patatas Bravas and Mojo Picón sauce.

Pinchos or tapas offer groups of friends the perfect opportunity to taste and to share a wide selection of dishes from different regions throughout Spain.  Three pinchos cost €4.50 while a Serranito costs €6.50.

For more information see www.cavarestaurant.ie or phone 091 539 884.

Drop a Dress Size In 40 Days With New Irish Online Fitness Program

A new Irish online personal training and nutrition programme designed specifically for women, promises members that they will drop a dress size in 40 days. Offering calorie-controlled recipes, weekly shopping lists, daily workouts with videos, ‘The 40 Day Method’ designed by Personal Trainer Jessica Cooke and partner Joseph Mee gives subscribers no excuse but ‘to get with the program’.

The six week online personal training programme, ‘The 40 Day Method’, takes a holistic approach to weight loss, combining workouts and diet in a simple online system. The exercise part of ‘The 40 Day Method’ involves following video workouts for 30 minutes per day, five days per week, while the diet element involves following a low-GI, balanced and nutritious diet.

New Year’s resolutions are often abandoned before February has arrived, with major obstacles to dieting and working out often being that women don’t have the time to get to a gym or get confused and tempted when going to the supermarket.  Jessica explains, “With the help of our delicious low-GI recipe library, the diet simply couldn’t be any easier to follow, and the shopping list generator saves you a tonne of time. You simply select the meals you want to eat with our online meal planner, and ‘The 40 Day Method’ generates a list for you to take to the shops! Every single recipe is quick and easy to follow. It’s a no-frills, no-fuss guide to weight loss. Just follow the workouts, and the food plan and you will drop a dress size.

‘The 40 Day Method’ incorporates the very latest workout techniques – high intensity interval training (HIIT) and Tabata Interval Training which burn fat as much as nine times faster than conventional cardio exercise. The workouts have been carefully designed and tweaked over time, to ensure maximum calorie burn. All workouts utilise interval training, which involves periods of high intensity alternating with periods of lower intensity. Some research has shown that 20 minutes of interval training can be equivalent to 40 minutes of cardio. It also boosts metabolism and is the best way to burn fat.

Jessica, who runs a successful personal training practice, developed the programme after her own personal experience of being overweight, “During my 20’s I was three stone overweight and felt sluggish, self-conscious and very unhappy. It was only after I began to conquer my issues with a combination of frequent exercise and sensible diet that I became compelled to help others achieve the same success. I believe that for sustainable weight loss and good health, both nutrition and exercise need to be managed simultaneously - dieting alone will not bring sustained weight loss.”
Optional weekly time challenges and leader boards allow users to compare their progress both with themselves and others online. Followers of the Method can access online support, a community forum, regularly updated blog entries and regular exercise and diet tips.

Members can sign up for three months (€39), six months (€54), or one year (€81). After the initial 40 day period is over, the user will continue to have access to everything on the site, including a frequently updated video workout library, recipe library, meal planner and shopping list generator software.

For more information see www.40DayMethod.com