SERIES 1
Dublin/ San Sebastian
Grainne works as a Nurse. She has 2 daughters. Her eldest Alannah is a radio announcer for the Korean State Broadcaster in Seoul and her younger daughter Cassie works for an event management company in Dublin.
Peter has been living in Korea and travelling back and forth to Ireland, for 22 years. He is Irish/American and all of his siblings reside in California. His father is living in Hong Kong and is a renowned hospital architect and at 82 is still working, of Grainne describes her husband as her first and only love and they’ve been married 30 years! The longest time Peter and Grainne remain apart would be for a month to 7 weeks. They take turns to travel back and forth to see each other.
Roscommon / Vancouver
Roscommon is truly undiscovered, a place where every highway and byway seems to deliver you far from the madding crowd. From peat bogs to wild flower meadows, native woodlands to turloughs, lakes & marshes, it’s the perfect place to escape into the wild. We meet Tom and Mary McGowan and then go to Vancouver to meet their daughter Lisa McGowanand boyfriend Ian McCarthy.
In this episode, we visited some of its most popular sites such as the Vancouver Seawall, Stanley Park,sampled fresh produce at one of the biggest indoor markets in the city, Granville Island Market, took a ride on the Grouse Mountain Gondola which offered stunning views of Vancouver as well as being the home of orphaned Grizzly bears Grinder &Coola. Asian cuisine is huge in this city, with over 600 sushi restaurants, it was only right to head to Miku Waterfront sushi restaurant.
Cape Town / Sligo
Cape Town is a very popular tourist destination with people all over the world. This is due to its warm climate, its beautiful natural scenery and the many tourist attractions it offers visitors, which you’ll get to see in this episode. From the famous Cape Wheel which offers spectacular views of the city, the V & A Waterfront where you can visit the popular V & A Waterfront Food Market displaying local cuisine. As well as that, Cape Town is a top spot for wine connoisseurs and in this episode Catherine visits a wine estate in the very popular wine region of Stellenbosch, which is surrounded by the Cape Winelands.
Dublin / Mexico
Alexandra and her family are originally from Russia. Alexandra is a qualified truck driver and lives with her grandparents next door to her parents and her younger sister in Blanchardstown in Dublin, the food she misses which surprisingly it’s not Russian food it’s Irish Seafood Chowder she craves.On Tastes Like Home Catherine Fulvio meets Alexandra & her family, who moved to Ireland in the 90’s from Russia, we taste traditional Russian dishes, before heading to visit Alexandra’s sister Anna who lives in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Catherine heads into the jungle to meet & cook with a traditional Mayan family, tries her hand at Zip-lining and visits a Cenotes. In Playa del Carmen we attend a Tequila tasting and taste Tamales, Ceviche plus five star Mexican cuisine.
Belfast / Johannesburg
On Tastes Like Home this week Catherine visits the Botanic Gardens in Belfast to meet Lilian Parkes, before heading to Johannesburg in South Africa to meet her best friend Laura Greer. Catherine travels through Soweto with a local guide in a Tuk Tuk & tastes “Walkie Talkies” a local delicacy of chicken beaks and feet !!. She meets a Sangoma a traditional African healer and learns about his ‘muti’ (medicine) and she learns about traditional tribal dress and customs, as well as tasting food from artisan food producers. Catherine comes face to face with a cheetah, feeds a giraffe and takes a hot air balloon ride over the ‘Cradle of Humankind’. Our dishes this week are Lamb Shanks with Bacon & Red Wine & an Amarula Pannacotta with Macadamia Praline.
Carrick On Suir / Los Angeles
Ethel and Oonagh grew up on a Dairy Farm with their parents Maureen and Paddy. For both Ethel and Oonagh and their Aunt Bernadette was a great cook and one dish in particular they both used to relish was her homemade Beef Stew.Ethel loves living in the countryside & is married to Tom and lives on a farm rearing their own beef with their 3 children. In LA Catherine vistted the Sunland Vintage Winery Tasting Room, The Abundant Table which is a sustainable working farm that provides land-based and farm-to-school experiential learning opportunities for school-aged children, youth, young adults and communities. She also visits the famous Malibu Beach and a seafood shack that’s located right on the beach selling the best fish and chips in town. To really get immersed in American culture, Cormac asks Catherine join him and some of his friends in playing baseball, so she tries her hand at the sport.