Missing Bloom already

As I type, the tents are being deflated, the bars dismantled, the poor sunburned piglets shooed into a trailer, the walled garden gates closed. The fifth edition of Bloom – and my first – has come to an end. My travels have kept me away from Dublin every June bank holiday weekend until this one, and I was delighted to finally have the opportunity to attend the festival, thanks to Bord Bia.

After a somewhat breathless uphill cycle through the park on Saturday morning from the all-new Runcible Spoon HQ (of which more anon), myself and himself made a beeline for the food side of the festival to scout out some treats for a picnic lunch in the sun. Himself picked up a selection box of Corleggy raw milk cheeses, while I queued for Lolly and Cooks’ delectable sausage rolls, (where the lovely Lucy now works!).

An assortment of sausage rolls by Andrew and Freddie - wish we'd had a chance to try 'em all

Our next stop was the Hick’s stand, for a jar of Ed Hick’s glorious, infamous, firing-on-all-taste-receptors bacon jam. Said condiment is already causing quite a stir on Twitter as its devotees swap serving tips, compare remaining stocks and plan for the inevitable withdrawal effects once their jars are empty.

Best eaten with a spoon, straight from the fridge

Of course, no summer’s day picnic would be complete without a cool, crisp beer to wash everything down with. We had sampled rather a lot of Eight Degrees Brewing’s Howling Gale Ale at Easter, and reckoned it to be the perfect match. We weren’t wrong.

Saturday lunch - and yes, I did add a little bacon jam to the sausage rolls!

Runcible Spoon HQ, lately relocated to a rambling redbrick house, now has its very own garden, which I am finding thrilling and intimidating in equal measure. So, myself and himself took our desserts (tubs of Murphy’s ice cream) for a wander to the beautifully restored Victorian walled kitchen garden for some planting inspiration. We now have grand plans for spuds, carrots, pak choi, herbs, and perhaps a rhubarb plant or two, if they can be contained.

Kitchen garden bounty

After packing so much into Saturday, yesterday was a much more sedate affair. Much of the afternoon was spent at the Bloom Inn, where I sampled some of Messrs Maguire’s newly revamped – and hoppily delicious – Haus lager, and White Gypsy’s nutty, Belgian-style Bruin ale, with some lovely food bloggers for company. We had just enough time left for a final dash through the food markets before heading home.

Soul Bakery breads

I wish I could have gone back for the final day today – I missed my chance to try the Crowe’s Farm pulled pork sandwich, Dungarvan’s coffee and oatmeal stout (again), and so much more. Bord Bia and the Bloom organisers deserve heaps of praise for organising an event showcasing so much of what is good about Irish food and drink at the minute – it was especially great to see craft brewing get such a huge audience for the weekend. Here’s to Bloom 2012, and more of the same – I’ll be making sure I’m in the city for it.