The 2010 Killarney Race meetings are kicking off this weekend.

The magnificent scenery is what draws the huge crowds to Killarney and the mountains and lakes that cradle the racecourse make it arguably the most beautiful in the country.

The Racecoure is located 1 km outside Killarney town just off the road to Kenmare in the County of Kerry. Within walking distance of the town.

The Killarney Races are one of the premier Race meetings of the year, where the Craic is mighty and the stakes are high!

The Riverside Hotel is in walking distance to the race course and is the ideal venue to stay when attending the races. For the best rates book online: www.riversidehotelkillarney.com

We hope to see you all here for one of the meeting in 2010.

for more info on the upcoming race meeting go to http://www.goracing.ie/Content/HRI/hriracecourses.aspx?id=592

We have some last minute offers for theis weekend. stay on Friday 30th April OR Sun 2nd May – Only € 99 per room for 2 persons sharing with breakfast. Great Lastminute deal call 1890 930 033 or email: lee@rlynehotels.com to avail of this offer

Blue Cheese, Pear & Walnut Salad

1 head of lettuce ( Iceberg, Butter lettuce or Romaine lettuce)

2 Ripe pears, peeled, cored and sliced thin

¼ cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

2 oz. blue cheese, crumbled

Dressing: 

2 tbsp. Walnut oil

1 tbsp. wine vinegar / apple cider vinegar

½ tsp. Dijon Mustard

salt and pepper

Method:

Tear the lettuce into bite sized pieces and layer on a platter, then layer the pear slices over the lettuce, sprinkle the Blue Cheese over and finally sprinkle the toasted walnuts. For the dressing, blend all the ingredients together & drizzle over the salad just before serving.

Baked Lemon Cheesecake

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Crush the biscuits in a food processor (or put in a plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin). Mix with the butter. Press into a 20cm springform tin and bake for 5 minutes, then cool.
2. Beat the cream cheese with the flour, sugar, Lemon Juice & Rind, eggs, the yolk and cream until light and fluffy. Pour into the tin. Bake for 40 minutes and then check, it should be set but slightly wobbly in the centre. Leave in the tin to cool. 

Summer has started with a bang, we had such great weather over the June Bank Holiday Weekend, that there were many sun burnt faces around!

We have been quite lucky with the weather in Kerr, after the bank holiday it has managed to stay fine, with only the odd day of drizzle! Hopefully it will last for a few more weeks.

We have some great deals at the Riverside Hotel for June & July, we are offering Two nights Bed & Breakfast One Dinner from € 109pps Midweek and € 139pps On Weekends

We look forward to welcoming you to Killarney this Summer, with lots to do including Killarney Summerfest, a Cruise on the lakes of Killarney, a visit to Ross Castle & Muckross House or a trip around the Ring of Kerry.

There is a great new fun trip, the Original Killarney Ghost Tour, which departs nightly at 20h30. It is a Theatrical Bus Tour, taking you to locations associated with ghostly apparitions, stories & local Folklore, for more information www.killarneyghosttour.com

For more information on any specials, please dont hesistate to contact us on 064 6639200 or email lee@rlynehotels.com

Penne Pasta with Bacon & Spinach

INGREDIENTS:

350 g penne pasta

3 Tablespoons olive oil

8 Thick slices of Smoked bacon, chopped

2 garlic cloves – finely chopped

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 tsp sugar

1 bunch fresh spinach, rinsed and torn into bite-size pieces

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Parmesan Shavings to Garnish

METHOD:

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.

Add the penne pasta, & cook until tender, 8 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.

Place bacon in the skillet, and cook until browned and crisp.

Add garlic, and cook for about 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes,

and cook for 5-10 minutes until slightly reduced, add a tsp of sugar to balance the flavour.

Place the spinach into a colander, and drain the hot pasta over it so it is wilted.

Transfer to a large serving bowl, and toss with the remaining olive oil, a

nd the bacon and tomato mixture.

Serve with Parmesan Shavings.

Well folks-it’s coming to the end of another year. Its hard to believe that 2008 is nearly over and what a busy year it was.

Killarneys Christmas festival is now in full swing and seems to be getting better every year so now is a perfect time for taking that well deserved break away in Killarney. From Open Air Christmas Markets, the ‘Real Ice’ Skating Rink to Santas Magical Lodge set in Killarneys National Park and the pre Christmas sales aren’t too bad either!!

For more info on the Festival log onto www.Christmasinkillarney.com

As always the INEC has a fantastic array of shows coming up over the next few weeks but be quick to book your accommodation with us as we are filling up fast.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our guests and readers a very Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

Looking forward to welcoming you all to the Riverside in 2009

I’ve been awaiting the chance to address the public for a while now to tell a day in the life of Alanna Kelleher, Deputy Manager.

Hello Everyone,

I started here at the Riverside Hotel 4 years ago; previous to this, I had worked in every city in Ireland but wanted to move closer to home, which is a beautiful town by the sea called Caherciveen (I had to give it a mention).

I joined the team at the Riverside at the start of a busy season, June 2004 & have never looked back

I did leave for a few months but had to return due to the great staff & working conditions (nothing to do with a pay increase).

On a serious note I do enjoy my work, especially meeting new interesting people, facing new challenges each day. There is never a dull moment.

What do I do every day?

I deal with many aspects of the hotel. I am the deputy manager, covering shifts from 7am -3pm or 3pm-11pm.

The 7am-3pm Shift is my favourite; I arrive at the hotel around 6.45am where I get the hand over from the Night porter. Also I give him some vital information on what happened last night with Grison or Horatio on CSI.

I then check who’s on duty with me that morning & make sure that all staff are accounted for.

Each morning is different; sometime we have tours up for breakfast early, other times we have private bookings that arrive down a little later than the planned tours, off course, the Irish like a good sleep in! The great thing about the morning shift is of course we get to enjoy that full Irish Breakfast, good for the hunger but not for the figure. No matter how late our guests go to bed they always arise for the black pudding. I think people can smell sausages & bacon in their sleep as they awake & are downstairs within minutes, waiting in anticipation. 

We are blessed with a great restaurant team that are highly trained (just a mention I do a lot of training within the hotel not praising myself of course) so it makes a busy morning go smoothly.

The morning always fly’s by! So when the restaurant quietens down I‘m on the move to reception for check-out time. As a manager, we try to be where we are most needed at the time to ensure all is running smoothly.

No rest for the Wicked as they say.

At Check –Out, we make sure everyone enjoyed their stay, I’m here to handle complaints but we never have many of them, so that makes life easier.

It’s nice to hear good feedback on departure from our guests, as it makes it worth while. I think to be a manager you really need to genuinely care that people enjoy themselves as if you welcomed them into your on home. I have made many friends along the way that return to us every couple of weeks, and look forward to them arriving.

After check-out,  its full steam ahead for lunch & preparing for the night ahead. I make sure that all is ready for the next duty manager that takes over. So when he /she comes in, they can concentrate on check-in’s throughout the evening. I keep in close contact with housekeeping all day to see if they need any help or if any maintenance issues need to be dealt with.

At 3.00pm it’s time to go home & unwind.

Looking forward to the evening ahead.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

Hope to see you in the Riverside soon.

Alanna Kelleher

Deputy Manager

Welcome to our august edition of our Blog. For our avid regular readers my apologies on the delay of this months edition but I only just realised that we are well into August already!!

Killarney is so busy at the moment with lots of different events happening around the town-like the rest of Ireland we are hoping and praying that our summer weather will appear soon. But according to an article I read today there is a man living somewhere in the midlands that has promised us that the good weather is on the way because all the cows and sheep are now heading up the hills and mountains and that this is a sure sign that summer is on the way!!

Well not much has changed in the hotel since I last wrote as things have been so busy. But we decided to change around our menus from listening to comments from our guests. You may think that when you fill up a comment card in a hotel that they are just thrown away but we do actually take note of all comments and work towards making changes to try to keep you all happy. So we have introduced a new Bistro Style Ala Carte Menu that we now serve both in our Riverside Lounge and in the restaurant. This extensive menu has all of our old favourites plus some extra special specials available from 6-9pm daily.

Rosemary who runs our Rejuvenation Suite for us has some great Mid Summer Madness offers on at the moment so be sure to check her availability before you arrive to us.

There is a very exciting show coming to the INEC from the 12-24^th August which is less than a five minute walk away from us. It is the ‘Le Grand Cirque’ which has been described by the New York Times & Las Vegas Press as an Enchanting Circus Performance that is ‘Breathtaking’ & ‘Beyond Belief’.  The Fiddler on the Roof is then on from the 26-30^th August.

We still have a few remaining rooms left on these dates so get booking now so that you don’t miss out.

If you are travelling down to Kerry for the Rose of Tralee Festival from the 19-23 August don’t forget that we are only a ½ hour drive from Tralee so you can still enjoy the festival AND get a good nights sleep. A number of special buses run daily from Killarney.

All the Staff at the Killarney Riverside want to wish Paul, Sean & Cathal- our Olympic Hopefuls from Killarney- all the very best . Hope you will join us in cheering them on.

Hope to welcome you to the Riverside in the near future and don’t forget you can always email me on stay@riversidehotelkillarney.com  

Renew Beauty Centre

Tip of the month

As you all know Summer is setting in (well at least that’s what it is supposed to be doing) so our top tip for the month is to moisturize! “The key to hydration is through exfoliation”-that was drummed into us at beauty school and it works! Its common sense really, what is the point of lashing on moisturizer if it’s not going anywhere. Your moisturizer needs to penetrate deep down into the skin to hydrate it, so how do I get it to do that I hear you say? The answer is simple, through exfoliation! Exfoliate twice a week before bed-time is the best. You have two choices, First a Scrub which contains granules which removes dead skin, build up of dirt and grim-good for oily/combination skin types, Second is a Peel, you have a choice of a hydrating gel or cream that gently removes the build up of dirt and grim while hydrating the skin, good for dry/sensitive skins. You will find your moisturizer will absorb into your skin much better, plus you will use LESS moisturizer! Your wallet will love you for it. I can promise you your skin will be glowing!!

Here are some great home recipes for exfoliating the face and body:

Coffee Scrub for the Body- ‘This scrub is a great one for tackling cellulite. Caffeine is known for braking down the soft fat that causes cellulite. Use three times a week for best results!

Ingredients:                                                            

2 cups of coarsely ground coffee

½ cup of sugar or sea salt

2-3 tablespoons of massage oil.

 Method

¬     Mix all together in a bowl.

¬     Take a hot shower to moisten skin & open pores.

¬     Using circular motions rub the coffee exfoliate onto your skin, with strong, even pressure.

¬     Shower off and pat yourself dry.

¬     Apply a good anti-cellulite body lotion (My favorite is Estee Lauder Slimming body gel; this also has caffeine extracts to further stimulate the brake down of that soft stubborn fat!) Volia!!!  You are now glowing!!

By Amanda Arthur

For more information please contact Renew Salon at:

·     Killarney Court Hotel – (064) 37070

·     Riverside Hotel – (064) 39200

·     Kenmare Bay Hotel & Resort – (064) 42599