Rhythm of life:"Samba is far more than just music. It's a way of life," says the singer-songwriter Eoin Coughlan, who saw it for himself when playing traditional Irish music in the shanty towns of São Paulo.
He will be introducing Brazilian music to 1,000 children through the Music Explorers programme for schools at the Helix, in north Dublin, on October 18th. The six Brazilian members of the band Eurosamba will take time out from their day jobs in Galway and Roscommon to join him on stage. The previous day, Irish traditional music is the theme of the workshops and concert for 10- to 12-year-olds. Fiddle-player Claire Dolan, Kevin Crawford of Lúnasa and box-player Richard Lucey will be on hand to help Coughlan demonstrate, among other things, the difference between a jig and a reel. (It's the rhythm.) Call the Helix on 01-7007000. Sheila Wayman
No tricks, all treats
If trick-or-treating strikes the fear of God into you in the run-up to Halloween, or the doorbell-clanging and candy-doling get you down, escape may be your only option. The K Club golf and spa retreat, in Co Kildare, says its pre-Halloween programme will keep children amused, with fancy-dress competitions, party games, treasure hunts and storytelling, while parents are pampered elsewhere on the premises. The two-night package, which costs €525 per adult sharing (€262.50 for under-16s), plus a 10 per cent gratuity, includes accommodation with breakfast, Halloween-themed dining, spa treatments and child and adult activities. Fiona McCann
Out of this world
Xanadu, a one-day exhibition next Thursday, showcases paintings by Chris Judge. "Chris spent a week on Xanadu, a small planet which has since been engulfed by the now-collapsed star Procyon B, sketching portraits of local inhabitants. Upon his to return to earth, Chris set about painting intimate portraits of Xanadu denizens from his sketchbooks on various media [ right]," we're told. It's at the Loft, Powerscourt Centre, Dublin 2. www.chrisjudge.com.
Script writers
Ireland has some of the world's finest ancient calligraphy in the Book of Kells. Taking this tradition into the 21st century, Peannairí, an Irish society of calligraphers, is dedicated to the advancement of calligraphy as an art form. Art in Ink, which features recent work by Peannairí members - including Death by Retta Stringer (right) - is on show at the Chester Beatty Library, at Dublin Castle, until October 21st as part of its 20th-birthday celebrations. Fiona McCann
First catch your hare
Cookes Restaurant, in Dublin 2, launched its gourmet nights two years ago, with the idea of offering a themed multicourse menu. This year, on Thursday, October 25th, Johnnie Cooke and his team will offer a game banquet. Game is considered a wholesome alternative to intensively reared animals - free-range, and low in fat and cholesterol. On the menu will be dishes such as game consomme with quince and truffle croutons; foie-gras terrine with game gelee, pea puree and white truffle mousse; and wild game platter with game chips. On November 1st the focus is on seafood, and on November 8th two Spanish chefs, from Salamanca and Andalusia, will prepare classic dishes such as stuffed red peppers, clams in white-wine sauce and grilled prawns with garlic chilli sauce. A wine tasting accompanies each course. The evening costs €85 a person. For more details, or to book, call 01-6790536; www.cookesrestaurant.com. Eoin Lyons
Pick of the crop
There's something very hunter-gatherer about a mushroom hunt, donning wellies and heading into the woods, knife between your teeth, to plunder nature's bounty. But 'shroom pickers who don't know their Amanita phalloides from their Boletus edulis - or their death cap from their cep - could easily wind
up with a trip to A&E, so it pays to have an expert on hand to show you the difference between edible and inedible varieties and to advise on picking, handling and cooking. Longueville House hotel (above), in Mallow, Co Cork, hosts two mushroom hunts this month - one tomorrow, one tomorrow week - at which you can don your boots and hike around the estate with a mushroom expert and afterwards enjoy a three-course meal prepared by chef-proprietor William O'Callaghan. The hunt starts at 9.30am, with lunch at 1.45pm. The day costs €85, including the hunt, lunch and wine; €25 for children. Call 022-47156 or see www.longuevillehouse.ie.
In Rathdrum, Co Wicklow, Avondale House is the venue today and tomorrow for Big Bill's Wild Mushroom Hunt, in the company of expert Bill O'Dea. The day kicks off at 9.30am with an hour-long tutorial on mushroom collecting. A post-hunt lunch will consist of local produce and wild mushrooms. Tickets also €85. Register at www.mushroomstuff.comor call 0404-46111. Michael Kelly
Warm welcome
With cold weather closing in, is it time to kiss goodbye to alfresco snacks unless we resign ourselves to the tops of our heads' roasting while the rest of our bodies shiver under the uneven warmth of patio heaters? Last week we mentioned the throws that Ely CHQ wine bar offers its customers. Michelle Darmody at the Cake Café, in Dublin 2, has another solution to cool weather. Sit outside in the pale autumn sunshine and, along with your home-made baked beans, tasty tarts or fantastic cakes, she'll offer you a hot-water bottle to cuddle. She has also added hotpots and bakes to the menu - and the cafe is open until 8pm every weekday. All she needs to provide now is duvets and my bliss would be complete. www.thecakecafe.ie. Gemma Tipton
To market
I think I'm right in saying that in 1983 the only place you could find a farmers' market in the English-speaking world would have been in somewhere like Berkeley, in California, where Alice Waters of Chez Panisse was championing local produce. But that year Dublin saw its first food market when Dublin Food Co-Op opened its doors at
St Andrew's Community Centre, on Pearse Street. In the early days it had probably the highest concentration of beards and sandals in Ireland, and the emphasis was firmly on high-fibre foods with a collective bowel-shifting capacity that hardly bears thinking about.
Times have changed, however, and the worthiness has been ameliorated by a sense of pleasure in good, wholesome, natural food. These days you will find all manner of proper food there (with the exception of meat and meat products). The 1,300 members enjoy access to local organic produce, home baking, jams, chutneys, spices, organic eggs and dairy produce, and even sustainable clothing and wines.
The co-op has now moved to 12 Newmarket, off the Coombe in Dublin 8 - the venue will be launched a fortnight from today by John Gormley, leader of the Green Party and Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government - and expanding its opening hours. As well as trading from 9.30am to 4.30pm on Saturdays, it will be open on Thursdays, from 4pm to 8pm. Admission is free for members and €2 for visitors. See www.dublinfood.coopor call 01-8730451. Tom Doorley
Breast is best
National Breastfeeding Week is drawing to a close, but why not make a month of it? All through October the Irish websites Babywishbox.com and Onceborn.com are offering 15 per cent off the luxurious Earth Mama Angel Baby range for breastfeeding mothers, including organic Milkmaid herbal tea and Bosom Buddies soothing balm. Also check out the handy black or white nursing bra tank tops (€39) at Onceborn.com, designed to cover up the post-baby midriff and beat the autumn chill. Claire O'Connell.
Cyprus style
Not many hotels manage to be both hip and child friendly, but the Almyra in Paphos, Cyprus, where I stayed recently, does it very successfully. Guests were mostly chic thirtysomethings with babies and small children from the UK and other parts of Europe, and staff treated both age groups with courtesy and good humour. Formerly known as the Paphos Beach, the hotel was the first in the town, in 1973; it was renamed (Almyra means "taste of the sea") after an extensive renovation three years ago by the French interior designer Joelle Pleot, who has designed apartments for Karl Lagerfeld and a store for Chanel. The hotel has plenty of facilities for children, who seemed, to this visitor anyway, well behaved, as if the interiors had their own way of becalming even the most recalcitrant tots. It's also well geared for weddings, supervised by their ultra-elegant customer-service manager. Rooms cost between about €120 and €600 (Cyprus will be adopting the euro in January). www.alymra.com. Deirdre McQuillan
Dead good
Almost four million people visit Arlington National Cemetery, in the US, each year, to walk between headstones dedicated to US presidents, astronauts, explorers and other historical figures. In Paris, Père-Lachaise attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to see the graves of, among others, Édith Piaf, Maria Callas, Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde. Visiting them is like walking through a nation's history. There's a similar feeling at Glasnevin Cemetery, in Dublin, the final resting place of some of our most prominent national figures, including Daniel O'Connell, Charles Stewart Parnell, Eamon de Valera, James Larkin and Michael Collins. The sheer scale of the cemetery is overwhelming; when O'Connell founded it, in 1832, it consisted of a mere nine acres. It now occupies 120 acres and is the burial place of more than a million people. That makes visiting the notable graves and monuments fairly difficult, so it's a good idea to take an official tour. Free tours will take place every Sunday this month, delivered by historian Shane Mac Thomais. The 90-minute tours start at the main entrance at 11am; the final tour leaves at 3pm. Call 01-8301133. Michael Kelly