Galway Advertiser 2004/2004_03_11/GA_1103_E1_018.pdf 

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18 N E W S

Galway Advertiser

March 11 2004

TALK O' THE TOWN
COMPILED BY JULIE TIERNEY
jtierney@galwayadvertiser.ie

Mary Street the Sex and the City's new Quay Street? last ever episode
You may have noticed a cluster of new and innovative cafes opening on Mary Street recently, making for a new hot eating spot in the city centre. One of those newly established eateries is AVO, its stunning fresh design, food intolerance conscious menu, and innovative recycling ethos has been turning heads since it opened. AVO is loosely based on the successful Nude branch of restaurants run by Bono's brother in Dublin. Fresh foods that are convenient is the key, and Justine Heaslip, one of AVO's owners explains that even though all the foods are healthy (organic porridge, Weight Watcher jams, option of skimmed milk, spelt bread, made to order smoothies, etc,) the restaurant is somewhat like Supermac's or McDonalds. Convenience is the key, she says; "We are conscious that more and more people are in a hurry. They don't want to go to a cafe and wait to have their order taken, they may not even want to sit in. That's why all our foods are packaged in such a way that they can be taken out." If you choose to stay in, on the other hand, at the end of your visit you are invited to segregate the packaging your meal came in for recycling. And for the ultimate in convenience, AVO has a phone in service. Take away menus are available, and so long as you ring in your order before 12 noon, you won't even have to wait five minutes for your lunch. Avo is fast, fresh, and fun. With options varying from sushi to salads, there is plenty to choose from. And it opens late most evenings, perfect for the nondomestic among us! --SMcG With just one week to go to the last ever episode of Sex and the City, Galway is gearing up to send the four New Yorkers off in style! The show will be screened live in Halo nightclub, from 10pm, to an expected audience of some 300 people. The event is in aid of Cancer Care West. Will Carrie stay in Paris? Will Miranda ever forgive her? Will we witness Samantha beat cancer and finally settle down with her hunky Smith? And will Charlotte just raise puppies? The organisers are encouraging all fans to get off the couch, put on the glad-rags, and join in the fun for a very special cause. There will be plenty of spot prizes as well as a prize draw with some fantastic prizes including weekends away, a pamper day at Spirit One Spa in the Radisson SAS Hotel, limousine hire, shoe and clothing vouchers, beauty salon and hair vouchers, champagne dinners, all very kindly sponsored by the local businesses in the city. And this is not just a night for the girls...the fine men of Galway are also welcome. For those who aren't brave enough to admit to being fans, they can go along after the show when the doors open at 11pm. Tickets at only 10 and are available from Zhivago Records, Shop Street, Halo night club, and the ticket hotline (091) 529609 (credit card bookings). The ticket also includes entry into the club for the after-show party in Halo. Tickets are already selling fast. I imagine many people will organise groups of friends to come together and make a night of it.

Carol Conroy and Justine Heaslip of Avo on Mary Street.

What now for Carrie?

At the launch of the forthcoming Sex and the City charity screen at Halo nightclub were Sile O'Donoghue, organising committee, and Kevin Gavin, manager, Bazaar Bar.

Pick your own nose please Quiz time for all GAA buffs
Volunteers are being sought to help sell plastic green noses for Wednesday's Green Nose Day fundraiser. Green Nose Day was set up in Galway two years ago by Niall McNelis and is a new way of wearing green on St Patrick's Day. All proceeds go towards the Rehab Foundation in Galway. Volunteers are needed in the city and Oranmore areas and will be given a bucket of noses and are asked to get the punters to pick their own nose! Anyone who wants to help on Wednesday can contact Niall McNelis at 087 6197300. The Big GAA Quiz is exactly as the name suggests -- a giant table quiz based entirely on GAA knowledge. Run by Galway Bay FM Sport in association with Azzuri Sportswear it all takes place on Tuesday April 6 at the Galway Radisson SAS Hotel & Spa. There will be a total of 100 questions on all aspects of Gaelic games, including video and picture rounds. The top prize for the winning table is a whopping 2,000. Not only that, but if your GAA club enters a team, and that team wins, your club will receive a full set of Azzuri GAA kit worth 2,000 on top of the individual cash prize. Tables of four cost 60 and the proceeds are going to the West of Ireland Alzheimer's Foundation. Table numbers are strictly limited and credit card bookings are being taken on (091) 538515.

Our humble oyster
The family which supplies the oysters for the annual Galway International Oyster Festival is to feature on a nature documentary to be screened on American and British television. Sunday's edition of The Natural World on BBC2 (also to be shown on the PBS network in the US on March 28 at 8pm) is called `Ireland Sculpted Isle' and is due to be aired at 6.10pm. The documentary will feature the Kelly family which supplies around 50,000 of their famous oysters to the Galway Oyster Festival every year. The Kelly family have been harvesting oysters from their oyster beds in inner Galway Bay for 50 years. The rich estuarine waters provide the oysters with all the food and nutrients they need to fatten and develop their own unique flavour. This, combined with the tides of Atlantic Ocean, has given Galway Bay oysters their reputation as the bestflavoured oysters in the world. Now the British and Americans will know where the best oysters in the world come from!

Launching Green Nose Day 2004 were Ollie Robinson of Rehab Foundation; Catherine Laffey and Myriam O'Reilly Galway Junior Chamber; and Niall Mc Nelis, founder of Green Nose Day.