Dine at Alex, the hotel's very smart seafood restaurant, and you'll find special 'Essence of Being' dishes on the lunch and dinner menus. These dishes carry calorie guidelines and are prepared using healthy ingredients and cooking practices. Think sea bream with oriental couscous or delicious poached baby pears.

For reservations, call Alex on 01 602 8900.

One-pot wonders CASSEROLES are one of winter's greatest pleasures.

Slow-cooked and nourishing, they're comfort food at its very best. We love cramming in fragrant herbs and glugs of robust wine or sweet cider for extra flavour. Best of all we love how it all fits into one pot that can be lifted from the oven to the table for easy serving. Le Crueset makes the definitive casserole dishes, which look great and are designed to last a lifetime. Before purchasing log on to www. lecrueset. com where you'll see the wide range of colours their cookware is available in. From Next, Debenhams and al good kitchen stores.

Sambo heaven FOR 10 years, Café Irie made the most exciting and unusual sandwiches in Dublin. Then the couple behind Temple Bar's coolest hang-out sold up and shipped out to a quieter life in Skerries. Here they set up Olive, a gourmet food store and café that offers a great mix of homemade produce alongside interesting artisan treats.

Olives, farmhouse cheese and continental meats feature alongside fresh pasta, homemade condiments and chutneys and exquisite French pastries.

Appealing to the converted, and hoping to win over new palates, customers are encouraged to taste before buying. Staying through to their roots, owners Deirdre and Peter Doritty still do a roaring trade in signature sambos although there's a sophisticated range of homemade soups, salads and quiches too served with good Italian coffee and wines by the glass.

Olive opens seven days a week making it the perfect place to stop for lunch after a Sunday jaunt to Skerries. 86A Strand Street, Skerries, Co Dublin, tel:

01 849 0310; www. olive. ie