TV chef Donal Skehan joined Oliver Callan on The Nine O'Clock Show on RTÉ Radio 1 to discuss his new cookbook, Home Kitchen, and how he and his wife have turned their house into a home.
Praising his hometown of Howth for its mouth-watering seafood and scenic cliff walks, it seems that Skehan is more than happy with his decision to move home to Ireland following a brief stint in LA.
He and wife, Sophie, along with their two young sons, Noah and Oliver, returned to Irish shores during the pandemic. And although the move was far from easy - Skehan previously told Darren Kennedy that it was one of the toughest periods of his life - the results, he says, were worth the wait.
"I've been struggling to find the home kitchen for a long time; we've been travelling for the last couple of years. We moved home in 2020, and so we've moved all around and finally we have just bought a house that is our own. Finding that home kitchen element is an important thing for us."
The kitchen, of course, is one of the most important rooms in the house for Skehan, who says they have already done some renovating to their new home.
"Having travelled and worked in lots of different kitchens over the years, it's one of those things where you know what you want, when it comes down to it. You know how your kitchen works. We have two very young boys and our life is a bit mad, so my kitchen has to be a work horse for many, many different reasons," he explains.
Home Kitchen will be Skehan's 11th cookbook, and the recipes centre on his own home and busy family life. As someone who often who moved around for work, Skehan says he rented for much of his adult life - but always tried to make his house a home.
"To make it feel like home, you do all the things that you can," he says, "but, ultimately, it's like peel and stick PVC tiles and things like that. We were always wanting to make the house a home, I was always buying things at auctions and little pieces of furniture and things like that.
"The last three or four years, when we came home, the rental properties - one was sold out from underneath us, one the owner's came back," he lists.
"With two young kids and a lot of moving vans and boxes, we were very keen to just get one space that was our own, and the recipes in the book are all about that."
Buying a house in Ireland is no mean feat these days, and Skehan says that it was a personal touch that saved his dream home from going to a property developer.
"We were being out-bid and out-bid and out-bid," he says. "The last thing I had in my arsenal of things to be able to throw was a personal letter. Not only did I write a personal letter but I edited a video of us in the area. I threw everything.
"If you fall in love with a place, if you throw everything at it, even if you lose it, at least you come away from it having tried."
"Since telling that story, I've heard so many people saying the personal letter [works]," he adds. "It's nice to know that people still have a heart out there, and you can beat out a property developer if you send in a personal letter."
To hear the rest of Donal's chat with Oliver on RTÉ Radio 1, listen back above.
