Welcome to The Hopsack
Stop skiving off P.E. :-)
January 20th, 2012Physically active children perform better academically, according to an article chez Dr Mercola.
Exercise boosts brain function. And it doesn’t need to cost a bean 
Happy Hauschka New Year!
January 7th, 2012
Well the dust is indeed settling round our way. And you guys seem to be enjoying what The Hopsack is up to. Indeed we’ve had some amazing accolades since we drew the curtains back to show off our shiny new healthy haven. ”I’ve never been so happy to spend money in all my life” was one that took us all by surprise, feeling as we did that we had done a fair job of the new shop, but not to the point of really touching someone’s life/purse in such a positive manner. So we’re crimson cheeked with all the commentary, and for those of you who haven’t yet seen the new place, below is a selection of images that charts our path over the last couple of months as we swelled Violet Beauregarde-style (the girl who blew up into a giant blueberry at the behest of the umpa-lumpas) to become a centrepiece of fresh wholefoodiness in the distinctly patchy gastronomic tapestry that is Rathmines.
On another note, if your name is Tina Tina…you’re the lucky winner of our Dr Hauschka hamper competition!! We look forward to presenting you with your hardwon prize And for the rest of you, the answer Tina provided us was 1million cells, to the question: how many skin cells does our body shed in 24 hours? If you haven’t signed up to our newsletter you won’t even have heard of this or indeed any other of our great offers. So just scroll down this page and stick your email address in the box on the right to start receiving our blogs and offers (usually about once every fortnight). 2012 is set to be a year of super offers/discounts/bundles and prizes at The Hopsack to keep a few extra coins in your pocket, and hopefully put a smile on your face. 
We’re Open, then closed, then we’re open again, closed for a bit…then it’s 2012!
December 27th, 2011Christmas Opening Hours
Hope you are all enjoying a well earned rest at the end of a year full of change for us all. Someone said once that in order to build something new you need to create chaos to build your new paradigm. So with that in mind we all look forward to the dust settling in 2012 and a happy, healthy and enriching year to come.
The Hopsack will re-open on Wednesday 28th from 10-6 and hours this week will be a bit altered, with everything operating and on sale as per usual apart from our salad bar and soup offering.
Wednesday 28th 10-6
Thursday 29th 9-7.30
Friday 30th 9-7:30
Saturday 31st 9-6:30
Sunday 1st CLOSED
Monday 2nd CLOSED
Tuesday 3rd 8.30-8
A Late Addition to 2011′s Good News Stories
December 24th, 2011For those of you who haven’t graced Rathmines with your presence in the last week, you will have missed The Hopsack’s little shop of all things healthy doing a changing rooms/grand designs/wonderwoman costume change moment. But we didn’t just get to pop into a phonebox and spin around a few times to put on our new Super ‘sack – instead the whole shop moved lock, stock and ancient brewing barrel across to a temporary location and for seventeen painful days we forced you guys to find our brazil nuts hidden underneath bottles of probiotics and you all coped admirably and kept us sane with your “…well it’ll be worth it in the end, won’t it” comments.
Then it was our turn to rise to the challenge and in true underpants over trousers style we dashed like headless vegetarian chickens with our tens of thousands of products to our old/new superhome; and on Friday 16th December at 11.15AM The Hopsack re-opened its shutters to the wide-eyed and slightly bewildered public. For those of you from the MTV generation it was a bit like a messy episode of Cribs, all wireless networks and showy lighting.
With all our new space we couldn’t resist wedging in a few new ideas – so we can proudly announce that we now stock a great big range of organic fruit and veggies (no brussel sprouts left at this stage, sorry!), and we have a super wholefood deli and salad bar from which you can easily refuel with super tasty soups, spring rolls, samousas, pizza slices, and a great range of salad options.  You can enjoy a beautiful organic coffee (Peruvian single origin) from our shiny espresso machine (a Faema Rocket for aficionados of the coffee world), or one of the range of Solaris Botanical Teas!  Better still you can now enjoy all of our tasty new fresh food and drink options at our little coffee table in the window!
From January we will have our therapy room up and running and we will also announce the arrival of our juice and smoothie menu in the next few days. Â So 2012 is looking like an exciting prospect – and we have lots more planned so stay tuned to keep up with all the goings on as things unfold over the coming months!
From all the Murray family and all our fantastic team at The Hopsack we wish you the very best this Christmas and for the New Year!
…without a sting in the cocktail
December 24th, 2011The gorgeous re-Vamp-ed Hopsack is as much a pleasure trove as a house of health: our saintly provisions have been flirting with the dark side, creating luscious liquids to reward Santa & Co. for stuffing themselves down the chimney!
Whiskey and carrots are banned, though. We know where they end up.
Instead, we’ve been playing with coconut water, green tea, fruity things, a veg or two, coconut milk, almonds and spices. Yum! And high-quality alcohol to limit the damage post-Bacchanal.
So, you can obey the angel and the devil on your shoulder … in moderation, of course.
**
The Night of the Iguana
Glass: Highball/Collins
Serves 1
- 60mls golden rum*
- 60-120mls coconut water, fresh or – much less risky – from The Hopsack (at least we won’t chop your fingers off!)
- 2-3 ice cubes
Devil: Combine golden rum and coconut water in a highball glass. Add 2-3 ice cubes. Stir. Regale.
Angel: Coconut water is low in calories, rich in potassium and naturally isotonic. It is wonderful for rehydrating the body after exercise and boozing!
* The golden rum should be light-bodied and subtle, so as not to dominate the coconut water’s delicate flavour. Ask your Offie-Meister for advice.
**
The Elder Coco
Glass: Lowball
Serves 1
- 45mls St Germain Elderflower Liqueur (spotted @ Harvey Nicks, Dundrum)
- 90mls coconut water
- Ice
Devil: In a cocktail shaker, (((shake))) the St Germain, coconut water and ice until Arctic cold. Strain into a lowball filled with ice.
Angel: Hydration, hydration, hydration! Elderflower preparations are also used by herbalists for respiratory complaints and bruising, among other things.
**
Warm Spiced Sake from Clearspring
Vessel: Sake cups
Serves 4
- 200mls Clearspring Shizengo or Tamaki sake
- Zest of one orange
- 5 cloves
- 1/2 stick cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon sultanas
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Clearspring rice malt syrup
Devil: Put the ingredients in a pan and warm until just below simmering point, stirring a little to melt the rice syrup. Cover and leave to infuse for 2-3 minutes. Serve while still warm, making sure that each cup contains a few sexy sake-soaked sultanas.
Angel: Warming and comforting. For the manifold benefits of cinnamon and cloves, see here.
**
Green Tea and Sake Cocktail from Clearspring
Glass: Martini
Serves 4
- 500mls chilled Sencha green tea
- 500mls pomegranate juice
- 4 shots Clearspring Shizengo or Tamaki sake
- Juice of half a lemon
- Ice
Devil: Pour the green tea, pomegranate juice and sake into a jug over ice. Stir. Pour into four glasses and add a little lemon juice to each.
Angel: The antioxidants in green tea and pomegranate juice help to offset the free radical damage wrought by alcohol, as does the vitamin C in lemon juice.
**
Mayumi’s Elixir of Life
Glass: Jam jar
- Freshly picked elderberries
- Vodka to cover
Angel (no devils here!): Fill a jam jar with fresh elderberries, packing them very tightly. Cover the berries with vodka, then close the lid. Leave to infuse for four weeks, giving the jar a good shake at least once a day (especially if the berries emerge above the vodka). When time is up, strain through a sieve (pressing the fruit to extract as much liquid as possible) and store the tincture in a sterilised brown glass jar. This is your tasty elderberry elixir. Add a dropperful or two to vodka or cocktails for a fruity punch!
Angel: Elderberry elixir is great for general immune support. If you mix some with honey, lemon, cloves and thyme to make a hot tonic, it is also good for the throat.
Arigatou, Mayumi-san
Kampai!
**
Cherry, Darling!
Glass: Lowball
Serves 1
- 1 measure vodka
- 30mls CherryActive Concentrate (liquid)
- Spring water
- Agave nectar (optional)
- Ice
Devil: Pour vodka and CherryActive over ice. According to taste, add more CherryActive for a tart cherry flavour, spring water if it’s too strong, or a few drops of agave nectar if it’s too sour. Stir and swig!
Angel: CherryActive’s antioxidants reduce free radical damage, uric acid levels and joint swelling. CherryActive also contains naturally occurring melatonin to improve sleep.
**
Inspiration
I love cooking intuitively: a sip here, a spoonful there. If you have a juicer and/or a blender, why not experiment with your own creations? Freshly pressed juices (fruit and veg) make wonderful cocktails and mocktails. Fresh herbs and spices, such as basil, mint and ginger, add another dimension. Agave or rice syrup sweeten. Then there are fruit concentrates, flavoured coconut waters, microherbs, coconut cream and other delights to take your potions to the stratosphere! G’wan, give it a go. And when you hit gold, you know where we are…! 
**
Matrioshka Eggnog (vegan) from the Post-Punk Kitchen
Serves 4 or more
A few tips to make sure it’s a good egg (nog):
Buy some cheap American cup and spoon measurements to keep quantities accurate.
Ensure your avocado is perfectly ripe but not overripe. A good avo will yield to thumb pressure but still put up a fight; an overripe fruit will be squidgy soft beneath the skin and may be blighted by dark patches, indicating a bad egg. So no softies. And nothing with a black heart.
Keep all your ingredients COLD. This is vital. If your ingredients are warm the texture and flavour will be off, even if you chill the drink later.
Avocado doesn’t keep well, so make this recipe as close to serving time as possible.
- 1 ripe avocado
- 1 13oz can coconut milk (equivalent to 384.46mls, just to be awkward)
- 3 cups almond milk
- 1/2 cup agave nectar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (such as Nielsen-Massey)
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (freshly grated if possible)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Tiny pinch ground cloves (less than 1/8th teaspoon)
- Rum to taste (start with 1/3 cup and go from there…!)
- Cinnamon sticks to garnish (optional)
Devil: Pour the coconut milk into a container. Place the coconut milk and avocado in the freezer for 45 minutes. They should not be frozen but they should be extremely cold (a little iciness on the coconut milk is OK).
Slice the avocado in half. Remove the pit. Scoop out the flesh with a spoon and put it in a blender. Add the other ingredients. Blend until smooth. Pour into smallish glasses (a little goes a long way!). Sprinkle some extra nutmeg on top and garnish with a cinnamon stick.
Angel: This creamy, comforting drink is full of good fats from avocado, almond and coconut for brain, skin and hormone health. Lemon juice provides immune-boosting vitamin C. See here for more on the health-giving properties of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.
Note: You can make this for non-drinkers by replacing the rum with extra almond milk.
**
And finally…
The Morning After aka The Virgin Mary (my brain is too addled to work out why that sounds so wrong)
Glass: Tumbler, chipped mug, sticky Martini glass, or similar
Serves 1 person in need
This is a Bloody Mary sans vodka, made with freshly pressed juices – preferably organic from The Hopsack‘s sooperdooper new produce section, as you probably don’t need any more toxins in your body right now!
2 ripe tomatoes
2 carrots (uh oh!)
1/2 beetroot
1 stalk celery
1 cucumber
Angel: Juice everything, or [insert verb] someone to do it for you. Sip slowly. This babe is an isotonic, energising, antioxidant repair shop for the hungover soul.
Only a few sleeps til Santa now. Don’t forget to mix him a drink. He’ll need one!
And … lalala … “We Wish You A Merry Christmas And A Happy New Year!”
Dale Pinnock hits the airwaves
December 9th, 2011When ginger, garlic and shiitakes are in the aether, Dale Pinnock appeareth. Nope, not Gypsy Rose’s prophecy; these are simply key ingredients in his delumptiously scrumplicious Flu-Fighting Soup.
Author of Medicinal Cookery (see our blog from last year when he got cookin’ in The Hopsack), Dale returns to our shores next week to whip up some seasonal fare. Snag: you have to watch daytime TV. Catch him on ‘Four Live’, RTE 1, Monday 12 December, from 4pm.
If you are at work, Christmas shopping, or burning mince pies at that time, he will be back on Monday 23 January for two gigs: The John Murray Show on RTE Radio 1 between 9am and 10am and ‘Four Live’ on RTE 1 from 4pm, when he’ll be stirring it up with Maura Derrane.
(Make that soup. It’s the lick!)
My, What a Rubble-filled Store You Run, Madam….It’s, er, Delightful…
November 30th, 2011
A quick breather for the barrel that will soon be re-instated in its rightful home as a beacon for wholefoody, organic wonderfulness that will be the new Hopsack
Well to anyone who hasn’t noticed a slight change in the appearance of The Hopsack over the last few days – glasses won’t do it, laser surgery is clearly on the cards. Â Over Saturday night and Sunday morning we stripped out the shop and moved lock, stock and home-brew barrel across the mall to facilitate builders getting into our shop and, to be honest, totally destroying it. Â There’s nothing left bar the shopfront. Â And trying not to get too sentimental about the topsy turvy 28 years we spent in the little space, we’re really looking forward to providing something more to the community…a whole lot more to be honest – when we re-open (hopefully the end of this week or early the following one) we intend to be providing a great spread of products that we just couldn’t squeeze into the “old shop”.
You will be able to come in and pick up all your organic fruit and vegetables, fresh bread (in all shapes, sizes and flour bases), get your breakfast, lunch and/or dinner from our wholefood deli and salad bar – you will also be able to try out our range of organic juices and smoothies, even have a seat while you munch or slurp in our new surroundings.
We really hope you all like it as much as we will – it’s a big departure, but we fully intend to stick to our guns of offering the best health advice money can’t buy, along with an extended range of supplements and herbal remedies too!
Looking forward to welcoming you all to our new store when we get in there.
Best wishes from The Hopsackers
Cayenne – a life saver
November 14th, 2011Cayenne (Capsicum annuum/minimum/frutescens) is a remarkable and cheap remedy for many ailments. It helps to regulate blood pressure, stems bleeding and stimulates the circulation in a gentle but very effective way. It also, surprisingly, aids digestion and can help to heal stomach ulcers. When I studied herbalism I learnt to think of it as a ‘fat buster’, as it can remove unwanted fatty build-up from the circulatory system and liver, reducing cholesterol. It also has powerful antibacterial properties,.
I had my own experience of using Cayenne in an emergency after I shaved off the top of a finger and part of the nail while cleaning a peanut butter machine a couple of years ago. Not trusting my own wisdom or instinct (how often this is the case!) I went to a local pharmacy, where I was advised to go to a doctor to have the wound stitched. But there was nothing to stitch, as all skin had been removed! I regained my wits and plunged the finger into a bag of Cayenne, leaving it there for about 5 minutes. It staunched the bleeding and although it felt hot, it didn’t sting or hurt at all. I also got the full benefit of Cayenne’s antibacterial properties. I then made a herbal ‘putty’ to treat the wound, which I’ll talk about in a later blog. Suffice to say that I have a perfectly healed finger (and nail), with sensation returning to the tip of the finger about 12 months later, despite nerve damage.
Another more dramatic instance of the healing power of Cayenne occurred a few years ago. My mother had suffered a stroke, which was probably still happening when I arrived 90 minutes later. Curled up on her bed, she muttered that she thought she was going to die. I put a couple of drops of Cayenne tincture in a small amount of lukewarm water and dipped the corner of a clean handkerchief in the mix. While she was semiconscious, I put this in her mouth and repeated it several times until she reacted by resisting, at which point I knew the Cayenne was doing the trick (as it can also do for hear attacks). Within five minutes she had regained full consciousness and was worrying about Canadian relatives due to visit in a few days!
So keep powdered Cayenne in your first aid cupboard. You can also make up a tincture yourself: fill a small jar with the powder and top up with 40% vodka; shake daily and after 14 days strain through a coffee filter. The tincture will keep for a couple of years.
While most of us could do with incorporating Cayenne into our daily diet, constitutionally ‘hot’ people may find it too heating, so beware! The easiest way to take it I find is to put the powder (begin with 1/8 teaspoon, building to 1 full teaspoon) in tomato juice or passata. Hey presto, a Bloody Mary without the vodka!
Another useful tip coming into winter is to sprinkle it in your socks, which will keep your feet toasty warm.
An exhaustive list of the health benefits of Cayenne are too numerous to detail here, but a health warning should run something like this: Â You omit Cayenne from your first aid cupboard at your peril!
The Food Hospital on Channel 4 / 4OD
November 11th, 2011Is food as medicine finally hitting the mainstream…?! Check out The Food Hospital, currently on Channel 4 (on t’ telly) and 4OD (online).
Man It’s Baking In Here!
October 31st, 2011I know I know! We don’t want to count the days to Christmas either, but seriously – if you want a good pud, then you best get baking because our hardened Christmas baking fans have already got theirs out of the oven and curing in a muslin cloth. That bit of foresight makes all the difference!
If any of you have thus far missed out on the pleasure of seeing the looks on the faces of friends and family as they tuck into a freshly baked anything from your oven, then this Christmas is time to turn that all around, for your chance to become the beaming father/mother of a literal bun from the baking oven. Contraray to popular belief, the Christmas cake is not an ethereal product, baked only by those bestowed with “the Knowledge”. Whilst it does involve the bringing together of a long-ish list of christmassy fruits, its culmination is not alchemy – or at least it doesn’t have to be.
The Hopsack is a proud stockist of all the ingredients required to bake the perfect Chritsmas Cake – a one stop shop for novices and an Alladin’s Cave for those more experienced bakers, hunting down the elusive Muscatel raisin, or whole organic citron peel. Below is a recipe, tried and trusted that came into being sometime in the early eighties and has survived transfer from scrawled shred of paper to printed flyer (pick one up in The Hopsack if you prefer to keep your monitor out of reach of your tackey cook’s fingers)
A Christmas Cake that you can easily make
You will need…
- 150g organic cold-pressed rapeseed oil
- 150g sweetener (mix of grated carrot, apple juice and apple puree)
- 200g organic wholewheat flour
- 25g almond paste
- 4 large organic eggs
- 300g organic currants
- 25g organic sultanas
- 100g chopped organic mixed peel
- 50g dried organic apricots
- 25g organic almonds, halved
- 1tsp mixed spice
- pinch sea salt
- 1 tsp rum
Method
- Line and grease an 8″ cake tin
- Beat the eggs, sweetener, almond paste and oil
- Mix in the spice, salt and rum whilst still warm
- Fold in flour
- Add fruit and nuts
- Bake at gas mark 3/ 160 degrees C for 2 – 2 1/2 hrs or until a skewer pushed into the centre of the cake comes out nearly clean.
- Stand back for all the oooohs and aaaahs from your family and friends, then either learn some exotic icing skills or stick on the kettle and cut yourself a slice to “test the quality”.
Loading...
