My Weekend: I'm looking forward to this year and making up for time missed with friends and family over the last couple of years

Daphne Roche, of O’Sullivan’s Poultry and Game features in our My Weekend

Tell us about yourself:

My name is Daphne Roche. I’m 41 and a mum to two boys. I live near Macroom with my husband, the boys, two dogs and two cats.

I was born and reared in Cork (love the place) and I run O’Sullivan’s Poultry and Game in Cork’s English Market alongside my mum Glenys and sister Gwyn.

Our family business has been in the English Market since 1990, providing the market’s largest selection of locally reared, free-range poultry and game — including free-range chicken, turkeys, wild Irish pheasant, venison and more. You will find us just to the right of the fountain as you enter from the Princes Street entrance, in the heart of Cork’s bustling English Market.

As the second generation to run the family business, I am passionate about food and proud to pass down learnings to our team and my kids, the third generation who pop in on occasion to help out!

At O’Sullivan’s, we pride ourselves on our farm-to-fork freshness and traditional methods of craft butchery, bringing to market the highest quality, locally reared and hand-prepared poultry and game you will find!

Tell us about your Friday nights?

Friday night for me is usually a night in relaxing. It’s an early start Saturday morning with the chicken arriving around 5.30am.

Lie-ins or up with the lark.. which is it for you?

I’m definitely an up with the lark kinda gal. I love to get up and run at the day and relax then in the evening.

Does work creep into your weekend?

I try not to let work creep into time at home but being a family business, of course it does a little at times. This is definitely helped by the fact that the English Market has held onto the tradition of staying closed on a Sunday.

If money was no object, where would you head to on a weekend city break? And who would you bring with you?

I would love to take a trip to see the Northern Lights so I think I’d probably head to Finland with the family.

Closer to home, is there some place you like to head to recharge the batteries?

We are very lucky to have some fabulous walks on our doorstep. We often head to Warren’s Court woods, the Gerragh or Farran Woods. If we’re out for the day, we tend to head towards Muckross, Kilarney. We’re hoping to cycle the Waterford greenaway in a couple of weeks.

Do you like to catch up with family/friends at the weekend?

I love to catch up with family and friends. It’s something I’m hoping to do more of as we emerge from Covid.

Do you get to indulge any hobbies? Even as a spectator?

I love to run. Good for the body and the mind. So I try to do a bit of that.

Entertain or be entertained? If it’s the latter, do you have a signature dish?

I’m happy with either! It’s always nice to be entertained but I love to have people over. Tuscan chicken has become my go-to dish or during the summer homemade pizzas are good fun.

We have so many places to eat out in Cork - where are your go to spots for coffee/ lunch/ special meal?

The last restaurant I was at was Pigalles on Barrack Street, a lovely restaurant, great atmosphere, great food and fun people.

Sunday night comes around too fast... how do you normally spend it?

Sunday night is usually an evening in with the family and sometimes friends. A nice glass of wine and some good cheese. Feet up and reset for Monday morning.

What time does your alarm clock go off on Monday morning?

Most mornings my alarm goes off at 5.30am but on Monday I’m usually off so I’m up at 7am. Lunches made, bags packed ready for the school bus at 7.50am.

Anything else you are up to at present?

As I write this, I’m on a long overdue trip to Amsterdam... a present for a round birthday a couple of years ago. I’m looking forward to this year and making up for time missed with friends and family over the last couple of years.

In the market, we are gearing up for the busy spring season ahead. There are so many celebrations on —St Patrick’s weekend, Mother’s Day and Easter coming up. For the first time in a long time, we can celebrate these events with family and friends again... and what better way to celebrate than with great food! At O’Sullivan’s, we have the market’s largest selection of locally reared poultry and game to choose from that will really help create a showstopper meal for any occasion. It’s a year to pull out all the stops!

We also recently signed up to Neighbourfood, which allows our customers to pick up our products at a Neighbourfood market location that is close to them, which is very exciting for us.