Chic's Ralph Rolle Doubles as Cookie Mistro

Having served up some seriously funky beats last week in Cork, Chic drummer Ralph Rolle returns to Ireland in September for a Theatre Of Food appearance at Electric Picnic.
When not playing with such legendary names as Nile Rodgers, Sly & The Family Stone, Chaka Khan and Sting, the Bronx resident gets up every morning at 5.30am to work alongside his team of bakers at the Soul Snacks Cookies Company, which has been bringing deliciousness to New York since 1996. Celebrity nibblers include Jennifer Lopez, Bette Middler, Whoopi Goldberg and Prince Albert of Monaco. With Sweet Potato, French Cocoa Chocolate, Georgia Oatmeal Raisin, Ebony And Ivory Almond and the so-good-they-named-it-twice Peanut Peanut Butter among the range, you’ll be pleased to hear that Soul Snacks are hoping to pitch up here too.
“This whole process is to open up the discussion about bringing a store to Ireland,” he tells Hot Press. “We want to start here and then go to some other places in Europe. Everyone so far that I’ve brought cookies to has given me rave reviews about how great they are. If we can get somebody to open a store with us here, that would be exactly what the chef ordered.
“I’m really proud and excited to be a part of the Theatre of Food,” Ralph continues. “People are going to go, ‘Is that the drummer from Chic up there baking those cookies, and now he’s sitting on the drums…’ I’m bringing a kit with me so there’ll be music too.”
Hot Press is among those who’ve been treated to a taste of what’s to come and all we can say is, “Yum!”
We’ll be talking music with Mr. Rolle in our upcoming Electric Picnic special.
It may possibly have passed you by, but June was World Cucumber Day. To celebrate, the good folk from Hendrick’s came up with a Catnip & Cucumber Cooler recipe comprising of 20ml Fresh Lemon Juice, 10ml Elderflower Cordial, 8-12 Catnip Leaves, 20ml Cloudy Apple Juice, 50ml Fresh Cucumber Juice and 50ml of their cucumber-infused (and, indeed, enthused) Gin. The method is to combine the Gin, Lemon, Elderflower and Catnip in a tall glass and muddle; add ice and the Cucumber and Apple Juice and churn, then top up with Soda Water and garnish with a Cucumber Wedge and Catnip Sprig. If you can’t find catnip, normal mint will do very nicely.
The Frank & Walters, Crow Black Chicken, Slow Motion Heroes, MKAI, Hope is Noise and King Kong Company are among those supplying the musical entertainment at the Great Irish Beer Festival, which takes place from September 22-24 in Cork City Hall.
Hosted by those lovely Franciscan Well people, Black Donkey, Boundary, Galway Bay, Mountain Man, O Brother, Eight Degrees, 9 White Deer, Rascals, Rising Sons, White Gypsy and Yellow Belly are among the other 20 breweries who’ll be showcasing their frothy wares. We also suspect there will be a few nips of whiskey doing the rounds! Tickets are available from €11.50 to €22.50 at greatirishbeerfestival.ie.