MESSY: Simple recipes for chaotic cooks
MESSY: Simple recipes for chaotic cooks
My cookbook, MESSY specialises in simple recipes for chaotic cooks, is available to buy in all good bookstores or via Blasta Books now.
My name is Aoife McElwain.
I’m an event planner, DJ, author, creativity coach, and food & travel writer, based in the west of Ireland.
I am the founder of Sing Along Social, a singing party for people who can not sing that has been popping up at parties big and small worldwide since 2015.
In 2024, I hosted my first daytime Sing Along Social disco at a nursing home in Clifden, Co Galway. It was one of the most rewarding and impactful gigs I had ever done.
Since January 2025, I have been retraining as a healthcare support assistant and volunteering with elderly people and people living with dementia in my community.
Thanks to funding from Creative Ireland Galway in 2025 and 2026, I have been able to bring the daytime disco to nursing homes and care facilities all around Connemara.
My first book, Slow at Work, about figuring out how to recover from burn out, was published with Gill Books in 2017.
My second book, a cookbook championing imperfection in the kitchen, called MESSY, was released in October 2025 with Blasta Books.
Thank you to my friends Cliodhna Prendergast, Ruth Medjber, and Shane Serrano for capturing my work in such beautiful splendour through their photography.