sunday
we woke sunday morning, ate breakfast in the hotel and had the car packed up by 11.30am. the stones met us at our hotel and we made the drive back to crosshaven. we stopped at durty nelly's in shannon for lunch and enjoyed seafood chowder, ham and cheese toasties, salmon, pasta and for a few, pints of guinness. dad, chuck and i headed back in one car while mom stayed back with tayna, erin, tyler and andrew so they could do a bit of exploring around bunratty castle.
when we got back to crosshaven, i packed up my bags and did a bit of homework while the rest of the gang went down to cronin's pub for a pint. after an amazing dinner and conversation surrounding the weekend, mom and i packed up the car and drove to ballymaloe so i could start week eleven.
28 April 2011
pistachio ice cream
saturday
saturday morning mom, dad and i drove up to westport. the drive through connemara was absolutely beautiful even though the day was a bit grey.
we arrived in westport, had a nice lunch at madden's and then spent the afternoon exploring the downtown. mom found a photography studio (michael gannon photography) that had some amazing photos of stunning places all over connemara. she showed michael a few of the recent photos she had taken and after purchasing a few photo cards, we were on our way.
although we took a different route back to galway, the scenery was just as incredible. even with the overcast sky and drops of rain. we arrived back at our hotel with time to nap and shower before meeting up with the stones for dinner. our initial plans were to try the trendy new restaurant 'eight', but when they couldn't accommodate 9 with such short notice, we ended up at KC Blake's. not the least bit disappointing! we enjoyed a delicious meal, excellent vino and non-stop conversation over the course of two hours.
after dinner, the stones departed for charles' apartment to drop off him and erin and mom, dad and i walked over to the quay's bar. one of my favorite pubs in IRE, with a sister pub in temple bar dublin, i was curious to see if there was any live music. it was quite crowded and after snaking our way through the mass of young men and women, we decided to call it an evening and head back to our hotel.
we changed into our jams and then enjoyed some vino. mom was the first to head to bed. dad and i watched the end of 'body of lies', 'zodiac' and 'golden eye' before calling it a night sometime after 1am.
saturday morning mom, dad and i drove up to westport. the drive through connemara was absolutely beautiful even though the day was a bit grey.
we arrived in westport, had a nice lunch at madden's and then spent the afternoon exploring the downtown. mom found a photography studio (michael gannon photography) that had some amazing photos of stunning places all over connemara. she showed michael a few of the recent photos she had taken and after purchasing a few photo cards, we were on our way.
although we took a different route back to galway, the scenery was just as incredible. even with the overcast sky and drops of rain. we arrived back at our hotel with time to nap and shower before meeting up with the stones for dinner. our initial plans were to try the trendy new restaurant 'eight', but when they couldn't accommodate 9 with such short notice, we ended up at KC Blake's. not the least bit disappointing! we enjoyed a delicious meal, excellent vino and non-stop conversation over the course of two hours.
after dinner, the stones departed for charles' apartment to drop off him and erin and mom, dad and i walked over to the quay's bar. one of my favorite pubs in IRE, with a sister pub in temple bar dublin, i was curious to see if there was any live music. it was quite crowded and after snaking our way through the mass of young men and women, we decided to call it an evening and head back to our hotel.
we changed into our jams and then enjoyed some vino. mom was the first to head to bed. dad and i watched the end of 'body of lies', 'zodiac' and 'golden eye' before calling it a night sometime after 1am.
29 March 2011
log entry, day two. the adventure begins!
friday
friday morning we were up early and on the road by 8.30am to drive to shannon airport to meet up with charles, tayna, erin, tyler and tyler's friend, andrew. we split up into cars for the remainder of the drive to galway. tayna and erin rode with me and mom and the boys had a car to themselves.
once we arrived in galway, we first found the hotel where the stones were staying. they checked in, unloaded their suitcases and then we reconvened in the lobby, piled back into the cars and headed for our hotel. due to a less than detailed map and poor communication from the hotel staff, our hotel wasn't where we were told it would be. after sitting in some serious traffic, we decided to drive back into the city centre, find a place to park and then a place to eat. the king's head was the choice venue and after a server pointed us upstairs, we found comfortable seating for eight. our server was a friendly fellow from donegal and he was good to bring the guinness straight away. once we were full, we walked around the city a bit. we stopped into the tourist office and picked up a few maps before heading back to the carpark. we had to sit in traffic again, however we were successful in finding the hotel by driving a bit further than we did originally. mom checked us in and the wisconsin stones headed back to their hotel to shower and nap before meeting up with young charles for dinner later in the evening. even though i hadn't really done much for the day, i was also feeling exhausted and took a nice, long nap.
the stones were back at 6.30pm and we enjoyed some appetizers while we waited for young charles to arrive at the hotel. when he got there, he shared a few stories from his recent trip to belfast before we headed out for dinner. our plan was to walk the mile (plus) into the city centre and find a place for seafood. however, we passed 'the huntsman' on our way and after a quick look at the menu, we decided it was what we were looking for. dinner was delicious and the conversation was fun. after coffees, banoffee pie, and a selection of ice creams, we walked back to our hotel. the stones departed for their hotel and we headed up to our room.
the three of us were quick to put on our jams and climb into bed.
friday morning we were up early and on the road by 8.30am to drive to shannon airport to meet up with charles, tayna, erin, tyler and tyler's friend, andrew. we split up into cars for the remainder of the drive to galway. tayna and erin rode with me and mom and the boys had a car to themselves.
once we arrived in galway, we first found the hotel where the stones were staying. they checked in, unloaded their suitcases and then we reconvened in the lobby, piled back into the cars and headed for our hotel. due to a less than detailed map and poor communication from the hotel staff, our hotel wasn't where we were told it would be. after sitting in some serious traffic, we decided to drive back into the city centre, find a place to park and then a place to eat. the king's head was the choice venue and after a server pointed us upstairs, we found comfortable seating for eight. our server was a friendly fellow from donegal and he was good to bring the guinness straight away. once we were full, we walked around the city a bit. we stopped into the tourist office and picked up a few maps before heading back to the carpark. we had to sit in traffic again, however we were successful in finding the hotel by driving a bit further than we did originally. mom checked us in and the wisconsin stones headed back to their hotel to shower and nap before meeting up with young charles for dinner later in the evening. even though i hadn't really done much for the day, i was also feeling exhausted and took a nice, long nap.
the stones were back at 6.30pm and we enjoyed some appetizers while we waited for young charles to arrive at the hotel. when he got there, he shared a few stories from his recent trip to belfast before we headed out for dinner. our plan was to walk the mile (plus) into the city centre and find a place for seafood. however, we passed 'the huntsman' on our way and after a quick look at the menu, we decided it was what we were looking for. dinner was delicious and the conversation was fun. after coffees, banoffee pie, and a selection of ice creams, we walked back to our hotel. the stones departed for their hotel and we headed up to our room.
the three of us were quick to put on our jams and climb into bed.
paddy's day
thursday
in IRE, st. patrick's day is a bank holiday. businesses are closed, schools are closed and everyone observes the day of saint patrick with parades and loads of guinness. because SPD fell on a thursday this year, we had class thursday and friday was our observed holiday at ballymaloe.
thursday was my last morning in the demo kitchen. i was in early to prepare a special dessert for my parents who were coming in for lunch and staying for afternoon demo. i had considered some individual lemon cakes with lemon curd filling, but didn't think it would have fit so nicely into my order of work. so i opted for the chocolate mousse. i put a few fresh raspberries in the bottom of the green glasses i used, poured the chocolate mousse on top and then set them in the fridge to set.
the rest of the morning was spent cooking and preparing lobster, making chips and hollandaise sauce. the humane way to cook lobster is to put the lobsters into a pot of tepid water and then bring it to the boil. the slow rise in temperature puts the lobster into a coma and within minutes it's dead. since we were being resourceful and re-using water, my lobsters didn't have such a humane death. they went head first into the boiling water. i quickly secured the lid and braced myself for the screaming i was sure to hear. when i didn't hear anything, i told myself the little guys had a heart attack which meant a short, painless death. after boiling them in the salt water until they turned red, i transferred them to a pot of court bouillon to finish cooking. they were later removed and placed on a baking tray to cool. while they cooled, i made the hollandaise sauce and cut up potatoes for chips. hollandaise is simply made by whisking up two egg yolks in a cold saucepan, turning on a low heat and then slowly adding butter, a few tablespoons at a time. the chips were parbaked for a few minutes, to soften on the inside, and then rested them on some kitchen paper to dry.
the lobsters were split in half and then the meat was removed and placed into a saucepan with shallots, mushrooms, salt, pepper and cream. when the lobster and cream sauce was of the desired thickness, i removed it from the heat and let it rest. i cooked off the rest of my chips and then plated up one portion of the lobster. i filled a dried out lobster shell with the creamy lobster filling and piled a portion of chips beside it. once my food was tasted and graded, i put the plate in the oven to stay warm until my parents arrived for lunch. when they arrived, i made up a second plate of lobster and then took both plates into the dining room and to the table where my parents had sat. we had a nice visit while they ate and then when they had finished, i went and retrieved their desserts. i think it was a very lovely anniversary meal. :)
i introduced many of my classmates to my parents before we headed into demo. rory made some curry dishes, a poached salmon with spinach and tomato sauce and a few desserts with puff pastry. mom wasn't too interested in tasting any of the dishes except for the rhubarb vol au vole and dad had a plate with everything. the poached salmon was something he thinks he would make.
after demo, dad bought a fish from the local fish supplier while mom helped me pack up for the weekend and then we were off to crosshaven. since it was SPD AND their anniversary, we stopped in cronin's for a pint before heading home. we had a nice chat with sean about black and white lighthouses while we watched denis add green food coloring to the budweiser. when our pint glasses were empty, we headed to the house. we were stopped along the way by larry the census guy. he and dad spent about 5 minutes sorting out where exactly middle lodge was located according to the map that larry had. i was reminded of that great SNL skit with tim meadows and my buddy, christopher walken. 'boy, i really overshot it with that 80!'
dad let me fillet the fish once we got home and unpacked. he removed the head and i did the rest. once the fillets were wrapped up tightly and in the freezer, dad started making dinner.
we didn't have too late of an evening as we were driving to galway early friday morning.
in IRE, st. patrick's day is a bank holiday. businesses are closed, schools are closed and everyone observes the day of saint patrick with parades and loads of guinness. because SPD fell on a thursday this year, we had class thursday and friday was our observed holiday at ballymaloe.
thursday was my last morning in the demo kitchen. i was in early to prepare a special dessert for my parents who were coming in for lunch and staying for afternoon demo. i had considered some individual lemon cakes with lemon curd filling, but didn't think it would have fit so nicely into my order of work. so i opted for the chocolate mousse. i put a few fresh raspberries in the bottom of the green glasses i used, poured the chocolate mousse on top and then set them in the fridge to set.
the rest of the morning was spent cooking and preparing lobster, making chips and hollandaise sauce. the humane way to cook lobster is to put the lobsters into a pot of tepid water and then bring it to the boil. the slow rise in temperature puts the lobster into a coma and within minutes it's dead. since we were being resourceful and re-using water, my lobsters didn't have such a humane death. they went head first into the boiling water. i quickly secured the lid and braced myself for the screaming i was sure to hear. when i didn't hear anything, i told myself the little guys had a heart attack which meant a short, painless death. after boiling them in the salt water until they turned red, i transferred them to a pot of court bouillon to finish cooking. they were later removed and placed on a baking tray to cool. while they cooled, i made the hollandaise sauce and cut up potatoes for chips. hollandaise is simply made by whisking up two egg yolks in a cold saucepan, turning on a low heat and then slowly adding butter, a few tablespoons at a time. the chips were parbaked for a few minutes, to soften on the inside, and then rested them on some kitchen paper to dry.
the lobsters were split in half and then the meat was removed and placed into a saucepan with shallots, mushrooms, salt, pepper and cream. when the lobster and cream sauce was of the desired thickness, i removed it from the heat and let it rest. i cooked off the rest of my chips and then plated up one portion of the lobster. i filled a dried out lobster shell with the creamy lobster filling and piled a portion of chips beside it. once my food was tasted and graded, i put the plate in the oven to stay warm until my parents arrived for lunch. when they arrived, i made up a second plate of lobster and then took both plates into the dining room and to the table where my parents had sat. we had a nice visit while they ate and then when they had finished, i went and retrieved their desserts. i think it was a very lovely anniversary meal. :)
i introduced many of my classmates to my parents before we headed into demo. rory made some curry dishes, a poached salmon with spinach and tomato sauce and a few desserts with puff pastry. mom wasn't too interested in tasting any of the dishes except for the rhubarb vol au vole and dad had a plate with everything. the poached salmon was something he thinks he would make.
after demo, dad bought a fish from the local fish supplier while mom helped me pack up for the weekend and then we were off to crosshaven. since it was SPD AND their anniversary, we stopped in cronin's for a pint before heading home. we had a nice chat with sean about black and white lighthouses while we watched denis add green food coloring to the budweiser. when our pint glasses were empty, we headed to the house. we were stopped along the way by larry the census guy. he and dad spent about 5 minutes sorting out where exactly middle lodge was located according to the map that larry had. i was reminded of that great SNL skit with tim meadows and my buddy, christopher walken. 'boy, i really overshot it with that 80!'
dad let me fillet the fish once we got home and unpacked. he removed the head and i did the rest. once the fillets were wrapped up tightly and in the freezer, dad started making dinner.
we didn't have too late of an evening as we were driving to galway early friday morning.
16 March 2011
kaizen
today was day two of our 'business side of food' lecture with darina's sister, blathnaid bergin. we spent the first part of the morning reviewing what we discussed a few weeks ago when she first visited with us and then she talked about value added tax and kitchen management systems before we broke for coffee at 11am. when we resumed from our break, we looked at kitchen management in action and food costing. we did a few food costing exercises (my math is much better than i give myself credit for!) and watched at a gordan ramsay 'kitchen nightmares' dvd before lunch.
i was in charge of serving soup for lunch, so i quickly made for the dining room at 1pm. i ended up with the bread basket and i went around to each table, offering bread and chatting with my classmates. lunch today was corned beef and cabbage (served for the sake of all the non-irish) and loads of delicious sides. i was slightly surprised to see my tart on the dessert table next to the poached rhubarb and pear tarts. i made a point of tasting it (since i did go to all the work of saving it the day before) and it was actually quite good. so good that i had seconds. :)
the afternoon resumed at ten to two as pam was drawing names for cooking times and kitchen assignments for our exam in two weeks. i will be cooking at 8am on thursday, the 31st.
blathnaid picked up with portion control, waste management and talking about 'the business of ageing'. i was most intrigued with the whole business of ageing, what blathnaid called 'turning silver into gold'. she had attended a conference recently that looked at the group of men and women who are 50 years of age and older. she explained that they are a market that is being completely ignored and told us that there are endless business opportunities for them in the food industry. one of the things that was unsettling was that she said the 50 and older generation does not like to be looked at as 'old' and they are irritated and turned off when people refer to them as that. however, when i asked her if there was a consensus of how that group would like to be seen instead, she didn't have (in my opinion) an answer. it was interesting to hear some of my older classmates talk about experiences they have had with advertising (and how 90% of it is aimed to the 25-35 year olds) and even at ballymaloe. it was funny to hear some of the assumptions they had about ballymaloe compared to the ones some of the younger students had as well.
we wrapped up the lecture with a case study (about a past student who opened a cafe outside of dublin and had enlisted blathnaid's help) and a short evaluation of blathnaid's time with us.
as it was only 4.30pm when we got back to the pink cottage and the day was absolutely beautiful, elisa, rose, charlotte, minnie and i went for an adventure walk. we started out along the school road and then ended up in the fields. the scenery was stunning and our chat was light and fun.
i started straight into my menu and ingredients list for the final exam when we returned to our cottage a little over an hour later. i decided on starting with a salad of crozier blue cheese, pears and spiced pecans, a main of lamb tagine with medjool dates, sides of peas with coconut and coriander, cous cous with apricot and pistachio nuts, yoghurt and banana raita and ending with yoghurt and cardamom cream with pomegranate seeds flavored with rose blossom water. should be good to quite good.
i finished my order of work for the morning and minnie's just served up some french onion soup. elisa made a carrot cake for dessert, so i figure it'll be a late night tonight.
i was in charge of serving soup for lunch, so i quickly made for the dining room at 1pm. i ended up with the bread basket and i went around to each table, offering bread and chatting with my classmates. lunch today was corned beef and cabbage (served for the sake of all the non-irish) and loads of delicious sides. i was slightly surprised to see my tart on the dessert table next to the poached rhubarb and pear tarts. i made a point of tasting it (since i did go to all the work of saving it the day before) and it was actually quite good. so good that i had seconds. :)
the afternoon resumed at ten to two as pam was drawing names for cooking times and kitchen assignments for our exam in two weeks. i will be cooking at 8am on thursday, the 31st.
blathnaid picked up with portion control, waste management and talking about 'the business of ageing'. i was most intrigued with the whole business of ageing, what blathnaid called 'turning silver into gold'. she had attended a conference recently that looked at the group of men and women who are 50 years of age and older. she explained that they are a market that is being completely ignored and told us that there are endless business opportunities for them in the food industry. one of the things that was unsettling was that she said the 50 and older generation does not like to be looked at as 'old' and they are irritated and turned off when people refer to them as that. however, when i asked her if there was a consensus of how that group would like to be seen instead, she didn't have (in my opinion) an answer. it was interesting to hear some of my older classmates talk about experiences they have had with advertising (and how 90% of it is aimed to the 25-35 year olds) and even at ballymaloe. it was funny to hear some of the assumptions they had about ballymaloe compared to the ones some of the younger students had as well.
we wrapped up the lecture with a case study (about a past student who opened a cafe outside of dublin and had enlisted blathnaid's help) and a short evaluation of blathnaid's time with us.
as it was only 4.30pm when we got back to the pink cottage and the day was absolutely beautiful, elisa, rose, charlotte, minnie and i went for an adventure walk. we started out along the school road and then ended up in the fields. the scenery was stunning and our chat was light and fun.
i started straight into my menu and ingredients list for the final exam when we returned to our cottage a little over an hour later. i decided on starting with a salad of crozier blue cheese, pears and spiced pecans, a main of lamb tagine with medjool dates, sides of peas with coconut and coriander, cous cous with apricot and pistachio nuts, yoghurt and banana raita and ending with yoghurt and cardamom cream with pomegranate seeds flavored with rose blossom water. should be good to quite good.
i finished my order of work for the morning and minnie's just served up some french onion soup. elisa made a carrot cake for dessert, so i figure it'll be a late night tonight.
that's going to leave a mark
tuesday
after my less than stellar morning in demo kitchen monday, i was in the kitchen tuesday morning by 8am. i started my puff pastry dough, refrigerated it and then made a shortcrust pastry and had that resting in the fridge before 8.30am.
in addition to my pastries, my work order for the day included a plate of smoked local fish, accompanied by homemade horseradish sauce, a sweet dill mayonnaise and pickled cucumbers, and a seville orange bakewell tart. since i didn't have to do anything with the smoked fish, i made the mayonnaise, horseradish sauce and pickled cucumbers and let them cool in the fridge. i rolled out my puff pastry, put it back in the fridge and then got my shortcrust pastry and lined my flan ring. my first roll out was a bit shy for the 12" tin, so i folded it back up and re-rolled it. much better the second time around! i banged it into the oven to blind bake and then made the frangipane filling. that was set aside so i could roll out my puff pastry again (talk about a laborious task!). my pastry crust was taking it's sweet time browning up and just as i was ready to give it another 5 minutes (on top of the 25 minutes it had already been in), sorca let me know it looked baked enough. it was awkward to remove from the oven and as i struggled to get a good grip on the tin without the bottom pushing through, the tin fell on my wrist. i had to decide between letting the tin continue to burn me as i moved it over to the counter, or to drop the tin and end up with a destroyed tart crust. i opted for the latter and as the tin fell from my hands, i let out a frustrated 'rats!' and drew immediate attention from my classmates and instructor. i don't remember how i got over to the sink, but before i could do much more than wince at the pain, my wrist was under the tap and cold water was rushing to relieve the initial burning. i kept it there for about five minutes and then sorca was rubbing fresh aloe on it to ease the tenderness. the tart was a disaster. the sides had completely crumbled while the base miraculously stuck to the bottom tin disc. sorca, in an effort to cheer me up, came up with a creative way to save the tart. i rolled out more dough and lined the sides of the tin. we decided that the sides wouldn't take that long to bake and that they would connect with the bottom crust at some point. i spread the orange marmalade over the bottom of the tart, carefully covered it with the frangipane mixture and put it back into the oven. it had only been in for two minutes when sorca came back into the kitchen and let me know that she had been talking with another instructor and they felt it would benefit from some lattice work on top. i let sorca remove the tart from the oven and then i tediously rolled out more dough, cut it into semi-thick strips and then made a lattice design on top of the tart. by 11.30am, it was back in the oven for good.
i quickly retrieved my puff pastry from the fridge, gave it the final two rolls and then put it back. i plated up my smoked fish plate, consisting of eel, salmon, mackerel, tuna and mussels, added my cucumber pickle, sweet dill mayonnaise and horseradish sauce and presented it to sorca to taste.
i forgot to mention that steak was the main dish for the day and even though my partner had picked the steak to make, we both had to cook our own steaks. i let sorca know that i would be preparing mine medium-rare and then let it sizzle on the grill pan for the recommended 3 minutes on each side. i plated it up with onion rings and drizzled salsa verde on top and called it good. sorca tasted it and then let me take it into the dining room to eat. since my tart was still baking, sorca let me know she'd keep an eye on it and remove it when it was done.
after lunch i went back to the pink cottage and changed out of my stinky whites and into comfortable clothes. i laid down for a few minutes before i had to be back for afternoon demo.
since darina is in new york for SPD, rory was once again our demo leader. lucky us! he first went over how to remove lamb kidneys from the fat and membrane they are found in before starting in on the cooking. he made a warm salad of lamb kidneys, straw potatoes and caramelized shallots, a warm salad of lamb kidneys with oyster mushrooms, oyster mushrooms with marjoram, a cabbage, pea, cumin, curry leaves and mustard seed salad, a tarte francaise, jalousie, eccles cakes and croissants. he also demonstrated the humane way to cook lobster and several ways to prepare it.
i had an after demo duty of putting away dishes, so after tasting i joined a few of my other classmates in the larder and started stacking dishes and returning them to their homes. elisa and i went for a walk once i got back to the cottage and our chat mostly revolved around our upcoming exams.
dinner was some tuna in olive oil and frozen green peas. i spent the evening filing and choosing recipes for my final exam (and spreading aloe on my burn). i think it was after eleven when i finally crawled under the covers and fell asleep.
after my less than stellar morning in demo kitchen monday, i was in the kitchen tuesday morning by 8am. i started my puff pastry dough, refrigerated it and then made a shortcrust pastry and had that resting in the fridge before 8.30am.
in addition to my pastries, my work order for the day included a plate of smoked local fish, accompanied by homemade horseradish sauce, a sweet dill mayonnaise and pickled cucumbers, and a seville orange bakewell tart. since i didn't have to do anything with the smoked fish, i made the mayonnaise, horseradish sauce and pickled cucumbers and let them cool in the fridge. i rolled out my puff pastry, put it back in the fridge and then got my shortcrust pastry and lined my flan ring. my first roll out was a bit shy for the 12" tin, so i folded it back up and re-rolled it. much better the second time around! i banged it into the oven to blind bake and then made the frangipane filling. that was set aside so i could roll out my puff pastry again (talk about a laborious task!). my pastry crust was taking it's sweet time browning up and just as i was ready to give it another 5 minutes (on top of the 25 minutes it had already been in), sorca let me know it looked baked enough. it was awkward to remove from the oven and as i struggled to get a good grip on the tin without the bottom pushing through, the tin fell on my wrist. i had to decide between letting the tin continue to burn me as i moved it over to the counter, or to drop the tin and end up with a destroyed tart crust. i opted for the latter and as the tin fell from my hands, i let out a frustrated 'rats!' and drew immediate attention from my classmates and instructor. i don't remember how i got over to the sink, but before i could do much more than wince at the pain, my wrist was under the tap and cold water was rushing to relieve the initial burning. i kept it there for about five minutes and then sorca was rubbing fresh aloe on it to ease the tenderness. the tart was a disaster. the sides had completely crumbled while the base miraculously stuck to the bottom tin disc. sorca, in an effort to cheer me up, came up with a creative way to save the tart. i rolled out more dough and lined the sides of the tin. we decided that the sides wouldn't take that long to bake and that they would connect with the bottom crust at some point. i spread the orange marmalade over the bottom of the tart, carefully covered it with the frangipane mixture and put it back into the oven. it had only been in for two minutes when sorca came back into the kitchen and let me know that she had been talking with another instructor and they felt it would benefit from some lattice work on top. i let sorca remove the tart from the oven and then i tediously rolled out more dough, cut it into semi-thick strips and then made a lattice design on top of the tart. by 11.30am, it was back in the oven for good.
i quickly retrieved my puff pastry from the fridge, gave it the final two rolls and then put it back. i plated up my smoked fish plate, consisting of eel, salmon, mackerel, tuna and mussels, added my cucumber pickle, sweet dill mayonnaise and horseradish sauce and presented it to sorca to taste.
i forgot to mention that steak was the main dish for the day and even though my partner had picked the steak to make, we both had to cook our own steaks. i let sorca know that i would be preparing mine medium-rare and then let it sizzle on the grill pan for the recommended 3 minutes on each side. i plated it up with onion rings and drizzled salsa verde on top and called it good. sorca tasted it and then let me take it into the dining room to eat. since my tart was still baking, sorca let me know she'd keep an eye on it and remove it when it was done.
after lunch i went back to the pink cottage and changed out of my stinky whites and into comfortable clothes. i laid down for a few minutes before i had to be back for afternoon demo.
since darina is in new york for SPD, rory was once again our demo leader. lucky us! he first went over how to remove lamb kidneys from the fat and membrane they are found in before starting in on the cooking. he made a warm salad of lamb kidneys, straw potatoes and caramelized shallots, a warm salad of lamb kidneys with oyster mushrooms, oyster mushrooms with marjoram, a cabbage, pea, cumin, curry leaves and mustard seed salad, a tarte francaise, jalousie, eccles cakes and croissants. he also demonstrated the humane way to cook lobster and several ways to prepare it.
i had an after demo duty of putting away dishes, so after tasting i joined a few of my other classmates in the larder and started stacking dishes and returning them to their homes. elisa and i went for a walk once i got back to the cottage and our chat mostly revolved around our upcoming exams.
dinner was some tuna in olive oil and frozen green peas. i spent the evening filing and choosing recipes for my final exam (and spreading aloe on my burn). i think it was after eleven when i finally crawled under the covers and fell asleep.
14 March 2011
i get knocked down, but i get up again
this week i'm in the demo kitchen which is quite different from the other kitchens. there are only six of us in this kitchen which makes us a true team. pam is our instructor which is a real treat.
i got into the kitchen at 8am so i could get a loaf of granary bread checked off my technique sheet and find my way around the kitchen. it turned out to be a bit of wasted energy as i started out using the wrong flour for my bread and then had a hard time trying to find ingredients. pam came in at 9am and gave us the rundown of the kitchen and then let us back to our cooking. in addition to my bread, i was cooking roast duck with onion and sage stuffing and bruschetta with mushrooms and parmesan.
the duck turned out perfectly aside from the fact that i was rushing to carve it at 1pm. the bruschetta was lovely and i was pleased that i even got to make the pesto to go on top of it. my granary loaf was questionable since i used a tin that was too small. when i removed it from the warming oven, the dough was pouring over the sides of the tin. i quickly squished it back in and was ready to transfer it to another tin but pam told me to put it the oven. to her surprise, and mine, it turned out beautifully.
i flew through lunch and was back in demo without getting my anticipated walk in. not the end of the world, but a bit of a bummer. darina popped her head in to thank everyone for their participation in friday night's pub quiz. the money raised was going to support her india fund. we students contributed six hundred euros which darina/ballymaloe are going to match euro for euro. not a bad collection! rory ran demo again today and after showing us how to cut our own steaks, he made a plate of smoked fish with horseradish sauce, a sweet dill mayonnaise, pan-grilled steak with bearnaise sauce and chips, pan-grilled steak with chipotle butter, chargrilled sirloin steak with salsa verde, steak au poivre, pan-grilled steak with roast red peppers, anchoide and rocket, ballymaloe spiced beef, spiced tomato sauce, mushroom sauce, ratatouille nicoise, pommes allumettes, cauliflower cheese, italian cauliflower fritters, rocket and olive salad, cabbage, sultana and fennel salad, normandy pear tart, apricot and frangipane tart, a bakewell tart, a pine kernel tart, a blood orange tart and a seville orange bakewell tart.
after struggling to keep my eyes open through the first half of demo, i took a nap after we were dismissed for the day. i got up when charlotte came in to ask me if i wanted a cup of tea. emily's mom and a friend were visiting as they had come down to ballymaloe for the afternoon. they chatted a bit about lunch and demo and then were on their way back up to dublin.
i did some filing, completed my order of work and am still contemplating on my menu for my final exam in three weeks. i have until thursday to finalize my dishes, complete my grocery list and order of work. we have a wine exam on wednesday the 23rd, cooking exams wednesday the 30th and thursday the 31st and written exams on april 1st. can't believe my twelve weeks are nearly up!
i got into the kitchen at 8am so i could get a loaf of granary bread checked off my technique sheet and find my way around the kitchen. it turned out to be a bit of wasted energy as i started out using the wrong flour for my bread and then had a hard time trying to find ingredients. pam came in at 9am and gave us the rundown of the kitchen and then let us back to our cooking. in addition to my bread, i was cooking roast duck with onion and sage stuffing and bruschetta with mushrooms and parmesan.
the duck turned out perfectly aside from the fact that i was rushing to carve it at 1pm. the bruschetta was lovely and i was pleased that i even got to make the pesto to go on top of it. my granary loaf was questionable since i used a tin that was too small. when i removed it from the warming oven, the dough was pouring over the sides of the tin. i quickly squished it back in and was ready to transfer it to another tin but pam told me to put it the oven. to her surprise, and mine, it turned out beautifully.
i flew through lunch and was back in demo without getting my anticipated walk in. not the end of the world, but a bit of a bummer. darina popped her head in to thank everyone for their participation in friday night's pub quiz. the money raised was going to support her india fund. we students contributed six hundred euros which darina/ballymaloe are going to match euro for euro. not a bad collection! rory ran demo again today and after showing us how to cut our own steaks, he made a plate of smoked fish with horseradish sauce, a sweet dill mayonnaise, pan-grilled steak with bearnaise sauce and chips, pan-grilled steak with chipotle butter, chargrilled sirloin steak with salsa verde, steak au poivre, pan-grilled steak with roast red peppers, anchoide and rocket, ballymaloe spiced beef, spiced tomato sauce, mushroom sauce, ratatouille nicoise, pommes allumettes, cauliflower cheese, italian cauliflower fritters, rocket and olive salad, cabbage, sultana and fennel salad, normandy pear tart, apricot and frangipane tart, a bakewell tart, a pine kernel tart, a blood orange tart and a seville orange bakewell tart.
after struggling to keep my eyes open through the first half of demo, i took a nap after we were dismissed for the day. i got up when charlotte came in to ask me if i wanted a cup of tea. emily's mom and a friend were visiting as they had come down to ballymaloe for the afternoon. they chatted a bit about lunch and demo and then were on their way back up to dublin.
i did some filing, completed my order of work and am still contemplating on my menu for my final exam in three weeks. i have until thursday to finalize my dishes, complete my grocery list and order of work. we have a wine exam on wednesday the 23rd, cooking exams wednesday the 30th and thursday the 31st and written exams on april 1st. can't believe my twelve weeks are nearly up!
whatever you do in life will be insignificant
saturday
after our late night at the pub, we all enjoyed a lie in and lazy saturday morning. by 10.30am, the six of us were eating elisa's french toast casserole and watching an episode of 'entourage'. we had decided to head into cork for the day and by 12.30pm the six of us plus two other classmates were divided up into two cars and heading into the city. charlotte, emily, rose and phoenix stopped in cobh on the way into cork while elisa, connie, minnie and i headed straight in. we visited the english market, enjoying the sausage sandwiches at o'flynn's and the delicious sides at the mediterranean stall. elisa and i could not sample enough of the glorious green dip made of ewe's milk cheese, basil, garlic and olive oil. and the sample of parmesan cheese and figs was divine.
we wandered a bit down patrick street before heading to the 'liberty grill' for lunch. i had suggested it but didn't want to talk it up too much and have the girls be disappointed. fortunately, everyone loved what they ordered as well as the restaurant itself. completely satisfied, we paid the bill and headed to marks & spencers to do a quick grocery shop before meeting up with charlotte, rose, emily and phoenix at the hot chocolate shop. we ran into phoenix on our way to the hot chocolate shop and found out that the girls were shopping. we opted to head back to school as the thought of naps sounded wonderful.
one of our classmates was celebrating her birthday saturday evening and had organized an outing into cork to go dancing. minnie, charlotte and emily were looking forward to a night out while elisa, connie and i decided to spend the evening at the cinema instead. we saw 'no strings attached' which was entertaining but not something i would see again or recommend. our evening ended around midnight and the dancing crew got in just before 4am.
sunday
i woke sunday morning to sunshine streaming into our room. after a quick breakfast, i was dressed and off for a long walk. i walked part of the loop, heading down a few side roads just to see some of the spring lambs. the view was so incredible that i had to stop several times just to soak it up and commit it to my memory. i made my way back to the school a little over an hour later and found my cottagemates up and discussing the previous evening. i laughed as they filled me in on all the drama and funny events from their night out.
elisa got back from church shortly after two and the six of us plus rose and nicole piled into two cars and headed to lismore for afternoon lunch at o'brien's chop house. while the drive made me carsick, the views were just incredible. we arrived in lismore around half three, parked and walked two blocks to the restaurant. justin greeted us as we entered the chop house and showed us to our table. we had a lovely lunch that included a starter and main and for some, dessert. some of the girls were looking forward to the traditional roast beef but because it had sold completely out, they enjoyed steaks instead. connie and i had the pollock and garlic mash which was quite nice.
we left lismore and got back to ballymaloe shortly before 7pm. i did a load of laundry and my order of work for monday while watching 'remember me'.
after our late night at the pub, we all enjoyed a lie in and lazy saturday morning. by 10.30am, the six of us were eating elisa's french toast casserole and watching an episode of 'entourage'. we had decided to head into cork for the day and by 12.30pm the six of us plus two other classmates were divided up into two cars and heading into the city. charlotte, emily, rose and phoenix stopped in cobh on the way into cork while elisa, connie, minnie and i headed straight in. we visited the english market, enjoying the sausage sandwiches at o'flynn's and the delicious sides at the mediterranean stall. elisa and i could not sample enough of the glorious green dip made of ewe's milk cheese, basil, garlic and olive oil. and the sample of parmesan cheese and figs was divine.
we wandered a bit down patrick street before heading to the 'liberty grill' for lunch. i had suggested it but didn't want to talk it up too much and have the girls be disappointed. fortunately, everyone loved what they ordered as well as the restaurant itself. completely satisfied, we paid the bill and headed to marks & spencers to do a quick grocery shop before meeting up with charlotte, rose, emily and phoenix at the hot chocolate shop. we ran into phoenix on our way to the hot chocolate shop and found out that the girls were shopping. we opted to head back to school as the thought of naps sounded wonderful.
one of our classmates was celebrating her birthday saturday evening and had organized an outing into cork to go dancing. minnie, charlotte and emily were looking forward to a night out while elisa, connie and i decided to spend the evening at the cinema instead. we saw 'no strings attached' which was entertaining but not something i would see again or recommend. our evening ended around midnight and the dancing crew got in just before 4am.
sunday
i woke sunday morning to sunshine streaming into our room. after a quick breakfast, i was dressed and off for a long walk. i walked part of the loop, heading down a few side roads just to see some of the spring lambs. the view was so incredible that i had to stop several times just to soak it up and commit it to my memory. i made my way back to the school a little over an hour later and found my cottagemates up and discussing the previous evening. i laughed as they filled me in on all the drama and funny events from their night out.
elisa got back from church shortly after two and the six of us plus rose and nicole piled into two cars and headed to lismore for afternoon lunch at o'brien's chop house. while the drive made me carsick, the views were just incredible. we arrived in lismore around half three, parked and walked two blocks to the restaurant. justin greeted us as we entered the chop house and showed us to our table. we had a lovely lunch that included a starter and main and for some, dessert. some of the girls were looking forward to the traditional roast beef but because it had sold completely out, they enjoyed steaks instead. connie and i had the pollock and garlic mash which was quite nice.
we left lismore and got back to ballymaloe shortly before 7pm. i did a load of laundry and my order of work for monday while watching 'remember me'.
carmina burana
i didn't sleep well thursday evening and i think it had something to do with the two (wonderful) cups of coffee i had on our field trip. after tossing and turning, i finally fell asleep around 4am only to wake to my alarm at 6.45am. but it was friday and that alone was enough to motivate me to get up and out of bed.
stephen was already in the kitchen when i arrived at 8.30am. he was making a loaf of granary bread, which he wanted to get out of the way before starting in on the items he was to make for the morning. i was making pears poached in saffron syrup, a mild madras curry with fresh spices and sue's health bars. the pears needed to be served completely chilled, so i made them first so they could hang out in the fridge while i made the curry. the curry was tedious as i had to cut the lamb from the shoulder and then trim off the fat. once i finished that, i sliced up the onions and cooked them with some crushed garlic. i browned the lamb in ginger and then added it to the onions, added nut milk, fresh spices, tumeric and sugar and whacked the dish into the oven for the required hour cooking time.
the biscuits i was making had been made by my cooking partner the week before and they intrigued me. i was a bit skeptical that 'health' was part of the name, but after looking through the recipe i noted that these bars didn't contain nearly as much butter as some of the biscuit recipes. as i collected my ingredients, sue (one of the instructors) came up to me and told me that that recipe was going be published in a magazine and that someone from the school would be photographing the bars later in the day. 'make them lovely', she advised. no pressure, right? i labored longer than usual on the preparation and then put them in the oven. when they were done 35 minutes later, i quickly cut them and left them to cool. the outcome was delicious and sue even sent a plate of them home for me and my cottage.
my curry came out of the oven just before noon and after bringing up the seasoning a bit, i was happy with it. i plated it up with some basmati rice and a few wedges of lime. i pulled my pears out of the fridge, arranged two very neatly in a bowl and then spooned some of the saffron syrup over them. my instructor tasted and gave me positive reviews. i took my pears out into the dining room and dumped my curry into the communal bowl of curry, tidied my work section and headed off to lunch.
afternoon demo started with a visit from a past student who had interned at the american academy in rome. she spent ten minutes sharing her experience with us and i think all 62 of us were furiously scribbling details so we could look into the internship later. it sounded like an amazing opportunity. darina thanked the girl for coming and then rory began demo. he started by making a variety of meringues (almond with chocolate and rum cream, chocolate with chocolate and rum cream and chocolate wafers, toffee gateau with caramel shards and irish coffee) and them moved on to bruschetta with mushrooms and slivers of parmesan, goat cheese and rocket bruschetta with tomato and chilli jam, crostinis with parma ham, goat cheese and confiture d'oignons, tomato and chilli jam, roast stuffed duck with brambly apple sauce, roast duck with traditional potato stuffing, roast duck with sage and onion stuffing, duck with orange, red cabbage and mashed parsnips. my duty for the day was to serve after demo, so i manned the bruschetta and divided up all the crostini plates.
elisa and i went for a walk when we were dismissed from demo, just a quick 30 minute stroll to get some fresh air. one of our classmates had organized a pub quiz at the goal post pub down the road for the evening, so when we got back to our cottage after our walk we showered and had naps. we headed to the pub shortly before eight and quickly found a table near a booth of our classmates. elisa, charlotte, emily and i were on a team together and while we didn't win, we did know more answers than we thought and had an absolute blast.
the 'mothatruckers': charlotte, emily, brij and elisa
minnie and connie, members of 'quiz in my pants'
matt, mary, shruti and liz, team 'sore losers' and the pub quiz winners
stephen was already in the kitchen when i arrived at 8.30am. he was making a loaf of granary bread, which he wanted to get out of the way before starting in on the items he was to make for the morning. i was making pears poached in saffron syrup, a mild madras curry with fresh spices and sue's health bars. the pears needed to be served completely chilled, so i made them first so they could hang out in the fridge while i made the curry. the curry was tedious as i had to cut the lamb from the shoulder and then trim off the fat. once i finished that, i sliced up the onions and cooked them with some crushed garlic. i browned the lamb in ginger and then added it to the onions, added nut milk, fresh spices, tumeric and sugar and whacked the dish into the oven for the required hour cooking time.
the biscuits i was making had been made by my cooking partner the week before and they intrigued me. i was a bit skeptical that 'health' was part of the name, but after looking through the recipe i noted that these bars didn't contain nearly as much butter as some of the biscuit recipes. as i collected my ingredients, sue (one of the instructors) came up to me and told me that that recipe was going be published in a magazine and that someone from the school would be photographing the bars later in the day. 'make them lovely', she advised. no pressure, right? i labored longer than usual on the preparation and then put them in the oven. when they were done 35 minutes later, i quickly cut them and left them to cool. the outcome was delicious and sue even sent a plate of them home for me and my cottage.
my curry came out of the oven just before noon and after bringing up the seasoning a bit, i was happy with it. i plated it up with some basmati rice and a few wedges of lime. i pulled my pears out of the fridge, arranged two very neatly in a bowl and then spooned some of the saffron syrup over them. my instructor tasted and gave me positive reviews. i took my pears out into the dining room and dumped my curry into the communal bowl of curry, tidied my work section and headed off to lunch.
afternoon demo started with a visit from a past student who had interned at the american academy in rome. she spent ten minutes sharing her experience with us and i think all 62 of us were furiously scribbling details so we could look into the internship later. it sounded like an amazing opportunity. darina thanked the girl for coming and then rory began demo. he started by making a variety of meringues (almond with chocolate and rum cream, chocolate with chocolate and rum cream and chocolate wafers, toffee gateau with caramel shards and irish coffee) and them moved on to bruschetta with mushrooms and slivers of parmesan, goat cheese and rocket bruschetta with tomato and chilli jam, crostinis with parma ham, goat cheese and confiture d'oignons, tomato and chilli jam, roast stuffed duck with brambly apple sauce, roast duck with traditional potato stuffing, roast duck with sage and onion stuffing, duck with orange, red cabbage and mashed parsnips. my duty for the day was to serve after demo, so i manned the bruschetta and divided up all the crostini plates.
elisa and i went for a walk when we were dismissed from demo, just a quick 30 minute stroll to get some fresh air. one of our classmates had organized a pub quiz at the goal post pub down the road for the evening, so when we got back to our cottage after our walk we showered and had naps. we headed to the pub shortly before eight and quickly found a table near a booth of our classmates. elisa, charlotte, emily and i were on a team together and while we didn't win, we did know more answers than we thought and had an absolute blast.
the 'mothatruckers': charlotte, emily, brij and elisa
minnie and connie, members of 'quiz in my pants'
matt, mary, shruti and liz, team 'sore losers' and the pub quiz winners
10 March 2011
irish artisans
today we went on a school field trip. the 62 (minus a few) of us met in the school car park at 7.45am, boarded a coach bus and set off to meet some of the amazing artisans who are making a difference for the food industry here in ireland.
our first stop was the belvelly smoke house near cobh. here, frank hederman smokes organic salmon, mackerel, mussels and eel as well as porridge and butter. he explained the process of cold smoking and hot smoking and the difference between the two.
at 9.15 we got back on the bus and drove to mahon point to experience the mahon point farmers' market. darina's son-in-law is the driving force behind this successful famers' market which is only open on thursdays. here, local artisans and specialist food producers sell a variety of food - free-range meat and poultry, local fish, organic fruit, vegetables and herbs, cured meats, farmhouse cheeses, herbs, jams, relishes, pickles, breads, cakes and biscuits. we had an hour to explore the stalls and try some of the different fare. i had a hazelnut americano from o'conaill's hot chocolate stall and a bowl of chicken curry from green saffron (which is a spice company run by a past ballymaloe student). the mediterranean stall (below) had the most beautiful olives, sundried tomatoes and mozzarella cheeses and the guy working there was happy to give me and hazel a hard time.
we left mahon point at 11am and headed to cashel blue cheese in co. tipperary. award winning farmhouse cheese makers jane and louis grubb created cashel blue cheese in 1984. their unique product is (impressively) made entirely by hand from whole un-homogenised cows' milk.
we had a proper cheese tasting of three different cheeses (a 7 week old, a 9 week old and a 10 week old) and a tour of the cheese making facilities.
we left cashel blue at 2.30pm and took the scenic route to lismore. the views of the irish countryside were just incredible. at one point, our bus driver stopped so we could see the three counties - cork, limerick and tipperary - that meet up with each other.
in lismore, we broke up into two groups. the group i was in went to the summer house first. it's an adorable tea shop owned and run by a past ballymaloe student, owen madden, who gave us a tour of the kitchen and shared his business experience with us.
we thanked owen and walked a few doors down to o'brien's chop house. o'brien's is owned by justin and jenny green and was opened in 2009, which was quite risky considering the recession going on. his advice to those of us wanting to open our own restaurant was to make sure we had good ambiance, good food and a good location.
justin talked about his two favorite events at o'brien's, st. patrick's day and christmas eve. on both holidays, they have a set dinner menu and then after eating, a piano is moved outside onto the patio and a singalong session takes place. events, he told us, that are well loved by the locals and tourists alike. o'brien's also holds a beer and curry fest on the last friday of every month.
from o'brien's, we walked down the street to mcgrath's, the lismore butcher shop. michael mcgrath, who owns the shop, and his son gave us a tour of the shop and the slaughter room. not a business i would want to get into, but extremely interesting to learn about (in my opinion).
we got back on the bus a final time, leaving lismore around 5.45pm and returning to ballymaloe an hour later. while i had listened to my ipod earlier in the day, i gave my attention to my seatmate, matt, and spent the ride home listening to stories of his travels to south america. he had me laughing, asking questions and feeling pangs of jealousy. i think i know where i need to visit next...
our first stop was the belvelly smoke house near cobh. here, frank hederman smokes organic salmon, mackerel, mussels and eel as well as porridge and butter. he explained the process of cold smoking and hot smoking and the difference between the two.
at 9.15 we got back on the bus and drove to mahon point to experience the mahon point farmers' market. darina's son-in-law is the driving force behind this successful famers' market which is only open on thursdays. here, local artisans and specialist food producers sell a variety of food - free-range meat and poultry, local fish, organic fruit, vegetables and herbs, cured meats, farmhouse cheeses, herbs, jams, relishes, pickles, breads, cakes and biscuits. we had an hour to explore the stalls and try some of the different fare. i had a hazelnut americano from o'conaill's hot chocolate stall and a bowl of chicken curry from green saffron (which is a spice company run by a past ballymaloe student). the mediterranean stall (below) had the most beautiful olives, sundried tomatoes and mozzarella cheeses and the guy working there was happy to give me and hazel a hard time.
we left mahon point at 11am and headed to cashel blue cheese in co. tipperary. award winning farmhouse cheese makers jane and louis grubb created cashel blue cheese in 1984. their unique product is (impressively) made entirely by hand from whole un-homogenised cows' milk.
we had a proper cheese tasting of three different cheeses (a 7 week old, a 9 week old and a 10 week old) and a tour of the cheese making facilities.
we left cashel blue at 2.30pm and took the scenic route to lismore. the views of the irish countryside were just incredible. at one point, our bus driver stopped so we could see the three counties - cork, limerick and tipperary - that meet up with each other.
in lismore, we broke up into two groups. the group i was in went to the summer house first. it's an adorable tea shop owned and run by a past ballymaloe student, owen madden, who gave us a tour of the kitchen and shared his business experience with us.
we thanked owen and walked a few doors down to o'brien's chop house. o'brien's is owned by justin and jenny green and was opened in 2009, which was quite risky considering the recession going on. his advice to those of us wanting to open our own restaurant was to make sure we had good ambiance, good food and a good location.
justin talked about his two favorite events at o'brien's, st. patrick's day and christmas eve. on both holidays, they have a set dinner menu and then after eating, a piano is moved outside onto the patio and a singalong session takes place. events, he told us, that are well loved by the locals and tourists alike. o'brien's also holds a beer and curry fest on the last friday of every month.
from o'brien's, we walked down the street to mcgrath's, the lismore butcher shop. michael mcgrath, who owns the shop, and his son gave us a tour of the shop and the slaughter room. not a business i would want to get into, but extremely interesting to learn about (in my opinion).
we got back on the bus a final time, leaving lismore around 5.45pm and returning to ballymaloe an hour later. while i had listened to my ipod earlier in the day, i gave my attention to my seatmate, matt, and spent the ride home listening to stories of his travels to south america. he had me laughing, asking questions and feeling pangs of jealousy. i think i know where i need to visit next...
09 March 2011
eating with your hands
the night nurse i took before bed last night allowed me to enjoy a deep sleep, but i woke up this morning sniffling and coughing, so i figure i still have another day or two before i'm feeling 'well' again. i hope.
in the morning lecture today, darina and rory covered canapes, finger food and tasty bites. they made marinated feta, sundried tomato and olive skewers, anchovy and sesame seed straws, tiny smoked salmon spirals, thai curry bites, tiny shepard's pies, teeny yorkshire puds with rare roast beef and horseradish sauce, mini cottage pies with garlic butter, spicy indian meatballs with pomegranate and coriander raita, sweet pea guacamole on warm tortillas, lamb on rosemary skewers, pork satay, a spicy peanut satay sauce, a variety of quail eggs dishes, scrambled eggs with smoked eel on melba toast, tiny fish kebabs, cheat's tarts with goat cheese, ragged filo tartlets, a canape of fish and chips and grilled sourdough bread with garlic, olive oil and sea salt. it was all plated up beautifully and looked amazing. due to my lack of senses at the moment, i passed on tasting. instead, charlotte and i ran to cloyne over lunch to get more night nurse for our cottage.
afternoon lecture was all about sushi. a former ballymaloe student, shermin mustafa, taught us how to make the sushi rice and how to roll sushi as well as how to create scattered sushi and thin japanese omelets. she also made four turkish recipes as her dad is turkish. i so wished i could have tasted them because they looked amazing! one was called 'lamajun' which is a sort of lamb pizza. first it's cooked in a heavy skillet for a few minutes and then put in the oven under the grill for another 3-5 minutes. the dough is made from yogurt and flour and i bet would be good made on its own and used for dipping, nibbling, etc. the other dishes she made were a dolma, merjemec chorba and turkish bulghur.
once we had been dismissed for the day, charlotte, rose and i went for a stroll around the school gardens. the daffodils are up and they are gorgeous! such a happy flower, really. it was nice to enjoy the fresh air and the beautiful evening. when we got back to our cottage, i tackled the huge pile of recipes i had been meaning to file since last friday. it only took the better part of an hour. rumor has it that when we finish up the 12 week course, we get a bound book with all our recipes. if that's true, i feel like this filing has been a waste of time!
elisa is making dinner tonight - chicken, broccoli and rice casserole. ah, lovely comfort food. :)
in the morning lecture today, darina and rory covered canapes, finger food and tasty bites. they made marinated feta, sundried tomato and olive skewers, anchovy and sesame seed straws, tiny smoked salmon spirals, thai curry bites, tiny shepard's pies, teeny yorkshire puds with rare roast beef and horseradish sauce, mini cottage pies with garlic butter, spicy indian meatballs with pomegranate and coriander raita, sweet pea guacamole on warm tortillas, lamb on rosemary skewers, pork satay, a spicy peanut satay sauce, a variety of quail eggs dishes, scrambled eggs with smoked eel on melba toast, tiny fish kebabs, cheat's tarts with goat cheese, ragged filo tartlets, a canape of fish and chips and grilled sourdough bread with garlic, olive oil and sea salt. it was all plated up beautifully and looked amazing. due to my lack of senses at the moment, i passed on tasting. instead, charlotte and i ran to cloyne over lunch to get more night nurse for our cottage.
afternoon lecture was all about sushi. a former ballymaloe student, shermin mustafa, taught us how to make the sushi rice and how to roll sushi as well as how to create scattered sushi and thin japanese omelets. she also made four turkish recipes as her dad is turkish. i so wished i could have tasted them because they looked amazing! one was called 'lamajun' which is a sort of lamb pizza. first it's cooked in a heavy skillet for a few minutes and then put in the oven under the grill for another 3-5 minutes. the dough is made from yogurt and flour and i bet would be good made on its own and used for dipping, nibbling, etc. the other dishes she made were a dolma, merjemec chorba and turkish bulghur.
once we had been dismissed for the day, charlotte, rose and i went for a stroll around the school gardens. the daffodils are up and they are gorgeous! such a happy flower, really. it was nice to enjoy the fresh air and the beautiful evening. when we got back to our cottage, i tackled the huge pile of recipes i had been meaning to file since last friday. it only took the better part of an hour. rumor has it that when we finish up the 12 week course, we get a bound book with all our recipes. if that's true, i feel like this filing has been a waste of time!
elisa is making dinner tonight - chicken, broccoli and rice casserole. ah, lovely comfort food. :)
08 March 2011
a lesson in patience
today was my first day back in the kitchen after being out sick yesterday and all weekend. actually, i probably should have heeded my mom's suggestion and stayed home one more day, but it's hard to miss any school when so much is packed into a single day. you can't afford to be sick at ballymaloe.
mom dropped me off at ballymaloe at quarter to eight this morning and helped me carry my bags to the pink cottage. elisa, my roommate, greeted us but sounded awful. unfortunately, she's caught a bug as well. :( she and i chatted briefly about the weekend and the exam review that had taken place monday evening (apparently it was a 2+ hour session with some pretty ridiculous questions). i made her some tea, shared some of my herbal goodies with her and then headed off to the kitchen.
my partner this week is stephen o'brien and he is a dream! since i had missed demo monday afternoon, i didn't know what any of the dishes were supposed to look like as a final product. stephen had emailed me a list of our menu items and the ones that he wanted to make, so i was scheduled to make oeufs mimosa salad with homemade mayonnaise, tomato and basil salad with ballymaloe french dressing, mushroom and caramelized onion salad and the ballymaloe vanilla ice cream. i started out by boiling 4 eggs for the mimosa salad and making the mayonnaise. once we've made the mayonnaise by hand, and have an instructor sign off on the technique, we're allowed to use a food processor to make it later on. i was very grateful for that today! while i was adding in the oil, one of the instructors came over to ask how i was feeling and to let me know that i had missed out on making butter on monday. bummed, i asked if it was something i could do again. she smiled, disappeared for a moment and then reappeared with a bucket of cream. so, i added 'making butter' to my order of work. my mayonnaise came together beautifully and i covered it with cling film and set it under my work station, out of the way. then i was on to the ice cream. not overly complicated, just tedious. especially the part where the sugar and water boil to the 'thread' stage. it happens very quickly and if you miss it, the sugar and water begin to caramelize. i hadn't factored redoing that step of making ice cream into my order of work, but i should have. my sugar and water caramelized right before my eyes and just as my instructor came over to check on me. we decided (she advised) that i was using a burner that was too hot. she poured water into my caramel goop so we could boil the pan clean and start over. 10-15 minute set back, not the end of the world.
the second time was a success and soon i had a kenmore whipping my cream into a softly whipped state while i used a hand mixer to incorporate the thready sugar water into my whisked egg yolks and vanilla. when the sugar water and egg yolks were a thick, creamy consistency, i folded in the cream, poured the mixture into ramekins and put the lot into the freezer. ice cream, done.
i cleaned up my section and gathered the ingredients for the mushroom and caramelized onion salad. i sliced up the onions and set them aside as stephen was using our large heavy bottom saucepan at the moment. i began to slice mushrooms and thought i was doing a great job until my instructor appeared and let me know my slices were much too thick. she went out into the larder and came back over to me with a handful of button mushrooms and had me practice after she did a quick demo for me. i will get it right one of these days! i sliced up three mushrooms in front of her before she was convinced i had the hang of it and added them to the mound i would later be sauteing.
while all the mushroom slicing was going on, stephen had finished with the saucepan, washed it out and returned it to the stove for me. i know, he's great! i dropped in two tablespoons of olive oil, let the pan get hot and then added my onions. caramelizing onions at ballymaloe is an art and one that takes time. because of the few setbacks i had, my onions were started a bit late and ended up a bit rushed. i found myself trying to finish up and plate the mimosa salad while i was caramelizing the onions and sauteing the mushrooms, so i gave up on the mushrooms and focused on the salad and onions for the moment. the salad consists of hard boiled eggs, yolks removed and peeled shrimp placed in the yolk holes which are covered with a mayonnaise and egg yolk mixture and then covered with a thinned out mayonnaise dressing. delicious, right? yeah, not something i will probably ever make again.
with the mimosa salad finished and plated and the onions finally caramelized, i concentrated on sauteing my mushrooms. another challenge of cooking and not completely recovered from being sick is that i had no sense of taste or smell. definitely hard to season my salads! i did my best to cover each batch of mushrooms with salt, pepper, garlic and a bit of lemon juice but i'm not sure how accurate i was. the mushrooms had to cool after being cooked, so i transferred them to a glass bowl and set them aside. i turned to focus on the tomato and basil salad and realized that i had used every spoon in the drawer and had a nice pile of bowls and saucepans on the stove. before i could decide which pile to take to the sink first, stephen had swooped in and was on his way to wash them up. what a star! i sighed, scolded myself for not being more on top of my cleaning and started slicing tomatoes. fortunatey, the tomato and basil salad is fantastically simple and all i had to do was season and dress the tomatoes before i called the salad done. a quick check of my watch and i had to do a double take. one o'clock? really? my slowest day in the kitchen so far. ugh. i plated my mushroom and caramelized salad, added it to the collection of plates holding my other two salads, pulled a ramekin of my ice cream from the freezer and called my instructor over to taste it all.
aside from needing a bit more seasoning on the mushrooms, everything turned out well. i actually got the seasoning perfect on the tomatoes which was complete luck. while my instructor recorded my scores, i moved my salads onto serving plates so they could be eaten for lunch. there wasn't much to tidy in my section because stephen had taken care of everything, so i packed up my knives, organized my recipes and headed back to the cottage. elisa was up but still feeling awful. i told her about my slow morning, changed out of my whites and went for a short walk. my route took me down the side of the school and back behind the greenhouses. it felt good to breathe in the cold air and watch the pigs move around in their pen. i walked for twenty minutes and then headed back up to the school for demo.
darina, who is recently back from india, shared with us some indian cuisine. she started off with a ciabatta bread (i know, not indian) and then moved on to a mild madras curry with fresh spices, hot chilli sauce, a grape raita, grape and melon with mint salad, melon sorbet with lime syrup, campari and blood orange sorbet, tamarind chutney with bananas, poori, naan, chapatis, lassi, pears poached in a saffron syrup, agen stuffed prunes with rosewater cream and yoghurt and cardamom cream with pomegranate seeds perfumed with rose blossom water. gillian, one of the instructors here, was assisting darina and had a hard time doing anything 'right' by darina's standards. she does an amazing job setting up all the ingredients for the dishes darina puts together and is always thinking four or five steps of darina and anticipating her next three moves. it was hard for me to see her so under-appreciated today.
since i couldn't taste anything and was still feeling lousy, i headed straight home after demo.
my hot water bottle is full, i have a pile of blankets on my bed and my night nurse ready is to knock me out for the evening. i'm looking forward to a good sleep. :)
mom dropped me off at ballymaloe at quarter to eight this morning and helped me carry my bags to the pink cottage. elisa, my roommate, greeted us but sounded awful. unfortunately, she's caught a bug as well. :( she and i chatted briefly about the weekend and the exam review that had taken place monday evening (apparently it was a 2+ hour session with some pretty ridiculous questions). i made her some tea, shared some of my herbal goodies with her and then headed off to the kitchen.
my partner this week is stephen o'brien and he is a dream! since i had missed demo monday afternoon, i didn't know what any of the dishes were supposed to look like as a final product. stephen had emailed me a list of our menu items and the ones that he wanted to make, so i was scheduled to make oeufs mimosa salad with homemade mayonnaise, tomato and basil salad with ballymaloe french dressing, mushroom and caramelized onion salad and the ballymaloe vanilla ice cream. i started out by boiling 4 eggs for the mimosa salad and making the mayonnaise. once we've made the mayonnaise by hand, and have an instructor sign off on the technique, we're allowed to use a food processor to make it later on. i was very grateful for that today! while i was adding in the oil, one of the instructors came over to ask how i was feeling and to let me know that i had missed out on making butter on monday. bummed, i asked if it was something i could do again. she smiled, disappeared for a moment and then reappeared with a bucket of cream. so, i added 'making butter' to my order of work. my mayonnaise came together beautifully and i covered it with cling film and set it under my work station, out of the way. then i was on to the ice cream. not overly complicated, just tedious. especially the part where the sugar and water boil to the 'thread' stage. it happens very quickly and if you miss it, the sugar and water begin to caramelize. i hadn't factored redoing that step of making ice cream into my order of work, but i should have. my sugar and water caramelized right before my eyes and just as my instructor came over to check on me. we decided (she advised) that i was using a burner that was too hot. she poured water into my caramel goop so we could boil the pan clean and start over. 10-15 minute set back, not the end of the world.
the second time was a success and soon i had a kenmore whipping my cream into a softly whipped state while i used a hand mixer to incorporate the thready sugar water into my whisked egg yolks and vanilla. when the sugar water and egg yolks were a thick, creamy consistency, i folded in the cream, poured the mixture into ramekins and put the lot into the freezer. ice cream, done.
i cleaned up my section and gathered the ingredients for the mushroom and caramelized onion salad. i sliced up the onions and set them aside as stephen was using our large heavy bottom saucepan at the moment. i began to slice mushrooms and thought i was doing a great job until my instructor appeared and let me know my slices were much too thick. she went out into the larder and came back over to me with a handful of button mushrooms and had me practice after she did a quick demo for me. i will get it right one of these days! i sliced up three mushrooms in front of her before she was convinced i had the hang of it and added them to the mound i would later be sauteing.
while all the mushroom slicing was going on, stephen had finished with the saucepan, washed it out and returned it to the stove for me. i know, he's great! i dropped in two tablespoons of olive oil, let the pan get hot and then added my onions. caramelizing onions at ballymaloe is an art and one that takes time. because of the few setbacks i had, my onions were started a bit late and ended up a bit rushed. i found myself trying to finish up and plate the mimosa salad while i was caramelizing the onions and sauteing the mushrooms, so i gave up on the mushrooms and focused on the salad and onions for the moment. the salad consists of hard boiled eggs, yolks removed and peeled shrimp placed in the yolk holes which are covered with a mayonnaise and egg yolk mixture and then covered with a thinned out mayonnaise dressing. delicious, right? yeah, not something i will probably ever make again.
with the mimosa salad finished and plated and the onions finally caramelized, i concentrated on sauteing my mushrooms. another challenge of cooking and not completely recovered from being sick is that i had no sense of taste or smell. definitely hard to season my salads! i did my best to cover each batch of mushrooms with salt, pepper, garlic and a bit of lemon juice but i'm not sure how accurate i was. the mushrooms had to cool after being cooked, so i transferred them to a glass bowl and set them aside. i turned to focus on the tomato and basil salad and realized that i had used every spoon in the drawer and had a nice pile of bowls and saucepans on the stove. before i could decide which pile to take to the sink first, stephen had swooped in and was on his way to wash them up. what a star! i sighed, scolded myself for not being more on top of my cleaning and started slicing tomatoes. fortunatey, the tomato and basil salad is fantastically simple and all i had to do was season and dress the tomatoes before i called the salad done. a quick check of my watch and i had to do a double take. one o'clock? really? my slowest day in the kitchen so far. ugh. i plated my mushroom and caramelized salad, added it to the collection of plates holding my other two salads, pulled a ramekin of my ice cream from the freezer and called my instructor over to taste it all.
aside from needing a bit more seasoning on the mushrooms, everything turned out well. i actually got the seasoning perfect on the tomatoes which was complete luck. while my instructor recorded my scores, i moved my salads onto serving plates so they could be eaten for lunch. there wasn't much to tidy in my section because stephen had taken care of everything, so i packed up my knives, organized my recipes and headed back to the cottage. elisa was up but still feeling awful. i told her about my slow morning, changed out of my whites and went for a short walk. my route took me down the side of the school and back behind the greenhouses. it felt good to breathe in the cold air and watch the pigs move around in their pen. i walked for twenty minutes and then headed back up to the school for demo.
darina, who is recently back from india, shared with us some indian cuisine. she started off with a ciabatta bread (i know, not indian) and then moved on to a mild madras curry with fresh spices, hot chilli sauce, a grape raita, grape and melon with mint salad, melon sorbet with lime syrup, campari and blood orange sorbet, tamarind chutney with bananas, poori, naan, chapatis, lassi, pears poached in a saffron syrup, agen stuffed prunes with rosewater cream and yoghurt and cardamom cream with pomegranate seeds perfumed with rose blossom water. gillian, one of the instructors here, was assisting darina and had a hard time doing anything 'right' by darina's standards. she does an amazing job setting up all the ingredients for the dishes darina puts together and is always thinking four or five steps of darina and anticipating her next three moves. it was hard for me to see her so under-appreciated today.
since i couldn't taste anything and was still feeling lousy, i headed straight home after demo.
my hot water bottle is full, i have a pile of blankets on my bed and my night nurse ready is to knock me out for the evening. i'm looking forward to a good sleep. :)
28 February 2011
all is quiet in kitchen 2
back in the kitchen after a relaxing, recharging weekend. i was on salad duty this morning so i was in at five to eight. another student and i took all the leaves and ran them through the giant salad spinner and then separated all the butterhead leaves from their bases, washed them carefully and then spun them out. the larder is where the salad duty takes place as well as stock duty and all prep for the afternoon demo, so there were a number of students and teachers working in the small, narrow room. i finished up at quarter to nine, grabbed my recipes and knives and headed back to kitchen 2 for week 2.
my partner this week is one of my cottagemates, lisa. i haven't really mentioned her. she's american, from the bay area but now lives in portland. she lives on the opposite end of the cottage and has an outside entrance to her room, so she can come and go as she pleases without ever seeing the rest of us. she doesn't typically join us when we do group dinners or if we're just sitting around in the evenings. but again, every student is here for his or her own reasons.
it was a quiet morning in the kitchen and everyone's workloads were quite light. i only had to make a curried parsnip soup with parsnip crisps and gingered mushrooms for lisa's hamburgers. i made my soup first, tasting it and checking the seasoning over and over. the gingered mushrooms were straightforward: flat mushrooms sliced thinly, cooked with onion, garlic, ginger, butter and cream.
lunch was served a bit early today as everyone had finished cooking by half eleven. i tried one of the lamb burgers with pesto, a piece of bleu cheese and my usual salad greens. it was a beautiful, sunny day today and most students hurried through lunch so they could enjoy being outside. i enjoyed the sun and a bit of a walk before heading back for afternoon demo.
darina, gillian and pam taught us all about making homemade pasta and the dishes that can be made from them. lasagna, fettuccine alfredo, ragu sauce, ravioli, etc. and of course there were desserts! tiramisu, panacotta, and a walnut cake with 'american' frosting.
grace, hazel and i skipped the tasting and took advantage of the sun and ran the loop. it was a good run considering grace only had 7 hours sleep all weekend, hazel hadn't run since monday and i wasn't overly excited about the run to begin with. when i got back to the pink cottage, elisa and rose were sitting at the dining room table having tea, so i made myself a cup and we talked about our weekends and the day behind us. connie came in a bit later looking for a tennis partner and i took her up on it. it was a pretty hilarious sight as we didn't have much light. we volleyed a few times before we decided it would be dangerous to keep going. however, we're both keen to get out and play again soon.
emily and charlotte have just gotten back from the gym, connie and ellen are outside the cottage visiting, elisa is also on her computer and minnie is up in her room. it's a quiet evening in the pink cottage, one that i quite enjoy.
my plan for the evening consists of my order of work for tomorrow and then bed. i'm beat!
my partner this week is one of my cottagemates, lisa. i haven't really mentioned her. she's american, from the bay area but now lives in portland. she lives on the opposite end of the cottage and has an outside entrance to her room, so she can come and go as she pleases without ever seeing the rest of us. she doesn't typically join us when we do group dinners or if we're just sitting around in the evenings. but again, every student is here for his or her own reasons.
it was a quiet morning in the kitchen and everyone's workloads were quite light. i only had to make a curried parsnip soup with parsnip crisps and gingered mushrooms for lisa's hamburgers. i made my soup first, tasting it and checking the seasoning over and over. the gingered mushrooms were straightforward: flat mushrooms sliced thinly, cooked with onion, garlic, ginger, butter and cream.
lunch was served a bit early today as everyone had finished cooking by half eleven. i tried one of the lamb burgers with pesto, a piece of bleu cheese and my usual salad greens. it was a beautiful, sunny day today and most students hurried through lunch so they could enjoy being outside. i enjoyed the sun and a bit of a walk before heading back for afternoon demo.
darina, gillian and pam taught us all about making homemade pasta and the dishes that can be made from them. lasagna, fettuccine alfredo, ragu sauce, ravioli, etc. and of course there were desserts! tiramisu, panacotta, and a walnut cake with 'american' frosting.
grace, hazel and i skipped the tasting and took advantage of the sun and ran the loop. it was a good run considering grace only had 7 hours sleep all weekend, hazel hadn't run since monday and i wasn't overly excited about the run to begin with. when i got back to the pink cottage, elisa and rose were sitting at the dining room table having tea, so i made myself a cup and we talked about our weekends and the day behind us. connie came in a bit later looking for a tennis partner and i took her up on it. it was a pretty hilarious sight as we didn't have much light. we volleyed a few times before we decided it would be dangerous to keep going. however, we're both keen to get out and play again soon.
emily and charlotte have just gotten back from the gym, connie and ellen are outside the cottage visiting, elisa is also on her computer and minnie is up in her room. it's a quiet evening in the pink cottage, one that i quite enjoy.
my plan for the evening consists of my order of work for tomorrow and then bed. i'm beat!
27 February 2011
happy today, just happy to be here
a perfect day:
a rainbow in the field.
a morning walk along the harbor with mom and fionnbarre.
breakfast with mom and dad. omelets, toast and coffee.
sailing with peter o'rourke, mom and dad.
homemade chocolate chip cookies.
dinner with elisa, charlotte, mom and dad. flank steak, pork tenderloin, sweet potatoes, mushrooms and onions and guinness cupcakes. talking, laughing, telling stories.
a rainbow in the field.
a morning walk along the harbor with mom and fionnbarre.
breakfast with mom and dad. omelets, toast and coffee.
sailing with peter o'rourke, mom and dad.
homemade chocolate chip cookies.
dinner with elisa, charlotte, mom and dad. flank steak, pork tenderloin, sweet potatoes, mushrooms and onions and guinness cupcakes. talking, laughing, telling stories.
20 February 2011
a bodhran session with mebs
my roommate, elisa, came over and spent saturday evening with us. it was a such a treat for her to get out of ballymaloe but also for my parents to get a chance to visit with her.
after an amazing dinner (ginger teriyaki salmon, seared yellowfin tuna, courgettes and roast sweet potato, feta and walnut salad), mom gave elisa bodhran lessons.
elisa is a very quick learner and she was able to follow the patterns my mom demonstrated with ease. it's hard to say who had more fun, mom teaching or elisa learning!
not sure what's next for elisa, learning to play the tin whistle or the concertina. :)
after an amazing dinner (ginger teriyaki salmon, seared yellowfin tuna, courgettes and roast sweet potato, feta and walnut salad), mom gave elisa bodhran lessons.
elisa is a very quick learner and she was able to follow the patterns my mom demonstrated with ease. it's hard to say who had more fun, mom teaching or elisa learning!
not sure what's next for elisa, learning to play the tin whistle or the concertina. :)
church bay parade
saturday morning mom, dad, fionnbarre, eddie and i walked into crosshaven's town centre and enjoyed the small artisan market and coffees at the riverside cafe. dad bought some gorgeous cheeses from 'the little shop': cheddar with bleu and a brie with bleu.
this is the parade that i followed back up to church bay.
this is the parade that i followed back up to church bay.
14 February 2011
me and my arrow
if you haven't seen 'the point', you need to. really.
you can find it here.
there are 8 parts, so make sure you keep clicking on the continuation links on the right.
let me know what you think after you watch it!
you can find it here.
there are 8 parts, so make sure you keep clicking on the continuation links on the right.
let me know what you think after you watch it!
love hearts day
somehow it's 9pm on monday evening. week six. WEEK SIX!!!
i've managed to put off posting since last thursday and i feel like it's lost time.
thursday and friday came and went with no real highlights. we were warned on day one that weeks five and ten would be hard and that we might feel a bit down and even annoyed with our classmates. not sure if we were truly feeling that last week or if we were expecting to feel that way so we did.
friday morning i was meant to milk the cow. i headed down to the cow milking barn at 7.45am to meet aileen and when she wasn't there, i headed back up to the school lobby to wait for her. at ten after eight and no aileen, i went back down to the barn and found aileen, separating the milk. she explained that we had just missed each other and that i should try coming down next week or the week after. bummed out, i headed back up to the kitchen to take advantage of being in early.
mom got back to IRE on friday morning and drove to ballymaloe friday afternoon to pick me up. she's AMAZING!!! she talked all the way back to crosshaven, telling me about her visit to MI and all the people she saw while she was home. we picked up dad from work and then stopped by the little shop and lynch's before arriving at the house.
the weekend was excellent - lots of good food and good conversation. i practiced my omelet making skills on saturday morning and then dad demonstrated how to make crepes on sunday afternoon. he did a sweet one with strawberries and then a savory one with soft cheese, spinach and tapenade. they were gorgeous!
mom drove me back to ballymaloe on sunday afternoon and i gave her a brief tour of the school grounds since it was still light out.
today, monday, started out a bit rough. the cottage phone rang at half eight to let me and emily know we were on stock duty for the day. whoops! i was just about ready, so we hurried over to the larder and found out that trina (one of the instructors) had done most of the duty in our absence. i told her how bad i felt as we made our way to the freezer for more chicken carcasses and she told me to forget it and that it wasn't the end of the world. but still.
the day got slightly better, although i have a new instructor in the kitchen and i'm intimidated by her. the quickness of what she's doing, the number of students she oversees, my noviceness, etc. we even had a run-in at the sink where i was trying to anticipate her movement and ended up guessing wrong and the bowls in my arms flew into the air and somehow i ended up on the floor, flustered and reminding myself to 'slow down!!' however, she did warm up to me and by the end of the morning she wanted to know more about where i was from in the states, if i had siblings, etc.
i made the ballymaloe irish stew (with lamb chops), kale (i got away with using olive oil instead of butter, but i still had to puree the kale after it was boiled), and pickled cucumber (which accompanied the salmon pates that some of the other students had made).
i was out of the kitchen by 12.30pm and spent some of my free time reading. i'm almost through 'one day', which i started reading after it was highly recommended by some of my classmates. my cottagemate, ellen, is also reading it and she and i have a friendly rivalry going about who's further along. as of right now, i've got fifty pages on her. :)
in demo this afternoon, rory made a loaf of granary bread, goat cheese salad with rocket leaves, roast pepper and tapenade oil, a fish curry with monk fish, ling with tomatoes and fresh spices, choux pastry, chocolate eclairs, choux pastry garlands with raspberries and cream, gougere, beignets with cinnamon and sugar, hot chocolate and cheese galette. the fish curry was surprisingly good and i'm looking forward to having it for lunch tomorrow.
this evening has been spent studying salad leaves and herbs and going over the list of 30 techniques for our exam on friday. and reading. and trying to remember everything that's happened since last thursday.
bed soon. after i complete my order of work. and maybe enjoy some pizza with my cottagemates. and 'circle of friends'...
i've managed to put off posting since last thursday and i feel like it's lost time.
thursday and friday came and went with no real highlights. we were warned on day one that weeks five and ten would be hard and that we might feel a bit down and even annoyed with our classmates. not sure if we were truly feeling that last week or if we were expecting to feel that way so we did.
friday morning i was meant to milk the cow. i headed down to the cow milking barn at 7.45am to meet aileen and when she wasn't there, i headed back up to the school lobby to wait for her. at ten after eight and no aileen, i went back down to the barn and found aileen, separating the milk. she explained that we had just missed each other and that i should try coming down next week or the week after. bummed out, i headed back up to the kitchen to take advantage of being in early.
mom got back to IRE on friday morning and drove to ballymaloe friday afternoon to pick me up. she's AMAZING!!! she talked all the way back to crosshaven, telling me about her visit to MI and all the people she saw while she was home. we picked up dad from work and then stopped by the little shop and lynch's before arriving at the house.
the weekend was excellent - lots of good food and good conversation. i practiced my omelet making skills on saturday morning and then dad demonstrated how to make crepes on sunday afternoon. he did a sweet one with strawberries and then a savory one with soft cheese, spinach and tapenade. they were gorgeous!
mom drove me back to ballymaloe on sunday afternoon and i gave her a brief tour of the school grounds since it was still light out.
today, monday, started out a bit rough. the cottage phone rang at half eight to let me and emily know we were on stock duty for the day. whoops! i was just about ready, so we hurried over to the larder and found out that trina (one of the instructors) had done most of the duty in our absence. i told her how bad i felt as we made our way to the freezer for more chicken carcasses and she told me to forget it and that it wasn't the end of the world. but still.
the day got slightly better, although i have a new instructor in the kitchen and i'm intimidated by her. the quickness of what she's doing, the number of students she oversees, my noviceness, etc. we even had a run-in at the sink where i was trying to anticipate her movement and ended up guessing wrong and the bowls in my arms flew into the air and somehow i ended up on the floor, flustered and reminding myself to 'slow down!!' however, she did warm up to me and by the end of the morning she wanted to know more about where i was from in the states, if i had siblings, etc.
i made the ballymaloe irish stew (with lamb chops), kale (i got away with using olive oil instead of butter, but i still had to puree the kale after it was boiled), and pickled cucumber (which accompanied the salmon pates that some of the other students had made).
i was out of the kitchen by 12.30pm and spent some of my free time reading. i'm almost through 'one day', which i started reading after it was highly recommended by some of my classmates. my cottagemate, ellen, is also reading it and she and i have a friendly rivalry going about who's further along. as of right now, i've got fifty pages on her. :)
in demo this afternoon, rory made a loaf of granary bread, goat cheese salad with rocket leaves, roast pepper and tapenade oil, a fish curry with monk fish, ling with tomatoes and fresh spices, choux pastry, chocolate eclairs, choux pastry garlands with raspberries and cream, gougere, beignets with cinnamon and sugar, hot chocolate and cheese galette. the fish curry was surprisingly good and i'm looking forward to having it for lunch tomorrow.
this evening has been spent studying salad leaves and herbs and going over the list of 30 techniques for our exam on friday. and reading. and trying to remember everything that's happened since last thursday.
bed soon. after i complete my order of work. and maybe enjoy some pizza with my cottagemates. and 'circle of friends'...
09 February 2011
'one day' by david nicholls
9am demonstration on biscuit of the day - chocolate chip cookies
9.30am wine tasting with colm: domaine suguinot-bordet chablis (burgandy, france 2008) and chateau montelena chardonnay (napa valley, california 2007)
11am tea and coffee break
11.15am more wine: pieropan soave (veneto, italy 2009), fontodi chianti classico (tuscany, italy 2007), palazzo della torre (allegrini, veneto, italy 2007), and bodegas resalte de penafiel (resalte crianza, spain 2004)
1.10pm lunch
2.15pm lecture on game (snipe, duck, grousse, pigeon and pheasant)
3.30pm tour of the ballymaloe house and afternoon tea
5.30pm back to ballymaloe
8pm pilates, class #2
10.30pm bread
9.30am wine tasting with colm: domaine suguinot-bordet chablis (burgandy, france 2008) and chateau montelena chardonnay (napa valley, california 2007)
11am tea and coffee break
11.15am more wine: pieropan soave (veneto, italy 2009), fontodi chianti classico (tuscany, italy 2007), palazzo della torre (allegrini, veneto, italy 2007), and bodegas resalte de penafiel (resalte crianza, spain 2004)
1.10pm lunch
2.15pm lecture on game (snipe, duck, grousse, pigeon and pheasant)
3.30pm tour of the ballymaloe house and afternoon tea
5.30pm back to ballymaloe
8pm pilates, class #2
10.30pm bread
luc lapeyre
tuesday
i seem to have a thing for french winemakers... :)
tuesday morning's cooking was all about breakfast. i made blackcurrant jam, 1/2 of the citrus salad (in order to get my 'segment a citrus fruit' technique checked off) and a full irish breakfast. the morning was structured so that at 11am, we were all cooking our rashers of bacon, sausage, black and white puddings, mushrooms, tomatoes and eggs and then heading directly into the dining room to eat them. not a bad way to mix up the morning. when we had finished eating, we went back into the kitchen to finish cleaning/washing up, have our dishes tasted and then we could retreat back into the dining room to enjoy an assortment of scones, muffins, bread, muesli, granola, homemade yoghurt, jams, poached fruit and freshly squeezed orange juice. everyone was also allowed one glass of buck's fizz (champagne and orange juice).
by noon, we were finished eating, the kitchens were clean and we didn't have to report to afternoon lecture until quarter past one. it would be an understatement to say that we enjoyed the down time. :)
we spent the first part of the afternoon demo listening to louis boutinot, a wine export manager living in south africa, talk about two false bay wines, a chenin blanc and a pinotage. after a quick taste and chat about the wines, louis was on his way and rory was on to demonstrate fileting a flat fish. seemed much more simple than fileting a round fish, but then again, rory makes most things look easy...
the flat fish was a black sole and used in a recipe for spiced goujons (or fingers) with coriander aioli and chilli salsa. rory continued on by showing, once again, how to joint a chicken. he used the separated pieces in shanagarry chicken casserole and then went on to make a pheasant with chorizo, bacon and tomato casserole, a rabit mustard and sage leaves casserole, ulster champ (mashed potatoes with peas), buttered cabbage, pilaff rice, a lemon tart with candied lemon zest, a medjool date tart and chocolate covered fruit and nuts. demo wrapped up at five and after tasting the variety of casseroles, i went back to the pink cottage with emily to drop my knives and recipes off in my room before our 6pm wine lecture.
we were extremely fortunate to have as our special wine lecturer guest, luc lapeyre, of minervois, france. he only visits ireland every other year - when france is playing ireland in rugby in ireland.
how adorable is he?!
luc's english isn't fluent, but between a few students and guests, his comments about wine, his vineyard and wine making were understood by all of us. we tasted three of his wines over the course of an hour:
minervois a/c
domaine luc lapeyre les san bres 2008
a grenache, syrah blend
domaine luc lapeyre l'amourier 2008*
a grenache, mourvedre, syrah blend
*luc feels this wine best represents his vineyard
minervois a/c
domaine luc lapeyre les clots de l'amourier 2007
a grenache, carignan, syrah blend
like pascal, i could have listened to luc all day. i'm definitely eager to visit his vineyard!
after the wine tasting, elisa, charlotte and i drove over to the garryvoe hotel where they have a gym. i went on a ballymaloe student guest pass (a cost of twelve euros) and elisa went as a guest of charlotte (also twelve euros). as we were signing in at reception, i saw that there was a circuit class on tuesday evenings at 7pm. i said to charlotte that it was too bad we missed it (it was ten after seven) and the receptionist told me i could head upstairs and just join in. when i hesitated, she came from behind the desk and drug me over to the elevator, punched 4 and up we went. when we reached the 4th floor, she had me follow her off the elevator and then she opened the door to a classroom, told the instructor i wanted to join and then she gone.
there were three other people in the room in addition to the trainer, two girls and a guy. they were working through their second circuit when i joined them. we did nine stations (lunges, step-ups or run-ups, star jumps, bicycle crunches, bench jumps, mountain climbers, push-ups, squat jumps and jumping jacks), 30 seconds at each station, without stopping. we repeated the circuit 4 times, resting for about a minute in between. i loved it and hated it at the same time. what a reality check for me! as i moved around the room, i tried to figure out how i could run the five mile loop around the school at a good pace and yet struggle so much with circuits. i have been kidding myself to think i'm in 'good' shape!
after the circuit training, i met up with elisa out in the main gym area. i had peter, the gym trainer, show me how the power plate worked. for anyone who isn't familiar with that (as i wasn't), it's a machine (the latest fad in the exercise world) that looks like a floor waxer. it has three time settings (30 seconds, 45 seconds and one minute) and four intensity or vibration settings (30hz, 40hz, 45hz and 50hz). to use it, you just pick an exercise that you'd typically do on the floor (say a squat or plank), pick your time and intensity and hit 'start'. the machine vibrates at your selected intensity for your selected time while you try and hold your move and fight the vibrations. i did a few planks to try it out and then asked peter his thoughts on actual benefits from the machine. he agreed that it was just a fad but that i'd probably get the most out of squats and planks.
exhausted from the circuits and feeling the vibrations from the power plate, i was ready to head back to school.
i had a light dinner, a quick shower and then headed to bed, thinking about how sore i'd be tomorrow.
i seem to have a thing for french winemakers... :)
tuesday morning's cooking was all about breakfast. i made blackcurrant jam, 1/2 of the citrus salad (in order to get my 'segment a citrus fruit' technique checked off) and a full irish breakfast. the morning was structured so that at 11am, we were all cooking our rashers of bacon, sausage, black and white puddings, mushrooms, tomatoes and eggs and then heading directly into the dining room to eat them. not a bad way to mix up the morning. when we had finished eating, we went back into the kitchen to finish cleaning/washing up, have our dishes tasted and then we could retreat back into the dining room to enjoy an assortment of scones, muffins, bread, muesli, granola, homemade yoghurt, jams, poached fruit and freshly squeezed orange juice. everyone was also allowed one glass of buck's fizz (champagne and orange juice).
by noon, we were finished eating, the kitchens were clean and we didn't have to report to afternoon lecture until quarter past one. it would be an understatement to say that we enjoyed the down time. :)
we spent the first part of the afternoon demo listening to louis boutinot, a wine export manager living in south africa, talk about two false bay wines, a chenin blanc and a pinotage. after a quick taste and chat about the wines, louis was on his way and rory was on to demonstrate fileting a flat fish. seemed much more simple than fileting a round fish, but then again, rory makes most things look easy...
the flat fish was a black sole and used in a recipe for spiced goujons (or fingers) with coriander aioli and chilli salsa. rory continued on by showing, once again, how to joint a chicken. he used the separated pieces in shanagarry chicken casserole and then went on to make a pheasant with chorizo, bacon and tomato casserole, a rabit mustard and sage leaves casserole, ulster champ (mashed potatoes with peas), buttered cabbage, pilaff rice, a lemon tart with candied lemon zest, a medjool date tart and chocolate covered fruit and nuts. demo wrapped up at five and after tasting the variety of casseroles, i went back to the pink cottage with emily to drop my knives and recipes off in my room before our 6pm wine lecture.
we were extremely fortunate to have as our special wine lecturer guest, luc lapeyre, of minervois, france. he only visits ireland every other year - when france is playing ireland in rugby in ireland.
how adorable is he?!
luc's english isn't fluent, but between a few students and guests, his comments about wine, his vineyard and wine making were understood by all of us. we tasted three of his wines over the course of an hour:
minervois a/c
domaine luc lapeyre les san bres 2008
a grenache, syrah blend
domaine luc lapeyre l'amourier 2008*
a grenache, mourvedre, syrah blend
*luc feels this wine best represents his vineyard
minervois a/c
domaine luc lapeyre les clots de l'amourier 2007
a grenache, carignan, syrah blend
like pascal, i could have listened to luc all day. i'm definitely eager to visit his vineyard!
after the wine tasting, elisa, charlotte and i drove over to the garryvoe hotel where they have a gym. i went on a ballymaloe student guest pass (a cost of twelve euros) and elisa went as a guest of charlotte (also twelve euros). as we were signing in at reception, i saw that there was a circuit class on tuesday evenings at 7pm. i said to charlotte that it was too bad we missed it (it was ten after seven) and the receptionist told me i could head upstairs and just join in. when i hesitated, she came from behind the desk and drug me over to the elevator, punched 4 and up we went. when we reached the 4th floor, she had me follow her off the elevator and then she opened the door to a classroom, told the instructor i wanted to join and then she gone.
there were three other people in the room in addition to the trainer, two girls and a guy. they were working through their second circuit when i joined them. we did nine stations (lunges, step-ups or run-ups, star jumps, bicycle crunches, bench jumps, mountain climbers, push-ups, squat jumps and jumping jacks), 30 seconds at each station, without stopping. we repeated the circuit 4 times, resting for about a minute in between. i loved it and hated it at the same time. what a reality check for me! as i moved around the room, i tried to figure out how i could run the five mile loop around the school at a good pace and yet struggle so much with circuits. i have been kidding myself to think i'm in 'good' shape!
after the circuit training, i met up with elisa out in the main gym area. i had peter, the gym trainer, show me how the power plate worked. for anyone who isn't familiar with that (as i wasn't), it's a machine (the latest fad in the exercise world) that looks like a floor waxer. it has three time settings (30 seconds, 45 seconds and one minute) and four intensity or vibration settings (30hz, 40hz, 45hz and 50hz). to use it, you just pick an exercise that you'd typically do on the floor (say a squat or plank), pick your time and intensity and hit 'start'. the machine vibrates at your selected intensity for your selected time while you try and hold your move and fight the vibrations. i did a few planks to try it out and then asked peter his thoughts on actual benefits from the machine. he agreed that it was just a fad but that i'd probably get the most out of squats and planks.
exhausted from the circuits and feeling the vibrations from the power plate, i was ready to head back to school.
i had a light dinner, a quick shower and then headed to bed, thinking about how sore i'd be tomorrow.
07 February 2011
sometimes you have to remember to put 'you' first
there were some new faces in kitchen 1 this morning and i was happy to see hazel and rose. i lucked out and have been paired with bryony this week and where i stand at our work station is directly across from aileen. i'm definitely in someone's good favor. :) even if none of my cooking goes as planned, it's going to be an excellent week.
i also had a sweet note from harriet waiting for me when i got into the kitchen. LOVE unexpected things like that, LOVE them!
today's order of work included carrot cake, romanesco (again) and a plate of irish shellfish with homemade mayonnaise. i made my carrot cake first so it would have plenty of time to cool before serving. then i whipped up the cream cheese frosting and set it aside. bryony and i worked together on the shellfish and we each plated up a starter made up of mussels, clams, shrimp, a sea urchin and an oyster. while we waited for the water to boil, i made the homemade mayonnaise. since it's one of the techniques i need to 'check off' before the end of our twelve week, i was anxious to get it out of the way.
at ballymaloe, mayonnaise is considered a 'mother sauce' and is the mother of all cold emulsion sauces. so, once you can make mayonnaise, you can make any of the 'daughter' sauces simply by adding some extra ingredients. we learn to make the mayonnaise with a hand whisk, but a food processor can be used in real life. the quality of mayonnaise depends totally on the quality of the egg yolks, oil and vinegar used. as darina says, it's perfectly possible to make a bland mayonnaise if the ingredients used are of poor quality.
starting with a pyrex bowl, combine two egg yolks, a quarter teaspoon of salt, a pinch of english mustard and two teaspoons of white wine vinegar. in a pyrex jug, mix six ounces of sunflower oil with two ounces of olive oil. set the bowl on a tea towel (so it doesn't spin away while you are whisking), hold the whisk like a pen in one hand and cup your other hand under the handle of the pyrex jug so your thumb and fingers are holding onto the jug itself. while the one hands whisks, the other hand drips in the oil from the jug, drop by drop. it's important not to add the oil too quickly because the mixture can suddenly curdle (eggs can only absorb the oil at a certain pace). our recipe says this process takes only 5 minutes, but it took me close to 15. i had a fear of getting to the last few ounces of oil and then, in the excitement of almost being done, dripping it all in in one go and having the mixture split. so, slow and steady i worked. i'd say it was a success in the end because rory commented on it as he walked by and told me it was 'just beautiful'. i covered my mayonnaise and set it in the fridge.
bryony and i blanched some seaweed to use as a garnish on our shellfish plates. it was quite cool to watch the black weeds turn bright green after only a few seconds in the boiling water. we removed it from the pot and placed it in a bowl of ice water while we cooked up the mussels and clams. the oyster was left to eat raw and it put up quite a fight to stay in its shell. i arranged my shellfish on the plate, garnished it with a lemon slice and some mayonnaise and called it done. my instructor, tina, tasted my romanesco straight out of the saucepan, so there was no need to plate it up. i took my time frosting my carrot cake and garnishing it with some carrot strips and walnuts. tina had a quick taste before i took the rest of the cake out to the dining room to be placed on a table with the other desserts. i'd say it's something i'd make again, however i'd make a few changes...starting by omitting the sultanas. :)
i was responsible for feeding the hens at lunch today, so i grabbed the two buckets from kitchen 1 and headed for the hen house. apparently the hens are allowed the assortment of shells from the shellfish because they help sharpen their beaks. more reason to stay away from them! the hens surrounded me in a hurry and talked to me all the way down the path to the fence where we dump in the contents of the buckets. (i'm sure i've said it before, but these hens eat well!) i washed out the empty buckets and headed back to the kitchen.
i ate a piece of kerry pie for lunch along with my standard salad leaves, a little romanesco and a small scoop of the kale colcannon. i tasted the ginger bread and some of mick's beetroot cake. so good!
the afternoon demonstration was all about breakfast. rory stressed the importance of serving freshly squeezed juices and then went on to make a few different smoothies, two dressed up soda breads (spotted dog and stripy cat), muesli, granola, oatmeal porridge, waffles, american buttermilk pancakes, strawberry jam, blackberry and apple jam, kumkwat marmalade, blueberry muffins and raw apple muffins, ending with a full irish breakfast. tomorrow every student will be making a full irish breakfast for lunch and there is a contest in each kitchen for the best display. a little friendly competition will be good for all of us.
hazel and i were anxious to take advantage of the dry and windless evening and run the loop, so we bypassed the tasting and headed back to our cottages to change. the run was good. quite good, actually, considering it was the first run for both of us since last tuesday. there were some good waves that taunted us as we ran along the beach. the smell of the ocean was righteous and we both commented, several times, about how lucky we are to have this escape.
we were back to ballymaloe before seven and felt quite virtuous. when i got back to the pink cottage, i made myself a quick dinner. we have a new roommate in the pink cottage, ellen from london. she's here as an intern for the next month and actually went to grade school with another student here on the course. i visited with her for a bit, asking questions about what she was doing before arriving here, how long she'll be here, etc. she's lovely.
i'm hoping to get my order of work done here in the next 15 minutes and then crawl into bed. early, i know, but i'm exhausted and a bit cold. :)
i also had a sweet note from harriet waiting for me when i got into the kitchen. LOVE unexpected things like that, LOVE them!
today's order of work included carrot cake, romanesco (again) and a plate of irish shellfish with homemade mayonnaise. i made my carrot cake first so it would have plenty of time to cool before serving. then i whipped up the cream cheese frosting and set it aside. bryony and i worked together on the shellfish and we each plated up a starter made up of mussels, clams, shrimp, a sea urchin and an oyster. while we waited for the water to boil, i made the homemade mayonnaise. since it's one of the techniques i need to 'check off' before the end of our twelve week, i was anxious to get it out of the way.
at ballymaloe, mayonnaise is considered a 'mother sauce' and is the mother of all cold emulsion sauces. so, once you can make mayonnaise, you can make any of the 'daughter' sauces simply by adding some extra ingredients. we learn to make the mayonnaise with a hand whisk, but a food processor can be used in real life. the quality of mayonnaise depends totally on the quality of the egg yolks, oil and vinegar used. as darina says, it's perfectly possible to make a bland mayonnaise if the ingredients used are of poor quality.
starting with a pyrex bowl, combine two egg yolks, a quarter teaspoon of salt, a pinch of english mustard and two teaspoons of white wine vinegar. in a pyrex jug, mix six ounces of sunflower oil with two ounces of olive oil. set the bowl on a tea towel (so it doesn't spin away while you are whisking), hold the whisk like a pen in one hand and cup your other hand under the handle of the pyrex jug so your thumb and fingers are holding onto the jug itself. while the one hands whisks, the other hand drips in the oil from the jug, drop by drop. it's important not to add the oil too quickly because the mixture can suddenly curdle (eggs can only absorb the oil at a certain pace). our recipe says this process takes only 5 minutes, but it took me close to 15. i had a fear of getting to the last few ounces of oil and then, in the excitement of almost being done, dripping it all in in one go and having the mixture split. so, slow and steady i worked. i'd say it was a success in the end because rory commented on it as he walked by and told me it was 'just beautiful'. i covered my mayonnaise and set it in the fridge.
bryony and i blanched some seaweed to use as a garnish on our shellfish plates. it was quite cool to watch the black weeds turn bright green after only a few seconds in the boiling water. we removed it from the pot and placed it in a bowl of ice water while we cooked up the mussels and clams. the oyster was left to eat raw and it put up quite a fight to stay in its shell. i arranged my shellfish on the plate, garnished it with a lemon slice and some mayonnaise and called it done. my instructor, tina, tasted my romanesco straight out of the saucepan, so there was no need to plate it up. i took my time frosting my carrot cake and garnishing it with some carrot strips and walnuts. tina had a quick taste before i took the rest of the cake out to the dining room to be placed on a table with the other desserts. i'd say it's something i'd make again, however i'd make a few changes...starting by omitting the sultanas. :)
i was responsible for feeding the hens at lunch today, so i grabbed the two buckets from kitchen 1 and headed for the hen house. apparently the hens are allowed the assortment of shells from the shellfish because they help sharpen their beaks. more reason to stay away from them! the hens surrounded me in a hurry and talked to me all the way down the path to the fence where we dump in the contents of the buckets. (i'm sure i've said it before, but these hens eat well!) i washed out the empty buckets and headed back to the kitchen.
i ate a piece of kerry pie for lunch along with my standard salad leaves, a little romanesco and a small scoop of the kale colcannon. i tasted the ginger bread and some of mick's beetroot cake. so good!
the afternoon demonstration was all about breakfast. rory stressed the importance of serving freshly squeezed juices and then went on to make a few different smoothies, two dressed up soda breads (spotted dog and stripy cat), muesli, granola, oatmeal porridge, waffles, american buttermilk pancakes, strawberry jam, blackberry and apple jam, kumkwat marmalade, blueberry muffins and raw apple muffins, ending with a full irish breakfast. tomorrow every student will be making a full irish breakfast for lunch and there is a contest in each kitchen for the best display. a little friendly competition will be good for all of us.
hazel and i were anxious to take advantage of the dry and windless evening and run the loop, so we bypassed the tasting and headed back to our cottages to change. the run was good. quite good, actually, considering it was the first run for both of us since last tuesday. there were some good waves that taunted us as we ran along the beach. the smell of the ocean was righteous and we both commented, several times, about how lucky we are to have this escape.
we were back to ballymaloe before seven and felt quite virtuous. when i got back to the pink cottage, i made myself a quick dinner. we have a new roommate in the pink cottage, ellen from london. she's here as an intern for the next month and actually went to grade school with another student here on the course. i visited with her for a bit, asking questions about what she was doing before arriving here, how long she'll be here, etc. she's lovely.
i'm hoping to get my order of work done here in the next 15 minutes and then crawl into bed. early, i know, but i'm exhausted and a bit cold. :)
06 February 2011
you've heard of st. croix?
this morning dad humored me by letting me practice my omelet making skills. i made us white cheddar cheese and chorizo omelets, accompanied by sourdough bread toast with raspberry jam (dad) and almond butter (me). the omelets were golden on the outside and soft and moist on the inside (the ballymaloe way). and they tasted good to quite good, if i don't say so myself! :)
now i'm attempting to make almond butter cookies. i found this simple recipe for peanut butter cookies and am just substituting the almond butter for the peanut butter. they are sitting in the fridge for the next 15 minutes and then i'll start baking them.
back to ballymaloe this afternoon. week five starts tomorrow. week five!! my! my! time flies!
now i'm attempting to make almond butter cookies. i found this simple recipe for peanut butter cookies and am just substituting the almond butter for the peanut butter. they are sitting in the fridge for the next 15 minutes and then i'll start baking them.
back to ballymaloe this afternoon. week five starts tomorrow. week five!! my! my! time flies!
05 February 2011
headed down the border road called the el camino
friday
i stayed in bed as long as i could friday morning. my alarm had gone off at 6 and then every ten minutes after that but i kept hitting 'snooze'. elisa was on butter making duty, so when she left at five past eight, i finally rolled out of bed and put on my chef costume. i wandered into the kitchen and ate breakfast with charlotte and connie: toasted brown yeast bread with butter and raspberry jam, blueberries and a grapefruit (that i segmented so i could practice that technique). at quarter to nine, charlotte and i departed for our kitchen.
my order of work for the morning was rather light: lamb tagine with medjool dates and almond and orange florentines. my partner was making the scallops, the orange jelly and white yeast bread.
i first mixed up my almond and orange batter and then set it in the fridge. i figured i could bake the florentines while my tagine simmered on the hob. then i went to work gathering the ingredients for my tagine. we had to section our lamb from a leg or shoulder piece, so i worked with another group of students to get my 3lbs of meat. i cut off all the excess skin and fat and then cut the lamb into 1.5 inch cubes. it marinated in a spice marinade of cinnamon, ginger and saffron while i chopped onions, garlic and corriander. at 10.30am, i added the lamb and tomato juice and a small amount of water to the cooked onions and garlic in my le creuset. i brought it to a boil and then let it simmer for 45 minutes before adding in the corriander and dates. while the tagine cooked for the final 30 minutes, i made up the florentines and baked them. my first batch was much too thick, but turned out soft and delicious. i was better the second time around at getting the very thin spread of batter on the baking sheet.
by 11.45am, my tagine was ready and i had my plate in the oven, warming for my instructor's tasting. i arranged my florentines on a pretty plate, the thicker ones on the bottom and set them aside. i borrowed some couscous from another student and used it as a base for my tagine. i decorated my plate with some corriander leaves and added a dollop of homemade yoghurt to the lamb and then it was ready for tasting. my instructor remarked that the seasoning was right on and then tasted one of my florentines. she agreed that the thicker ones were was she preferred but said it was good that i made the second batch 'the right' way. :)
i ate my own tagine for lunch and tried some of the zucchini stir-fry before helping polish cutlery and set table 1. at ten to two, rory came into the dining room and told us to stop what we were doing and to head to demo. the instructors could finish setting the tables.
rachel was the demo instructor friday and she first introduced us to john chamberlain, who runs a family owned business in west cork, producing and selling sea urchins. he explained how sea urchins grow, how and when they are harvested and how to eat them. he also had a few abalone with him, but explained that he wasn't an expert in abalone and therefore wouldn't be able to answer any questions.
we thanked him for coming and then rachel went on with the demonstration. she assembled a plate of irish seafood which included the sea urchins, dublin bay prawns, shrimps, mussels, cockles, roghans, palourdes and irish oysters. she went on to make dingle pie, kerry pie, kale colcannon (mashed potatoes with kale mixed in), carrigeen moss pudding, irish coffee sauce, poached plums, rhubarb compote, elizabeth mosses' gingerbread, banana bread, julie wight's carrot cake, and a beetroot and walnut cake.
i was on 'wash and dry dishes after demo' duty, so instead of tasting all the food, i manned the sink and washed all the dishes that came my way. i finished around half five and then headed back to my cottage to finish packing up my things so i could head to crosshaven and spend the weekend with dad and finnbarre. dad called a few minutes later, so i wished my cottagemates a good weekend and headed to the carpark where dad was waiting. i had saved him two of the florentines i had made that morning and he munched on them while we drove home.
week four favorites: learning about tea, the ladies of the pink cottage, pascal rossignol, and aileen.
dad and i stopped at the little shop next to cronin's to pick up some prawns and beef cheek stew and then lynch's to get some salad fixings, bread and a vegetable for dinner. finnbarre was very happy to see us when we got home. i threw his ball down the hallway a few times while dad got the grill started. he let me make up some mushrooms and bleu cheese in addition to the salmon and sweet potatoes he was preparing. i made up salads and threw together a quick dressing and then it was time to eat.
we visited after dinner before retiring to the couch. dad did some suduko puzzles and i played with finnbarre. i think it was nearly eleven when we turned off the lights and went to bed.
i stayed in bed as long as i could friday morning. my alarm had gone off at 6 and then every ten minutes after that but i kept hitting 'snooze'. elisa was on butter making duty, so when she left at five past eight, i finally rolled out of bed and put on my chef costume. i wandered into the kitchen and ate breakfast with charlotte and connie: toasted brown yeast bread with butter and raspberry jam, blueberries and a grapefruit (that i segmented so i could practice that technique). at quarter to nine, charlotte and i departed for our kitchen.
my order of work for the morning was rather light: lamb tagine with medjool dates and almond and orange florentines. my partner was making the scallops, the orange jelly and white yeast bread.
i first mixed up my almond and orange batter and then set it in the fridge. i figured i could bake the florentines while my tagine simmered on the hob. then i went to work gathering the ingredients for my tagine. we had to section our lamb from a leg or shoulder piece, so i worked with another group of students to get my 3lbs of meat. i cut off all the excess skin and fat and then cut the lamb into 1.5 inch cubes. it marinated in a spice marinade of cinnamon, ginger and saffron while i chopped onions, garlic and corriander. at 10.30am, i added the lamb and tomato juice and a small amount of water to the cooked onions and garlic in my le creuset. i brought it to a boil and then let it simmer for 45 minutes before adding in the corriander and dates. while the tagine cooked for the final 30 minutes, i made up the florentines and baked them. my first batch was much too thick, but turned out soft and delicious. i was better the second time around at getting the very thin spread of batter on the baking sheet.
by 11.45am, my tagine was ready and i had my plate in the oven, warming for my instructor's tasting. i arranged my florentines on a pretty plate, the thicker ones on the bottom and set them aside. i borrowed some couscous from another student and used it as a base for my tagine. i decorated my plate with some corriander leaves and added a dollop of homemade yoghurt to the lamb and then it was ready for tasting. my instructor remarked that the seasoning was right on and then tasted one of my florentines. she agreed that the thicker ones were was she preferred but said it was good that i made the second batch 'the right' way. :)
i ate my own tagine for lunch and tried some of the zucchini stir-fry before helping polish cutlery and set table 1. at ten to two, rory came into the dining room and told us to stop what we were doing and to head to demo. the instructors could finish setting the tables.
rachel was the demo instructor friday and she first introduced us to john chamberlain, who runs a family owned business in west cork, producing and selling sea urchins. he explained how sea urchins grow, how and when they are harvested and how to eat them. he also had a few abalone with him, but explained that he wasn't an expert in abalone and therefore wouldn't be able to answer any questions.
we thanked him for coming and then rachel went on with the demonstration. she assembled a plate of irish seafood which included the sea urchins, dublin bay prawns, shrimps, mussels, cockles, roghans, palourdes and irish oysters. she went on to make dingle pie, kerry pie, kale colcannon (mashed potatoes with kale mixed in), carrigeen moss pudding, irish coffee sauce, poached plums, rhubarb compote, elizabeth mosses' gingerbread, banana bread, julie wight's carrot cake, and a beetroot and walnut cake.
i was on 'wash and dry dishes after demo' duty, so instead of tasting all the food, i manned the sink and washed all the dishes that came my way. i finished around half five and then headed back to my cottage to finish packing up my things so i could head to crosshaven and spend the weekend with dad and finnbarre. dad called a few minutes later, so i wished my cottagemates a good weekend and headed to the carpark where dad was waiting. i had saved him two of the florentines i had made that morning and he munched on them while we drove home.
week four favorites: learning about tea, the ladies of the pink cottage, pascal rossignol, and aileen.
dad and i stopped at the little shop next to cronin's to pick up some prawns and beef cheek stew and then lynch's to get some salad fixings, bread and a vegetable for dinner. finnbarre was very happy to see us when we got home. i threw his ball down the hallway a few times while dad got the grill started. he let me make up some mushrooms and bleu cheese in addition to the salmon and sweet potatoes he was preparing. i made up salads and threw together a quick dressing and then it was time to eat.
we visited after dinner before retiring to the couch. dad did some suduko puzzles and i played with finnbarre. i think it was nearly eleven when we turned off the lights and went to bed.
stormtrooper in the kitchen
thursday
i've been thinking quite a bit about what makes a day in the kitchen a 'good day' or 'successful day'. i don't necessarily think that it's one that goes without any hiccups or mistakes, but rather when you learn something (or multiple things) you weren't expecting or planning to learn.
there was an aberrant energy in the kitchen thursday morning and it was an overall consensus that everyone's cooking was unsatisfactory. i can't really pinpoint what it was for me, specifically, but i was relieved when we sat down in the dining room at quarter past one with the morning behind us.
i had the opportunity to filet a fish again and while i enjoyed it, i didn't get the same satisfaction as i did in week two. i also made cucumber neopolitana (cooked cucumbers, tomatoes and onions in a cream sauce), boiled potatoes and homemade pasta (which i'm definitely looking forward to making again). my partner made the lemon meringue pie which turned out beautifully. the lemon curd was perfectly thick and tart.
lunch was quiet for the most part, aside from chatter about the unfavorable morning. i suppose we're bound to have a few days where the energy in the kitchen is 'off'.
in the afternoon demo, rory showed us how to section and debone leg and shoulder of lamb. he then made lamb tagine with medjool dates, couscous with dried apricots and pistachios, several citrus salads, an orange jelly (or jell-o, as we know it by in the states), almond and orange florentines (a sweet biscuit), zucchini stir-fry, scallops in buerre blanc sauce and a warm scallop salad.
hazel and i decided to forgo our run because 1) we desperately wanted to try the lamb tagine 2) it was extremely windy and 3) we were completely depleted from the morning.
the evening in the pink cottage was very low-key and everyone shared the relief in the week coming to a close.
i've been thinking quite a bit about what makes a day in the kitchen a 'good day' or 'successful day'. i don't necessarily think that it's one that goes without any hiccups or mistakes, but rather when you learn something (or multiple things) you weren't expecting or planning to learn.
there was an aberrant energy in the kitchen thursday morning and it was an overall consensus that everyone's cooking was unsatisfactory. i can't really pinpoint what it was for me, specifically, but i was relieved when we sat down in the dining room at quarter past one with the morning behind us.
i had the opportunity to filet a fish again and while i enjoyed it, i didn't get the same satisfaction as i did in week two. i also made cucumber neopolitana (cooked cucumbers, tomatoes and onions in a cream sauce), boiled potatoes and homemade pasta (which i'm definitely looking forward to making again). my partner made the lemon meringue pie which turned out beautifully. the lemon curd was perfectly thick and tart.
lunch was quiet for the most part, aside from chatter about the unfavorable morning. i suppose we're bound to have a few days where the energy in the kitchen is 'off'.
in the afternoon demo, rory showed us how to section and debone leg and shoulder of lamb. he then made lamb tagine with medjool dates, couscous with dried apricots and pistachios, several citrus salads, an orange jelly (or jell-o, as we know it by in the states), almond and orange florentines (a sweet biscuit), zucchini stir-fry, scallops in buerre blanc sauce and a warm scallop salad.
hazel and i decided to forgo our run because 1) we desperately wanted to try the lamb tagine 2) it was extremely windy and 3) we were completely depleted from the morning.
the evening in the pink cottage was very low-key and everyone shared the relief in the week coming to a close.
pascal rossignol
wednesday
rory started our wednesday morning lecture by making two tea cakes, both with orange flavour. then, colm mcann, the ballymaloe sommelier, took over and talked to us about wine until our tea and coffee break at 10.45am. we regrouped back in the demo room at 11am and were introduced to pascal rossignol, a wine conniosseur (born in gevrey-chambertin, burgundy, france) who lives in kilkenny and runs and owns 'le caveau', a specialty wine shop.
pascal had us taste six different wines and talked extensively about each one.
from burgandy, we sampled:
white: olivier leflaive, bourgogne 2009
chardonnay
red: laurent parize, givry 'champs nalot' 2007
pinot noir
red: didier desvignes, fleurie 2009
gamay (beaujolais)
from the south-west of france:
white: alain brumont gros manseng-sauvignon 2009
gros manseng and sauvignon blanc
red: chateau du cedre 'heritage' 2009, cahors
malbec and merlot
sweet: jurancon 'clos uroulat' 2008, charles hours
petit manseng
the pinot noir and the manseng-sauvignon were my favorites. i had high hopes for the malbec, but it wasn't nearly as smooth and enjoyable as the malbecs from argentina. (in my opinion, of course!)
i could have listened to pascal talk about wine all day, but shortly after 1pm, he concluded and we broke for lunch.
as i stood in line to collect my plate, i chatted with two ladies who had come over to ballymaloe from co. kerry to attend the afternoon lecture on 'afternoon tea'. they asked me loads of questions about the course. it was fun to share some stories with them and explain how the course ran. they were looking forward to the ham rory had prepared for lunch as well as all the delicious sides.
we sped through lunch and were back for afternoon lecture at 2pm. sean moran was our guest and he spent an hour talking to us about tea. did you know that behind water, tea is the most consumed beverage in the world? true story. sean passed around several samples of loose leaf tea and explained to us how much better loose leaf tea is for us (taste alone!) compared to the tea bag tea sold at super markets. i was not aware that green tea should be made with water heated to just under a boil. boiling water scalds the green tea leaves, destroying the vitamins and nutritional value of the tea. good to know!
in conclusion, and in sean's opinion, everyone should own a teapot (and know how many cups it holds) and drink loose leaf tea from a thin tea cup (it keeps the tea hotter longer).
the rest of the lecture was made up of cakes, cupcakes, buns and other sweet accompaniments for afternoon tea. delicious!
wednesday evening was our first pilates class with grainne sugrue who teaches at a pilates studio in cork city. as with most first classes, it was more of an informational session than an actual workout. grainne talked about the history of pilates as well as all the benefits and then we went over 'A' - alignment, 'B' - breathing and 'C' - core before she dismissed us. i anticipate that it will be a great way to release from the day and be something we can practice throughout the week in addition to the actual weekly class.
rory started our wednesday morning lecture by making two tea cakes, both with orange flavour. then, colm mcann, the ballymaloe sommelier, took over and talked to us about wine until our tea and coffee break at 10.45am. we regrouped back in the demo room at 11am and were introduced to pascal rossignol, a wine conniosseur (born in gevrey-chambertin, burgundy, france) who lives in kilkenny and runs and owns 'le caveau', a specialty wine shop.
pascal had us taste six different wines and talked extensively about each one.
from burgandy, we sampled:
white: olivier leflaive, bourgogne 2009
chardonnay
red: laurent parize, givry 'champs nalot' 2007
pinot noir
red: didier desvignes, fleurie 2009
gamay (beaujolais)
from the south-west of france:
white: alain brumont gros manseng-sauvignon 2009
gros manseng and sauvignon blanc
red: chateau du cedre 'heritage' 2009, cahors
malbec and merlot
sweet: jurancon 'clos uroulat' 2008, charles hours
petit manseng
the pinot noir and the manseng-sauvignon were my favorites. i had high hopes for the malbec, but it wasn't nearly as smooth and enjoyable as the malbecs from argentina. (in my opinion, of course!)
i could have listened to pascal talk about wine all day, but shortly after 1pm, he concluded and we broke for lunch.
as i stood in line to collect my plate, i chatted with two ladies who had come over to ballymaloe from co. kerry to attend the afternoon lecture on 'afternoon tea'. they asked me loads of questions about the course. it was fun to share some stories with them and explain how the course ran. they were looking forward to the ham rory had prepared for lunch as well as all the delicious sides.
we sped through lunch and were back for afternoon lecture at 2pm. sean moran was our guest and he spent an hour talking to us about tea. did you know that behind water, tea is the most consumed beverage in the world? true story. sean passed around several samples of loose leaf tea and explained to us how much better loose leaf tea is for us (taste alone!) compared to the tea bag tea sold at super markets. i was not aware that green tea should be made with water heated to just under a boil. boiling water scalds the green tea leaves, destroying the vitamins and nutritional value of the tea. good to know!
in conclusion, and in sean's opinion, everyone should own a teapot (and know how many cups it holds) and drink loose leaf tea from a thin tea cup (it keeps the tea hotter longer).
the rest of the lecture was made up of cakes, cupcakes, buns and other sweet accompaniments for afternoon tea. delicious!
wednesday evening was our first pilates class with grainne sugrue who teaches at a pilates studio in cork city. as with most first classes, it was more of an informational session than an actual workout. grainne talked about the history of pilates as well as all the benefits and then we went over 'A' - alignment, 'B' - breathing and 'C' - core before she dismissed us. i anticipate that it will be a great way to release from the day and be something we can practice throughout the week in addition to the actual weekly class.
01 February 2011
raeltin - 'little star'
today is st. brigid's day. more details about this feast day can be found here.
i had a new instructor in the kitchen this morning which put an interesting twist on my cooking. i made mushroom soup, marzipan apples, an omelet and i helped my partner, nicole, out with her apple and clove jelly. it took me much longer to chop my mushrooms than i anticipated, but i still managed to find a good pace for the morning. making the marzipan turned out to be tricky and i managed to wait too long for my sugar and water mixture to boil to a 'thread phase' and i ended up with a lumpy mess instead of a soft, dough like mixture. not wanting to bin it, i worked the lumps out as much as i could and confirmed with my instructor that it could still be used to stuff the apples. the lumps would dissolve while the apple baked, leaving the less than desirable consistency of the marzipan unnoticeable.
making the omelet was enjoyable and a bit of a relief considering all the pressure surrounding it (it is one of the techniques we'll be tested on at the end of week six). even though rory demonstrated the technique again this morning, i was not anxious to practice. i borrowed some mushroom a la creme to put in my omelet and called my instructor over when i was ready to have a go. i talked my way through each movement with the spatula, confirming that i was doing it correctly, and then flipped it out onto a warm plate. and then i got to eat it! it was delicious and i am looking forward to making another one sometime soon. we've been encouraged to practice often and it would be a shame not to take advantage of the endless supply of the beautiful, organic eggs we have access to!
i didn't eat much for lunch since i ate my omelet, but the tomato salad was delicious and i tried a marzipan stuffed walnut just because. my duty for the day was kitchen blitz, which meant sweeping off the rugs (more of a challenge than it sounds, really), rolling them up and then sweeping the kitchen floor. i finished with a few minutes to spare before demo started, so i headed outside for a bit of cool air.
in demo today, rory went over how to make chicken liver pate with melba toast, white yeast bread, filleting round fish (again), pan-grilling fish with flavored butters, the art of homemade noodles, cucumber neapolitana, steamed potatoes, leeks with yellow peppers and marjoram and lemon meringue tarts. since hazel and i decided to go running after, we skipped the tasting and went straight to our cottages to change. we ran the loop and took the same route as saturday, choosing to run along the beach for a short section instead of along the road. it was a good, hard run considering we both had zero energy when we started. i forget how, but toward the end of our run we got to talking about irish names. hazel was sharing some of the names in her family and she mentioned 'raeltin' (pronounced 'rail-teen') which immediately became my new favorite! that and niobh (pronounced 'neve'). good run and good chat.
the evening was relaxed since tomorrow is lecture day and no one has to turn in an order of work. a few of us watched 'fletch' and then a few went on to the pub. rumor has it that we are doing wine tasting in the morning, which could be interesting! there is also a pilates class starting tomorrow evening. it will run for the next six weeks and there is a good number of students interested in participating. another great way of staying active while we're here eating all this amazing and delicious food!
on that note, i'm off to bread!
i had a new instructor in the kitchen this morning which put an interesting twist on my cooking. i made mushroom soup, marzipan apples, an omelet and i helped my partner, nicole, out with her apple and clove jelly. it took me much longer to chop my mushrooms than i anticipated, but i still managed to find a good pace for the morning. making the marzipan turned out to be tricky and i managed to wait too long for my sugar and water mixture to boil to a 'thread phase' and i ended up with a lumpy mess instead of a soft, dough like mixture. not wanting to bin it, i worked the lumps out as much as i could and confirmed with my instructor that it could still be used to stuff the apples. the lumps would dissolve while the apple baked, leaving the less than desirable consistency of the marzipan unnoticeable.
making the omelet was enjoyable and a bit of a relief considering all the pressure surrounding it (it is one of the techniques we'll be tested on at the end of week six). even though rory demonstrated the technique again this morning, i was not anxious to practice. i borrowed some mushroom a la creme to put in my omelet and called my instructor over when i was ready to have a go. i talked my way through each movement with the spatula, confirming that i was doing it correctly, and then flipped it out onto a warm plate. and then i got to eat it! it was delicious and i am looking forward to making another one sometime soon. we've been encouraged to practice often and it would be a shame not to take advantage of the endless supply of the beautiful, organic eggs we have access to!
i didn't eat much for lunch since i ate my omelet, but the tomato salad was delicious and i tried a marzipan stuffed walnut just because. my duty for the day was kitchen blitz, which meant sweeping off the rugs (more of a challenge than it sounds, really), rolling them up and then sweeping the kitchen floor. i finished with a few minutes to spare before demo started, so i headed outside for a bit of cool air.
in demo today, rory went over how to make chicken liver pate with melba toast, white yeast bread, filleting round fish (again), pan-grilling fish with flavored butters, the art of homemade noodles, cucumber neapolitana, steamed potatoes, leeks with yellow peppers and marjoram and lemon meringue tarts. since hazel and i decided to go running after, we skipped the tasting and went straight to our cottages to change. we ran the loop and took the same route as saturday, choosing to run along the beach for a short section instead of along the road. it was a good, hard run considering we both had zero energy when we started. i forget how, but toward the end of our run we got to talking about irish names. hazel was sharing some of the names in her family and she mentioned 'raeltin' (pronounced 'rail-teen') which immediately became my new favorite! that and niobh (pronounced 'neve'). good run and good chat.
the evening was relaxed since tomorrow is lecture day and no one has to turn in an order of work. a few of us watched 'fletch' and then a few went on to the pub. rumor has it that we are doing wine tasting in the morning, which could be interesting! there is also a pilates class starting tomorrow evening. it will run for the next six weeks and there is a good number of students interested in participating. another great way of staying active while we're here eating all this amazing and delicious food!
on that note, i'm off to bread!
bully yourself
somehow it's already tuesday evening.
we're halfway through week four, one-third of the way through this twelve week course.
wowza!!
i'm pretty sure i need one full day to properly post about the past few days, so i'm going to do my best to share the highlights from friday through today.
friday
friday was my last day in kitchen three. we were using the rest of the chicken from thursday's roasts, so there were chicken salads galore. i made the vietnamese chicken salad with prawn crackers which required me to spend an hour and 15 minutes shredding my two chicken breasts into matchstick-sized pieces. a form of meditation for sure!
lunch was a rush because (for some reason i can't pinpoint) everyone took forever to finish up in the kitchen and then i was responsible for cleaning the weigh up area with florrie. at quarter past 1, we were told we were having a group photo at 1.30pm, so there was a flurry of activity as everyone with a duty did their best to be done by then.
the group photo was a bit hilarious as not everyone was there and it was a bit chilly outside. tim patiently waited with the camera poised as darina shouted out orders. 'emily! emily! remove your hat, we can't see you!' and 'who's that in the back there? no, not you. to your right. yes, YOU! come down here to the front so we can see you properly.' lots of groaning and whispering until tim shouted, 'ready?' and snapped away.
we were herded back inside to the demo room for our afternoon lecture. darina covered cooking and extracting meat from prawns and shrimps, making homemade mayonnaise, prawn bisque, ballymaloe brown yeast bread, ballymaloe sour dough bread, ballymaloe bacon chop, plantain chips, piperonata, roast parsnip, apple and hazelnut salad, cullohill apple pie and mereworth biscuits. after a sample of everything and a meeting with my new partner to discuss monday's cooking, i was ready to enjoy some down time! since i was attending a gluten-free cooking course on saturday, i stayed at ballymaloe for the weekend.
week three favorites: the curried chicken salad with mango and roast cashew nuts, enjoying my first guinness at ballymaloe with new friends, a successful roast of lamb with garlic and rosemary, toby's greek moussaka and visiting with darina's aunt florence.
i built a fire in the our fireplace shortly after dropping my apron and knives on my bed and changing into sweatpants. our cottage was very cold and even though i was curled up in a ball on the couch with slippers and two rugs on top of me, i couldn't get warm. charlotte brought her computer over and she sat on the floor in front of me and we watched the end of 'gone with the wind'.
friday was also graham's birthday, so his cottagemates had organized a bbq in the common area between all the cottages. charlotte and rose made brownies for graham and then our cottage wandered over to join in the celebration. it got pretty rowdy as many of the students were celebrating the end of a long week in addition to graham's birthday. after eating a burger with some delicious farmhouse cheese and visiting with a few students, i made my way back to the pink cottage and went to bed.
saturday
hazel and i started our day off with a run. we both enjoyed a bit of a lie in (as they call it) and then ran the loop at 10.30am. we completely enjoyed the scenery and commented about all the little things we weren't able to enjoy during our night runs. the sheep were out in the pasture enjoying the sun. when we got to the garyvoe hotel, we opted to run along the ocean instead of continuing on down the road. the view was unbelievable! the tide was out pretty far, so we had a nice, hard running surface. we found the path back up to the road easily and returned to school in under an hour. great run and great conversation!
i had thought about going to lunch with a few students at the ballymaloe house cafe, but my conscious got the best of me and i changed into my wellies, grabbed charlotte's camera and made my way down to the greenhouses so i could photograph the leafs and herbs we had to learn. i spent a good 45 minutes taking pics (which i'll post shortly) and walking around the grounds.
the gluten-free cooking course started at 2pm, so when i got back from the greenhouses, i made myself a late breakfast and enjoyed a cup of coffee before heading over to the school. there was a good turnout for the course: about half paying customers and half students. rosemary kearney, our instructror, had attended ballymaloe and as a coelic herself, has published several gluten-free cookbooks. unfortunately, talking in front of a group isn't one of her strengths and she was coming down with a sore throat, so it was a struggle for her to talk. a handful of students left during the break because they were not impressed, but i stayed 1) out of respect for poor rosemary and 2) i was eager to taste the numerous dishes she had prepared.
a few of the students who attended were heading into midleton for pizza after the course and they invited me to come along, so when rosemary wrapped up, i was off to my cottage to shower and change.
the evening was quite fun. the group of students who went for pizza was one that i hadn't gotten to spend much time with as individuals, so i was looking forward to getting to know them. i sat next to tom, the american from new mexico, stacia, from the netherlands, and across from bryony, from sweden. the conversation revolved around family and i got to learn loads about tom, stacia and bryony and their spouses and children. lots of laughter, good pizza and great wine.
i sat up and visited with elisa, emily and charlotte when i got home and we talked until sometime after midnight before all toddling off to bed.
sunday
i greeted sunday with cheesy enthusiasm. a few students were heading into cork to spend the day and i went along so i could meet up with my parents. i met them just inside the entrance of tesco and we did a quick grocery shop before heading into the city centre. we tried to eat at a burger place off merchant's quay, but it wasn't open on sundays, so we walked over to oliver plunkett street and ate the market lane cafe next to milano. it was fabulous! dad and i had the sweet potato starter which was AMAZING!! it was plated beautifully: the mashed sweet potato formed the base and was topped with crozier bleu cheese and spinach. three of my favorite ingredients, as dad pointed out. :) mom had the ravioli for her meal, dad had the ox cheek stew and i had the soy and ginger chicken salad. i filled them in on the week at ballymaloe and they gave me details of their week and talked about how much finnbarre had grown since i last saw him.
we shopped a bit after eating, heading into TKMaxx to look for jumpers and other warm clothes. mom found this and had to buy it for me:
what a find, right?! :)
mom and dad had to return their rental car around 4pm, so they dropped me off on patrick street so i could meet back up with the friends i had come into the city with. we all regrouped in the cafe in brown thomas and i had a coffee while the other three girls ate a late lunch. we stopped in the makeup section downstairs before heading back to the car so elisa could look for some hand lotion. funnily enough, the saleswoman we chatted with had attended ballymaloe a few years ago. small world!!
we were back at ballymaloe by 6.30pm and as we unpacked our groceries, several students came over to invite us to youghal for bowling and laser tag. i declined as i really don't enjoy either activity and i was looking forward to making this:
aside from the fact that we didn't have a blender to puree the soup, it turned out good to quite good. after a second helping, i wandered off to bed.
monday
new week, new partner, new kitchen.
i allowed myself plenty of extra time monday morning so i could get in the kitchen and get acclimated to the newness of kitchen 1. a few of my fellow students from kitchen 3 were also in my kitchen this week, so we leaned on each other when we could find something.
i made the brown yeast bread, the piperonata and couhill apple pie. the bread took ages for the yeast to rise before i could put it in the oven, but the end product was delicious. i wanted to add some chili flakes to my piperonata to give it a bit of a kick, but my instructor explained that we'd be making spicier piperonata dishes over the next few weeks. the apple pie looked beautiful (and i'll have a picture of that later as well) going in and coming out of the oven, but i was a bit rushed in plating it up and was more of a pile of apples, cinnamon and sugar and crust than a slice of pie.
the dining room used by kitchens 1 and 2 is quite different from the dining room for kitchen 3, so i watched a few of the other students and took cues from them as to where i sat and how i went about getting salad, a starter and the main dishes. i sat at a table with two young girls from dublin who are at the school all week on a work experience program. they were very cute and wanted to know all about where in the states i was from, how i was enjoying ballymaloe and how we made the dishes we were eating for lunch.
darina is in india for two weeks, so rory is running the show. he breezed through the demo and we were out at half four. he covered mushroom soup, tomato salad, provencal terrine with tomato sauce, frittata with oven roasted tomatoes, goat's cheese and chorizo, how to make marzipan, marzipan stuffed apples, marzipan stuffed dates, caramelized walnuts and then he showed us how to make an omelet in 51 seconds. that was probably the highlight of the demo for me because i have never been able to make a successful omelet in all my 30 years. i kid you not. rory made it seem like a piece of cake and demonstrated it over and over, making about 6 omelets in the process. lucky for us, we got to eat all of them!
after sampling all of rory's creations, i was back at the cottage and convincing elisa and emily to help me take out the recyclables and trash. one of the guys from the barn stopped in and announced a game of ultimate frisbee would be starting shortly and i agreed to join them after we dumped our bins and i changed clothes.
we played four on four until it was too dark to see the frisbee. the team i was on got annihilated by the other team but we still had fun. after the game i was still on an adrenaline high so i decided to go for a run. i just ran over to the cul de sac and did some sprints. i was stretching out in the grass and during a downward dog pose, my feet slipped back and i landed flat on my face. hilarious! i was disappointed there wasn't anyone around to laugh with me. :) i got up and ran back to the cottage.
elisa, charlotte and minnie were watching 'beauty and the beast'. i ate a bowl of soup and then went to my room to write out my order of work and do some recipe filing. i think it was around 9.30pm when i fell asleep.
we're halfway through week four, one-third of the way through this twelve week course.
wowza!!
i'm pretty sure i need one full day to properly post about the past few days, so i'm going to do my best to share the highlights from friday through today.
friday
friday was my last day in kitchen three. we were using the rest of the chicken from thursday's roasts, so there were chicken salads galore. i made the vietnamese chicken salad with prawn crackers which required me to spend an hour and 15 minutes shredding my two chicken breasts into matchstick-sized pieces. a form of meditation for sure!
lunch was a rush because (for some reason i can't pinpoint) everyone took forever to finish up in the kitchen and then i was responsible for cleaning the weigh up area with florrie. at quarter past 1, we were told we were having a group photo at 1.30pm, so there was a flurry of activity as everyone with a duty did their best to be done by then.
the group photo was a bit hilarious as not everyone was there and it was a bit chilly outside. tim patiently waited with the camera poised as darina shouted out orders. 'emily! emily! remove your hat, we can't see you!' and 'who's that in the back there? no, not you. to your right. yes, YOU! come down here to the front so we can see you properly.' lots of groaning and whispering until tim shouted, 'ready?' and snapped away.
we were herded back inside to the demo room for our afternoon lecture. darina covered cooking and extracting meat from prawns and shrimps, making homemade mayonnaise, prawn bisque, ballymaloe brown yeast bread, ballymaloe sour dough bread, ballymaloe bacon chop, plantain chips, piperonata, roast parsnip, apple and hazelnut salad, cullohill apple pie and mereworth biscuits. after a sample of everything and a meeting with my new partner to discuss monday's cooking, i was ready to enjoy some down time! since i was attending a gluten-free cooking course on saturday, i stayed at ballymaloe for the weekend.
week three favorites: the curried chicken salad with mango and roast cashew nuts, enjoying my first guinness at ballymaloe with new friends, a successful roast of lamb with garlic and rosemary, toby's greek moussaka and visiting with darina's aunt florence.
i built a fire in the our fireplace shortly after dropping my apron and knives on my bed and changing into sweatpants. our cottage was very cold and even though i was curled up in a ball on the couch with slippers and two rugs on top of me, i couldn't get warm. charlotte brought her computer over and she sat on the floor in front of me and we watched the end of 'gone with the wind'.
friday was also graham's birthday, so his cottagemates had organized a bbq in the common area between all the cottages. charlotte and rose made brownies for graham and then our cottage wandered over to join in the celebration. it got pretty rowdy as many of the students were celebrating the end of a long week in addition to graham's birthday. after eating a burger with some delicious farmhouse cheese and visiting with a few students, i made my way back to the pink cottage and went to bed.
saturday
hazel and i started our day off with a run. we both enjoyed a bit of a lie in (as they call it) and then ran the loop at 10.30am. we completely enjoyed the scenery and commented about all the little things we weren't able to enjoy during our night runs. the sheep were out in the pasture enjoying the sun. when we got to the garyvoe hotel, we opted to run along the ocean instead of continuing on down the road. the view was unbelievable! the tide was out pretty far, so we had a nice, hard running surface. we found the path back up to the road easily and returned to school in under an hour. great run and great conversation!
i had thought about going to lunch with a few students at the ballymaloe house cafe, but my conscious got the best of me and i changed into my wellies, grabbed charlotte's camera and made my way down to the greenhouses so i could photograph the leafs and herbs we had to learn. i spent a good 45 minutes taking pics (which i'll post shortly) and walking around the grounds.
the gluten-free cooking course started at 2pm, so when i got back from the greenhouses, i made myself a late breakfast and enjoyed a cup of coffee before heading over to the school. there was a good turnout for the course: about half paying customers and half students. rosemary kearney, our instructror, had attended ballymaloe and as a coelic herself, has published several gluten-free cookbooks. unfortunately, talking in front of a group isn't one of her strengths and she was coming down with a sore throat, so it was a struggle for her to talk. a handful of students left during the break because they were not impressed, but i stayed 1) out of respect for poor rosemary and 2) i was eager to taste the numerous dishes she had prepared.
a few of the students who attended were heading into midleton for pizza after the course and they invited me to come along, so when rosemary wrapped up, i was off to my cottage to shower and change.
the evening was quite fun. the group of students who went for pizza was one that i hadn't gotten to spend much time with as individuals, so i was looking forward to getting to know them. i sat next to tom, the american from new mexico, stacia, from the netherlands, and across from bryony, from sweden. the conversation revolved around family and i got to learn loads about tom, stacia and bryony and their spouses and children. lots of laughter, good pizza and great wine.
i sat up and visited with elisa, emily and charlotte when i got home and we talked until sometime after midnight before all toddling off to bed.
sunday
i greeted sunday with cheesy enthusiasm. a few students were heading into cork to spend the day and i went along so i could meet up with my parents. i met them just inside the entrance of tesco and we did a quick grocery shop before heading into the city centre. we tried to eat at a burger place off merchant's quay, but it wasn't open on sundays, so we walked over to oliver plunkett street and ate the market lane cafe next to milano. it was fabulous! dad and i had the sweet potato starter which was AMAZING!! it was plated beautifully: the mashed sweet potato formed the base and was topped with crozier bleu cheese and spinach. three of my favorite ingredients, as dad pointed out. :) mom had the ravioli for her meal, dad had the ox cheek stew and i had the soy and ginger chicken salad. i filled them in on the week at ballymaloe and they gave me details of their week and talked about how much finnbarre had grown since i last saw him.
we shopped a bit after eating, heading into TKMaxx to look for jumpers and other warm clothes. mom found this and had to buy it for me:
what a find, right?! :)
mom and dad had to return their rental car around 4pm, so they dropped me off on patrick street so i could meet back up with the friends i had come into the city with. we all regrouped in the cafe in brown thomas and i had a coffee while the other three girls ate a late lunch. we stopped in the makeup section downstairs before heading back to the car so elisa could look for some hand lotion. funnily enough, the saleswoman we chatted with had attended ballymaloe a few years ago. small world!!
we were back at ballymaloe by 6.30pm and as we unpacked our groceries, several students came over to invite us to youghal for bowling and laser tag. i declined as i really don't enjoy either activity and i was looking forward to making this:
aside from the fact that we didn't have a blender to puree the soup, it turned out good to quite good. after a second helping, i wandered off to bed.
monday
new week, new partner, new kitchen.
i allowed myself plenty of extra time monday morning so i could get in the kitchen and get acclimated to the newness of kitchen 1. a few of my fellow students from kitchen 3 were also in my kitchen this week, so we leaned on each other when we could find something.
i made the brown yeast bread, the piperonata and couhill apple pie. the bread took ages for the yeast to rise before i could put it in the oven, but the end product was delicious. i wanted to add some chili flakes to my piperonata to give it a bit of a kick, but my instructor explained that we'd be making spicier piperonata dishes over the next few weeks. the apple pie looked beautiful (and i'll have a picture of that later as well) going in and coming out of the oven, but i was a bit rushed in plating it up and was more of a pile of apples, cinnamon and sugar and crust than a slice of pie.
the dining room used by kitchens 1 and 2 is quite different from the dining room for kitchen 3, so i watched a few of the other students and took cues from them as to where i sat and how i went about getting salad, a starter and the main dishes. i sat at a table with two young girls from dublin who are at the school all week on a work experience program. they were very cute and wanted to know all about where in the states i was from, how i was enjoying ballymaloe and how we made the dishes we were eating for lunch.
darina is in india for two weeks, so rory is running the show. he breezed through the demo and we were out at half four. he covered mushroom soup, tomato salad, provencal terrine with tomato sauce, frittata with oven roasted tomatoes, goat's cheese and chorizo, how to make marzipan, marzipan stuffed apples, marzipan stuffed dates, caramelized walnuts and then he showed us how to make an omelet in 51 seconds. that was probably the highlight of the demo for me because i have never been able to make a successful omelet in all my 30 years. i kid you not. rory made it seem like a piece of cake and demonstrated it over and over, making about 6 omelets in the process. lucky for us, we got to eat all of them!
after sampling all of rory's creations, i was back at the cottage and convincing elisa and emily to help me take out the recyclables and trash. one of the guys from the barn stopped in and announced a game of ultimate frisbee would be starting shortly and i agreed to join them after we dumped our bins and i changed clothes.
we played four on four until it was too dark to see the frisbee. the team i was on got annihilated by the other team but we still had fun. after the game i was still on an adrenaline high so i decided to go for a run. i just ran over to the cul de sac and did some sprints. i was stretching out in the grass and during a downward dog pose, my feet slipped back and i landed flat on my face. hilarious! i was disappointed there wasn't anyone around to laugh with me. :) i got up and ran back to the cottage.
elisa, charlotte and minnie were watching 'beauty and the beast'. i ate a bowl of soup and then went to my room to write out my order of work and do some recipe filing. i think it was around 9.30pm when i fell asleep.
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