on friday, i made a loaf of health bread and i was quite proud of how it turned out. i took the simple recipe we had learned earlier in the week and added a load of seeds to it. when my instructor tasted it, she had a few other students try it so they could appreciate the texture and flavor. not bad for week one!
in afternoon demo, darina showed us how to joint a chicken. she separated the bird with such ease and assured all 62 of us that we'd master this art with no effort on monday. riiiiight...
we also learned how to segment citrus fruit, peel grapes (no kiddding), make roux and tomato fondue, two chicken dishes: chicken breasts with tarragon or marjoram and chicken breasts with mushrooms and rosemary, chicken wings with sweet chili sauce, how to cook brussels sprouts, boil irish potatoes and create a crunchy apple tart.
those recipes were all demonstrated in a two-hour period. darina wanted to 'make a run for it' and not stop for a break so we could finish a bit early and let those students who were going to make long drives for the weekend (to dublin, galway, etc) get on the road while there was still a bit of light left in the day.
at half four, i walked back to my cottage, head spinning with information from the demo and thoughts about the week. i changed out of my chef's whites (i promise to post a picture of that soon!), packed up the rest of the things i wanted to take 'home' for the weekend and then unloaded the dishwasher while i waited for mom and dad to call and let me know they were at the school. mom called around 5.15 to say they were in the parking lot, so i said a quick 'have a great weekend' to my cottagemates and then walked (rather quickly) to the parking lot. i hugged mom twice and then got a big long squeeze from my dad before loading the car and heading to crosshaven. apparently, dad didn't have such a great day at the work store, so i was feeling even more grateful that he had driven the 50 minutes to ballymaloe to get me just to turn right around and drive back to crosshaven. my parents are the greatest!!!
i talked non-stop the entire drive 'home'. mom and dad asked questions when i paused to take a breath or had to think about someone's name or a recipe we had learned. it was fun for me to recap the week and say (out loud) some of the things i was thinking. i did my best to share my first impressions of people and things, even if i had already been steered in another direction by the end of the week.
first week favorites: florrie (my instructor), wholegrain bread, the smell of raspberry jam cooking, a cup of coffee after lunch, the way the irish say 'brilliant' so effortlessly and sun-showers.
friday evening
dad went all out and had tuna steak, lamb and dead red meat for dinner. while he started the fire, we enjoyed some brie, hummus and crackers, and red vino. mom and dad showed me a new trick they had taught finn during the week: when one of them throws his little soft ball down the hallway, he chases after it, retrieves it and then comes flying back into the living area, doing a little leap over the board that separates the hallway from the front part of the house. hilarious and adorable. and, it wore him out.
dinner was amazing and the conversation was well-rounded. i've found that we've been digging into our memory banks to talk about many of the dinner guests we had over the years. i love to ask 'oh and how's so-and-so doing?' or 'who was the guy who lived in north carolina, who...?' and 'whatever happened to what's-his-name?'
after many refills of vino and loads of laughs (and even a bit of chocolate), mom and i called it a night and headed to bread.
saturday
i could hear the wind whipping and the rain pounding before i opened my eyes saturday morning. my hopes for a long hike were quickly changed and i settled for a much more relaxing, indoor day. i got out of bed and enjoyed a piece of toasted wholegrain bread with butter and raspberry jam and a cup of FPC with mom. we watched the waves in the harbor and listened to the wind howl.
i didn't end up getting out of my pjs saturday. i read a bit, caught up on a few emails, did some sudoku puzzles and made a batch of chocolate chip cookies. i found a recipe that darina had posted in one of her weekly letters, so i figured i'd give it a go. her recipe called for more brown sugar than white sugar, which i wasn't too sure about, but the end result was pretty delicious. i made the first batch quite large, the second batch quite small and the remaining three batches medium-sized. some of them were sprinkled with sea salt to enhance the chocolate.
we enjoyed another excellent dinner: chicken for mom and dad, roast of lamb for me. i made roast eggplant for our veg and it was delicious. something i hope to make more often as it was quite easy.
sunday
sunday arrived with a clear sky and a hint of sun. after a quick breakfast, i took finn for a walk. we didn't go too far but he enjoyed being outside. mom was up when we got back to the house and so after she had her coffee and something to eat, she and finn and i went out for another walk. eddie joined us this time, staying just a bit ahead of us the whole time. we spent a good amount of time down by the water. finn loved running up to the waves as they washed out and would then scramble up to the rocks when they came back in onto the shore, barking of course. we hiked back up the hill to the house and i started to pack up my things and did a little laundry so we could head back to ballymaloe later in the day.
dad grilled a pork roast for an early dinner with apples, sweet potatoes and zucchini (or courgettes, as they're called here) and we were on the road sometime after four. it was a pretty drive to ballymaloe, although we were much less chatty than friday evening.
when i got back to my cottage, charlotte and minnie were in the kitchen cooking. charlotte had made a guinness cake and was working on french onion soup. minnie was chopping the onions. really, you can never get enough practice!
i unpacked my bags while elisa filled me in on all the happenings from the weekend. it's pretty unbelievable how much can happen in only two days! we wandered back to the living room and chatted with the other girls while charlotte continued to work on her soup. at 8, we dug into the cake as there was still an hour + left on the soup. the cake was AMAZING!!! rich and decadent with a light, creamy frosting. sinful!
at emily's suggestion, we ended up watching 'the lion king', one of the VHS movies available in our extensive cottage collection, while we ate our soup. of course we all sang right along with the soundtrack.
i snuck off to bed at half ten, feeling anxious and a bit (a very tiny bit) more confident about week two.
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