the kale was assaulted, then drowned in butter and cream

thursday
after a break from the kitchen on wednesday, i was looking forward to cooking again and seeing marie. my work order for the day included cranberry sauce, swede turnip with caramelized onion and a butter sponge cake with raspberry jam and fresh creme.

i made my cake straight away so it would have time to cool before i put the jam and creme in the middle. while the batter was baking, i chopped my swede turnip, put it in a saucepan and brought it to a boil. it would need about 30-45 minutes of cooking before it was soft enough to mash. i checked on my cakes after 12 minutes and the skewer came out clean, so i removed them from the oven and popped them on a cooking rack out in the larder near an open window.

then i started on my onions. it was stressed in the demo on tuesday that the onions be cooked on a very low heat until they caramelized, which could take up to 45 minutes. i had the time to slice my onions thinly and evenly before putting them into the hot olive oil in the pan. i tidied my workstation and then located the cranberries for cranberry sauce. i was a bit unsure of the cranberry sauce because the recipe called for 4 tablespoons of water and 10oz of sugar for 6 oz of cranberries, which is quite different from the cup of sugar and cup of water to a 12 oz bag of cranberries i'm used to making. but, i'm learning things the ballymaloe way, so i sucked up my reservations and followed the recipe. i needed to boil the water and cranberries first, until the berries softened and popped. then, the sugar could be added until dissolved, removed from the heat and set aside to cool.

my turnip was nearly done but i didn't want to rush it (as i did before with the basmati rice), so i put the lid back on and gave it another 5 minutes. the onions were caramelizing quite nicely, still on a very low heat. i turned the heat off from under my turnip and checked with my instructor about how they should be mashed - magimix (which is the same as a food processor) or with the potato masher. she told me it was my preference, so i went with the potato masher as i didn't want pureed turnip. i put the mashed turnip into a bowl, covered it with a butter wrapper and then a saucepan lid and set it to the side while i finished my onions. i found myself being a perfectionist today because i had the time to truly take my time and do everything with a bit more care. i retrieved my cake so i could jam and creme it and then plate up my other food. when i turned my cakes out of their pans, i realized they were a bit underdone. my instructor agreed and instead of going ahead with the butter sponge cake, we decided i should make the winter berry pudding which uses the cakes as a shell for blackcurrants in a syrup sauce and then put in the fridge for a few days to set up. the more moist the cakes are, the better, so i was in good shape. :)

assembling the cake into the bowl.

blackberries boiling in syrup.

it didn't take any time to plate up my cranberry sauce and turnip.

so i had my instructor taste them and then i washed up my last few dishes before heading into the dinning room for lunch. my duties for the day were to make the tea and coffee for dessert and to supervise the other students who had to polish cutlery, lay tables and hoover. i find that effective supervisors are the ones who are hands on and help out as much as possible, so i polished the cutlery and laid out the silverware settings for the three tables. as usual, there wasn't much time to relax before afternoon demo, so i checked the menu sheet for friday and wrote down the dishes marie and i were assigned and then found my seat in the demo room.

i was excited to see kale on our list of new recipes but after a quick look at the ingredients i was disappointed to see butter and cream listed. ugh. pam ran demo again and informed us that 90% of the recipes were cakes and the other 10% were veg and mains. she baked a lemon curd sponge cake, an orange sponge cake, a coffee cake and a chocolate butter cream cake with chocolate shavings. (she has an amazing eye for plating food and i am looking forward to the week i'm in the demo kitchen so i can learn from her!) when she got to the kale, i cringed when she took it from the saucepan where it had been boiled and put it in the magimix. it was pureed to a sorry state and then drowned with butter and cream before it was turned out into a bowl and set on the counter in front of us. 'disgusting!', was my comment. 'incredible!', was grace's.

after a taste of all the food, i went back to the pink cottage and changed into running clothes. i convinced elisa to come with me to run sprints in the cul de sac and it was great to have the company. it was very windy and one of the coldest days we've had so far, so as soon as i had my sprints in, we headed back to our cottage.

charlotte, elisa and i had talked about going down to the pub after our workout, so after changing and having a quick bite to eat, we headed out. we stopped over at the white cottage to see if anyone else wanted to join us and euoghn was more than eager. the four of us walked into the goal post and quickly joined two other students who were there as well, christine and alex. we all crammed into one booth and chatted about the course and our backgrounds, etc. two guinnesses and some great laughs later, i was exhausted and ready for bed. we said goodnight to our classmates and made our way back to our respective cottages.

i'm looking forward to friday tomorrow, and then the weekend to unwind and relax a bit.

you're going to need a bigger bowl

wednesdays are theory days.

the first half of the day goes from 9am until about 1pm, we break for a quick lunch and then resume at 2pm for the second half.

today darina made caramelized pecan and almond squares, two easy bickies to enjoy with coffee and tea. then she introduced us to her brother, rory o'connell, who has been in india for the past two weeks. rory helped darina open the ballymaloe cookery school and will be someone we see regularly over the next nine weeks.

rory first went over cuts of beef and showed us how to prepare traditional roast rib of beef with horseradish sauce, gravy and yorkshire pudding. he then went on to cover braised short ribs, cassoulet (an incredible french dish that contains duck, lamb and sausage), braised lamb shanks with garlic and rosemary, curried oven parsnips, a basic frittata, crudites with garlic mayonnaise, tapenade, anchoide, dukkah, crab apple jelly and finally, a simnel cake. he worked seamlessly until quarter after one and then a few students helped carry all the dishes into the dinning room so they could be served for lunch. a handful of students were on duty to serve the soup starter with some homemade brown bread and they barely had it passed out before the queue formed for the main dishes.

a small serving of all the dishes rory prepared and a reminder from darina to 'try everything' created a mountain of food on everyone's plate. shocking, really. of course everything i tasted was amazing. the beef was a beautiful pink and the horseradish sauce was light in texture and fiercely pungent in flavor. i ended up sitting at a table with darina and she watched me like a hawk as i moved around my plate, tasting everything. she asked how i was enjoying my time at ballymaloe and then went on to talk about her upcoming trip to india. and then she was off to get things ready for the second lecture of the day - preserving and menu planning. i had no room for dessert, but i did opt for a coffee as i knew the caffeine would help me through the remainder of the day. i fixed a cup of tea for darina's aunt and visited with her until we were herded back into the demo room.

for preserving, we learned how to flavor oils and vinegars, preserve lemons and dry tomatoes. the menu planning was interesting yet straightforward and somewhat obvious. points to take into consideration when planning a menu include:

a. the occasion
b. the probable tastes of your guests
c. the season and weather
d. availability of fresh ingredients
e. budget or price of the menu
f. food value and nutrition
g. the number of dishes
h. balance

darina also discussed how menus look - their format, font, etc. - and how that impacts a restaurant. she has several binders full of menus from some of her favorite restaurants, which lead her to talk about jobs and what we should be looking for now and at the end of our twelve weeks. her biggest recommendation was getting experience. she covered a list of possible opportunities for our audience and i found 'food journalist', 'food stylist', cooking on boats, cooking on oil rigs, teaching cooking classes and working as a personal chef to all be of interest to me. now i just need to do some research, update my CV and start contacting businesses/chefs, etc.

darina could tell that we were fading fast, so she called it a day at half five. grace and i were set on getting a run in, so we changed and were en route by ten to six. we ran for time today, opting to head straight to the beach. the moon wasn't up just yet and the multi-colored sky and gentle lapping waves could have easily been the sounds and sights of dawn instead of dusk. we took in the amazing backdrop, stretched our legs and then headed back in the direction of school. the evening air was cold but invigorating; something grace and i both happily welcomed after sitting all day long. it makes such a difference to get out and move around for a bit every day, even if it's only for half an hour.

when i got back to the pink cottage, i found all my cottagemates in the kitchen trying to get a bird, who got himself trapped in our cottage, back outside. at one point, two guys from the barn cottage were on ladders with brooms, trying to direct the frightened little guy to the open door. after a good twenty minutes, we turned off all the lights and left the door open so the bird could calm down and fly out on his own. a trapped bird isn't an ordeal except one of my cottagemates has a huge bird phobia, so we were trying to be considerate for her sake. ironically, after trying idea after failed idea, it was charlotte who managed to coax the bird outside in the end. isn't that the way it always goes?

i've got an order of work to complete and then i'm heading to bed. is it really already thursday tomorrow?!

life is made up of little things

tuesday
my cooking partner, marie, was sick today so i got to cook with toby, one of darina's sons. since marie was going to make the watercress soup and the greek moussaka, toby made both recipes while i worked on the spicy apple chutney, the baked potato, the romanesco (a green cauliflower-like veg) and the bananas in lime syrup. we got on well as toby was very conversational, asking questions and sharing cooking tips. i did my best to help him out when i could as the moussaka required a lot of prep work.

i found a comfortable and steady pace (much like running) and enjoyed the morning. my chutney tasted delicious even though it will be much better in 6-8 weeks time. i plated up and had debbie taste my baked potato shortly after 11, making sure to put a generous tab of butter on top and a sprinkle of sea salt. the romanesco wasn't overly complicated, but florrie kept telling us to mind out boiling veg as she didn't want to taste any overcooked romanesco! no pressure. i neatly cut the bunches from the stalk and was slightly grossed out when a slug crawled out of the top bunch. i let him crawl down on to my cutting board and then i put him in the hens' bucket. a nice little snack for them later. instead of drowning my veg in butter when it was ready, i drizzled some olive oil on top and then sprinkled it with sea salt and a grind of black pepper.

the bananas in lime syrup were a bit of a disappointment. my syrup was a bit too sweet, so i squeezed in fresh lime juice to tone it down. i've found that it's hard to get something to taste right if it isn't something you particularly enjoy.

my afternoon duties included serving the dessert which meant whipping up two bowls of cream to accompany the fruit in syrup and the left over chocolate mousse. i whipped up the cream and set the two bowls in the fridge before heading into the dinning room to eat lunch. debbie let me know later that i whipped to cream too much and that darina likes it much soupier. good to know. i'll get it right next time. :)

afternoon demo was run by rachel allen, who has been off traveling with her cooking. she'll be at ballymaloe for the remaining nine weeks though and teaching quite a bit. she is very enthusiastic and has a great smile and attitude, but i found her a bit scattered and hard to follow. she jumped quickly from one dish to another without smooth transitions. a brain workout for sure!

she covered poultry and game and demonstrated how to hang, pluck the feathers, gut and then section a beautiful guinea fowl. all very fascinating. she made french peasant soup, a winter vegetable and bean soup with spicy sausage (rachel LOVES chorizo!), a traditional roast stuffed chicken, roast pheasant with game chips and cranberry sauce, bread sauce, parsnip chips, creamed celery (just an excuse to use butter and cream, really), swede turnips with caramelized onions, winter blackcurrant pudding, kumquat compote and a butter sponge cake with raspberry jam and creme. whew!

hazel and i had talked during lunch about running the 8K loop after demo, so we didn't stick around to taste anything. ray, who lives in the coach house cottage with hazel, also came with us. he isn't a 'runner', but has a natural stride and easy pace. lucky! we ran to our cottages and changed quickly. i was half changed when our cottage fire alarm went off...again. knowing i was the only one in the cottage, i wasn't worried that there was actually a fire. i did a quick check upstairs and in the kitchen. another student who was heading to his cottage stopped in and showed me how to reset the alarm and soon the shrieking was silent. i ran back over the office just to let someone know and was told that sometimes the alarms just go off on their own. good to know. i found hazel and ray near the gate and then the three of us were off, talking about the day and enjoying the last bit of daylight. ray took the lead early on, only to become a small spec in the distance. hazel and i had a similar pace which was a treat. our conversation ranged from discussing the course and what our plans were after the 12 weeks to talking about our families, where we fell in the line up of siblings and being in our thirties. :) she is easily one of my favorites here.

we finished our run in about 40 minutes and when i got back to the pink cottage, everyone was in the kitchen cleaning. i helped the twins carry the recycle bins to the recycle area which included dumping a pot that had been in the fridge holding a chicken carcass for far too long. the smell was just awful!

the rest of the evening was a blur. my mom sent a package to the pink cottage containing australian licorice, a favorite treat of all my cottagemates, so that was attacked and one of the five bags was gone in a matter of seconds. since we didn't have to prepare an order of work for wednesday morning, we hung out around our kitchen table, talking and listening to music. it was sometime after ten when i headed to bed.

baa baa delicious lamb

the roast of lamb i cooked this morning was a huge success.

i also made the hummus, but it disappeared before i could get a picture of it.

lunch today was a bit relaxed as most of us were finished cooking and tidying our workstations by half twelve. it was nice to be able to take our time and enjoy our lovely roasts, glazed carrots, roasted potatoes and chocolate mousse with macaroons.

i think there were sedatives in the lamb though because it was such a struggle for me to keep my eyes open in afternoon demo! i kept shifting my legs and writing in my notebook to stay alert. grace, who was sitting to my left, was struggling as well. she and i would check on each other periodically to make sure neither one of us nodded off.

today pam showed us two fresh salads (a green greek and a cabbage salad with raisins and mint), a spicy apple chutney, a watercress and a cabbage soup, greek moussaka, shepherd's pie with garlic butter, mushroom ketchup, calabrese, baked potatoes and two desserts (mangoes in lime syrup and bananas in lime syrup).

there was a CV lecture after demo today, so i hung back with a few others as i welcome any resume help/suggestions. susan was a bit scattered and unorganized in presenting her information but she made some good points and we are all going to draft up a CV and then review them next week.

she wrapped up shortly after 6 and then we were back in the pink cottage making dinner. conster accidentally set off the fire alarm while she cooked sausages and so there was a bit of chaos for ten minutes while we sorted out turning the alarm off.

charlotte and emily made chocolate mousse and almond macaroons for dessert and we are just finishing them up now. delicious!

maybe a little reading for me and then bed.

john whiteman, you'd be proud of me!

after a delicious lunch of grilled sausages with onions and peppers, mom, dad, finn and i were in the car on our way back to ballymaloe. we took the car ferry to cobh and then caught back up with the main motorway (25). a new route and a very pretty drive.

we got to the school shortly before 4pm, with was a nice bit of daylight left. unfortunately, none of my cottagemates were home, so mom took a few pics and then she, dad and finn were on their way back to crosshaven. i unpacked my bags and started to do my order of work for tomorrow morning when dougie popped in and asked if i wanted to play 'ultimate' with him a few others. my order of work could definitely wait! i put on my shoes and headed over to the garden next to the tennis courts.

dougie, owen and christian joined me. we threw the frisbee around a bit to practice and then we split up in to teams of two: me and dougie, owen and christian. what an absolute blast! dougie and i scored three goals rather easily and our fourth goal was scored in the wrong end-zone. :) christian and owen eventually got a rhythm down and were catching up to us, although i don't know if anyone was actually keeping score. we played for a good thirty minutes; sprinting down the garden and back, jumping up to deflect a pass when we could and laughing the entire time. we left a few very large divots in the grass and more than once i made a mad dive into the picker bushes to try and make a ridiculous catch.

exhausted, sweaty and with the sun going down, we called it a game. there are plans for another game this week if we get out of lecture before the sun has set for the day. :)

sunday morning scones

i decided to start my sunday out with some homemade scones.

mom and dad approved! now, i'm off for a run. :)

cove. queenstown. cobh.

saturday started out lazy...again. i got up around 9 and greeted mom and finn before they headed out for a walk. mom went down to the village market when she got back to pick up some fresh bread and pear and lemon tartlets for breakfast. the paper was read while we ate and then mom, charles and i made plans to head to cobh for the afternoon.

cobh is a seaport town on the south coast of county cork, ireland and is the second largest natural harbour in the world. the locality, which had had several different irish-language names, was first referred to as cove ('the cove of cork") in 1750. it was renamed 'queenstown' in 1849 to commemorate a visit by queen victoria and so remained until the name cobh was restored in 1922 with the foundation of the irish free state. it was spelled 'cobh' instead of the original 'cove' as a way of 'gaelicising' an english placename, as many irish placenames had been anglicised by english settlers.

one of the major transatlantic irish ports, cobh was the departure point for 2.5 million of the six million irish people who emigrated to north america between 1848 and 1950.

on 11 april 1912 queenstown was the final port of call for the rms titanic as she set out across the atlantic on her ill-fated maiden voyage. 123 passengers boarded in cobh; only 44 survived the sinking.

an engineer who helped build titanic.

titanic shortly before she was released into the harbor.

we drove to monkstown and took the car ferry over to cobh. after going through the heritage museum and learning all about the history of cobh (i was unaware that the lusitania was sunk by a torpedo from a german u-boat in 1915), mom, charles and i had a snack at the quay's bar right on the waterfront. we watched a row boat of novice rowers practicing in the harbor and i was reminded of my rowing days at ust. we walked around a bit after eating and enjoyed the crisp, fresh air. we hiked up to st. colman cathedral, took some photos and visited with two irish cats.

shortly before five, we were back in the car on our way home to crosshaven. we planned to stop at cronin's and have a pint, so we drove to the house and picked up dad so he could join us. there was a new art exhibit up in the small dinning room at cronin's, so dad and i checked it out. the server, whose cousin sean is at ballymaloe with me, was working so i chatted with her a bit. she wanted to know how school was going and how her cousin was doing. i filled her in as best i could and then she told me to let sean know she was looking forward to the meal he had promised to cook her. charles and i finished our pints while mom and dad ran over to lynch's to pick up some spinach for dinner. we ended up chatting with sean cronin, the owner and denis and joleen's father, about boxing, ballymaloe and irish music/instruments. dad only had to come back in twice to get us. :)

dinner this evening was grilled monkfish, yellowfin tuna, sweet potatoes and spinach salads. i whipped up some chocolate mousse with irish mist for dessert and it is waiting in the fridge for us to enjoy when our stomachs are slightly less full.

another excellent saturday in crosshaven! a few new pics here.

charles heads back to galway on the 7.25am bus tomorrow morning and mom, dad and i might have a sailing date with peter o'rourke.

mustard greens

friday was here and is gone, slightly quicker than the way the bread and butter pudding disappeared at lunch yesterday. :)

i had another successful and enjoyable morning in the kitchen. i was responsible for making the lemonade for lunch, so i started on that right away so it could sit in the fridge and chill for a few hours. i'm not a big lemonade drinker, so i had my friend nikky try it to let me know if i needed to add more sugar. with her approval, i put the two pitchers in the fridge and started on my duchesse potatoes. basically, that's just a fancy name for incredibly creamy mashed potatoes. first, the potatoes are boiled and then steamed in their jackets. when they are ready, the skins are removed (and put in the hens' buckets) and they are put in a mixing bowl with some boiling milk and a generous portion of butter. they are mixed until they are quite creamy and barely hang on to spoon. they were to be used on the fish dishes we were creating, so we covered them with damp wax paper and put them in a low oven to stay warm.

around quarter to ten, a trolley was brought into the kitchen with some pretty large fresh cod on it. sorca, my instructor, demonstrated filleting a fish for us again before we could do it ourselves. for those of you who don't know how to fillet a fish, you start by removing the head. since we reuse everything at ballymaloe, the fish head (gills removed and the head washed very thoroughly) went into the stock pot and will be used for fish stock at some point. feeling a bit silly, i cleaned my fish head and went around the kitchen making the fish lips move to talk to some of my classmates.

once the head is removed, you cut down along the backbone, just above the fin. we were shown how to make small swipes down and against the backbone so we didn't miss any of the flesh. this goes on until there is a clean separation at the top of the fish from where the head was removed all the way down to the tail. from there, you follow your thumb and carefully use the knife to pop up all the small bones. the knife needs to be kept very close to the left side so the bones pop up and over to the right (next to the backbone). when all the tiny bones are out, the meat can be completely separated from the rest of the fish and skinned. i really enjoyed learning this technique and sorca told me that since i did such an excellent job, she was going to have me help her fillet fish the next time we cooked with them.

with the fish filleted and the potatoes made, i put my fish dish together. again, because of the demo, i was slightly behind in my order of work. i still had to make the mornay sauce for my fish dish, so i put the milk in a saucepan with a few carrots, onions and thyme and brought it to a boil. i removed the veggies and added in a bit of roux to thicken it before adding the dijon mustard, cheddar cheese and salt and pepper. while it sat to thicken a bit more, i filled a piping bag with my duchesse potatoes and practiced making fun designs. unfortunately, i put the wrong piping tip in my bag and i had to remove all the potatoes and replace the tip. no bother as it took all of 5 minutes to make the transfer. i cut my cod into 5 healthy portions, spooned some mornay sauce into the bottom of a dish, topped it with the fillets and then covered them with the rest of the sauce. i scattered some bread crumbs and cheese on top of the sauce and then piped the potatoes around the edge of the dish before putting it in the oven.

after tidying my workstation and washing a few bowls and utensils, i was planning to make my 'melted' leeks. sorca told me that i could hold off on that as there was already a large bowl full of them made by other students. i was looking forward to cooking them, but it was also a relief not to have to rush to get them done.

the fish dish was ready at about half twelve, so i plated up a small portion for sorca to try before it could be taken out to the dining room and served for lunch. it turned out quite well. the fish wasn't overcooked and the potatoes didn't dry out, which is what happens quite often with this dish (or so i'm told).

lunch was a blur and then it was time for afternoon demo. i think most of us were hoping that, since it was friday, darina would let us out by half four. however, there were more recipes than usual, a butchery demo and a few announcements, so we figured out fairly quickly that an early release was not happening.

the butchery demo was on a ten-month-old lamb. phillip, darina's son-in-law, showed us how to separate the leg, shoulder and shank without losing any meat. phillip is very soft spoken and talks with such care and enthusiasm that we were all hanging on to his every word. he left the leg of lamb on the counter so darina could show us how to prepare it for roasting. on monday, when we prepare it, we're going to use fresh rosemary and shards of garlic to flavor it.

aside from the lamb, we learned how to make hummus, a french onion tart, crispy fish cakes with garlic butter, rustic roast potatoes, crispy potatoes with sweet chilli sauce and sour cream, glazed carrots, haricot beans with tomato and rosemary, mint sauce, redcurrant sauce, chocolate mousse with almond macaroons, chocolate st. emillon and mulled wine. whew! we knew darina was making a run for it at half four when there was no mention of a break. demo wrapped up at quarter after five and by the time we tasted everything, picked up next week's recipes and talked through monday's menu with our new partners (bernita, i get to make the roast leg of lamb!!!), it was quarter to six.

i quickly ran to find sharon (one of the administrators at the school) so i could sign up for the celiac course on the 29th and then i sprinted to the pink cottage so i could throw my weekend stuff into a bag, wish my cottagemates a good weekend and meet up with my parents who were patiently waiting in the car park. my dad's cousin's son, who is studying in galway this semester, was with them. he had taken the bus from galway to cork friday morning so he could spend the weekend with my parents as well. so between the two of us, the drive home from ballymaloe was non-stop questions and answers. i was eager to share how my my week had gotten better after monday and tuesday and how much i enjoyed learning to fillet a fish.

second week favorites: early mornings in the pink cottage, manuka honey on my oatmeal, running with grace, mick from cobh, being in kitchen three again and hugging conster.

finnbarre was very excited to see us when we got back to the house as the poor little guy had been in his cage for the better part of the day. while mom took him outside, dad prepared the scallops for dinner and i set out some cheese, crackers and olives i found in the fridge. we enjoyed some vino with the appetizers and watched the moon rise up over the harbor. magnificent!

i prepared some spinach salads with buffalo mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and red onion and threw together a quick balsamic vinegar, olive oil and garlic dressing to accompany our scallops and sweet potatoes. dinner was completely satisfying, yet not too filling.

charles and i had some bailey's coffee with our spice cookies and chocolate for dessert, while mom and dad opted for more vino. sometime after 11 i snuck off to bed, exhausted.

there's no crying in baseball!

one of my all-time favorite quotes, from one of my all-time favorite actors. just as in baseball, there's no crying in cookery school. no tears and no stress. :)

i had a really great morning in the kitchen. it is good to know that while some days are going to get a bit hairy and challenge me, there are going to be other days where everything goes smoothly and i can work at an enjoyable pace.

my work order for this morning wasn't particularly exciting: white soda bread, basmati rice, tomato and corriander salsa, guacamole, quesadillas and creme caramel with caramel shards (or flan as it sometimes called). i was in the kitchen by 8.30 so i could have my oven heating and all my soda bread ingredients measured and ready to mix as soon as my instructor arrived. i decided that i wanted to jazz my bread up a bit and add some chopped rosemary, but since i couldn't find any in the larder i asked florrie if i might check one of the other kitchens. she suggested i just head out the dinning room and cut a few fresh twigs from the pot right past the door. how wonderful to be able to head outside and cut my own fresh rosemary! i am definitely going to need to start a herb garden where ever i end up after these 12 weeks. and grow my own apple trees. and rear hens. and pigs. and a cow or two. :)

back to the kitchen. when my instructor finally arrived, i mixed together my ingredients as she kept a close eye. not too much bread soda and not too much kneading either. i cut two slices into my bread to form a plus sign, put the dough on a baking sheet and into the oven it went.

while it baked for the first 10 minutes at 230C, i started preparing the caramel for the creme caramel and mixed up the custard. when the caramels went into the oven, i chopped the ingredients for my salsa and guacamole and mixed them up so they could rest in the fridge. i threw my rice in the boiling water, took my bread out of the oven and then put a few dishes in the oven to heat up before plating my food. my instructor was very impressed with my guacamole, in fact she deemed it 'perfect'. my salsa had a nice kick to it and paired well with my quesadillas. while my rice looked pretty, it was a bit al dente and i should have been a bit more patient with it. because the oven door was constantly being opened so other students could check the consistency of their creme caramels, mine didn't set up after the initial 35 minutes and in fact took well over an hour. when they finally came out, i put one on the window sill to cool. i waited until after i had washed up all my dishes and tidied my work station before i plated the pudding. i tried a small bite after my instructor tasted it and talked about the nice consistency of the custard and the color and taste of the caramel. not too sweet.

i had to serve the starter for lunch, so i happily put quesadillas on my classmates' plates asking them if they wanted one or two. overall, we were a pretty quiet group today. i think everyone is feeling a bit tired and maybe overloaded with information. and tomorrow is friday. :)

i was also part of the table setting crew after lunch, so i helped clear tables, polish cutlery and re-lay table one. it was almost quarter to 1 by the time we were finished, so i went straight to demo instead of changing out of my whites.

in today's demo, darina showed us how to fillet a fish. she had four whole fish on a cutting board for us to see and name. there was cod, pollock, hake and haddock. she filleted the haddock although i think we'll be making a cod dish tomorrow. after the fish was separated from the bones and skinned, darina went over how to make bread crumbs and duchesse potatoes (creamy, buttery potatoes). we learned three new salads, including one that used a poached egg. not the easiest technique, but if you crack the egg into a bowl and carefully slide the egg into the slightly boiling water, the poach will be perfect. at least it was for darina. she also put together bread and butter pudding and demonstrated how to cook 'melted' leeks.

by the time we got through tasting everything, it was half five. i had intended to run the 8K loop with grace, but since it was already dark i decided to just run down the road from school into the cul de sac and use the square yard as a track for sprints. an excellent way to exert some pent up energy and stretch my legs after sitting all afternoon.

elisa made chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles and buttermilk biscuits for dinner, so when i got back from my run, our cottage smelled delicious. the six of us sat down a little after 8 and ate the entire pot of soup. emily made mars bars rice krispie treats for dessert and they are being nibbled on while everyone does their order of work for tomorrow morning.

i'm winding down and heading to bed.

linen suits for a south african summer wedding

i'm slightly relieved that tomorrow is a lecture day and we won't be doing any cooking.

today i made red currant jelly, celeraic and hazelnut soup and chocolate fudge pudding. i made the jelly straight away as it doesn't take a tremendous amount of time and because it would need some cooling time it could set properly. i moved on to the soup next. i didn't get very far in my chopping as i was halted mid-onion and told that i was 'doing it completely wrong.' i tried not to get upset while my instructor told me to go get a whole onion so she could show me the correct way, but tears were welling up on their own. i got through the onion chopping lesson and went on with my soup. i'm not sure what really sucked my time away, but all the sudden it was 10.45 and i hadn't collected all the ingredients for my chocolate fudge pudding. since the recipe required whisked egg whites, all of the students who were making the puddings were to wait for that step so it could be done together and all the desserts could go into the oven at the same time. i felt a bit panicked as i measured out my chocolate, butter, eggs, etc. i set my chocolate and butter in a bowl on top of the saucepan and brought the water in the saucepan up to a boil to melt the chocolate. while the chocolate melted, my instructor had me get a blender so i could liquidize my soup. i didn't want to leave my chocolate because i was afraid it would burn, so i hesitated a bit. i lugged the contraption that holds the blender over to my workstation and started pouring the soup into the blender. i only got it about half full when the water in my chocolate melter was at a full boil, so i turned my attention back to my chocolate. i stirred the butter and chocolate until they were fulled mixed and then added the eggs, vanilla extract and flour. there was one other student making the chocolate fudge pudding, so florrie made sure we were on the same step at the same time. i whisked my egg whites until they had nice, stiff peaks and then folded them into my batter, poured the batter into the buttered dish and set them in the pan of water in the oven. back to the soup.

my instructor had been minding my soup while i got my pudding ready, so it was simmering gently. it was a mild green color and had a decent flavor, considering it was made of onions, potatoes and celeraic. not terribly exciting. i located a soup bowl and plate and a garnish of parsley, put the bowl and plate in the oven to warm and then tidied my work station. i couldn't find my instructor to ask if i needed to add the extra cream into my soup, so asked another instructor. she said i had a nice consistency and that she wouldn't add anything more to it. happy, i went to retrieve my bowl and plate from the oven. my instructor was helping my cooking partner when i returned to our station and she told me i could add the cream to my soup. i started to explain what i had been told by another instructor and got a bit teary-eyed again. i know, quite ridiculous, really. as i struggled to fight the tears off, my instructor had me follow her out of the kitchen so she could give me a hug and let me know that i was doing just fine. i tried to find the positive, FUN attitude i was so proud of last week, but it was a bit buried.

after another hug, we both headed back into the kitchen. florrie was just removing our chocolate puddings from the oven, so i went over to the oven where she and my classmate, charlotte, were standing. charlotte had forgotten to add flour to hers which meant hers didn't set up as nicely as mine had. we both agreed that it would most definitely still taste good though! i plated up my pudding and it got rave reviews. it had the three layers that we had seen pam create in the demo monday afternoon: a spongey top layer, a second layer of fudge and then a chocolatey sauce on the very bottom. not a bad first attempt.

i wasn't feeling very hungry for lunch again today, but i still managed to try some of the jerusalem artichoke soup that was also made. i sat by a guy called 'mick', who i don't know too well. he's probably a good 10 years or so older than me. he lives in cobh with his wife and kids and is hoping to apply what he learns at ballymaloe to a career directly after completing this course. it didn't take long before mick and i were talking about the wine lecture and wines and the day's cooking. mick had me laughing hysterically at a story about his brother who got married in south africa one summer. i enjoyed our conversation very much and was disappointed when it was time to head into afternoon demo.

there was a bit of a mexican theme on today's demo (thursday's lunch). pam prepared flour tortillas, tortilla chips, irish nachos, quesadillas, guacamole, tomato and coriander salsa, frijoles de olla, black-eyed beans with mushrooms, creme carmel with caramel shards, crunchy orange butter scones, orange butter cream, and seville orange marmalade. we raced through all the recipes in record time and were dismissed at quarter to five.

there was still a good deal of daylight, so one of my classmates, grace, and i decided to take advantage of it and go for a run. we bundled up and headed off toward castlemartyr, which is on the ocean and roughly two miles from the school. it took us about a half mile to adjust to each other's running styles and then we just had to make sure cars saw us as we came around blind bends in the road. grace commented on the palm trees and the sheep in the field as well as the amazing sunset behind us. incredible IRE! when we got the ocean, we walked along the boardwalk, talking non-stop. when we had cooled down (like the vanilla-infused milk had cooled before it was added to the creme carmel mixture in demo), we picked up the pace and started running to warm up. the run back seemed to go much faster and we were back at the school in under an hour. refreshed, invigorated and feeling a bit virtuous, i thanked grace for the run and went to my cottage to make a quick dinner.

charlotte, elisa and emily went down to the pub with a handful of other students. the twins, minnie and connie, and i stayed back so we could catch up on the reading for tomorrow's wine lecture and just relax.

and to bed i go, with hopes for a wonderful wednesday. :)

tears and sweating onions

monday
my monday duties included making the daily salad, so i was in the larder by 8am, sifting through herbs and lettuce leaves with tracy from galway. we talked about the weekend as we carefully tore leaves apart and removed some of the longer stalks. we washed and spun the greens before putting them in large wooden bowls. debbie, a ballymaloe instructor, suggested we make the honey mustard dressing as we could wisk the ingredients by hand and not have to get out the mixer. slightly after 9, the salads were distributed to the dinning rooms, dressings in tow, and we were off to our kitchens.

as i mentioned, jointing chickens was the major task of the day. because we'd slept since the demo on friday, our instructors wanted us to watch them joint half a chicken before we went at it. my only two recipes were the chicken and rosemary main and the tomato fondue. i had brought several backup recipes because, according to my order of work, i would have at least an hour of time to fill. i got most of my ingredients chopped and prepped, however i still had to wait until 10 to joint my chicken. when we all had a go at separating the bird and our teacher's 'well done', we could continue on with our cooking. the demo set me a bit behind and at 11, when we were meant to have a certain amount of our menu cooked and ready to plate, i got a bit frazzled. and, i burned the onions i was meant to 'sweat'. i smelled them seconds before another instructor called out, 'i smell burning onions. who's burning their onions?' back to the larder to get an onion.

my instructor was good to point out that i had used the wrong cooking utensils for my two dishes, which really didn't help me in the moment. i was working with two small chicken breasts and one large one, so the cooking times were slightly different. i allowed far too much air to get in under the sweating paper because i was constantly checking the firmness of the chicken. annoyed and feeling increasingly more impatient, i was ready to call the chicken done just so i could add the remaining ingredients and plate up my food. not really the greatest attitude. i found plates, warmed them in the oven for a few minutes before plating everything up. after i was given remarks about my food, i was back out in the larder washing up dishes. to change my perspective and mood, i turned so i could face out the windows at beautiful IRE as i dried my pans, plates and tasting spoons.

it was almost one by the time i entered the dinning room. i wasn't feeling very hungry, so i didn't over do it with the assortment of dishes laid out for us. i missed the citrus fruit salads, so i ate the daily green salad instead. i tried both of the chicken dishes and the tomato fondue and i had a bite of the apple tart that phoenix made. it's hard to bypass the dessert when one of your classmates does such a wonderful job creating it!

the afternoon demo consisted of two new soups, soup garnishment and decoration, white soda bread, teeny weeny savory scones, spiced chicken with almonds, spiced chicken wings, basmati rice, cucumber and yogurt raita, banana and yogurt raita, poppodums, fluffy lemon pudding and a decadent chocolate fudge pudding. pam reminded us after the demo that colm mccan, the sommelier at the ballymaloe house, would be doing a short introduction to wine that evening from 6-6.30. it was quarter past five when we were dismissed for the day, so i went back to the cottage with emily and did a bit of a clean up in the kitchen before the wine lecture.

colm was a very interesting and enthusiastic guy and very fun to hear speak. he gave us an overview of the six-week wine course we would have over the next eleven weeks and then talked about corks, synthetic material corks and screw-top wine bottles. apparently, we are going to have access to some pretty incredible wine savvy individuals in our upcoming lectures! we do have a wine exam at the end of our 12 weeks, so the tastings and lectures will be incredibly important.

it was almost quarter to seven by the time colm finished up. emily and elisa wanted to make a quick trip to the filling station not far from campus so they could get mars bars for a rice krispie-like treat, so em, elisa, charlotte and i piled into charlotte's mini and ran the quick errand. when we got back, we saw another student getting ready to head out for a run. inspired, elisa and i changed into some warm clothes and headed off on a nice, long walk. we walked in the direction of ballycotton and were gone for over and hour. it was so nice to be outside and moving! we talked about school, family, religion, friends, IRE and many other topics. the route was somewhat lit and the torch i carried helped us avoid pot holes and other obstacles along the road.

everyone else in the cottage was making and eating dinner when we got back, so we did the same. after i finished my order of work for tuesday, i got online, posted to the blog and headed off to bed.

you must peel the grapes

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.

48 london street, edinburgh scotland EH3 6LX

so of all the amazing things i learned today (and there were A LOAD of them), what made me most excited was this:

one of my classmates, from outside london originally, who is currently living in edinburgh, and i were chatting about edinburgh, and it turns out that he lives at the same address, 48 london street, that i lived when i was there in 2003/04. he's in the very top flat, where as i was on the second floor, third apartment. i just love small world connections like that! :)

thanks for being patient with me as i get settled in and adjust to the newness of being here in IRE and at ballymaloe!

i've been putting a bit too much pressure on myself in regards to blogging and didn't post anything monday or yesterday because there was absolute chaos in my head. it hasn't gone, but a it's bit more organized now i would say. :)

here are a few things to know:

i live in the pink cottage.

i have 6 cottagemates.

my roommate, elisa, is from salt lake city, utah. she's 28 and was here at ballymaloe in august for a one week course.

there are 3 other americans here: a girl, 28 from chicago, a girl, 28 from portland, and a gentleman, gently aged from new mexico.

the other 57 students are from ireland, england, scotland, india, sweden, germany, and the netherlands.

our day is broken into two parts: cooking in the morning and demonstrations in the afternoon. the meal we cook in the morning is what we enjoy for lunch and the demonstrations in the afternoon are of the items we'll be cooking the next morning. wednesdays are set aside for lectures, which means we are in the demo room all day. there are various topics covered: cheese making, wine, butchery, etc.

monday
our first day of school, properly. we were given a tour of the school and then bombarded with information from all directions. i figure it'll take about a week to get the hang of how things operate here and then another week to get a routine down. we had a gorgeous lunch of soup and bread, a plate of samplers (smoked haddock, salmon and eel, sausage, aubergine, a kalamata olive, pate on a bit of bread, a deviled egg, prawns and mayonnaies and some rocket), followed by meringue, ice cream, biscuits, coffee and tea for dessert. with stomachs full (and most of us eager for a nap), we spent the afternoon listening to darina explain some housekeeping items as well as watched her prepare a few dishes with great enthusiasm.

after being released for the day, my cottagemates and i took a trip to tesco (one of the grocery store chains here in IRE) to get some items for breakfast and dinner, as those meals are on our own. i found it funny, that after a day of listening to darina (our instructor) talk about the importance of buying local and organic, some of the things the girls bought were blunt contradictions of Darina's lecture! i guess we all tend to fall back into what we know, don't we? :)

tuesday
we entered the kitchen at 10am, after a brief demonstration on a quick, simple salad and a tour of all the kitchens and a run down of our rota duties. i am in kitchen 3 with about 19 other students. we work in teams of two and every week we switch partners. this is so we can split up the 4-5 menu items and have an opportunity to learn how to make everything. my partner this week is elizabeth, who reminds me of my aunt marigene and my dad's cousin, joanie. we learned in a group as our instructor, florrie, showed us how to make a loaf of bread, chop veg for a soup, assemble mushroom la creme pasta and . at half past one, we were finally able to sit down and eat the meal we had just semi-created. afternoon demo starts at quarter to 2, so we were a bit rushed for time and we sped through another gorgeous meal. once we get into a groove, i imagine we'll enjoy a more leisurely mid-day meal. :)

the afternoon demo started out a bit rough for many students, again mostly because we were sitting in a warm room on full stomachs. darina showed us how to line a flan ring for a quiche/tart, prepare the filling for the tart, how to make a mediterranean veg salad, a winter berry salad, onion and potato soup, and poached apricots. the room smelled amazing and darina sprinkled her demo with funny stories which kept (most of) us entertained. we queued up and had a small taste of all the items before heading back to our cottages to unwind for the evening.

i had one small battle wound from the day, a clean slice across my left thumb (which i didn't get from slicing, but when i washing up).

wednesday
i had herb garden duties today, which meant i met igor (one of the gardeners) and another student in front of the school at five to eight to head down to the greenhouses to pick leaves for the daily salad.

today was truly our first official day in the kitchen, so every student in my kitchen was in before 9, dashing around, gathering the ingredients for their recipes and setting up their workstations. it was a bit of a stressful scene and i had to keep reminding myself that 1. this experience is meant to be FUN 2. it's our first DAY in the kitchen 3. it's our first WEEK in the kitchen and 4. this experience is meant to be FUN!!!

my recipes today were a mushroom and thyme tart and a mediterranean veg salad with ballymaloe french dressing. my partner, liz, was responsible for the wholegrain bread, the potato soup and the poached apricots. after sorting out where everything was located and figuring out the scales (changing the mode from g/kg to lbs/oz), i found myself a bit behind in my work order. i made the pastry crust first so it could blind bake before the filling was added. my first attempt was dough that was much too wet. florrie came over and told me to set the wet dough aside, re-measure my ingredients and begin again. the second try was MUCH better! because i was running behind, i had liz make the french dressing for my salad. by noon, all of the kitchen was either removing the last of the tarts from the oven or plating up their food for the instructors to grade. my tart turned out near perfect, however my salad needed a bit more seasoning (salt). something i'll get the hang of over the next 11 weeks, i'm sure!

we had a bit more time to eat lunch today before moving on in for afternoon demos. darina was called away for something, so pam (her right-hand chef and a ballymaloe graduate) ran the show. we learned three quick and easy salads, a chocolate hazelnut tart, a spicy tomato chorizo pasta, scones and a raspberry jam and a very brilliant way to add a bit of snazz to a plated dessert.

there was meant to be a laundry information session at 6pm, but after standing around in the rain for 30 minutes, the lot of us gave up on mary and went our separate ways. i had tea with a few students in the white cottage before coming back to the pink cottage to eat dinner with my cottagemates.

no wounds for me today, although one of my kitchenmates did nearly separate her finger from her hand at the start of the morning. they'll know tomorrow if she needs more than just a plaster to keep it attached.

it's going to be good

today we head to ballymaloe! we're leaving crosshaven around 3pm so we have some time to figure out the ferry schedule and then romp around the school grounds a bit before the sun sets.

this evening from 6 until 7pm there will be pizzas available from the wood burning oven at the the cookery school. once we arrive and find where we will be staying, we'll meet our fellow students while enjoying tasty pizza. :)

just in case any of you are interested in knowing where ballymaloe is located in relation to where my parents live in crosshaven, i've created a map.

a polar bear in the garden

last night was the first friday session at the corner house pub in cork city. mom and i headed in to the city centre early to get a table and save seat for dad. while we waited, a man called 'joe' sat down with us and pulled up a chair to save for a friend that would be joining him later. after introductions and handshakes, we learned that joe was from galway but living in dublin and just in cork for the night. he was a primary teacher who dabbled in bodhran playing, so he and mom had lots to talk about!

when dad joined us, about a pint and a half later, the majority of the musicians had assembled and were chatting and enjoying a pint around the long table in the back of the pub. i found it fascinating that the session would start when one of the members decided. a fiddle would start and seconds later the rest of the group would join in, their conversation on hold until the next break.

mom's bodhran instructor was a member of this session and a very interesting character! he sat directly in the middle of the group and seemed to be talking to his instrument while he played. i found myself intrigued with two fiddle players who sat on the far left end of the table and a young flutist who sat opposite them on the far right end of the table. the music was phenomenal! we were tapping our feet and clapping our hands on our knees. i'm sure the smile on my face was quite goofy!

we sat through 6 or 7 songs before it was time for us to head back to crosshaven for dinner. the musicians were taking a longer break at this point so we were able to visit with a few of them on our way out. dad was talking with one of the fiddle players that i had been in awe of; an older gentleman called 'matt' who had done a fair amount of travel with his music. he shared that austin, houston and san antonio were among the stops he would make in the spring. of course that got us off on a tangent about texas and soon i was sharing with him the reason for my visit. he was familiar with ballymaloe (as most of the irish are) and in fact knew rory o'connell, one of the instructors there, quite well. 'just mention my name when you meet him,' he told me. as i was thanking him for that contact, mom pulled me over to where she was standing and introduced me to colm murphy, her bodhran instructor. they were talking about the weather (naturally) and colm was describing how cold it was in terms of what the irish are used to this time of year. 'it's so cold, there were two polar bears in my garden today!' laughing hysterically, we said goodbye and were on our way.

we had a dinner booking at the mad fish restaurant which is located inside cronin's pub. we arrived a bit early and were seated at a table near sean, thecla and joleen cronin who were finishing up their meal. we exchanged hellos and after a quick look at the wine menu, dad was asking joleen for a recommendation. she immediately talked of a pinot noir that was just 'lovely' and that was all dad needed to hear. dad had a starter of grilled scallops in a garlic butter sauce and mom ordered the salt and pepper squid. for our meal, dad had the mad fish dish, mom ordered fish and chips and i had the vegetable red thai curry. everything was gorgeous! when our server came over to drop off a bottle of water, she mentioned that she overheard sean and thecla talking about my going off to ballymaloe. she told me that her cousin, sean, from roscommon, would be starting at ballymaloe on monday as well. i made room in my head for his name, filing it near matt's so i wouldn't soon forget.

stomachs full, we said goodnight and headed back up the hill to the house.

breithlá sona

it's my opinion that everyone should celebrate their birthday in IRE. and the celebration should include dinner at annie's.

last night, mom and i drove into cork, picked dad up from work and then were off to annie's for my birthday dinner. we were greeted warmly by bruno and cahil. after a short chat, we went to sit down at our table but stopped to visit with the usual suspects: frank, timm and dominic, who were seated near the end of the bar. they all wished me a happy birthday and wanted to know how old i was and 'where is emily?' their memories of my cousin, who was in IRE with my for my birthday last year, greatly impressed me.

dad had ordered a bottle of Chateau Du Vieux Parc, a wine originally introduced to annie's by bruno, and it was waiting for us as we sat down at the table. outstanding! we each ordered a starter: a hot and cold plate for dad, mussels for mom and crispy squid for me. nothing was disappointing. our mains included: seafood couscous for dad, organic red pepper stuffed with goat cheese and tabouleh for mom and monk fish on a bed of chorizo, chick peas and spinach for me. gorgeous!!

dessert was waiting for us at home: spongecake with creme and fruit, made fresh at the little food shop next to cronin's. and more vino, of course! mom made a beautiful fire in the fireplace while dad had me open a birthday present. earrings from enibas, a jewelry store in kinsale. stunning.

dad wandered off to bed around 11 and mom and i enjoyed the fire until just after midnight; soaking up every last minute of my birthday. a perfect end to a perfect day.

just like that.

the sun doesn't rise here in IRE until 8.45am. true story.

this morning i woke with the sun and then had a lazy start. mom drove dad in to work so we could have the car. when she returned, i was making myself breakfast and finn was running around chasing his stuffed sheep. mom joined me at the table and we enjoyed the sun highlighting the grass on roche's point across the bay. after talking about the possibilities of the day, we decided on a hike and fish and chips at cronin's. we dressed warmly in sweaters, scarves, gloves and wellies and headed out into the back field.

we had to first climb the fence and then step over some electric wire before we were fully on our way. visiting the cows was our first stop.

they were a bit leary of us at first, but then they came around. did you know that the happiest cows are not from CA, but right here in IRE!!

we greeted the donkeys, nelly and kelly, on our way up to templebreedy cemetery. normally i find cemeteries to be somewhat creepy, but here in IRE they are mysterious and sad.

the church itself is mostly ruins and the roof has long since gone. there is ivy climbing up all four walls inside and a great view of roche's point from the east window.

mom and i spent a good amount of time looking at all the headstones, making comments on some of the truly irish names like 'paddy murphy', 'cissie o'reilly', and 'patrick o'connor'. we had a great view of crosshaven from the cemetery so mom was able to point out a few landmarks as well as the route that takes us into the village from the house. we continued to make a circle through the cemetery and then exited back out onto the road which lead us into the village from the west. since sidewalks aren't very common here, we had to stick to the right side of the road and hug the stone wall every time a car passed. fortunately for us, walkers are not an uncommon sight over here and each car moved over into the left lane to pass around us.

when we arrived in crosshaven, we made a quick stop in mary power's hardware store so mom could say hello and introduce me. she is the sweetest little lady! she told a few very laughable stories, one of them about a woman whose husband had recently died. when mary asked her if she missed her husband, she answered immediately, 'i don't.' just like that! we visited a bit longer and then were on our way to cronin's for our much deserved fish and chips. the pub was very quiet, which i appreciated. we took a table near the fireplace and warmed up while our sever poured a murphy's and a guinness.

when we were told that fish and chips were not available today, mom and i settled on a bowl of the soup of the day - cream of vegetable with beef - and split a roasted chicken sandwich. A-MA-ZING!!!

as she paid the bill, mom announced to our server that today was my birthday. '18?' was her guess. of course that made me laugh and i had to correct her. 'No, 30!' She smiled and told me that was her age and welcomed me into the world of being thirty. i think i'm going to like it!

the walk home felt a bit more chilly than when we started out earlier, so our pace was a bit brisk. we when reached the driveway, eddie appeared to say hello and walk with us up to the house. she got a treat from me when we got to the back door and hung around a bit until finn got on her nerves.

mom and i have been enjoying some down time this afternoon before we meet dad at annie's for dinner tonight. i've uploaded pictures from our day here.

thanks for all the birthday wishes i have received from friends and family today - they have made my day all the more special! 30 is going to be a wonderful year!! :)

images of IRE

view from my bedroom window

eddie and finn

view from my parents' home

churchbay, my parents' neighborhood

exhausted!

fish story

The story of my solitude
If my solitude were a fish
It'd be so enormous, so militant
A whale would get out of there

I know it would
I'm sure it would

The story of my solitude
If my solitude were a fish
It'd be so enormous, so militant
A whale would get out of there

Don't assume that I'm dead
Don't assume that I'm dead

Music stacked up like wooden blocks
Is the only salvation

The story of my failure
If my failure were a fish
It'd be so tragically comic
I'd have no place in the sea to be

Don't you know you're a liar!
Don't you know you're a deceiver!

Music stacked up like wooden blocks
Is the champion of justice!

Oh, oh, oh.
Oh, oh, oh.
Oh, oh, oh.

If my justice really were a fish
It'd be so greedy and arrogant
I'd pump the magma
Out of the ocean bed!

the film shown at cronin's film club last night was 'fish story', a japanese comedy about a comet due to hit the earth in a matter of hours and how a song from 1975 called 'fish story' would save the world in 2012. each part of the film is captivating, despite the fact that you don't really know what is going on in the film as a whole. every new story reveals a piece to the puzzle and when they all come together at the end you'll feel completely satisfied. then you'll want to watch it again...

during intermission, mom and i discussed what we had seen so far and were not sure if we were enjoying the film or not. our host, joleen, promised that the conclusion would answer all of our questions and ease the confusion she could easily read on our faces. she was right. what appeared to be a series of unconnected events somehow gelled and the ending neatly tied everything together. we left the pub asking each other questions like 'now the little boy in the restaurant, he turned out to be...right?' our analyzation continued as we drove home and it was decided that we would need to watch it at least one more time. maybe two.

tuesday and felix

i slept until 11.30 today. well, i woke up at 4am when dad took finn out to use the bathroom, but i fell back asleep. i had great plans to go for a run and enjoy a cup of coffee while the sun came up, but i was clearly too tired. tomorrow.

when i joined my parents in the kitchen, dad was preparing a snack - chicken in a light cream sauce and cottage pie. both dishes were made by denis. i poured myself a cup of FPC and visited with my mom and finn until our snack was ready. both dishes were incredible! while we were eating, mom got a text from her friend dawn who had planned to come over and visit. they made plans for 2pm which allowed time for dad to shower, me to wash the dishes and mom and finn to go for a walk.

i was drying my hair when dad announced that a parade was heading up the hill. mom, finn, eddie, ozzie (another neighborhood dog), dawn, tuesday and felix were quite a sight! when the crowd reached the door, welcomes were shared and introductions were made. mom, dad, finn, dawn and tuesday went inside and i stayed outside to play with felix, eddie and ozzie. felix is an adorable 3 year old with lots of energy and the most adorable irish accent. i found myself asking him questions just so i could hear him talk! when felix decided he wanted to go inside, i helped him remove him scarf, coat and boots and then we joined everyone around the kitchen table. tuesday is a beautiful 5 year old with long, wavy blonde hair. she was a bit shy at first, but later we discovered we both loved Roald Dahl, so we had lots to talk about!

dawn was very curious about my move and had a handful of questions for me. she had come to IRE from london on holiday 16 years ago. her initial visit of 3 months turned into 4 months and then became 5 months and before long she had married her friend, zack and was here to stay.

when the kids had exhausted dad by ringing the doorbell and finished their coloring projects, it was time for them to head home. we said goodbye, dad gave dawn some chili for her and zack (we all enjoyed another laugh about storing the chili in the boot) and they were on their way. we came back in the house to find finn fast asleep in front of the fireplace. he was exhausted as well!

dad planned a dinner menu and mom and i volunteered to head down to the centra in the village. i volunteered that we walk, so we bundled up and headed out. the walk into the village is just about a mile and in the brisk air, it was very refreshing. ozzie met us along the road and walked with us for a little while. there was a light mist as we made the walk, but it wasn't anything unpleasant. we found denis' food shop closed, so we only went into centra. we found all the items on our list, plus a few more, and were on our way back home. we stopped into cronin's to find out if dennis was going to open his shop, but due to a funeral, the pub was very busy and so his answer was 'not today'. i think we'll try back on wednesday.

as mom and i were walking home, we ran into joleen who warmly welcomed me to IRE and then invited us to 'film club' at cronin's which happens only once a month. the movie was to be a surprise, so jolene could only tell us that it was about 90 minutes in length and that the film was foreign with english subtitles. we told her we would seriously consider it and then walked back up the hill to the house. as we rounded the top of the hill, we were greeted by dad who was hanging his laundry up on the clothes line. finn came outside and did a little 'so happy to see you' dance and then we went inside and unloaded the groceries.

dinner tonight was grilled shrimp with mushrooms and leeks over a bed of spinach pasta with a spinach salad and malbec. delicious - although dad would only say 'we'll see' when we complimented him about how good it smelled and looked.

mom and i have decided to head down to cronin's and enjoy the film. dad has to go back to work tomorrow, so he'll be heading to bed shortly.

great day! tomorrow we are taking care of a few business items - mom applying for her irish passport and me sorting out my stay.

the chili is in the boot

my parents and i arrived at their home in crosshaven shortly after 9am. the drive home from shannon was done in record time - something my dad prided himself in for the rest of the day.

i met finn and fell instantly in love with him! he ran around the house and jumped with excitement as i talked to him. we played for a few minutes and then i helped my dad bring my bags inside. after unpacking a few items, mom and finn and i went for a walk. eddie, the neighborhood terrier, joined us and led the way. she isn't too excited about finn...yet. i think she's a bit jealous that finn has invaded her family!

when we got home from our walk, we found dad making breakfast. eggs, bacon and toast with almond butter. it took all my energy to keep my eyes open while we ate - i was exhausted!! mom pointed out the dolphins playing in the harbor, so i concentrated on them while we enjoyed our meal. when we were through, i excused myself and went to lay down. i think i was sound asleep before my head even hit the pillow.

i awoke to puppy kisses on my face. it was after 3 and my mom and finn came in to find out if i wanted to get up or sleep through the night. :) not wanting to miss out on anything, i got up and joined my parents in the living room. we decided to head down to cronin's, a pub right in the heart of crosshaven. my parents are quite fond of the owners and their two children, denis and joleen. denis attended ballymaloe and is an impressive chef. he maintains a small food shop next door to the pub and is in charge of the kitchen at cronin's. he was in while we were there so i was able to meet him. he only had great things to say about ballymaloe and was very excited for me. mom and i had french onion soup and the mussels. dad had fish soup and the three of us had a Murphy's. stomachs full, we say farewell and headed home.

when we got back to the house, we sat around and chatted, checked email and just relaxed. dad had prepared some chili earlier in the day, so we ate some of that along with a few large shrimp and cocktail sauce. the chili was delicious (or gorgeous, as they say here) even though dad ensured us that his next batch would be better. he had to improvise a bit as most of the ingredients aren't readily available here like they are in the states.

after a glass of my favorite vino, i decided to head to bed. not before dad put the chili out in the boot of the car (that's the trunk, to you and me, russ). my parents have a fridge that's larger than most fridges over here, but it still isn't big enough to hold a large pot of chili! mom and i got such a kick out of using the boot for a fridge!

exhausted but laughing, i headed to bed.

travel day

after only a few hours sleep (due to an NYE celebration and the excitement of the IRE move), i was up and packing the remaining items into my suitcases. bonnie arrived at 2738 shortly before 8, and then she, Preston, Erin and i packed up the car and were off to iHop for a farewell breakfast. our conversation revolved mostly around my leaving, but we talked about Erin's job and Preston's last few years in Vet school. shortly after 9, we decided it was time to leave and off to DFW we went.

B, P and E were kind enough to help me haul my bags into the airport to get checked in. i was prepared to pay extra for my bags as they seemed quite heavy, but, to my surprise and Preston's amazement, each bag weighed in slightly under the 50 lb. limit. whew! :)

bags dropped off, boarding passes in hand, i was ready to travel! after hugs and goodbyes, i entered the security line prepared to be labeled 'that girl'. i had two carry ons, my computer, a small bag of liquids and was wearing boots and a long sweater. as i said, quite ready to hold up the line of travelers behind me. going through security always stresses me out and this time was no exception. fortunately, it didn't seem to take too much time filling two bins and throwing my one bag up on the belt. my travel company waited until i was through the x-ray and heading to reclaim my items before one final wave goodbye.

i picked up my things and headed to the nearest bench so i could repack, put on my shoes and belt and then find my gate.

the flight to newark was uneventful. i sat next to a woman and her young son who asked questions for the next four hours like 'what would happen if the plane caught on fire?' and 'do you think i could go have a chat with the pilot?' adorable. we ended up landing 30 minutes early in new jersey, so by 3.45 i was wandering around terminal A looking for monitors to tell me where to find the gate for my flight to shannon. when i couldn't find my flight information on the departures monitor, i found a TSA agent and asked for help. she pointed me out to the ticketing area and suggested i ask at the american counter. from there, i was directed to terminal C. i found the tram and rode it over to terminal C along with 50 million other travelers. no kidding, it was a tight squeeze! as i headed down the escalator in terminal C, i felt as though i were in london. there were so many international travelers! it made me smile to hear the british and eastern european accents all around me. once i was downstairs, my heart sunk as i realized i would have to, once again, go through security. this time was not nearly as smooth as my DFW experience. grrrrr. oh well, at least i had plenty of time to get to my gate. feeling a bit scattered after getting through the x-ray, i found the way to my gate and was quite delighted to find a Sam Adams Brew Club located directly next door. i was tempted to order a GUINNESS, but decided to save that for my arrival in IRE. so i settled on a sam adams boston ale, sat down at a table and watched the end of the penn state vs. florida game.

i made a few phone calls, sent a few texts and then headed over to my gate. we boarded around quarter to 7 and i was fortunate to find myself seated to a young girl who was on her way to cork to study for the semester. she and i chatted briefly. i told her not to be afraid to wake me if i fell asleep and she needed to use the restroom. there's nothing worse than being trapped by a sleeping seatmate when you need to go! the flight took 6 hours and some change and i filled the time listening to my iPod and watching 'life as we know it', 'CSI' and 'Phinneas and Ferb'.

it was almost 7am when we landed in shannon. i had a bit of hold up going through customs as i told the agent i was staying for four months and my letter from Ballymaloe only cleared me for 12 weeks. after a bit of chat, the gentleman decided to give me a one-month stay stamp and wished me well. i only had to ask him to repeat himself 5 times...and to think i was confident that the accent wouldn't cause me a bit of trouble!

i located my bags, drug them out into the airport arrival area and found the coffee shop where my parents told me to wait. i didn't mind waiting as i was amused by the group of st. thomas students that were congregated just a few feet from me. they were in IRE for the same j-term course that i took in january of 2003: celtic christianity. i had to smile at the thought of the adventures in store for them but was then saddened at the thought of the time that had passed...had it really been 8 years since my first visit to IRE?! i was quickly brought back to reality when i saw my parents walk through the airport doors. i waved frantically and when they still didn't see me, i ran over to them leaving my bags to fend for themselves.

hugs, tears and laughter...i am finally here!!