Day 5 - End of 1st Week

First week down! Today began in the kitchen at 8:30. We can arrive early to do our "mis en place" (organizing needed supplies for preparation of recipe)but cannot begin cooking until the teachers arrive. I was responsible for basic brown bread, raspberry jam, tucsan salad with goat cheese...the morning ran extremely well which gave me plenty of opportunity to do lots of dishes...oh yea forgot to mention we are responsible for all the clean up of everything we use while in the kitchen including cleaning the ovens (my oven at home hasn't been cleaned in over a year)let me tell you my nails and hands are already suffering. I brought a pair of rubber gloves with me on the second day but soon tossed them aside; there's just not enough time to take them on and off. Got my first burn while checking on my brown bread. I think I received lower marks on my cooking today because of having a dirty rim on my salad plate....the instructor pointed it out to me. After putting on my reading glasses, there it was a drop of honey and olive oil; trying to not give my age away by not wearing the reading glasses is just not going to cut it in the kitchen! Should have had the reading glasses on before the teacher came over, damn! The afternoon's demo consisted of Indian and Mexican food, had a hard time keeping my mouth shut about the way we make Mexican food in Arizona!!!! but of course their way was pretty darn good! Tom and I went to the Inn at the Harbour in Ballycotton for dinner. I had a delicious john dory fish with lemon risotto and chorizo; Tom had traditional fish and chips. Tomorrow I'm attending a supplemental course on butcherie; I think an entire pig will be shown...oh no! Here's a little cooking wisdom shared by Rory O'Connell today in class. "When cooking beans do not add salt until right before serving...the salt will toughen the beans and/or cause the skins to fall off during the cooking process"!
Cheers!
Karen