June 21 - Back Home!

The beginning of Week 10 and I'm back in the kitchen I started in and as another student said today...it feels like we're back home! Funny how that is, but it truly did feel like coming home, comfortable. I missed class on Friday. Tom and I took a quick flight over to Paris for the weekend. Did a little shopping (Tom was very patient) and had dinner on Saturday night with our dear friends who own the apartment we rented 11 years ago. The flight from Cork was just over an hour. What a city Paris is; shopping (of course), eating (of course), museums, architecture, and so much more. We ended our last hour there by going to the food market we use to shop at when we lived there. All the sights and smells were the same...it felt like being back home!
Cheers!
Karen

June 14 - One Ugly Dude!

Quite weekend...Tom hurt his back. He's been on a mission over here to get into shape. His days consist of working out i.e. gym, golf, and horseback riding as well as the occasional game of touch rugby with the 19 and 20 year olds at school with me. The rugby game was the beginning of the back ache and then the horse he rides decided she was through and did an abrupt stop which wrenched his back more; he's been walking bent over since last Wednesday. He did rally for a trip to our favorite restaurant in Kinsale though! Today was the beginning of Week 9 and my partner is a FANTSTIC woman from Norway! It was a great day and I just have a feeling the week is going to be great as well. Our demonstration today was by Rory O'Connell...an incredible chef and instructor! Can you guess what the fish is in the pictures? One ugly dude, I'd hate to be a little minnow when that thing opens his mouth, heck he could eat a few thousand minnows.
Cheers!
Karen

P.S. The dude in the pictures is a Monk Fish.

June 11 - Week 8 Fini!

Another week down, four to go and we all are starting to talk about what we want to prepare for our final exam. We are limited to the HUNDREDS of recipes we will have received by the end of the 12 weeks. Needless to say it's going to be hard to decide. We must prepare a three course dinner and the first course cannot be a green salad...DARN! It needs to be completed in three hours and we must make a bread which we will not know which one until the day before. We have no plans for this weekend which is really nice; rest, relaxation, and FILING! Our notebooks are checked as well for part of our final grade and I've gotten behind on filing some of those 100's of recipes! and oh by the way, my finger has healed beautifully; thank goodness for sharp knives that leave straight cuts!
Cheers!
Karen

P.S. I made raspberry sorbet today as part of my cooking duties and got 6 out of 6 for my grade....woo hoo!

June 10 - Another Tart!

Can't quite get this pastry thing down. Today I was responsible for Lemon Tart (different crust...how many crust can there be? I've said the same thing to myself; so far I've made four types and have yet to become proficient in any), and Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad-a classic combination which is delicious...and the beets, oh my goodness! They were picked fresh today and until you've had a beet picked and eaten on the same day you have no idea how sweet and delicious a beet can be. Major bummer about beets though...your hands will never be the same color again, or anything else for that matter. Since my day was fairly easy I added some techniques we need to learn before we can receive our certificate so today I peeled a tomato... core, cut shallow x on bottom, place in bowl, add boiling water to cover, count to ten, remove from water and the skin literally pulls right off. I also scrambled an egg...okay I know some of these techniques are BASIC but we have some students in class who have never cooked before doing this course; and by the way some students enroll in this course as a "finishing school" to learn about the art of cooking and wine! Didn't cook my crust long enough on the tart so it was soggy. The tart was garnished with candied julienned lemon peel. Burnt the first batch and almost burnt the second batch; my partner Sean got them off the heat just in time. Upon tasting my teacher said they needed to cook longer...too tough. How was I supposed to do that when the sugar mixture was starting to turn dark? Add some water she said... oh yea, the forgotten ingredient!
Cheers!
Karen

June 9 - Vegan Day!

Wednesdays are lecture day...today's morning lecture was all on vegetarian foods. Delicious, almost could become a vegetarian with food this good. Afternoon lecture was our fourth wine lecture given by the sommelier of Ballymaloe Country House. We tasted a few french wines as well as spanish wines. Fun way to learn about wine...don't you agree!
Cheers!
Karen

June 8- Injury!

Well, it was bound to happen, BAD, and I mean BAD slice through the finger with the chef's knife. Today is the beginning of week 8. We had a three day weekend (bank holiday, still can't figure out what these bank holidays are all about; this is the second one since I began the course and they don't seem to be in correlation with any type of celebration i.e. Memorial Day etc.) I'm in the same kitchen as last week...my fourth kitchen; but at a new station with a new partner. Huge window at this station which turned out to be not so great. Lots of sun, glaring off every shiny surface, couldn't see very well and oops, right through the finger. Thank goodness for nails because it truly saved the tip of my finger. The instructor wrapped it with the bright blue bandages we use. The color is such so that a bandage doesn't end up in the food...yuk when you think about it! I put on a plastic glove and proceeded with the days cooking...Italian Beef Stew (really good, flaky pastry (to die for literally, a full 1/2 pound of butter is in it), and Rumbledethumb which is mashed potatoes with cabbage. Didn't have time to think about the finger again until I got back to the house tonight. Took off the bandage and thought I was going to pass out...got light headed, pale, pulse racing! Had to go lay down...no sympathy from Tom, he had done the same thing early in our trip! In reality, it truly isn't that bad...and what would a "cooking boot camp" be without a war wound!
Cheers!
Karen

P.S. Erin arrived on Friday, it was so great having her here. She's up in Dublin for the month...the pictures above are from the weekend! The pictures were taken in Ballycotton a darling village about 15 minutes from here. The Blackbird is our favorite pub in the area.

June 2 - "Class Field Trip"

Today we toured four different food establishments, two being artisanal food producers (smoked food and cheese). The top picture is of a traditional bakery shop...the two men are cousins and their fathers started the business in 1937. They make traditional white bread and we all felt very priveledged to be able to tour the facility. It is a dying industry with automation in bread baking taking over. These gentlemen make the bread by hand 6 days a week starting at 3:00 a.m. Now that's dedication!
Cheers!
Karen

Forod