May 31 - The Great American Hamburger!

Week 7: Another new kitchen, new partner, new teacher! Great kitchen, great partner, great teacher...life is good! Today's cooking was "The Great American Hamburger" how appropriate given that today is Memorial Day. My burger was good however my presentation was somewhat lacking(sorry no picture). My teacher gave a thumbs up for taste and a very nice rearrangement of my plate...my presentation looked like a 1950s diet special platter...hamburger patty with slice of tomato, onion, lettuce. When my teacher got through with replating, it looked like a gourmet burger! It looked as good as it tasted! I've got 5 weeks to get this plating business down!
Cheers,
Karen

P.S. I did make the above loaf of bread, and thought you'd enjoy seeing some other pictures of the school

Lazy Weekend

We've spent a much needed lazy weekend. Went to the school for wood fired pizza yesterday. It was really delicious. Philip (Darina's future son-in-law) is in charge and it's run like a small cafe. The wood fire oven is a kit that Darina purchased from a company in Italy...I've got all the info for anyone interested in one. The only problem I see with ordering one is that they cost a small fortune!!!! But the pizza is really, really, delicious. I've come down with the "school cold". Thought I was going to escape catching it...started to feel it coming on right before the exam on Friday and it hit full force Friday night. I've got a rudolph nose from all the blowing. I think I just might have the perfect tonic though, an Irish Hot Toddy....hot water, lemon, honey, and Jameson whiskey! We had a small get together on Wednesday night over at our house with some of the other students. Tom and I made mexican food Arizona style and my dad's refried beans were a hit! It was an early night...midnight! Really, Tom and I stayed up until midnight and the last get together we didn't get home till almost 1:30 and I had class the next day. Let me just say, that next day was a rough one...ha! The Irish know how to party and being a smidgen Irish myself I'm keeping up with them; at least trying my best! Miss all of you but can't believe I've only got six more weeks of class.
Cheers!
Karen

Half Way Point

Yesterday was mid-term exam day....we had to identify 10 herbs and write two recipes for each, identify 10 salad greens, set a table, pour a glass of wine, and complete a set of techniques we should be proficient in at this stage of the course. We had a list of over 30 techniques we should know....4 were given the day of the exam. The only thing I was nervous about was having the teacher from this week be my exam instructor. The table setting and pouring the glass of wine...no problem, I've had plenty of experience with both! Studied for the herbs and salad greens and said a little pray the techniques portion would be things I was proficient in. Walked into the technique room and was immediately shshed by the dreaded teacher who also ended up being my exam teacher...damn, not off to a good start. Felt the heart starting to race, oh well what could I do about it. Went to my assigned station to start the technique portion. The techniques I had to demonstrate were: make paper piping cone, filet and skin a round fish, dice and "sweat" an onion, and make caramel sauce. First thing to do...think of order of work, okay. Sweat onion, make caramel sauce, filet fish, make paper piping bag. Diced onion,easy...melted butter, onion in sauce pan, cover with buttered paper and then lid. Start caramel sauce: sugar in pan, measure water...still having trouble with the metric system "how much water do I need, got nervous, read wrong amount, put triple the amount of water into the pan, oh sh...! Do I let dreaded teacher know...no way, think how to solve this...okay it's just some extra water it will boil off, which it did. Start filleting the fish... easy, starting to feel confident. Watching the caramel sauce...fine line between perfect and burnt....went past that fine line, oh sh...! Made paper bag but couldn't figure out how to secure the top of the bag...looking for tape, teacher finally said, just fold it down...duh! Next, into the herb/salad/table setting/wine pouring kitchen; easy! Whew, it's over! and that's how the 6th week ended! Have a nice Memorial Day weekend everyone...
Cheers!
Karen

Day 26 - "Do You Have a Volume Control"

Monday, week 6, new partner, new kitchen, new teacher...and I'm not sure she likes me! The only time she really spoke to me today is when she said: "Do you have a volume control on that voice"? Oops, Tom got a chuckle out of that one, he's frequently saying the same thing to me. It's going to be hard to "turn down the volume", I've got a great group to work with this week. My cooking tasks today were buttered cabbage and Kerry pie. The pie is pot pie made with lamb, carrots, and onions in a delicious gravy base. It was good but I'd like it best not in the crust and served over creamy garlic and chive mashed potatoes. I can't wait to make it for my dad. It reminds me of the ground beef over mashed potatoes he made for dinner when I was a kid.
Cheers,
Karen

Weekend Travels

Yesterday we went to Kinsale...coastal town towards the southern tip. It's charming and has fantastic seafood. We ate at Fishy Fishy Restaurant; Tom had crab claws that were huge! I was here almost 12 years ago and The Old Head golf club had just been completed. The pictures above show the view surrounding the club. The picture of the house is a B & B I stayed in with Kim, Kelli, and Teddy (Kelli's cousin) 12 years ago. Today has been spent catching up with filing massive amount of recipes and grocery shopping. Tom usually does the shopping; we have complete role reversal over here...I kiss him goodby in the morning and he's off to exercise, horseback ride, and golf. He throws in grocery shopping and the occasional housework. I think he's liking this role reversal!
Cheers!
Karen

Day 25 - "Do I Really Like Cooking"?`

Today was the first day that I have to say I HATED cooking and wondered what I'm I doing here. Thank goodness by the end of our demonstration today I was back to wow I can't believe I am here! The morning started great. My assigned duty today was making the white bread for lunch. White yeast bread was learned last week so I decided to make it for my bread today. Got an early start and had my bread dough made by 9:30. That's when all hell broke lose. Next on my "order of work" was make the strawberry jam, this was started yesterday...easy. Put the jars in the oven to sterlize and began cooking the jam which by the way has an insanely amount of sugar in it. Next on the list make choux pastry, make pastry cream, make chocolate sauce, roll goat cheese into balls for salad, roast peppers, make olive tapenade, make salad dressing, punch down dough, form dough into 5 braided plait, pipe choux pastry onto baking sheet into profiterole shapes, bake choux pastry, make chantilly cream, etc., etc, etc....get the picture, well the one above shows it all! My week 5 partner has been Nikki and she helped clean up the mess! After all that cooking I also had blitz duty which is cleaning all the ovens! I collaped into the chair at 1:45 for our afternoon demonstration which was all about the amazing seafood of Ireland. I was lucky to bring home two of the crabs for dinner tonight and my 5 plait loaf of bread. Ya, cooking is pretty darn great!

Day 24 - "The Spotted Dog"

I've got it! The Spotted Dog that is; which happens to be a type of soda bread. We're now at a stage in the course where we are expected to practice recipes we feel we have not mastered. So today I decided to make the "Spotted Dog" in addition to making Provencal Bean Stew, fileting a flat fish, and Strawberry Jam (will finish tomorrow)!. It's a time dilema when adding an additional item to make and thank goodness for one of my classmates Tara...she got the strawberry jam started for me. Having an oven available is also a dilema so as soon as I arrived this morning I started on the bread. We weigh our ingredients here instead of using measuring cups so I quickly start at the weigh up area for the flour. Back to my station, add the salt, baking soda, and raisins to the flour. Here's where my cooking fairies were watching over me, I really mixed these ingredients together well...as the recipe said: "mix well by lifting the flour and fruit up in to your hands and then letting them fall back into the bowl through your fingers. This adds more air and therefore more lightness to your finished bread". I quickly got the buttermilk whisked with the egg, made a well in the center of the flour mixture and added 3/4 of the buttermilk/egg mixture. Began using my hand to mix wet ingredients into dry; fast and I mean fast when mixing. Dough seemed dry so added a little more milk...still dry, added all the milk. Still seemed dry but plopped it out on the counter formed my loaf and placed on the baking sheet. Now comes the part that allowed this bread to be perfect (Tom's response)...making the cross and letting the fairies out. I took my knife and made two deep cuts to form a cross from one side of the bread to the other. Then I made a slash in each of the four quadrants made by the cross...legend has it this lets the fairies out of the bread and if you don't do this your bread won't turn out. I almost didn't let the fairies out but when I asked my classmate John what he thought his response was "it never hurts to believe in a little Irish superstition!" I completely agree because my teacher said it was a perfect loaf and Tom said he would definitely buy a loaf which ofcourse means perfection!
Cheers!
Karen