The Ruby Apron, England & Ireland

I am just back from a wonderful trip to England and Ireland. Two countries most people feel wouldn’t be inspiring in the food world, but I am totally inspired and cannot wait to get back into the kitchen properly this week to recipe test for my classes.

I will start with a little bit about The Ruby Apron. Things seem to have finally come together and I can properly talk about and post about what is happening with my little business. As I’ve said before and many of you know, I came home from Ireland in March completely inspired and unsure about what to do next, ideas swimming through my head and I was trying to piece them together. I quickly realized that what I wanted to do was to teach people a little bit about what I feel so passionately about. My goal for The Ruby Apron is to inspire people to step out of their comfort zone in the kitchen, try new things, and think about food from a different angle. I hear people talking about being in a slump in the kitchen, or not knowing quite what to do with the ingredients that come in their Organic Box every week, or simply just random ingredients that end up in the fridge, I want to help people with that so that bits of food don’t end up in the bin. I am hoping to have some blurbs up on my website soon from my favourite producers telling you why I support them, with a little bit of information from them as well. Market shopping can seem overwhelming, and again it can be the kind of thing where you end up with all of this food in your fridge but you’re not quite sure what to do with it. So quite simply, I hope to inspire people to cook with real ingredients, that are local, organic, seasonal, and of course taste delicious. I don’t want to teach people complicated food that won’t be recreated at home, because I feel that we need to go back to a simpler life and cook food that is good for us, that is eaten at a table with our family and friends. I hope that along the way I will inspire some of you, whether you’re in a rut in the kitchen, wanting to learn a new technique, or a little bit more about shopping locally and knowing where your food comes from and how it was produced.

Apron Anecdotes has been pulled off of the original domain and is now part of The Ruby Apron’s website, explore the website a bit and see what else I am up to. My friend Lauren at Arlow Lacey designs has done my website, and I am so thrilled with how it’s turned out, thank you Lauren. My logo was done by Lydia Hugh Jones in Ireland, Tim and Darina’s daughter, I fell in love with what she did while I was at the school, and when it came time to have a logo done, I couldn’t think of anyone better. I am so pleased with how it all worked out!

Sign up for my newsletter on the website for updates, and head over to Facebook and like The Ruby Apron’s page to see what I’m up to in the kitchen.

Okay, onto my trip! My mum and I headed off two weeks ago to spend five nights in Hove with our friend Mary, then it was off to Cork for four nights, and we finished in London. Three places I love, wish we had longer, but such is life. Mary’s place is pretty special, although the weather wasn’t the best, we had a really great time. I take over the kitchen when I get there… People often ask me who inspires me to cook, there are many people of course, but Mary is one of them. She is always willing to try new things, and is someone who just knows what to do in the kitchen, whether it’s sweet or savory cooking, and I love that. We arrived and had one of our favourite meals, sausage, green veggies galore, and spuds. Sausage in The UK are completely different than what we can get here, and I could eat them every day while I’m there, but of course, I don’t. When I am at Mary’s I take over the kitchen, it is so easy to access some of Britain’s best quality ingredients, so I take advantage of that.

Ireland started off a bit… Rough, and within two hours of being in the country, I was at The Blackbird enjoying a much needed pint of Guinness. Before we left my mum had asked me if there would be any issue with me entering the country after spending three months there at the beginning of the year, and I said, “No, why would there be?” Well, she was right, I was wrong! We were one of the first groups at immigration, and the officer opened my passport and asked why I had been there earlier in the year… I told him, and he responded with, “Three months… You can’t come back into the country.” Instant lump in my stomach, I ask him why, Canadians are only allowed to spend a total of 90 days in Ireland in one calendar year – three months, 90 days. We talked a bit more and after what seemed like half an hour, he stamped our passports, winked and let us go, telling us, “I really shouldn’t, but I will.” Well… Including my five days in Ireland this month, I have spent 88 days there this year… All of that stress for nothing! Perhaps the best part of the entire drama happened while we were waiting for our luggage, a lady walked by me and looked at me, then at mum, and continued to walk, then she came back to us and said, “Why was he so interested in you two?” A bit bold I’d say…

Anyway, the drama wasn’t anything a pint of Guinness couldn’t solve! We enjoyed four nights at Ballymaloe House and ate such delicious food. As with the school they produce a lot on the land around the house, they have true free run hens, happy pigs, and a beautiful garden full of an abundance of fruit and veg. They have access to fresh fish, of course and I enjoyed eating as much of it as I could! We went to the school on Friday for lunch, and I’m sure the new students (end of the first week), were thinking to themselves, “she must have been a keener,” as I talked to all of the teachers, little do they know, they’ll fall in love with Ballymaloe just as much as I did, I’m sure the uneasy feelings of the first week or so are already gone. Was really great to be back at the school, to see everyone, chat with Tim and Michelle a bit about my sour dough, chat with the teachers about what I’m up to, and get a bit of inspiration. Irish Mary drove from Galway and Jeni from Waterford to spend Saturday night with us. Mary, mum and I ended up at The Blackbird for the rugby match, Canada vs. Ireland. You can guess who won. We had a lovely meal at Ballymaloe House that evening, that started with a bottle of Wiston (which we tried on the course, and I’ve been wanting to have so badly since!). I am so thankful (and so glad!), that the girls were able to come see us. Of course I headed to the beach too, and managed to find a back way, that would have come in very handy while I was living at the school, oh well!

It was interesting to be back in Ireland, I’ve missed it so much since I’ve been home, and I wondered if I missed it because of the school and the lifestyle I had when I was there… Being back, I realize I miss more than that. I really miss Ireland, it’s a beautiful country, the people are great, and the food is some of the best I’d say. I really can’t believe how inspired I am now that I’m back.

In London I was able to catch up with a few more people from Ballymaloe, and am so glad I was able to see them as well. As Eleanor said, she misses being around people who enjoy talking about food as much as she does!

This morning I was up before the sun (hope the jetlag doesn’t last too long), and at the market before it got crazy busy. Had lots to buy for my class on Friday, which I’m looking forward to. Fall is such a great time of year to cook, there is so much in season right now!

Before my trip I was busy finishing up canning, and doing lots of recipe testing in the kitchen. I ran two classes for friends, a pizza class and a sweets class, both went well, and I am excited to do more. My sous chef Olivia has been baking with me, she loves to bake bread, and I love to watch her as she figures things out, experiences new things in the kitchen and how satisfied she is when whatever it is we are making is complete. Soon hopefully Byrce will enjoy being in the kitchen as much as his sister, at the moment he just likes to tag along and annoy Olivia by climbing on her chair.
Exciting stuff to come for The Ruby Apron, I hope, thanks to everyone who has supported me and helped me leading up to launching my little business.

 

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” – Virginia Woolf