What a lovely day it’s been! I had a productive morning in the kitchen, smoked mackerel pate with melba toast, black current fool, melted leeks, homemade pasta with sage butter, a black current parfait, and stripy cat (white soda bread with chocolate chips). The black...

The weekends fly by… Nicole, Hannah and I headed into Midelton yesterday afternoon to have lunch and do a little shopping. We sadly missed the market due to bad timing, our own faults though, so no complaining! When we got back we took a quick tour around the farm to...

We celebrated the end of week six and finishing our herb and technique exams with a few bottles of cava, cheese, a pasta making party, and some wine! I managed to be in bed before the usual 4am, and had a lovely evening with good peeps! The pizza demo yesterday...

Everyone is in “study” mode around the courtyard tonight at Ballymaloe. This includes poaching, scrambling, jointing, fileting, chopping, skinning, peeling… I opted out and decided to just be confident with what I have learned, and although I know I don’t have all of...

Today, as always on Wednesday was a lecture day. We went to Spain and France this morning with our wine lecture, having a producer from each country in to chat with us. Maria was from Alta Alella in Spain, her and her family have an interest in growing organic and...

My day started early today in the greenhouse picking herbs and veg, then it was into the kitchen to make and knead my granary loaf so it would have enough time to rise. On my way into the school the rooster scared the beejesus out of me from inside his house. I hear...

Tomorrow is the beginning of week six…. Which means in five days we will be half way finished the course, which is nuts, and sad at all the same time. I have figured out why Ireland is so stunning, you have this beautiful blue sea, and in the same landscape there is...

A first for me since arriving at Ballymaloe, it’s only 8:30 and I’m tucked into bed for the night, nuts! Last night’s bedtime was the usual for the weekend, 4am. What a night! It was so fantastic to see everyone out of their chef’s whites and dressed up for the night...

Tucked in early for the night, seems to be a bit warmer in the house tonight. The passion fruit got snatched up quickly this morning, so my curd ended up being a combination of passion fruit and blood orange, which was lovely. My tart was a success, and after my...

It was a chilly day here, but the sky was blue, so it didn’t seem quite so bad. The house and school buildings are freezing! I’m all tucked in under my wool blanket for the night, looking forward to getting back into the kitchen tomorrow morning. I will have to filet...

Breakfast at anytime of the day is my favourite, so today was a good day. I made Ballymaloe apple museli, an almond tray bake, spotted dog, and blackberry, apple and sweet geranium jam. I met with Darina this evening, and thought last night that I would bake...

Even though it seems like this morning was five days ago, somehow the days go by so fast. It is so hard to explain. I was up early, got to the school just before 7:30, and six of us headed down to the green house with Haulie to either pic veg and herbs or lettuce. I...

Mary Jo’s demonstration yesterday afternoon was very good, and a few of us were sad we had to duck out early to get in the cab and head into Cork. We missed the tasting, but enjoyed the demo, and listening to her take on the industry. Erin, Alexis, Max, Theresa, and I...

Today we got out of demo before 5, which felt pretty darn good. A few of us had to bake or shape our sour dough, so we headed into Kitchen 3 where we had a little “Garden Café Party,” as we were working with our bread. This includes a bit of wine, a bit of cheese, and...

This will be a short blog post because the internet is being dodgy tonight, and I have an order of work to get done. Blathnaid Bergin (Darina’s sister) was in for today’s lecture day, she runs classes on opening a café, or different food businesses. The day was...

It was an egg-y day in the kitchens today. We had Pam who is loads of fun, she brought us coffee at about 10:30 and snagged a scone from one of the other kitchens to have with our coffee, not a bad morning. White yeast bred, frittata with oven roasted tomatoes, basil...

Today I made my first loaf of sour dough, it is delicious, and although it takes a few days to make, it is so worth it. I was a bad sour dough owner and hadn’t fed my starter for a few days, so I had to feed him tonight. I will make another sponge tomorrow, and bake...

Weekend three is over, and it was such a great weekend. Mary took Jared, Nicole and I into Cobh for the afternoon, and then we went to Myrtleville for dinner. Fun fact about Cobh, The Titanic last sailed from Cobh. We went into a pub called Rob Roy, John the bartender...