Green, White & Fabulous

Missed yesterday’s blog because of the St. Patrick’s Day shenanigans that were going on at The Couch House, bed time was a bit too late, 3:30 on a school night – silly but so much fun.

I was back in Kitchen 3 yesterday morning, sadly not in Pat’s section! It is funny, I remember how much I loved Kitchen 3 when I was in there, and how it was so weird to head across the school to the other kitchens, but now it feels so odd to be back on this side. It will be a great last few days in the kitchen though, and the bonus of Kitchen 3 is it’s actually warm, bread rises so quickly, and you don’t need to wear extra layers to stay toasty. Florrie came into the kitchen yesterday morning all jazzed up for St. Patrick’s Day, all of the teachers had some amount of bling on, it was loads of fun in the kitchen. We weren’t cooking very Irish things – although corned beef was made, and Florrie said, “Feck Thai curry, we’re Irish, we want potatoes and Irish stew!” Which of course made the entire kitchen hysterical. You can imagine how the rest of the morning went after that. After demo yesterday afternoon, Mary and I went to The Goal Post for a quick pint before the Slow Food Pop Up dinner. Dinner was fantastic, and just after 9:00, Michael picked us up and dropped us at The Blackbird, too much alcohol was consumed by all, but it was a really fun night. We came back, and headed to The Coach House for the after party. It was so fun to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland with all of the people that I’ve met over the last ten weeks, it was well worth the slight ache in the head, and the lack of shut eye!

This morning’s demo was on sushi, after that we went on a little foraging walk with Darina around the farm. The sun was shining, and it was so nice to walk around and see all of the signs of spring – how depressing will it be to head back to Edmonton where spring is still a ways off? But then, so exciting when everything will start to come up at home, and planting can start! Lots of new buds, and new season herbs are starting, there are so many lovely flowers around, and the gardeners are working away starting to plant. At one point Darina walked right by The Coach House, thankfully she didn’t see the evidence of last night through the window – it was brutal! After foraging we headed over to Ballymaloe House for afternoon tea, and a tour of the house. JR – the pastry chef, had lovely bits out for us, a chest of sandwiches, Jane’s biscuits, butterfly buns, Dundee cake, oatmeal biscuits, and delicious rhubarb tarts. We saw the wine cellar, a few different bedrooms, the self catering cottages, the kitchen, and a few other rooms in the house. As we were enjoying our tasty treats Darina, Hazel and Rory Allen (Tim’s brother), chatted to us about the history of Ballymaloe, and about how Mrs. Allen started the restaurant and the hotel, and about the impact she has had on food. Rory said something that really stuck with me, you find something that you love, and it comes easily to you. Which is common sense, but it’s something that so many people don’t live by. I’ve said it before, it is so hard to explain the experience of being here at Ballymaloe, but all of the people you chat with along the way, have the same simple message – it is about the simple things in life (from the ingredients that you cook with, to everyday life), doing something you love, being passionate about what you do, and that you can do anything you set your mind to if you just get up and do it. How inspiring is it to be surrounded by people who have done this, and done it so successfully?

Heading into the kitchen tomorrow bright and early, hoping to get a couple of techniques done that I still have lingering on my list, only three days left in the kitchen, and tomorrow is Thursday – what?!?! Hannah and I watched the first episode of Rory’s new television Program tonight, I never watch food TV, but it was fun to watch Rory. It’s only 8:30, and I am headed to bed now, we have a fun night out ahead of us tomorrow evening as well in Cork, so I want to be alive for that.

“So… Properly creative, not just wacky.” – Darina talking about some of the food she had last week in New York

“There is something about a wooden spoon on top of a pot, it’s like an invitation to stir.” Darina telling us how Mrs. Allen wouldn’t let them have a wooden spoon near the saucepan when making consommé

“I once killed my entire flock of hens making this…” – Darina as she was making fish baked in a salt crust, she put all of the salt in the hen bucket after making the fish, without thinking about it…