I’ve been dreaming of Ireland lately, not sure what it is. The cooler temps, all this wind, a craving to get on a plane and travel? One of the most common questions I get asked is why did I go to culinary school in Ireland? It’s funny because lots of people don’t give Ireland credit for good food, but Ballymaloe Cookery School would change anyone’s mind on that. I went to Ireland for so many reasons, not at all knowing just how much I’d get out of the course.
It was on an organic farm – how inspiring to cook and bake with ingredients from the glass house just a short walk from the kitchens, fish from the sea that was just a few minutes down the road, dairy products and eggs from the happy jersey cows and hens that you could hear from the kitchens, happy animals that lived on the farm…
When I think back on it, it’s a piece of heaven, it’s idyllic and almost too good to be true. It’s like Cameron Diaz falling in love with Jude Law in the Holiday, but for me it was falling in love and connecting with food in such a special way. My eyes were opened up to things, lots of which I knew already but in a deeper way.
I went to Ireland because of that but also because it was an intense three-month course and I had zero intention of working in food upon my return. Did you know I went to university to be a teacher? I decided to do the course because I wanted to learn more, as my grandmother used to say, education is never wasted. When I came back to Edmonton, I wanted to move to Ireland, but then slowly, I started to build relationships with people in the food community here, and I realized we have everything here that I had on the farm in Ireland, everything and maybe even more – because it’s home. Sure we don’t have the sea, but we have the mountains, we have the most incredible community of farmers and incredible entrepreneurs doing such cool and unique things with food.
It wasn’t long before I started craving something, at first I didn’t know what it was… but it was change. I wanted to work in food, and I knew exactly how that would look. I wanted to teach. Fast forward five years, and here we are.
Ireland gave me the skills and inspiration I needed – not just in the kitchen, but to dream and to build a business too. Alberta continues to give me the inspiration. Edmonton has given me the community that I am so grateful to be a part of, it’s given me a place to grow, build and to share.
I wrote a blog nearly every night while I was in Ireland, if you want to read more about my experience, you can look back here.
