Taking a Break

I'm taking a break from my studying -- my brain is going into memory overload.  Lot's has happened since my last full blog, so I'll catch you up.  The most important first:  Charlene arrived in Ireland!  She was nine hours later than scheduled (missed connections and later flights in both Chicago and London), but she got here.  Fantastic!  It took a few hours for the familiarity of 42 years of marriage to kick in, but of course it did.  A wonderful weekend in Kinsale certainly helped, but more on that later. 

Today (Monday) I cooked for the last time at Ballymaloe, except for my practical final.  It felt strange and a little sad to realize that I wouldn't have the benefit of an excellent crew of instructors to advise and guide me in my future cooking experiences.  I'll also miss the adrenalin rush that goes with a tough cooking assignment that I'm not sure I can handle.  As Rory O'Connell said one day in demo,  "Things sometimes have to be a bit scary."  Three months of a routine and you get used to it and it becomes the "norm."  My norm is changing again, but fortunately it will soon be going back to many things that I know and love.

As I've mentioned before, my confidence has been building and this week-plus was my most relaxing time of cooking.  My partner for the week, Olivia, extended the long weekend and I had the section and choice of menu items to myself.  I decided to cook a Thai chicken curry, which turned out O.K. but didn't excite me, and a puff pastry called vol au vents, which were filled with pastry cream and compote of apple with sweet geranium flavoring.  To make the vol au vents you roll out the pastry, cut them into shapes (mine were rectangular) and then cut down into the pastry a little ways in from the edge all around.  After they are baked, you remove the part of the top that was scored and hollow out a space for the filling, bake a few minutes more, fill the hollowed part with the pastry cream and compote, and put the top back on.  Not only looked neat but tasted really good.  On Tuesday, Olivia was a no-show and I chose to make a beaf consomme, which takes lots of effort and requires expensive ingredients.  Even though mine tasted like it should (according to Mami), I think it isn't worth the effort.  Fortunately, I also made poached salmon with Hollandaise sauce, which didn't require too much effort and was really good. 

Because Charlene was scheduled to arrive Thursday morning, I made arrangements to not cook and to not do my extra duty on Thursday.  When I learned that she would be delayed, I had the time to cook but not the inclination (played hooky).  On Friday, my anxiety level was back down and Olivia and I both cooked.  My seafood chowder sounded great but wasn't, while my stuffed chicken sandwich sounded mediocre but tasted pretty good.  I wish I could say that my last day of cooking was inspirational, but it was not to be.  The roast pork with sage seasoning was O.K., but the cuts of pork we used are too fatty for my taste.  Although the custard on the creme brulee I made is best cooled overnight, I attempted to add the caramel topping after just three hours.  I chose to sprinkle sugar and then caramelize it with a blow torch (really).  Since the custard wasn't fully set, this didn't work perfectly.  I probably would have had better luck if I had made caramel and then spooned it on.  Next time!

So far there have been no pictures, but the weekend fixes that.  Here is a shot of Charlene with the center of Kinsale in the distant background.  We are about 100 yards from our B&B, the Chart House, which is a restored Georgian structure with period pieces, that provides "luxury" accommodations.  Fortunately, luxury is not synonymous with expensive, in this case.  Great place!

On Saturday, we took a walking tour of Kinsale that provided real insight into the histories of Ireland and Kinsale.  In the 17th century, taxes were collected at the building in the next picture.  The tax code is posted and would fit on one page!

Saturday night, Charlene and I celebrated our belated 42nd anniversary with dinner at the Crack Pot, which is a small, intimate restaurant with candle-lit tables.  Very good food and wine, excellent service, great atmosphere, reasonable price (for Ireland) -- who could ask for more.  So what that the name doesn't fit.  We then went to a pub frequented by locals for a "pint or two."  We spent about 1-1/2 hours in interesting conversation with two local gentlemen.  The Irish talk about the "craic," which has to do with fun and good conversation.  Saturday night I think we experienced it.

On Sunday we visited Charles Fort, which was built following the unsuccessful Spanish invasion of Ireland at Kinsale in 1601.  The fort, which has a now classic star-design (was relatively new in 1601), was in use through WW1.  The following views are from the inside of the fort.

Many of the walls in the fort are overgrown with vegetation.  Here is just a single plant growing out of a rock wall.

This is the end of this edition of my blog, but it is not the end to my Irish cooking experience.  More to come, but the doors are starting to close!

Preparing for the Finale

Because Charlene will be arriving net Thursday and I would like to spend a little time with my beloved, I'm starting to study for the written final, as well as study for the wine exam next Wednesday.  Consequently, this will be a relatively short blog, or at least written quickly (remember my quote from Ben Franklin).

Cooking this week was lots of fun.  Monday, I cooked a roast duck with potato stuffing and gravy, roast potatoes, and Jerusalem artichoke slices.  The duck was BIG; so, even though mine was the first in the oven, it was the last one out.  Tasted good, but duck is a little too fatty for me to love.  Preparing the gravy was good practice for my final, as was roasting the potatoes, and both were very good.  Jerusalem artichokes were new to me, but I liked them and will look for them back in ABQ.  On to Tuesday and cucumber salad, a plate of smoked fish with horseradish sauce and sweet dill pickle, cauliflower cheese, and a Bakewell Tart (named after the town of Bakewell, where it originated).  I first prepared the pastry for the tart, which has an almond-based filling, but uses more sugar and butter than almonds.  The hard part is the pastry, including a lattice top, but I was up to the task!  Unfortunately, even though it turned out well, I don't particularly care for it.  I do, however, love the cauliflower cheese, which uses a Mournay sauce that is so rich tasting you can feel your stomach drop inches when you swallow.  The plate of fish was really just putting ingredients together in an attractive manner -- not my strong suit -- but I managed.  Interesting side note:  when I was starting to assemble the plate and went looking for dill for garnish, I realized that I had used chopped chives, not dill in the mayo.  Oops!  So, I added lots of dill and it tasted fine.  Until now, no one knew the difference (got away with one).

Thursday was St. Patrick's Day, a national holiday here (they don't worry about the religious implications, like some in the U.S. do about Christmas).  Surprisingly, we had cooking and demo on Thursday, so we could have Friday off and a 3-day weekend.  And we had lobster!  I love lobster and, because of cost and the land-locked nature of New Mexico, have it very rarely.  Well, I made lobster in a cream and fresh herb sauce.  The sauce was quite complicated and I had to make Hollandaise sauce as an ingredient.  After one false start on the Hollandaise, Tina helped me for a minute or two and I made the only Hollandaise in our kitchen; so others used some of mine with lots of thanks (felt kind of nice).  I normally like my lobster plain with butter for dipping, but I've got to admit that this lobster in cream and herb sauce was outstanding -- best meal I've had here.  Tina told me to take the lobster and the warm salad my partner had prepared into the dining room and eat them warm before I cleaned up.  I was in 7th heaven.

One of my cottage mates, Louise, invited me to spend the long weekend with her and her husband.  Originally Bryony was going to join us, but her plans changed.  Below are pictures I took from the window of the my bedroom at their home.

In the 1st picture, the hills on the left are the ones that extend onto the Dingle Peninsula, which is one of the most beautiful places in Ireland.  In the 2nd picture you can see ocean water with another small peninsula behind it.  Very beautiful place to live.  Below are Louise (right), Mark, and Sue, who is Louise's long-time friend who joined us.  Of course, Lizzy had to get in the act.  For Friday's dinner, I attempted to cook the dinner I will do for my final exam.  Let's just say that I learned a few things.  In any case, I had a most enjoyable evening with some very nice people. 

While Horace just relaxed!

 Just to show you the vagaries of Irish weather, the pictures from the bedroom window were taken about 9 a.m. and, by the time I left at 12:30, it was too rainy to go just down the road and play the Castlegregory 9-hole golf course, which was one of my favorites on a previous visit to this island.  Shucks!

Last Sunday I took the cliff walk from Ballycotton.  Here is one shot to give you an idea of the beauty along the coast on a beautiful afternoon.

Charlene and I will spend next weekend in Kinsale, so I don't know when I'll prepare the next blog.  Have patience and know I'm thinking about my friends and relatives in the good old U.S. of A.

Plan for the Final Exam

Since some of you gave me comments, I'm sending out this short update.  Today I turned in the menu for my final exam, so I am committed.  In case you are curious, my menu is very traditional and boring compared with some:

• Potage a la bonne femme (leek and potato soup) with homemade croutons
• Roast stuffed chicken with gravy
• Roasted potatoes
• Brussels sprouts
• Glazed carrots
• Poached pears with sweet geranium leaves and sweet geranium cream

I'll also do whatever bread I'm assigned.  I've either done each of these dishes or something very close.  In some way, each of the dishes is similar to ones I had as a child.  I haven't actually cooked Brussels sprouts here but they are cooked like other green vegetables, which at Ballymaloe means cooked too long and not crisp.  Also, this isn't the season for Brussels sprouts, so they may tell me to substitute. 

Kind of strange, but I'm starting to look forward to the challenge.  My plan of work will be something like the following:  start with making the stuffing, preparing the chicken, and getting it in the oven ASAP; start the bread; poach the pears; boil and infuse the cream with the sweet geranium; refrigerate the pears while reducing the syrup; start the soup; prepare the vegetables (but not cook -- too early); make the croutons; pre-boil the potatoes; back to the bread (depending on the type); potatoes in the oven with lots of duck fat; start the carrots; boil the Brussels sprouts; whip the cream; move the chicken to another pan, while I make the gravy using the drippings; puree the soup.  About now I should be removing the chicken from the oven to rest for 15-20 minutes.  Reheat the soup; finish the vegetables; carve the chicken; and prepare the presentation.  Several little things I haven't mentioned (and probably one or two I've missed), but this is most of it.  Piece of cake!  Actually, if it happens anything like this and I get done in 3-1/2 hours (1/2 hour over), I'll be happy.

Crunch Time

This coming Thursday, we have to turn in our memus for the 3-course meal we will cook for the practical part of the final exam.  During the 3 hours we will have, we must also make a loaf of bread, but we won't know which bread we will make until the day before the exam.  There is also a 4-1/2 hour written final exam on our last day, Friday, April 1st.  Is it a joke?  Afraid not.  But there is an alternative -- skip the whole exam process and receive a certificate of attendance.  This is particularly tempting for me, because Charlene will be here that last week and, if I skipped the exams, we could start our vacationing earlier.  Of course, if I skip the exams, I won't know how I measure up when under pressure; but, I also wouldn't have to study lots of stuff for the written exam that I almost certainly will never use again, e.g., Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) as dictated by Irish law (one of 25 topics).  Yuck!  Tomorrow I'm going to sort out all the study material and I'll decide early in the week.  Don't hesitate to provide me comments.

From the serious to the trivial and fun in the Q&A world -- this Friday there was a pub quiz run by Stephen, the student I've mentioned in previous blogs.  What's a pub quiz, you ask (like I had to)?  Assuming this one was typical, participants pay an entry fee (5 euro for this one, with profits going to Darina's India fund, a charity), form teams, and each team answers a set of questions -- kind of like a trivial pursuit.  There are prizes for the team with the most points and this one also had a raffle with lots of prizes.  Needless to say, conducting it in a pub means there is lots of one more activity, which also contributes to the atmosphere.  Here is a picture of our non-award-winning team, EU+1, with our Guinness (mine is actually a Beamish, a similar stout that I think has more body) in clear site.

Paul is Irish; Bryony is originally from Great Britain but long residence in Sweden; Louise is also from GB but now Ireland; Stasha is from Holland; and of course I'm from the U.S. (the +1).  My contribution to our effort was totally neutral -- I directed us away from one correct answer, towards another correct answer, and otherwise knew nothing that others didn't know.  We were doing well until the music section, which counted double, and for which I knew almost nothing (no questions about John Denver).  I was worse (if that's possible) on identifying pictures of celebrities (although I did recognize the Dalai Lama).  All of this was loads of fun -- just wish I could hear better is such noisy settings.

The week had another unusual activity -- we took a tour on Thursday instead of cooking and a demo.  A bus took us to:  a smoke house near Cobh (pronounced "cove"); a farmer's market in the sheltered parking of a shopping center near Cork; the cheese making plant for Cashel Blue; and to the lovely town of Lismore for multiple stops.  In this case, pictures are much better than words.  Here is a picture of Bryony and Paul sharing a table at the farmers' market with an adorable child and her grandfather.  This is near a stall that sells the most delicious hot chocolate and or coffee (mocha coffee for me -- delicious!).  You can see they put little servings of chocolates on top of the cups of liquid.  Sure wish we had markets like this in Albuquerque.

I'm not a big fan of blue cheese, except on certain salads, and some of the other students thought the tour rather boring.  I found it quite interesting, with lots of opportunities for fun.  Here is a self portrait of me in my sanitary digs for the tour.

I could try to explain that wide-angle lenses at close distances give distorted images, but think what you may of that mug. 

On the way to Lismore, we climbed the Knockmealdown Mountains and looked back on the Blackwater Valley.

I chose this particular shot because some of the sky is actually blue, but also because of the spots in the foreground, which are trash!  One of the surprises (and disappointments) on this 12-week visit has been the trash that I notice along side the roads (lots of time to look when I do my power walking).  This is the most extreme case, where someone had just dumped an old set of table and chairs over the side of the road at the most incredibly picturesque spot.  Fortunately, Lismore is still beautiful.  Here is the castle as seen from the car park near the town.

In Lismore, we visited a cafe, where the former Ballymaloe student-owner shared practical experience in running a cafe-business.  Next to the O'Brien Chop House, where this owner (all the way on the right in the picture below of the gardens in the back of the restaurant, where serving occurs in the summer) got lots of attention from the young women (yes, he is quite handsome) but he also did a great job of explaining some of what it takes to operate a successful restaurant.

Last stop in Lismore was a butcher shop, where we heard how the animals are killed and cut apart.  Not the prettiest part of the food business, but a necessary one, unless you go vegetarian.

On that cheery note, let's finish this edition with my cooking experience this week.  On Monday, I had only two dishes, seared tuna and lemon rice, but I had to make the accompaniments for the tuna.  The piperonata (a sweet pepper sauce) was delicious, but I could do without the tapenade, which is heavy on the olives and too bitter for me.  I seared the tuna as instructed, i.e., very hot grill for only two minutes per side.  Yes, very rare in the middle, but I'm a convert -- rare is right for tuna!  For Tuesday, I convinced my partner, Alex, to let me have only two of our five dishes, so I could make a white yeast bread (very time consuming).  One dish was vanilla ice cream, which I had to start first thing, so it would be ready for lunch.  It took longer than I expected and, by the time I got it in the freezer, it was too late to start the bread.  So, I finished off a rather relaxed morning with green pea soup with fresh mint and cream.  This was not like pea soups I've had before, but delicious -- a keeper!  When Rose tasted it, she said it was seasoned just right.  When I told her I thought it was too salty she said no!  Well, this is the salty world of Ballymaloe (read into the pun as much as you want).  Friday, I finally got to make the bread I had been trying to squeeze in.  I made an Italian focaccia, using a white yeast bread as the base.  With lots of olive oil, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and sea salt, it was/is (still eating it at the cottage) delicious.  I also made an Indian Naan bread, which was more work than I think it is worth, and pears poached in a saffron syrup.  If you have priced saffron, you know that these are expensive pears!  If I do the final, I may do these for the dessert, because they taste really good and don't take too much effort.

There are three primary kitchens for the students plus the demo kitchen, which only a few at a time use.  Each of the primary three can have roughly 20 students.  We rotate between the kitchens and I'm back to the kitchen I started in on week one.  Returning made me realize how different I feel about things.  Much less pressure, but also a lot more confidence on each days cooking.  Shouldn't be surprising, but 9 weeks is not a long time to develop cooking skills.  Not sure I'm really that much better, but the confidence is there, regardless.

I haven't heard from most of you in a long time.  Comments are welcome.

Country Roads

Although I have more time to enjoy my Irish experience, I also can't help but look forward to a short vacation in Ireland with Charlene after the course and my return to New Mexico.  In the meantime, I'll suffer through walks on the beach; green, green countryside; a few rounds of golf; incredible cooking experience, and an occasional party.  Parties at age 64?  Yup.  Because we don't cook on Wednesday, my female cottage mates invited several people over for snacks and drinks Tuesday night.  I was told after it was all set that the reason was to provide more male conversation in the cottage for me (really?).  In any case, a good time was had by all and for some it may have been a little too good.  In the true Irish tradition, Stephen belted out some traditional Irish tunes and pushed me to sing, which is less intimidating after several glasses of wine.  I sang "Country Roads" that uses the repine "country roads take me home," and another John Denver song that starts out "Lost and alone on some forgotten highway."  Seems to be a theme here.  A couple of people were MIA the next morning, but yours truly made it to lectures with only the slightest of disorientation (at my age there are multiple potential causes).  Thank goodness I had already learned to not try to keep up with the Irish on some things.

I'm here for the cooking and I'm evidently very focused and intense in the kitchens.  Bryony took shots of me during one of the sessions.  Here I'm working on ice cream next to my partner this week, Paul, who is a really great guy who is also an expert at sarcasm.

I'm looking for something in the weigh-up area, which also serves at the larder for kitchen #3.

Contrary to my facial expressions, the cooking this week was mostly fun.  On Monday, I made potage a la bonne femme (leek and potato soup), which I served hot, but which also can form the basis for a cold Vichysoisse.  I also cooked glazed carrots, which I didn't burn like I did earlier (week 2?), and frites (French fries) and Buffalo chips (big fries).  For the soup, I made croutons following Rory O'Connell's approach -- hot pan, clarified butter (butter where the fats have been separated, so burning potential reduced), lots of arm motion, and lots of time -- but they do taste really good this way.  On Tuesday, I made cannelloni including homemade pasta.  I had been dreading the pasta, but it was easy because my dough was dry enough.  Since we share pasta machines (lots of rollers and a crank, but no motor), the pasta took most of the morning and my only other contribution was a berry sauce for a panna cotta that Paul made.  Thursday was hectic, because a Grand Marnier souffle took loads of time.  I also did mussels with a coconut milk and coriander sauce and some wilted greens.  Everything was delicious.  One of the other instructors kept coming over to sample more of my souffle, which was incredibly light (probably because of mistake I made, but that's a secret). 

Friday was a busy end to a busy but satisfying week.  For the caramel ice cream (see picture above), I made a caramel sauce and brandy snap baskets.  Here I am cutting apart the disks for the baskets.  When they cooled off just the right amount, I molded them around upside-down glasses.

Less time consuming but much more satisfying was char grilled squid with chilli and parsley oil.  Here Gillian (pronounced "Jillian") tells me how the balance of the ingredients is the key to the sauce, while I adjust my cap -- gets hot in those kitchens.  Yea, I know; some of you men are thinking that Gillian is "hot."  I made the mistake of mentioning to Paul that she has the great high cheekbones of an eastern European and his jokes with me just keep coming.

I must have listened well, because the sauce made a tough squid (too big and old) taste really good.  I finished off the week with rustic potatoes with rosemary.  I seem to have learned how to fry things, because the pototoes were crispy on the outside, but soft on the inside (Gillian's opinion).  Exhausting but satisfying end to a busy week.

In order to drive these country roads you  need a decent car and a nice woman at Avis worked with me so that I can keep driving the Ford Fiesta I've been renting.  She also let me in on a secret -- even though they won't give a reservation for more than 30 days, you can push it to 35 days without creating a problem.  So, I'll keep this car for the rest of the trip.  Thank you Avis!  I'm glad that Ford will be selling the Fiesta in the States again; it's a really nice little car.

Today I played 18 holes at a crazy course in Youghal (pronounced "you all" with a southern accent).  Fortunately, I was paired with two women who knew the course, because all the criss-crossing and cross-country walking would have been impossible by myself.  Despite drizzle some of the time and cold temperatures (mid 40s, I'd guess), I enjoyed myself.  After the round and some conversation with the ladies, it became clear that they would have quit, but they knew I wouldn't make it around on my own.  I feel guilty, but I'll get over it.

One last picture from the gardens at Ballymaloe Cookery School.