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I’m now halfway through the course and enjoying a much needed bank holiday weekend (a week later than in the UK). Week 5 was relatively uneventful, although I did fillet a monkfish which was an experience. It’s not actually that difficult, but very slimy and dangerous (they have very sharp teeth). The resulting curry was really good, I’m going to try it with chicken when I get home I think.
The weekend of week 5 was good fun. A girl on the course called Peggy had a birthday party which was a bit messy but still very enjoyable. Everyone had brought some little canapes or finger food of some description and there was some really nice stuff. I tried to make cinder toffee for the first time in years, but the recipe wasn’t great so I ended up with some very hard normal toffee instead. I didn’t inflict it on anyone at the party so I had to go empty handed. My housemate Terese did some stuffed tomatoes and devilled eggs which were very kitsch and very yummy. There was some gorgeous bread, sticky ribs, mini fish goujons and plenty of other bits and pieces. I kind of wished the party had been at our house just so I could have had the leftovers!
Week 6 was exam week and also a week in which I got poorly. I had to have Monday and Tuesday off school which was a bit disappointing but I’m glad I did it. I didn’t miss anything too thrilling and it meant I was pretty much better for Friday’s exam. In the exam, we had to identify 10 herbs and 10 salad leaves and name 2 recipes you could use each herb in. Then we had to lay a table (I failed big-style at that and only realised when I left the room – oops!), present and pour wine (also not one of my talents) and then do a technique exam. I had to chop and sweat and onion, make an omelette, melt chocolate and make a paper piping bag. I think I did pretty well considering the nerves and everything. I nearly made a couple of minor silly mistakes, but nothing too bad.
Last night we had a barbeque to celebrate the exam being over which was really nice, although cut a bit short by half of the people buggering off to the pub! I’m still waiting for my chicken…
Today the weather is stunning so I’ve been for a wander round the gardens. When you live here all the time you don’t really appreciate them, so I decided to have a proper walk around and take some photos with my LC-A which has been very neglected of late. The maze has nearly doubled in size in 6 weeks and all the flowers are out. My highlight was seeing what I think was a tiny hummingbird about the size of my thumb stealing nectar from flowers in the vegetable garden. I’m not even sure if you get tiny hummingbirds in Ireland so if not I’d love to know what it was. I tried to get a picture but it was too fast!
Tonight will be a night in and then tomorrow I’m going on a shopping trip to Cork with a few friends. I haven’t really been spending much money here so I’m going to treat myself to some new jeans or something. Hopefully it won’t all be closed on a Sunday. We’ll probably go for a wander round the English market as well, which is a huge indoor food market. There are some really nice stalls in there and I might have to buy some cheese or something. It’s so nice to be surrounded by such good food and so many foodies. That’s definitely one of the things I’m going to miss the most when I leave – it’s so easy to get really nice, seasonal food here. I’m going to try my best to keep buying good food when I get home and not to slip back into buying everything from Tesco. We’ll see though!
Right, off to the Barn to upload this and check emails and things. Then I might do some baking or something. Awesome. I’ve got a couple of photos of my house to upload, but the thing keeps crashing so I’ll do that another day. Sorry for all the words!
