Finalmente!

This is a celebratory breakfast for one.

This particular meal was a quiet moment of happiness for me the morning after I handed in my Masters thesis. It really wasn't until I woke up on the Saturday morning that the full import of the achievment from the day before hit me - the weekend was mine to enjoy, I had handed in the last piece of written work that tied up my big year in Italy.

Now, it is only a few scant days until I fly to Italy to 'defend my thesis', followed by a dinner with staff, students and 'your man' Carlo Petrini, and then Friday - we graduate!!!

This post is a milestone of its own in fact - the big 100! Who could believe that I had that much to say? ; )

And what was my breakfast? An improvised version of huevos rancheros, using a leftover bean burrito filling, topped up with some tinned tomatoes, an egg cracked into the middle and gently cooked, served on crisped up tortillas. Delish.

Getting the hands dirty

It isn't all kitchens and dish washing for me here at Ballymaloe. About once a week I have been spending a day working in the gardens (or on the farm if I want to sound more hardcore!). No two days have been the same, but I invariably fall into bed exhausted after a day of it, whilst my clothes swirl around in the washing machine desperately trying to rid themselves of the mud I have pressed in that day.

One memorable day last week was a full day of picking - starting with cherry tomatoes and then moving on to raspberries.

Emily holding a bowl of raspberries amongst the vines.

Incredible to be in Ireland at this time of year and picking raspberries, but they grow a lovely crop of autumn berries here (who knew?) so that we have been picking them every two days since well before we arrived. We are just getting to the end of them now so I enjoyed the simple pleasure of being able to taste one every now and then!

The most hilarious part of the day was definitely the apples. There is a large orchard in front of Darina and Tim's house and unfortunately this year they didnt have a good crop - the the extent that only one tree was full of apples! Our brief was to hunt out every apple we could find (there was a day of apple jelly coming up in the school so cooking apples were greatly needed).

Tree climbing for the first time in about ten years!

Tree shaking turned out to be the best way to get them down - and in this particular tree they were up so high that I ended up climbing into the tree to shake the branches properly. Oh classic hilarity when I tried to actually get out of the tree....

and got well and truly stuck! That leg up in the air is hooked over a branch and I know I am flexible, but my god!!

One of the apples we shook off the tree landed so beautifully - much better than in the cow pats like the rest of them!

Roctober

So it has been a little while between drinks (posts) but I gotta say it has been a couple of the busiest weeks I have had in a long time!

Last week I turned 26. I had thought that being away from everyone that I know and love would put a serious dampner on the day, so I decided that my experience of the day was all going to be down to my attitude - embrace the expressions of love from afar, appreciate that they were thinking of me, and be grateful for the incredible new friends that I have here at Ballymaloe!

It worked like a charm, my Mum had knitted me an epic cardigan which I opened on skype (video) with her and my little brother and it fits brilliantly (it is keeping me warm as I type!) - such a brilliant present as it was a total labour of love. Crazily busy day at the school all day but they produced a spectacular cake for me, and all sang happy birthday (led by Darina!) - such a sucker for acts of sentimentality.

Me with my plate of birthday sushi made by my Japanese housemate Satoko

The big event of the day was the dinner....Lara had taken charge and organised a pot luck dinner, which was nowhere near as humble as the name suggests. We were spoilt with fresh sushi, korean vegetable dish that I never did learn the name of, jerk chicken and cous cous, caponata, mackrel, prawn curry,

To die for lemon meringue pies by Jeni

followed by mini lemon meringue pies, coconut rice pudding with fresh mango, chocolate delights and apple crumble. All washed down with many bottles of Australian wine (in honour of the birth country!). It was a great night of food, wine and lots of laughs and I was bowled over by the outpouring of friendship and sweetness from my new Ballmaloe crew.

Satoko holding my bday cake while the gang sang me happy birthday : )

From adopted Irish hospitality to la dolce vita...

After an epic day battling Ryan Air and their ridiculous policies I made it into Parma at 1am on Saturday morning, walking through those familiar streets has never felt so good!

Blue skies and pretty flowers in Parma

Lovely to see Ant again and to speak for longer than a skype connection can hold out (always tenuous when using Irish wifi). I enjoyed just wandering around and seeing the familiar Parma things, speaking Italian, being back in the little apartment in Borgo Retto (this was the last time. for real!) and getting excited about seeing my friends again.

Pizza con salamino picante

We got together for dinner at Orfeo, the pizza restaurant that stole our hearts (or should that be stomachs?) this year. Cheap, delicious, decent wine sold in carafes - what more could a student ask for?

Virginie and I enjoying our gelatos!

Followed (obviamente!) by a gelato at K2 best gelateria of all time. That is, until they didn't have caffe gelato when we arrived! Che palle....didn't dim the gusto with which it was enjoyed - not a lot of high quality gelato kicking around in Shanagarry.

Hard to top seeing friends and boyfriend and being in happy little Parma....ooh but wait there's more! Enter a surprise birthday trip to Venice stage left. Parma is only three hours by train from infamous Venezia and some people (yes Judy I am thinking of you!) from Uni have been there more times than I could count this year - but I hadn't been since 2001. Blearyeyed we rolled onto the train at 8am on a Sunday and my god was it worth it when we stepped out of the train station and saw this view

If I had had to go home after that ten minutes standing on the steps soaking it up I would still have been happy - there is something about the vistas of Venice for me that was like taking a big long refreshing drink of beautifulness, rehydrating the soul.

Kebabtastic

Lunch was impromptu and improvised - a delicious kebab (they claimed they were the first in Venice) eaten in the sun, sitting by the side of a small canal, drinking red wine out of small tupperware beakers brought from home! Wouldn't have traded it for a michelin starred meal.

Classic Venitian moment

On the Ponte Academia looking over the Grand Canal

Mesmerising cloud formations over the Isola della Giudecca

Getting those hands dirty!

Pumpkins freshly picked

One of the big points of distinction about Ballymaloe Cookery School is that it is a school in the middle of an organic farm. So it was always going to be important for me to actually not only visit the farm but get stuck in and work there a few days. Finally in week three after delicate negotiations I was given the all clear to head down there - and woke up on the morning of to discover that Ireland had decided to give us our first taste of a true wet, foggy Irish autumn day! Thank god the glasshouse is (mostly) waterproof.

I spent the majority of the day working with three others, removing the leaves off the tomato plants - we estimated that there were about 600 plants and my god, I was so relieved to be sharing that task with other people!

Lunch was up at the Cookery school and it was 'lashing' rain (as these Irish call it) so much that I got kitted out in some impressively enormous waterproof trousers and a jacket for the walk - I felt like Kenny from South Park when I had the hood up!

These hands will never be clean again - damn dirt!

After the hectic level of activity and constant noise of the cookery school it was something of a balm to spend the day in virtual silence removing leaves from plants and digging around in the dirt weeding. It was only in the last couple of hours of the day that I started longing for hot cups of tea, a comfortable chair and any pair of shoes other than gumboots! Nonetheless, will look forward to going back again next week and trying out something else...planting perhaps? Watch out, I might end up with a green thumb yet!

The Beach - Irish style

It's not quite Coogee Beach is it? That curve of headland in the distance is the sweet town of Ballycotton. Although the sand may be brown and the skies may be grey, it is still soothing to be so close to water again. How close? 15 minutes if I run it, almost half an hour if I walk!

Dinner a la Satoko

My housemate is a lovely Japanese woman called Satoko who just happens to be....drumroll please...a Japanese Cookery teacher!! Cue lots of beautifully presented meals.


This is raw mackrel marinated overnight in lemon juice, white wine vinegar and a little salt and then eaten raw with salad and a dressing that included soy and wasabi.



This is haddock, with mustard, mayo and breadcrumbs cooked in the oven and presented on yellow zucchini and cucumber.

Delicious!! And there are two more months to go!

The Ballymaloe Cookery School

The Ballymaloe Cookery School as seen walking over from the cottages

My friendly taxi driver from the airport was the one who broke the news to me that the course I was assisting with had 57 students taking it. 57! I had imagined perhaps 20 - 30 at the most? As it turns out 57 people is really a huge number of people to teach en masse, not to mention to feed daily, take in groups around the grounds and so on. Teaching this number of people requires somewhat military precision and after 26 years of operation that is how the Ballymaloe Cookery School seems to function. Everything is done to Darina's specification - and I mean everything!

But I am getting ahead of myself. Day one I masqueraded as a student for the purposes of learning my way around the premises as well.

Looking out from next to the Demonstration Kitchen across to Kitchen Two

The morning was full of overwhelming numbers of people following this charismatic woman around the grounds for hours, desperately trying to take in all of the information being thrown at us. Where the chickens where, how to separate the rubbish, where the cows were, the pigs, the greenhouses, the laundry, the shell house, the gardens, the cafe...and so it went on.

Part of the lovely gardens of the premises - all the cottages had posies from these flower beds when we arrived

The greenhouses stuck in my mind and I am hoping to get down there and learn more about what they are doing. It is a one acre greenhouse, fully organic and they are growing a gorgeous array of produce from heirloom tomatoes, to eggplant, to cucumber, to beetroot, chard, herbs, lettuce - it just goes on and on.

Part of the tomato crop in the greenhouse

The school uses as much of their own produce as possible, with students every day assigned to salad or herb duty getting up early and going down to learn how to identify the produce and pick and prepare it for consumption at lunch that day. The farm is intended to be a self directed learning tool availabled to the students if they so choose to take up the opportunity.

Darina in standard pose (talking) surrounded by the beetroots, with onions drying overhead

Male zucchini flower on the left, female on the right

The environment here even for the students includes a large dose of being thrown into the deep end. I had very little information about what it would actually be like here before I came and the students were the same in many respects. One thing that has been truly lovely is the abundance of fresh produce and delicious flavours that we are being treated to. Lunch on day one set the tone in a rather impressive way, with a sampling plate of different produce and treats from around the area.

Main course on the first day

Part of the delicious dessert! Meringue - makes me feel right at home

End of day one still had no clearer idea of where I will fit into the whole picture of Ballymaloe but certainly overawed with the epic amount of information thrust at us all.