Fishy Friday

Incredibly traumatic day. By lunchtime I was literally physically, mentally and emotionally drained having to deal with this shiz….




Clara took this picture in the demonstration yesterday, but the ugly thing in the middle was like the cod we were cooking this morning. My partner this week is a lovely Japanese lady called Satoko (who is a sushi chef) so thought I’d get away without having to touch one of them....wrong. I told our teacher Sue that I was scared of them (I didn’t realise how scared until it was plonked down on my chopping board) and I think she could see the fear/tears in my eyes because she was so sweet. Gave me some gloves, took the head and tail off, stayed by me the whole time and gave me a biscuit afterwards! We were in the corner of the kitchen so thankfully I don't think anyone was aware of the fact I was crying, sweating, shaking and wearing weird latex gloves. So it sounds melodramatic, but it was also perhaps the biggest achievement of my whole entire life! There are unfortunately no pictures of this momentous event but there is a picture of the little pie Satoko made me as a present, her and Sue were proud…..



So nice! Had a calm rest of the day, watched a lamb being butchered (it was already killed etc, just being cut up) which I enjoyed so much, I think simply because it didn’t have fins. Then after demo this evening had a nice walk along the beach with everyone. Going to the farmer’s market in Midleton tomorrow to do the Ballymaloe stall and have to leave at 7am so having an early, early night…..

G'night.

Gone fishin.

This evening we not only cooked, but CAUGHT ourselves a fish supper! I give you The Pink Cottage Fisherladies…

Cathy

Clara

Clemmie

Flo

Rosie

Pro

And our revered teacher, Peter.....

Legend. I think we amused him. Went out from Ballycotton harbour on his little boat and literally before the engine had even started we were catching fish! Mackerel are like sea rats! Every now and again a huge shoal would obviously be swimming directly underneath us and we would be pulling up 3 fish at a time! I fished but didn’t take them off the hook, Peter took everyone’s off then threw them haphazardly from wherever he was in the boat into a barrel. Anxious times with those flapping things flying through the air in all directions. Our barrel got chocca block full of fish which was great until the news was broken that every single one would need filleting….I gave up this opportunity to continue in my role as official trip photographer…gutting….

The girls at work

One of our catch, they have the most amazing skin....although needless to say these are not my hands.

Took them home to the other hungry Pink Cottage ladies we left behind, and cooked them up with some lemon juice, orzo pasta and a parsley butter. I had a little taste and the fish tasted incredibly unfishy and fresh. Despite it being a fun voyage it has not lessened my fear of filleting haddock….scheduled for tomorrow. On a sweeter note.....

......Some pretty swirls made for decorating creme caramel today.... :-)

Biking...

Today cooked apple crumble tart, a tomato fondue, and managed, somehow, to keep down my breakfast and joint a chicken! Fed the hens for duty then we had Rachel demonstrate for the first time. She made masses of Indian and Middle Eastern food, so so so good. Then to work that off we went for a bike ride - opting out of the viewing of the DVD 'Fowl'. Returned to Garryvoe beach for the sunset....




And instead of going back via the village we decided to test out our bikes' offroading capabilities and cycled along the sand....

Seemed like a good idea at the time until Rosie's bike broke, her bike unfortunately being borrowed, without permission, from one of the women in another of the houses. Wasn't just a fallen off chain either, but a fully bent chain holder mangled into the spokes of the back wheel of the bike! ....the culprit being a large lump of sand. Anyway, a kindly old Irish couple stopped to help us, and the husband Rory (all the best people here are called Rory) managed to get it back into a rideable state although not without getting covered in oil....

They were so cute! Anyway, in the end and despite the hysterics we managed to cycle back, hose off the repaired but sandy bike and replace it without detection! Happy days.

Pigs and Potting, Cheese and Chardonnay, Rockpools and Rudeness....

Yes, a picture of the sun RISING over the greenhouses this morning! So we managed to wake up for the voluntary gardening class and sleepily trudged off across the gardens and fields, passing Ballymaloe’s gorgeous litter of Gloucester old spot pigs….

They are 5 months old….

....and we eat them at 6! :-(

Gardening was good, learned that a compost heap can reach temperatures of over 70 degrees…see steam....

.....and we also took cuttings of the hallowed sweet geranium plant! So we can start growing our own and take a taste of Ballymaloe home with us! This is actually VERY exciting….

Took cuttings of French tarragon too, and now all our pots are sitting happily on the south facing Pink Cottage windowsill, much to the envy of all the other girls who didn’t manage the 7am start! Then all headed to school for theory day. In the morning Darina and Emer demonstrated how to make a lot of different cheese from scratch. It got slightly confusing as they made them all at the same time, it all just seemed to involve a lot of boiling of milk. Hard to believe they can all taste different, but they did! Had an amazing lunch of tomato and mint soup, soda bread, flatbreads, lamb curry, beetroots, green beans, raiita, paneer with tomato and chilli salsa (one of the cheeses made in the morning, eaten a lot in India), roasted aubergine and tomatoes, lentils, and homemade strawberry ice cream! Then had our afternoon lecture on wine, beginning with the basics e.g. Chardonnay is the name of the grape! Who knew?! Did some tasting, then at 5pm were released into he evening's sunshine to amble down to the beach at Garryvoe…

We rockpooled, walked, waded....(in style)....

.......and went home to cook and sit down around our big table laughing and snorting spaghetti at the dirty, dirty jokes of the deceivingly innocent looking Flo Deneé..... :-)

Today's Offering

Crab, tomato and ginger tart....ENTIRELY from scratch.... as in I made the pastry, chopped, peeled and 'concassed' the tomatoes, cooked/cracked open the (live) crabs et voila!.....

Also in the afternoon demonstration we saw a chicken being jointed.....eurghhhh, some sickening cracks and crunches and bits coming out of that thing! Should be interesting when we're let loose on those bad boys on Wednesday. Have our theory day tomorrow, and also considering getting up at 7am for the organic gardening class..... :-)

Say Cheese!

....Before I forget, a picture of Peter with the incredible parmesan cheese and the fabulous Rory O'Connel!

(Picture courtesy of Clemmie)

Sunday Sunday

Sunday morning mainly spent lazing out in the courtyard in the sunshine, planning our day, eating breakfast and drinking coffee; one of the American girls Natalie bought a huge coffee grinder AND beans all the way from the States, coffee-snobs-r-us! I also introduced the Pink Cottage girls to motorbike racing as we watched Chaz on Eurosport and live timing doing a grand (Irish lingo) job in World Supersport! Lunched on healthy but delicious smoked chicken salad wraps made by Dana and baked some cupcakes for Flo’s birthday…..(now I have discovered the handy photo uploader tool on here be prepared for a barrage of pics!)....

After baking Rosie, Clara, Aisling, Claire, Clemmie and I headed off to Ballycotton to walk along the cliffs, was absolutely beautiful…

Found a little path which, via extremely steep and winding steps, led to a small cove sheltered by some big rocks, seems to be a local spot for swimming as the steps have been built into the rock all the way down into the sea! Aisling and I took the opportunity to have an impromptu dip! Was absolutely freezing and I think some of the local fishermen got a bit of an eyeful when we got back into our dry clothes, but felt it needed to be done!

We walked a bit further down the path, had a rest on a bench and a little group snapshot…

…then turned round and headed back to the harbour for a Bulmers in the Blackbird pub. Now are back cosy and dry in the house, making sausage and mash for dinner whilst watching xfactor and enjoying the fire…. :-)