I can't believe the week's over! WOW! Today has been pretty good, though the beginning of my morning in the kitchen was still stressful. I focused on enjoying what I was doing, and that made it so much easier! It's amazing what smiling can do :). I only made two things today (and crazy enough, didn't have time to do the third thing I was supposed to do!). Here's what I made...
- White soda bread - pretty straightforward, though of course I didn't turn the oven down after 15 minutes and instead blasted the loaf at 230 ªC for 40 minutes. Whoops! It cooked alright, though apparently it didn't rise as much as it could've. Oh well! The bread picture I'm showing by the way is what my partner made, and is the first white yeast bread we've gotten a chance to make. He did a really nice job with the braid (or "plait" as they call it).
- Buttered cucumbers with fennel - I didn't have time to do this one today because of the monster dish I made below!
- Gratin Haddock with mushrooms and herb crumbs with fluffy herbed potatoes - what a process. There were so many different elements to making this dish! I had to make a Mornay sauce (basically a cheesy béchamel with mustard), make buttered bread crumbs, sauté mushrooms, fillet a fish, and make mashed potatoes. I think the mashed potatoes are the most intensive. I had SOO many dirty dishes and gloop to clean up afterwards. They have us put egg into the potatoes to make them richer. Yum! It's also been nice to have more practice filleting a fish (which they pronounce "fill-eht-ing," not "fill-ay-ing" :P). I've become a lot more comfortable with it! Overall this dish turned out pretty well! The scallop shells that we got to serve them in had a nice aesthetic!
- (I didn't make this by the way, but I thought it looked lovely!) Almond tarts - such a simple recipe! Butter, ground almond, and sugar that you put into little tart tins and serve with fresh raspberries on top. They were pretty tasty :).
I'm so glad it's the weekend! I've been so stressed from the cooking :( I think it's just a bit of a learning curve right now because we're transitioning into more complicated dishes. The afternoon demo was really great today! Rachel Allen was the instructor, Darina's daughter-in-law. I really like her! She showed us how to make all sorts of egg dishes and marzipan. The most intriguing one I thought is called a Provencal Terrine, which had 4 different semi scrambled egg layers that you then put into a tin and bake in the oven. From right to left, it had zucchini (or courgette, as they call it here!), olives, tomato sauce, and spinach. Yum!!
After demo, I walked around the gardens for awhile to clear my head from all the stress. The lighting was so beautiful! I took a lot of pictures and liked so many of them that I thought I'd go ahead and put a lot up. I hope you like them! :D
All of the chickens came over and clucked at me when I walked up. I love chickens! They're so fun to watch.
They have a gigantic chess board set up near the tennis courts! How cool is that!?
I wish I could've had better focus in this one! There was a big bunch of bugs flying around, and I wanted to get a picture of them with the sun streaming through the trees in the background. If you look hard enough you can see them! :)
There's a big maze here in the shape of a Gaelic symbol apparently. The moment I stepped in, it reminded me of the fourth harry potter (which I mentioned in a post in week 1 I think too haha)!! So cool!
Yay lots of pictures :). I love taking pictures. It's so calming! I guess that's probably because I completely zone in to what I'm doing and figure out the best way to bring forth the beauty in something.
Tonight's been nice :). I ran, then did a workout with Nan, which has made me feel better! Then I helped Stan pick some of the crabs he bought today. Even though they're brown crabs, they still make me think of all the happy crab picking I've done at the Chesapeake Bay with my family! So much fun!
Wow, this has been a long post! I hope you've enjoyed the pictures!! I might not have internet to post tomorrow by the way because I'll most likely be camping in Dingle for the food festival. Sorry! I'll try and post as soon as possible though! :D
Love,
Livvy
Tonight's been nice :). I ran, then did a workout with Nan, which has made me feel better! Then I helped Stan pick some of the crabs he bought today. Even though they're brown crabs, they still make me think of all the happy crab picking I've done at the Chesapeake Bay with my family! So much fun!
Wow, this has been a long post! I hope you've enjoyed the pictures!! I might not have internet to post tomorrow by the way because I'll most likely be camping in Dingle for the food festival. Sorry! I'll try and post as soon as possible though! :D
Love,
Livvy