I have loved today! I was able to run before going to the Wednesday lecture. We first learned all about canapés! I really enjoyed this lecture because Rory and Darina worked in tandem. It makes me want to cater for parties and events so I can make these little masterpieces. I'm getting so excited too thinking about planning for my family's Christmas party, and other dinner parties my family will be having when I get home for the holidays :). Apparently the farmers are growing a banana tree in the greenhouse, so they pulled off a leaf to use for presentation. Here are some of the lovely bites they made this morning...
First up is a smoked salmon spiral, which was made with a crêpe, crème fraiche, onion, and dill. The best part was the fried caper berries on top! They are addicting! There were a couple of ways they presented this! I particularly loved the little parcel, wrapped in a wilted chive. The seabed was creative as well! :)
Another great presentation was the Jenga tower of anchovy sticks, which is made with anchovies stuffed in puff pastry and topped with sesame seeds. I thought they were delicious! The pheasant feathers were the cherry on top!
Next up, boiled quail eggs! There were also several ways Darina and Rory plated these. Somehow Rory found a big nest that worked as a lovely vessel to present the tiny bites. I wonder how hard it would be to rear quails...? I don't know if they'd survive at my house with our dogs and the rest of nature though :\.
I loved the combination of flavors in this next one: filo pastry baked into tartlets filled with chorizo, goats cheese, and kumquat compote. So delicious!
This next one is a lovely breakfast canapé! Sourdough toasts with slow-scrambled eggs, chives, and smoked salmon. ^_^. It's all such a beautiful combination of savory and slightly sour flavor.
And that does it for the show-stoppers! They made some other great canapés, but I also don't have enough time to upload all of the pictures :\. After lunch I walked around for little bit and got a couple of fun shots. This is one of the last roses of the season I think. It's so beautiful! Also I found some curious chickens wondering what that black thing was that I was hovering in front of them :).
We had a lovely wine lecture after lunch. It's our last one :(. I was wrong about us having Champagne. We had an English version (which can't be called Champagne unless it's actually grown in the Champagne region) called Wilton, which is what the Queen used to launch a ship last year I think. I never realized opening fizzy wine could be so dangerous - it sounded like a gun went off, and the cork shot far across the room when they opened one of them! Someone knew of an unlucky uncorker who lost an eye once as well! D:. BE CAREFUL WHEN OPENING FIZZY WINE! I thought it tasted quite nice, but it gave me a slight headache.
We also had a white wine called Gerwurztraminer (in German literally meaning spiced traminer, the type of grape variety). I quite liked it! It was really citrusy but not terribly dry.
Then we moved to Italy and tried an Amarone wine, which was quite robust. I would love to go to Italy and wine tour one day! I enjoyed this red wine more than most because it didn't have a ton of tannin and was smoother with a rich red fruit flavor. Delicious!
Finally we ended our wine lecture with Port, a sweet red wine. A producer from Portugal came and visited us to tell us all about the process of making Port. It's such an interesting drink because it is made entirely of indigenous grapes, which ferment for a couple days before they add a wine spirit (usually from France). Then it can ferment for AGES! This is one of the wines that ages incredibly well - DECADES! We tried three from Taylor's, where the man came from. The last one was the fanciest and most expensive wine we got to try this whole time - a whopping €60 or so. I think I had a bit too much though and couldn't think very well by the end of it.
I finally cooked my next sourdough loaf! This is the one that I added a bit of chopped rosemary to, which contributed a nice subtle flavor that enhanced the sourness of the bread. It didn't rise at ALL though - ugh. I thought it had a lovely flavor though! Darina happened to be in the kitchen at the time and thought it tasted delicious! :D
We also had a white wine called Gerwurztraminer (in German literally meaning spiced traminer, the type of grape variety). I quite liked it! It was really citrusy but not terribly dry.
Then we moved to Italy and tried an Amarone wine, which was quite robust. I would love to go to Italy and wine tour one day! I enjoyed this red wine more than most because it didn't have a ton of tannin and was smoother with a rich red fruit flavor. Delicious!
Finally we ended our wine lecture with Port, a sweet red wine. A producer from Portugal came and visited us to tell us all about the process of making Port. It's such an interesting drink because it is made entirely of indigenous grapes, which ferment for a couple days before they add a wine spirit (usually from France). Then it can ferment for AGES! This is one of the wines that ages incredibly well - DECADES! We tried three from Taylor's, where the man came from. The last one was the fanciest and most expensive wine we got to try this whole time - a whopping €60 or so. I think I had a bit too much though and couldn't think very well by the end of it.
I finally cooked my next sourdough loaf! This is the one that I added a bit of chopped rosemary to, which contributed a nice subtle flavor that enhanced the sourness of the bread. It didn't rise at ALL though - ugh. I thought it had a lovely flavor though! Darina happened to be in the kitchen at the time and thought it tasted delicious! :D
It's amazing how long today has been! I haven't really noticed the time passing by because I've been enjoying it so much :D.
Hope you all have had a great day!
Love,
Livvy
Hope you all have had a great day!
Love,
Livvy