First Day

The Pink Cottage

I made it safely to Ballymaloe yesterday afternoon. The weather is wonderful. I settled into my beautiful little 'Pink Cottage' with 5 roommates. Two from the UK Two from Ireland and one from America.  We have a little kitchen, living area and my room even has a balcony.

Monday Morning

I woke up to the sound of 20 angry roosters outside my window. We met at 8:30 for breakfast. Yogurt and honey made here on the farm. The best apple and raspberry muesli you've ever tasted, of course all locally grown and organic. This was just the beginning of my food makeover.

Apple Orchards

Following breakfast we headed with Darina to tour the farm. First the fruit orchid: Apples, figs, peaches, pears, raspberries, blueberries etc etc. Vegetable gardens with every vegetable imaginable. Gardens with hazelnut and walnut trees. There were massive green houses with garlic and onions dangling from the ceilings along with more vegetable and lettuce leaves. We got a lesson in soil and potting and planted our first seedling.

After our tour we had a quick 'get to know you' session where we learned each other names and stories. All 62 of us. There are 10 nationalities represented here.  We were starved and were excited for lunch. We had delicious tomato soup and home made bread to start and what followed was our first lesson in cooking. We must learn to develop our pallet. Darina's kitchen served us a variety of interesting 'fishy' treats. Smoked eel and macral, chicken pate, mussels, home made mayo (which is yellow), shrimps and olive. There were some things I had to close my eyes and eat quickly but I did manage to taste and appreciate (as much as I good) everything on the plate. Dessert was homemade ice cream, meringue and raspberries and a blueberry sauce. Simple delicious!

Lunch!

Enough about lunch!

Our first lecture was how to make simple biscuits, syrups, mushroom a le creme, candied peel, home made lemon-aid, carrot and cumin soup and brown bread. It was a whirl wind but tomorrow we will get the chance to make them and practice our cutting techniques. Did I mentioned we received an impressive knife set. I know how to use maybe one of two of the things inside... so I have a long way to go.

Tomorrow morning I am on herb duty. I have to go and collect all the herbs for the day. Next Monday morning i'll be on milking duty! Can't wait for that.

Bed time and full chef gear tomorrow.