Back to School

I can't believe that Tuesday Wednesday Thursday have flown by so quickly. I am still getting over my jet lag a little so I have been getting going a little more slower in the morning. The rhythm of the day seems to boil down to the following. The practical parts of the day will begin at 9 am where we are expected to cook meals with a partner. Wednesday was out first cooking day and I had to cook a goat cheese, spring onion and potatoes and thyme leaf tart and make a heirloom tomato salad with basil olive oil and honey. Our instructor was Laura a young petit Irish woman who didn't look much older than Madeline. She was very helpful and very patient. Everything came together just in the nick of time. We all eat a large communal lunch of the food that we have prepared in the morning. In the afternoon we sit in on cooking demonstrations where they demonstrate what we will be cooking the next day and more. The lectures end around 5:30. In the evening I have been going for walks or going down to the Irish Sea. The water is very cold when the sun isn't out. In the evening we are expected to write out a plan for the next day's meals. Today we had lectures all day. Food safety, preserves and sour dough. It was very long. Wednesday morning at 7:30 am I found myself picking lettuce, greens and edible flowers. Many of the greens I had never heard of such as Sorrels, mustard greens, and rocket and more. I had never seen any of these greens in Safeway. Today at 8 am I was making sour dough starter.
My partner this week is Bryan who is an Irishman and works for an engineering company here in Dublin but who has spent much of his career in the middle east and Asia. He now has two young daughters so he is spending more of his time in Ireland in an administrative capacity. His family is spending time at a near by Air BnB while he attends the school.Read more