Foraging, Cakes and more.

Time is flying by in Ballymaloe. We have now completed 3 weeks of our 5 week course. Wednesday was our full lecture day. In the morning we had a foraging class with Rory. Not only had I not heard of many of the various plants they have in their salads here but I haven't heard of many of the edible plants in Ireland. We wandered around looking at various plants but what was really great was that he showed us an Elderflower tree and a Hazenutl tree. I made my neighbor in Edmonton, Jane Schulz an Elderflower cake once and she still raves about it. Prince Harry had an Elderflower cake for his wedding which is what motivated me to make it. It is the quintessential English and Irish cake. No flowers this time of year but still it made me happy seeing the trees. They were pretty unimpressive but I can check that off my bucket list. I really wanted to see a Saffron plant. They actually are a crocus and they harvest the flowers for the spice which is also interestingly used in a stain that used to be used in the histology lab. It is a very expensive spice and it was a very expensive stain so it was discontinued. The Saffron crocuses have come and gone for the year so there were none to be seen. It seemed that we ended the scavenging in the kitchen garden which probably makes an interesting statement about scavaging. After the coffee we headed down to the nearby beach. All seaweed is edible but only in small amounts. We tromped around after Rory looking at various Sea lettuces, sea spaghetti and kelp. None of it looked overly tantalizing. It was more like an outdoor survival course rather than a cooking class. I lost interest when Rory started talking about how one could eat these very small snails. One would have had to have eaten buckets full of these snails. It kept us busy and it's not everyday one can wander on a beautiful beach in Ireland. Of course that evening they announced a swimming ban at the beach due to high coliform counts which made the thought of scavenging on the beach even less palpable.

In the afternoon we listened to Pam the cake lady. She was probably the most passionate person that I have ever heard talk about cakes. She covered coffee cakes, various cheese cakes, lemon bubble cake, sponge cake, Tunisian orange cake, and chocolate cake. She could have talked to midnight.

Thursday I had a great day in the kitchen. I cooked a Lamb shoulder of meat. During the demo, they had carved the meat off the chest wall. I think they must have realized how dangerous this would have been for us students. People seem to be cutting themselves quite frequently and this would have been a prime opportunity carving the meat of the chest wall to amputate one's finger. One of the instructors went over with me last week the safe way to chop and cut things but there hasn't been a lot of teaching of these fundamentals. The meat came precut. We made lamb Tagine with preserved lemon. A Moroccan stew. The meat seemed pretty tough but after an hour and a half of simmering it was pretty tender. It was served on a couscous base. Perfection.

Thursday evening Doug, Grace and I hiked the cliff hike at Ballycotton. It was a beautiful sunny night. We saw a naval vessel steaming close to shore and anchoring in the bay by Ballycotton.

Today things didn't come together as well in the kitchen. I made a spotted dog which is a loaf of soda bread containing raisons and an egg. My batter was a little on the moist side and I could have shaped it better but it turned okay. I made a coffee cake which I thought was a little dry. Julia the Lithuanian instructor thought it was fine. I put too much icing on the top of the cake which she removed and then showed me how to use a pipette to decorate rose buds on it. I am more utilitarian with my cake decorating. I made a risotto which took forever as I had to slowly add chicken stock and then simmer until all the stock had been absorbed. The risotto turned out very well but I ran out of time to present it with the shrimp. My presentation of my foods seems to be lacking. Some of the other students do a wonderful job at presenting. At least my food tastes fine.

This week, I have been going into the fermentation shed to make fermented kefirs which are a fruit drink made using probiotic bacteria. You can make them in 2 days. They are carbonated and are supposedly great for your gut microbes. If anyone's gut needs some help it is mine. I am also making decaffeinated Kombucha which will take 10 days. Next week Kevin from Cork and I will make sauerkraut. I buy into the healthy gut microbes theory a little bit however Marie who runs the shed is a fermentation, holistic health fanatic. She loves to rant on about menstrual cycles. I think she has scared all the young woman out of the shed. This morning it was only Doug, Kevin and I in the shed and she was still going on about menstrual cycles. It was quite comical.

Tonight Doug, Tilley and I went swimming in Inch about 20 minutes drive away. A beautiful beach with lots of wave action and a curious seal. The weather continues to be very pleasant and dry.

I am just chilling out now in my room. I am off to Tipperary on a hike with people tomorrow. I think that I will have that song in my head all day tomorrow.Read more