Fish Pie
Let’s do a quick rose, bud, and thorn of this weekend (a good thing, something I’m looking forward to, a not so good thing). Rose- Sunday morning was absolutely sublime. The sun was high in the sky, showcasing sweeping Irish vistas dotted with charming little towns. We went to a car boot sale^ in Carrigtwohill where I made out like a bandit. I got: a big dark blue jumper (Irish for “sweater”), two vintage Stella Artois glasses (I ask that you respect me in this time of saying, ‘I don’t know how I am going to be shipping these home’), two baseball hats, and a rugby kit (Irish for “jersey”) because I am now a super-fan of team Ireland and that is my only personality trait. Following the shopping extravaganza, my friends and I walked around Cobh, a nearby town famous for- among other things- being the final stop for the Titanic before it went to fight that iceberg in the Atlantic (and sadly lost). Later we walked on the beach and ended the day with a roommate dinner back at our cottage- a day of exploration and giggling.
My bud of the weekend was going to the pub with some newer friends on Saturday evening- Emma, Taylor and Annette. “Newer” is of course very relative as I have been here for just a few weeks. But these are people I haven’t spent social time with yet. I know I can make friends, but it certainly gets harder to do so as an adult and I’m proud of myself.
My thorn was being overstimulated on Saturday morning. I recharge my battery with alone time. My roommate back home, who is one of my best friends, can attest that we don’t speak to each other for several hours after returning home from a social function. This really has nothing to do with anyone but myself and my mental health. Saturday morning was spent at the English Market in Cork. A very vibrant open air market similar to Pike’s Place in Seattle or the Milwaukee Public market. While vibrant, it was also busy as hell and I felt very trapped. We do not get offered a lot of free time during the school week. Therefore, something I have learned is that I need to make sure I am getting time for me where I can breathe and be alone. I don’t need to be ‘on’ socially at every hour of the day. So I’m good. In fact I am better than good- I am smart, capable, healthy, pretty and most of all, humble.
Monday
You guys- I’m doing well in school which, to be quite honest, is gas‡. I butchered a leg of lamb today under the careful guidance of my teacher, Florrie. Florrie is such a joy to learn from due to her phenomenal level of communication. She offers clear and concise direction while still allowing you to reach the conclusion on your own. She also has the voice of an Irish broadcast journalist- I don’t really know how to explain this. It’s sort of a monotone voice and her sentences have a very pleasing cadence. I’m not sure what it is but I’d listen to her read the dictionary. After getting my leg of lamb ready, I roasted that beauty to perfection and paired her with a stellar gravy made from the juices of the lamb and a flour and butter roux. In the evening, I went to walk on the beach and found two of my friends, Ellie and Zoe, perfectly framed under a gorgeous rainbow. How Irish! We decided to conclude our healthy afternoon stroll with three pints at the pub. The original plan was one each, but the rainbow had to be celebrated.
Tuesday
I made some really stellar cookies/biscuits today called Langue du Chat (cat’s tongue). It is essentially a crispy sugar cookie piped out into a long line and decorated with nuts, or lemon zest. They were real nice. I also made a lemon posset, which is like a little custard or pudding-type treat set in a jar or shallow tray. I set mine in a small little pot and paired it with the Langue du Chat and some flowers for garnish. It was class.
Prior to studying at Ballymaloe, my job in Chicago required me to stand and move around for most of the day. I worked in house as a food stylist for a meal kit brand which was largely just cranking out pretty plates of food from 9am-5pm. This was great preparation for four hours of kitchen work every morning. I’m able to keep my energy up and do what I need to do. However after our high speed mornings in the kitchen, the day slows down very quickly. We eat a quick lunch right after cooking which is always the food we made that morning and then we move into our afternoon demo, for around 3 and a half hours of sitting, listening and often, trying to stay awake. I’ve tried coffee, I’ve tried tea, and I’ve tried splashing cold water on my face and no luck. I really hate gum- not the taste of it, but the concept. Having this wet piece of flavored starch in your mouth for hours on end just feels icky. But I have set aside this pet peeve and purchased a pack of Extra! spearmint gum (not sponsored) to hopefully keep me mentally stimulated enough to stay alert. We’ll see if it works. But enough about my general fatigue, my lemon posset and langue du chat were a triumph.
Wednesday
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday are all days we cook in the morning. Wednesday is our lecture day. This consists of a morning demonstration from one of our teachers often followed by a guest lecture in the afternoon. This week was all about olive oil. The lecturer was a young olive oil farmer from the UK living in Greece. He began his farm and business with his brother with the intent on making organic olive oil farming more attainable to lower income farmers. He was passionate- he had charisma- he had great olive oil. Now, I’m about to go somewhere this blog has yet to go and admit that I had a crush on teacher. You can ask me absolutely anything about olive oil and organic farming after today as I am now an absolute expert. Like in Europe, you can only call yourself organic if you have been tested organic for four years in a row. And also did you know that the teacher is very hard to track down on instagram? But it would appear from his brand account that he is single(!). In all seriousness, I did learn a lot about olive oil production from the growth of the olive to the pressing of the fruit to extract the oh-so sought-after oil. It deepened my appreciation for organic farming, not only from a flavor standpoint but also a climate change standpoint. Just picture me on a farm in Ireland twirling my hair and kicking my feet while writing this entry about dreamy olive oil boy… <3*
Thursday
I made a fish pie today and it sucked and I was mad. That’s all I want to write.
Fine. I’ll add more detail. It’s actually called Haddock in Crumbs with Duchess Potatoes, but it was just fish pie. It was a lot of steps: filleting a fish, making a béchamel sauce (white cream sauce) that becomes a mornay sauce† (white cream sauce with cheese), and finally, making a mashed potato so smooth that you can pipe it into a fancy design and make it as pretty and appetizing as a fish pie could possibly be. While most recipes I’ve made here have been challenging, fun, and rewarding, this one was neither fun nor rewarding for me. I finished cooking super late and promptly smashed my head into a wall and fed my leaked out brains to the chickens. I also made delicious lemon squares but I couldn’t even savor that joy due to the cursed fish pie.
But fret not, dear reader. Things took a turn for the delightful when, after the demo, I took an elective sausage-making class. We worked in little teams to make two different types of sausage. One we got to take home with us, and one will age for several weeks. We also got to make sausage rolls that my cottagemate, Kaat and I enjoyed for dinner. As annoying as fish pie was, I know there must be fish pie days that make the ‘perfect cake’ days worth it.
Friday
Before coming here, I had a lot of people immediately ask me what my plan was for after school. I understand the concern but the question kind of felt unfair and frustrating. I don’t really have a plan after this but I’m truly 27 years old and that is okay for the time being. With that being said- I had a small breakthrough today: I realized I have so much fun baking and I may be quite good at it. Today I made a Tuscan Apple cake with a lemon zest, mint, and an apple jelly glaze. It slapped. I also nabbed a rose on my walk into the kitchen today and used the petals to decorate. So while I still don’t know where I will be in my career come December, I found something I really enjoy doing. Neat!
That’s all for this week! Now I'm looking forward to watching rugby all weekend because as aforementioned I am now a huge fan and it is my only personality trait (would love it if someone could just quickly remind me what the rules to rugby are because I forgot ♥️).
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^Irish for ‘trunk sale’. Basically people showing up to a parking lot somewhere and selling things out of their car.
‡ Young people slang for ‘very good’
*I do have a boyfriend and he is wonderful and helps edit these blogs to make them legible <3 thank you, Beau.
† Very similar to the scene in Schitt’s Creek you must “fold in the cheese” but you have to be careful to not overheat as to break your bechamel sauce or burn the dairy in the sauce. You also don’t want to add your cheese too soon or else the sauce will be too loose and will end up breaking. Super fun.
