Week 8 - The great goat escape
When my Monday morning began with me putting unpopped popcorn kernels on my yogurt instead of granola after my run, I feared it was an omen of bad things to come. It ended up ok, but please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.
I started the week making Tabbouleh and Risotto with parmesan. I also made home made butter for the first time which I was feeling especially prepared for considering my Butter Museum visit the prior Saturday. I don’t have a picture of the butter unfortunately but I encourage you to use your imagination and picture butter. Got it? It looked about like that!
Tuesday I made Tabbouleh again for some reason and a lemon curd cake. I was quite proud of this cake as there were many steps and I even thought ahead to dehydrate lemon slices to decorate. I was so proud of myself, in fact, that I literally begged the social media manager of the school to take a picture of me with my cake to post on instagram. I am not above debasing myself in the name of lemon curd, apparently.
Long time family friend came for the afternoon demonstration as well. Really fun to see a familiar face! She is a devoted reader of this blog and as a fellow Pam herself, clearly is a woman with immaculate taste! Hi Pam!
The next day we had a vegetarian demo in the morning and a wine lecture in the afternoon. Apparently we are going to have a wine exam as part of our final grade and I fear this will be my downfall. Despite the number of lectures you’ve heard me mention, I still can only really tell you one thing about any given wine - whether I like it or not. Actually here is one thing I have learned: any time you drink wine you just need to think about FAT ASS (fruit, acidity, tannin, alcohol, sweetness, and summation). Will continue to study fat ass until graduation.
That evening myself, Aideen and Sinead watched the sunset and the moonrise then made a fire in our living room with our other housemates. Very cozy indeed. None of them knew who Dave Matthews Band was. I was shocked. I assumed he was internationally relevant throughout the early 2000s?? Crash into me, indeed.
Thursday I baked a flat fish whole with beurre blanc sauce, steamed potatoes with herb butter, and brownies with chocolate ganache. Brownies was not one of my assigned dishes but I really wanted a brownie and no one stopped me.
After lunch, the two resident goats escaped their pen and no one seemed to care or notice except me and one of the bakers in the breadshed. We chased them around for a while and not that it is a competition but I was the one to catch them both. Not a brag if its a fact. Sinead helped me carry them back to their pens. I love them dearly.
That evening I went for my quarterly swim and sauna, this time featuring an almost full moon. Will never get enough of this.
On Friday morning I went to the bread shed for the first time in a while to shape a million sourdough and start a white yeast bread for lunch service. Then I went to the kitchen and spent the first 45 minutes of the day making mocktails for people. In my defense an instructor had told me to find a way to use up a bunch of old limes and lemons and it was a Friday so what else was I supposed to do. I then made apple tartlets, savory tartlets with pesto, chorizo and cheese, and finished my two loves of white yeast bread. I also did a recipe that answered the age old question: should oysters be served hot? The answer was a resounding no from me, but I will continue to follow direct orders.
That night a rom com happened to me! Well it actually happened next to me. I had planned to make dinner with a few girls because Nicola’s boyfriend’s sister (Annie) was visiting from England. My contribution was 14 beers and the brownies I made in class on Thursday. Very generous! Annie arrived and then about 10 minutes later the front door crept open and Nicola’s boyfriend had flown all the way from Australia to surprise her. I think just about everyone cried, it was so sweet. After dinner we had to celebrate this sacred reunion by going to The Blackbird where yet another band was playing Travelin’ Soldier by the Dixie Chicks. Love the commitment to telling sad Vietnam parables that Irish musicians seem to have.
That was week 8 done and dusted - only four more to go. Sad! Scary! Will choose to ignore!!