Weekend 8 - Life is but a catalogue
Saturday morning I got up early to go foraging at the beach for our pop-up dinner. The pop-up dinner happens towards the end of every 12 week course at Ballymaloe and is a chance for students to put on a three course dinner for ~70 paying customers. While preparations began weeks ago, I’m only talking about it now because I’m on the front of house team and our tasks were all closer to the actual event. I am specifically helping out on the decoration committee. If my friend Genna is reading this - think our tablescapes in Little Compton times a billion.
It felt so nice to be in the fresh air. The beach really is just as beautiful in cold weather as it is in the summer - if not more!
Afterwards, a few of us went to the Ballymaloe craft fair. It hosted a ton of great artists, vintage booths, food and of course drinks because Ireland. I ate really good Korean beef bulgogi, charcoal mint gelato, and perhaps got a few Christmas presents for people, but that is a secret that stays with me. The whole thing was a large production but still very cute and was kind of giving Stars Hallow in Gilmore Girls.
We decided to have a cozy Saturday night in after our Blackbird adventure on Friday. Gabby made a delicious pomodoro sauce for pasta, NIcolette made salad and garlic bread. My contributions were stealing a blender from the school and building a fire. Pyromaniac kleptomaniac at your service. Oh, and also the garlic bread was made using my white yeast bread from Friday so make that pyromaniac-kleptomaniac-baker <3
I had the best night’s sleep of my entire adult life on Saturday night so when I woke up I went for a long run then joined few people on the Ballycotton cliff walk. Yes, this was my third time doing it in 8 days and no, I will not be apologizing for it. It is stunning every time! And this time Gabby brought her fancy camera and made the whole thing look like an LL Bean photoshoot. I will gladly feature in Mr. LL’s catalogues if it means getting to hang around gorgeous sea vistas.
Exactly one month remains in my extended LL Bean photo shoot. I try not to think about it ending, but here is a comprehensive list of things I really really miss (obviously not counting my friends, family, and dog because I’m not a sociopath):
-my fluffy bathrobe
-my hair dryer
-time to listen to my podcasts
-book club
-grocery stores where I know how the aisles are set up
-riding my bike
-access to amazon 2 day delivery
-turkey sandwiches
All of those thing snake me seem like a huge spoiled brat diva. Which is maybe true! But dont forget it is actually pyromaniac-kleptomaniac-baker-brat.