Market Day

Oh my God, it’s only been a week and I know, I just know I’ve put on weight already – with it being the weekend, I’ve had to relinquish my lovely chef pants and revert to “normal” clothes and I can literally feel my skinny jeans eyeing me reproachfully from the back of the cupboard, if jeans could speak (and mine will soon be yelling four-letter words at me and begging me to“step away from the pastry”) I just know what they’d be muttering, all sorts of snide remarks like “she says she has to taste everything” and “does she know how much butter is in that sauce?”. Anyway, they’ve a fair point and I’ve made them a solemn promise that I’ll put them on at least once a week – although I fear I may have to lie down soon just to zip them up – if nothing else, the exercise should serve as a deterrent at meal times.......................I hope.

I woke up at 8, which isn’t too bad I suppose and it’s so nice not having to jump out of bed and rush off to do something – instead I made tea, watched the news on the telly, and ambled around the house for a while. One of my housemates, Claire, has a car and had kindly offered to take us all into Middleton, the nearest town about 8 miles away to visit the Farmers’ Market and then on to Tesco’s to stock up with some healthy snacks (it’s good to have goals) and all the other things we’ve discovered we need in the house over the week.

The plan was to leave at about 10 and we were dead excited – bit of cabin fever I suppose and the prospect of a trip into town was very appealing. It was the most glorious day, blue skies and sunny and beautiful – I’m still struggling with this whole weather malarkey (fab Irish word, I love it) though, when I see sun out the window I want to put on shorts and flip flops but a quick test out the front door left me in no doubt that whilst the sun might have been showing her face, she’d bought her friend, very cold wind, with her. It was my coldest day yet and I went out suitably kitted for an expedition to Everest – boots, thick socks, leggings, about 5 layers on the top and even with all that, there were still parts that I couldn’t feel by the time we’d reached the car. God alone knows what I’m going to do come November/December, my duvet might have to become a mobile accessory................! I managed to leave my hat at home, you’ve got to have something to look forward to I suppose for when it gets properly cold and I’m under no illusions at the moment that it’s only me that thinks it’s chilly, us Southern Hemisphere souls are just not geared for this weather.

Anyway, off we headed and found Middleton and the market easily and it was just so cute – about 20 stalls altogether – Ballymaloe has the largest one and I’ll be on duty there in a few weeks time. Too many things you’d want to just buy and take home to eat – patés, amazing fresh fish, smoked salmon, fantastic fruit and veggies (we bought masses, it’s the skinny jeans thing again), cheeses, cakes, relishes, pickles, what have you – all good, good, good.

Middleton Farmer's Market

There were some young girls kitted out in traditional Irish dancing outfits, a bag piping pair and a folk quartet singing in what we think was Spanish although to be honest it was hard to tell although lovely to listen to.

We managed to restrain ourselves admirably I thought and left with only bags of fruit and veggies and from there it was on to Tesco for the basics which included a good few bottles of wine, fresh salmon for our Saturday dinner, a kuku for our Sunday dinner, muesli, yoghurt, what have you – all low calorie, thigh-loving goodies designed to tempt us away from the tasting table – they’ve stiff competition though and I don't rate their chances too highly.

Once we got back to the school, we wandered around the farm and gardens for a while, determined to make the most of the sunshine and to learn a few more herbs and the like on the way, it was lovely.

We made ourselves a brilliant supper of green salad, beans, tomatoes and salmon – so good, our first family dinner, all washed down with a healthy glass or two of cold white wine – we’re really very lucky in our little house, it’s feel like home now and we’re loving it.