It's been a hectic few days and so I've not written for ages - between the exam cramming on Thursday evening, the mass exodus to the pub on Friday evening for celebratory drinks and a Halloween party last night, it's been a crazy few days and for much of it, well the last two days at least, my head has hurt, anyway it's time to catch up.
So on Thursday I was only down to make risotto, have no idea how that happened but I wasn't complaining, it was a good excuse to use the time to practice things before Friday's exam so I made orange scones which came out perfectly, and some glazed carrots because I'd not done them before and they were on the list and they've a tendency to fuse themselves to the bottom of your Le Crueset pot so figured they were worth a practice and then made another caramel sauce, also for practice and that was a bit of a confidence buster, honestly this may well be my new nemesis, you've to hold your nerve with caramel otherwise it just takes like runny sugar but me and my nerve seem to be a little too close and I always burn it a bit and there was no change on Thursday, I know it's supposed to have a bit of a burnt sugar taste - in a good way - but mine always tastes rather more like a fireplace.
And then it was time to make the risotto, it doesn't really hold so I had to leave it until just before lunch and the advance planning and organisation felt like the preparation for the Normandy landings, once you start on risotto you can't leave it for so much as a second and it takes about 30 minutes of stirring before you actually have risotto and not just hard bits of rice obstinately swimming around in stock so I had the best part of my whole cutlery draw lined up and all the things that you've to throw into it during the process sitting anxiously in little bowls. It came out all right actually considering it was my first shot, pumpkin risotto so I'd roasted that earlier in the morning with garlic and herbs and a touch of chilli, not too shabby in the end, well I managed to eat it which doesn't exactly spell incredible cuisine because all I seem to do these days is eat but still, not bad and definitely going to practice again, risotto is so good, going to make a mushroom one next, that's my best.
Afternoon demo was with Rory, YAY, and it was a seafood extravaganza with a few cakes and pies chucked in for those who prefer their food cooked - some of the seafood was, the prawns and the periwinkles and the mussels but a fair amount wasn't, oysters, sea urchins, what have you.
Now my only encounter with a sea urchin to date has been when your man stood on one in Greece whilst trying to tie up my dad's yacht to a tree on the shore, whilst simultaneously been sworn at my dad as we all are when we go sailing together (all meant entirely well, I don't envy his place as skipper when his crew is as rubbish as we all are - when he asks me and my sister to bring up the main sheet, we head down below to strip our beds and bring the sheets back up to the top, and it turns out that's not what he means at all........) - anyway your man was probably wondering why the hell he'd married into the family just as a sea urchin took umbrage against his stumbling around the sea floor and decided to take revenge. Anyway it turns out that you can eat them too, raw or cooked and Rory went for raw - a gentleman named John who farms them in West Cork came and spoke to us about them in the morning, they're quite incredible really, can live for well over 70 years unless they're unfortunate enough to make an appearance at Ballymaloe.
To cook them you would do the whole chuck them into boiling water thing but even worse, to eat them raw you just take a pair of scissors and cut the "lid" off as such and eat them right there and then - as Rory said, if Neptune is the guy in charge in the next life, we're all in a spot of trouble..................
So I decided I must be adventurous, God knows when I'll next have the chance to eat a sea urchin - it's not exactly the type of thing you'd normally find in the cold section at Woollies - so I tried it, not too bad actually, pretty much just tastes of the sea and a bit sweet too. Had an oyster as well, still not my best thing but I don't mind them too much - I've definitely improved since my very first one about 4 years ago where it had a serious debate on the way down, stopping for a mini break halfway down my throat to decide whether to go north or south and thankfully it went south! Opening them of course is an absolute mission, we've been advised to wrap a tea towel 4 times around the hand holding the oyster but I suspect there may well be someone who impales themself to the work station come Monday morning when we have to have a go at this, and it's unlikely that we'll manage it with as much panache as Rory.
We cooked brussel sprouts too, not everyone's cup of tea but I love them - I've never seem them growing actually and they had a branch off a brussel sprout plant to show us, so pretty and so well designed, all these gorgeous leaves curled around the little sprouts to make sure they stay safe.
The cakes were fab, your man loves carrot cake and this is one of the best I've ever tasted so that'll be on the Christmas menu at home for sure and there was also a parsnip and maple syrup cake to die for, too good. Rory also showed us how to make Dingle Pie which is basically very similar to a Cornish pasty, yum!
And lastly we made Carrigeen Moss pudding which to be honest I wasn't too excited about - it's made with milk and, you guessed it, Carrigeen Moss which is a type of seaweed that basically acts as gelatine but served with sweet poached plums it was actually pretty good - between the periwinkles (very Irish), the Dingle Pie (even more so) and the Carrigeen pud, I was properly Irished-out.
Straight after demo, we donned our wellies - the weather had decided to go with the theme and be officially Irish too and by that I mean dark, cold, wet and windy - and made a dash to the glasshouses where we picked one leaf of everything green, headed back to the cottage, spread them all out on the kitchen table and proceeded to try and learn them. Word spread and we soon had a mass of visitors from other cottages and everyone was mumbling the names under their breath and testing each other - such a back-to-school flashback, night before cram sessions although note the bottle of wine to the right, that's the one advantage of being a "mature student" - we had to keep shuffling the leaves around, it was like a dancehall, two steps to the left, one to the right - otherwise you only remembered them because of where they were on the table which wasn't going to help much when we hit the exam room the next day and they'd been arranged in a completely different order, sneaky!
Headed for bed at about 11 with a head full of all things green, by then we were honestly all far more interested in whether the blasted things could be rolled up and smoked - exam day tomorrow and then the weekend, YAY!
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