Hells Kitchen!

I guess everyone has them, but as bad days go, Friday was a true gem! You know what I'm talking about, a day when it seems that everything you try doesn't work! Here is a little tip for you, if it doesn't look right, it probably isn't! From picking a fish the size of a small shark to try and fillet, to making light, fluffy biscuits that had the consistency of cement, Friday was a day to forget!
The day started as usual, with a brisk walk around the gardens at 6.45am, 3 hours of really painful cooking and then a great demo in which we learnt how to butcher a whole side of lamb and then Rory cooked a leg of lamb with Rosemary and Garlic, roast potatoes, homemade mint sauce and a lovely salad with Shanagarry cream sauce. Really excellent stuff and and it means that I am cooking roast leg of lamb tomorrow!!
The weekend has been good, few beers on Friday night at the Blackbird pub in Ballycotten turned into a big one with most of the course out for drinks. Good to meet other people from the course in a slightly more relaxed setting. Saturday was very quiet as soon as I learnt that you could have Sky Sports on the laptop, so I watched the Ryder cup, which was amazing as I thought I would miss it!
Today started with a really early morning walk to the beach, bit of filing of all my recipes, of which there must be well over 100 by now!
I have also been invited to Ballymaloe House tonight by Myrtle Allen to have some dinner, I am very much looking forward to it!
It seems like the tempo will be lifted next week I think, more recipes to do each day and I would assume, a slightly more critical eye from the teachers. Other than that, all is well here in sunny Cork, I will update you all during the week, lets hope Fridays nightmare will be a distant memory!
T