Neglect!

I know I know, I have been very bad and have neglected this blog for two weeks! Sorry to those who are enjoying it, I promise to do better!
It has been a very good two weeks here in sunny Cork, from a cooking perspective at least. The course has gathered pace again and the final week is upon us. Only one more day in the kitchen left and then its only exams left to do.
The week seems pretty hectic and the format is the following;
Monday - Normal day in Kitchen
Tuesday - Morning lecture and visit to Ballymaloe House
Wednesday - Practical exam at 8.30am
Thursday - Study
Friday - 3 written papers
After much deliberation I have also decided my menu for the practical exam, it is as follows;

Pea, chilli and coriander soup, served with sour dough

poached Irish salmon with hollandaise sauce, buttered spinach and spring onion mash

Lemon Posset with Ballymaloe biscuits and crystallised lemon peel.

3 hours, tasting session and then it will be all done.
So it will be a hectic week but I guess 3 months of Ballymaloe should adequately prepare you for this and to be honest I am quietly confident, the menu is quite simple which means that it must be nailed at every level. I did however cook some of it last time I was up home and it went quite well bar a few hiccups.
Other than stressing for the exams there has been quite alot going on here in Ballymaloe. the weather has turned pretty cold, the roads are shockingly dangerous but we have had very little snow, a minor flurry about a week ago but other than that nothing. Given that we are in the middle of nowhere, and living a very idyllic country life, a bit more snow would have been a welcome addition. I bet those of you, particularly in Scotland, who are knee deep in snow at the moment are cursing me right now. I also had my birthday here this week past, it actually was really good fun if a little embarrassing. The day started with Loopy (a friend on the course) making me a mini Puff pastry gateaux for my birthday, I then went for a walk to ease my back and the whole of the demo kitchen lot burst into happy birthday and gave me another cake. I stupidly though that would be the end of it, but no, at the start of demo, all 62 people in the room sang happy birthday and I had to go to the front to be presented with my (heart shaped) meringue including candles from Darina!!! I was suitably mortified. Then that night we had about 30 people at our house as Steve (one of my buddies on the course) and I had decided to have a few beers to celebrate our birthdays (his is next week) and everyone came round. There were cakes, beer, wine and chilli and the night finished off in the pub. I had a great time and stayed off the booze for the most part because of my pain killers.
So the time for study has arrived, I am going to make a big effort to make it through till the end of the course, the back is really bad but only 5 more days of class and 11 more till my operation. I will definitely keep this blog going for a while yet, particularly when in China and next week I will attempt to upload alot more of the photos I have as some of them are excellent.
That's me for now, all good here in Cork, hope you are all doing well,
Peace
T