Day 4

Nothing much happened today, we had our first wine lecture, then one on Irish farm house cheeses, specifically one made by a crazy sounding old woman in Kerry, who calls her cheese her children. Then a talk on health and safety in the kitchen and finishing the day off with a 3 hour lecture on government guidelines in cooking. Yes the latter part was as boring as it sounded.

In all honestly though, listening to Darina Allen talking is not a chore, she is one of those people you meet and leave an indelible mark on your life. She want's the idea of a natural lifestyle to be defended on all costs and is appalled at the globalisation, desctuction and nannying of the world we live in. If there's a fight against civil liberties, whatever they are, she'll fight them. There's actually a whole lot I could say regarding regarding Darina and the school, I'll leave that for another slow day though, maybe next Wednesday when we have another lecture.

My confidence in tomorrows Jam and Goats cheese dishes was perhaps slightly misplaced though, as I found out that I'm on the rota to make bread in the morning. 4 loaves I think it is.

On the plus side, they played 99 red balloons on the way home in the car tonight, that was pretty cool. By the way, the roads in Ireland are the worst, it's also interesting to know that a large proportion of drivers on the roadshere don't have driving licenses as it takes on average 37 weeks for them to get a driving test from the moment they apply. And it shows.

MARK'S TIP OF THE DAY
When making any bread, pastry or pretty much anything that starts off as a dough, always use your oven on the convection setting and not the fan assisted, as this will dry your dough out too quickly. FACT.