Ballymaloe

Ballymaloe Day 73: Úna-Minh dreams of sushi

I yawned so hard this morning that I thought my head would fall off.

Last night in a bid to get all of the last minute wine revision into our system, Sophie, Martha and I blitzed through our notes.

Up at the crack of dawn, we pulled on our chef whites, for formality, and heading into the cookery school for our wine exam.

With an hour to answer 100 questions on wine, I was glad I had studied beforehand. Though there were a few questions that I wasn’t 100% sure about, thankfully I felt quite comfortable going through the whole paper.

With a short break before our official learning day began, I pulled on normal clothes and prepared for a demo of glorious sushi.

(Darina fanning the sushi rice, much to our amusement!)

After my fill of sushi, dolma and lamb – a bizarre but wonderful conglomerate of food – the afternoon demo took a new turn into Christmasland.

Now personally I’m not a huge fan of the sweeter side of Christmas, except mulled wine, but I was still fascinated to see everything come together in a festive array of food.

(Pam working her magic)

Coming up with frosted tangerines, pudding, trifle, mincemeat pies and a yule log, Pam and her team of merry reindeer elves worked hard at making Christmas beautiful.

(Tracie and Pat rocking the festive look)

Feeling a bit under-the-weather, but thankfully not bad yet, tomorrow we’re back in the kitchen where I’ll be cooking duck legs with onion and thyme among other things.

Ciao!

Some random things I learned today:

  • Nori is a seaweed that has been roasted and pressed.
  • Wasabi comes from the root of the wasabi plant – yes, it’s a plant!
  • Pickled ginger is meant to be a palate cleanser when you’re eating sushi.
  • When buying rice vinegar, check to see that it’s not flavoured in any way – better to get it as natural as possible.
  • If you’re looking for a gluten-free alternative to soy sauce, try Tamari sauce!

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