Sheila & Julia

Well things just get busier for me.  My writing course is in full swing and I took my first cooking class on Tuesday.  My "Quick and Inspiring" dinners at the Dublin Cookery were extremely inspiring but would certainly not be quick for me to make on my own. 

Check out that blue sky!

 But the best part is that we get to eat a full delicious three course meal throughout the evening and we even brought a whole cake home (still warm from the oven).  I've been quite a hit with the family since I came home with a cake.

Here is the menu (recipes for those interested to follow):

STARTER:  Coconut and Cumin Pancakes with Aubergine Pickle and Coriander Yogurt

MAIN COURSE:  Filet of Salmon with Lemon Grass Butter Cooked on the Griddle Pan and Vegetable Stir Fry

DESSERT:  Irish Apple Cake with Caramel Sauce

It was all seriously yummy!  I have never taken a cooking course before so I don't know if mine was typical but it was a combination of demonstration and team work to make the meal.  She first showed us how to make the dessert and then the starters and then we went into the kitchen and each made a cake and got it baking.  Then we made the pancakes but she had made enough of the aubergine pickle for all of us (thank god because that was the really tricky/time consuming part).  After we each taste-tested the starter, we went back to the demonstration room and she showed us how to make the veggies ("veg") and salmon.  Again, she made enough of the detailed lemon grass butter for all of us so when we went back into the kitchen with our partner, we just made the veggies and salmon and they provided the lemon grass butter.  At the end, we went back and she demonstrated how to make the caramel sauce which we put on top of her cake and shared. 

We all got to take our own whole apple cakes home! 

The class was a blast.  I met a lot of nice women (there were a couple of men in the class too!), all of whom claimed they did not know how to cook and had never taken a class before.  So it was very fun to joke about how badly we were doing everything.  My partner, Libby, is in her 20's and decided last week that she needed to grow up and stop eating cereal for every meal.  She works as a waitress in Dublin and is single and claims to have had no need to cook....oh and she weighs about 100 pounds.  She was darling and gave me all kinds of fun advice of what to see in Dublin.  She knows the good restaurants and also recommended we go to the Leprechaun museum which she said the kids will love (I took a sneek peak at the website and it said this: "Parental Guidance advised. Some stories have a twist in the tail!").  We had already gotten the advice to go to that musem from two darling sixteen year old boy rugby players on the Dart a few days earlier.  They had also told us the best ice cream shops in the area....  I am finding that it always good to get advice from young people, especially when you have kids. 

I have to say the cooking class was one of the highlights of my trip so far.  The only downside was the language barrier; not knowing words like aubergine, castor sugar, mangetout and kecap manis was a definite handicap.  (And, of course, I still don't know if my handicap relates to the fact that I am an American or can't cook).  I have three more sessions and I can't wait.  We will post the recipes in a separate link and I will let you know what we make next. 

My writing class was also fun.  This was a "reading" week where people could share their writing with the class and the teacher and the rest of the class provide feedback.  I didn't share anything (due to the lack of creative writing archives described by many of my classmates).  The writing was phenomenal and I told them that I felt humbled to take the class and listen to such talented writers.  One of my classmates is Patrick Wall who writes poetry in Irish and lectures at Trinity College. Another classmate is Maureen Daly who is also a published poet.  She read a piece called Aphrodesiac Indian Take Out...it was all about the sensuality of Indian Food.....Woah....At the end we did another prompt where the teacher gives us a sentence to start a story....Mine was "The sweet shop was really old fashioned"....and it ended up being pretty lame and she made me read it to the class....they all sweetly said it was great.  I didn't care as sharing it was my ticket into the class and hearing the othe great writing. 

So, Tuesday is my big day here.  And, now I am picking up our new friend Dervla's two boys Oscar and Pierce after tennis on Tuesdays which is fabulous because Johnny loves having the boys over.  Plus they are very sweet and disciplined about doing homework! 

With Mondays and Friday's being excursion days with Lisa, I am looking for other fun activities on Wednesday and Thursday mornings.  I applied through the local volunteer center to play scrabble with an elderly man on Thursdays. I haven't heard back but I will keep you all posted if I get the job!  I love Scrabble, but Lisa reminds me I benefit immensely when we play online by being able to check if my nonsensical letter combinations are real words.  So, the odds are pretty good that the old man would win...which might frustrate my competitive nature.  But I suppose part of the volunteering is to give the client the chance to win.  So...fingers crossed that Thursdays with O'Morrie works out.

Finally, I have to report that the constant rain is becoming quite tolerable.  (I suppose in part that is because we just had three days with very little rain which was a welcome respite).  But it began again today.  We have started to be disappointed when we wake up and it is not raining....because we know that an hour later when we need to walk or bike the kids to school, the rain will have certainly come.  And the corollary is also true....when it is raining when we awake, we are happy because we know the sun will be out by the time we leave the house.