Saturday Night's all right

Somehow the Ryder Cup weather transferred to East Cork and the day consisted of scattered showers, some of monsoon proportion, but all less than 20 minutes long.

A great day to do the washing and filing. Arising at the crack of breakfast the rushed weekday bowl of healthy muesli transformed into leisurely rashers and eggs and the four espressos into eight. Thoroughly fortified I faced the day. With both washing machine and dryer working it was time to face the filing.

Each day up to 15 recipes are handed out and demonstrated. This makes perfect sense in a demo as they are all related and comprise a complete three course meal. It is when they have to be filed away that the fun begins. Six recipes for lamb and a chart of edible bits makes sense - file under lamb. But then it is served with french beans and steamed potatoes - file under vegetables, and a borlotti bean and tomato fondue side dish, Tomato fondue is technically a sauce whereas borlotti beans are pulses.I referred earlier to the KGB style cross referencing required to stay on top of the filing, and the printing of recipes back to back complicates matters further yet,
Oh how two and a half hours flew by as I wrestled with the logic of filing, and the weather outside varied from Sahara to Atlantis.

Now, Ballymaloe is nothing if not great on foraging and obtaining ingredients for free. So the next task was to identify spare and suitable twigs and small branches for lighting the cottage fire, logs being supplied on a regular basis.  This also afforded an opportunity to identify sites containing edible and gratis produce such as

No prizes for calculating Pie or Crumble for those two, but some are more tricky but still free and good quality such as

Yes the first ones are Sloes, and we are doubly blessed as the recipe for Sloe Gin was handed out during the week and they grow in the cottage garden. Bad news though the Gin would not be ready until after we have gone home. And the second is |lemon Scented Geranium, a useful addition to Lemonade or as a gentle sharpener in salads.

As dusk fell it was clear that I would have clean clothes for another week, there would be living flame in the grate this evening, my filing was done if not entirely retrievable and  I was hungry and tired. Still Sunday is the day of rest - but not here