Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

Last night’s Thanksgiving Dinner was great. The menu, of bbq bruschetta for canapés, then a Turkey stuffed with Bacon, Parsley and Lemon stuffing, a Gammon cooked in Cider and Apples...Bread Sauce, Cranberry Sauce, home grown Artichokes, Carrots, Parsnips, Potatoes, Cabbage...then for dessert...pies!!!! Apple, Pecan and Sweet Potato, was epic. Lauren and Madison had really pulled out all the stops. Others from the house and surrounding cottages had decorated superbly and the Mulled Wine served in Jam Jars set the evening up to go well.

Around 40 people attended, including some of the teachers and staff, and the well supported raffle raised additional funding for the India Project. As Darina had offered to match whatever was raised by the evening and raffle a substantial sum should be forthcoming.

The evening proved two things to me, apart from being great fun; that 62 strangers can gel into a really cohesive group within ten weeks – a group that will stay together after we leave in December- and that there is a Ballymaloe Community into which we have been accepted without reservation. It says a lot for the School and its ethos that we all feel this way.

I made my exit around 11:30, the Red Bull having ceased to deliver the ability to stay longer and walked back across grounds, silvery in the moonlight. The temperature was plummeting and a hard frost looked likely but with the prospect of a glorious day to follow.

Sunday as you will know means practicing the Ironing technique – at which I am improving. I feel that I should, at this stage, issue a reminder to Mrs K that the basic premise of our entire relationship is that I Cook and you Iron or, to put it more accurately, that you do not cook and I do not iron. Any variation from this would render the contract null and void.

My weekly battle with the heating and pressing implement over I settled down for a nice cup of coffee and some rather nice toasted Sourdough with Seville Orange Marmalade. Tomorrow we shall be cooking burgers so for lunch or tea I shall have one of Dan Ahearne’s organic Burgers- once it has defrosted.

The day was too good to waste so, the filing complete, I took a stroll through the grounds and used this as a reason to dump several days worth of rubbish in the recycling area. Luckily I had a reusable bag with me for trash expulsion purposes so on the way back I recycled some fallen branches and twigs – blown down in the recent storms - into fire production resources.

On the way there and back the signs of Autumn were all around, very few leaves on twigs- but lots on the ground, frost lingering in some shaded areas,

and a powerful sun so low in the sky that shadows were immense.

The best Sunday I have ever spent? Maybe not but it is up there in the premier division, and somewhere along the way I managed to fit in a short bike ride.