I GRADUATED!!!!! (that's all for tonight)

Bartending School

Ok, so some of you may know this and some may not, but I've recently done a bartending course at Worlds Oldest Bartending School: The Professional Bartending School in Chicago...and I LOVED IT! Every week you learn drinks, and at the end of each week you take a test where they time you. Week One...5 drinks in 5 mins. Week 2...10 drinks in 10 Mins. Week 3...15 drinks in 10 Mins.

The final week also brings the written exam (which I'm studying for now...hence this monolog)

Here's a recap of my weeks:

Week 1: 100%
Week 2: 100%
Week 3: 99% (Who know a cherry is not a good garnish for a Perfect Dewer's Rob Roy)

So as I'm hours away from my exam...I thought i'd leave you some famous quotes of interest...

"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they are going to feel all day."

-Frank Sinatra

"An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools."

-Ernest Hemingway

"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading."

-Henny Youngman

"A woman drove me to drink and I didn't event have the decency to thank her."

-W.C. Fields

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."

-Bengamin Franklin

"Twenty-four hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence?"

-Stephan Wright

"The greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. The wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does nto go nearly as well with pizza."

-Dave Barry

Well I gotta get back to the books!

Chocolate Boxes

According to the National Confectioners Association, there are several ways to "read" an unlabeled Box Of Chocolates. Wrapped chocolates usually have liquid or soft centers. Large bumps on the surface indicates the presence of nuts; small bumps tends to signal coconut. Square and rectangular chocolates often contain caramel.

Back In the States/Expansion of blog

Hi everyone!! It's been SOOO long since I've updated this, but a lots been going on....after school, I worked in Ireland for a month, my grandad passed away (pic below):( and I've been and come back from Italy. I spent a month there...it was great, but I came back to Ireland for my uncles wedding, and have since moved back to Chicago. Since I've been back ...I've got a job at a restaurant that is opening up, so now we're doing menu testing/training/etc..and i've decided to go to bartending school so I can get some MONEY! It's been a lot of fun, I love being behind the bar...def a lot of fun.

Mum, dad and I went to the annual Condor's booze cruise..here's some pics.






So you might be wondering about the expansion of the blog...well since i'll be staying put in Chicago for awhile, I thought I'd start adding some tidbits of triva, did ya knows', and funny/interesting things. I'm sure most of you know I have a lot of random thoughts and trivia ...so I figured this is as good of a place as any to let it all out lol.

So for now...here's something you might find funny...certainly made me smile:
(stay tuned for more blog action soon)

Ode to a Martini Drinker
by Sold Cober

Strankel, strankle, little twink.
Who the hell you are I think.
I'm not under what they call
The alcofluence of incohol.
I'm not druck as thinkle peep
I'm just a little slort of sheep
Tee martoonis make a guy
Fool so feelish, don't know why.
Rally don't know who's me yet.
The drunker I stay the longer I get.
So just one more to full my cup
I've all day sober to Sunday up.

Week 7

We'll its week 7 here, and to be honest...I'm loving every second of it.

We just did our herb & salad exam which included some techniques on Friday. I think I did pretty well, I'll find out the results tomorrow. For the technique part I had to: chop and sweat an onion, slice and saute mushrooms, make mayonnaise and make a paper piping bag....all in 20 mins....I think I got it all done and in more than enough time.

After the exam we had a winter bbq here and a bit of a party ...then on Saturday I was in need of a quiet night home....so I decided not to go with the group to Cork. Sunday was really nice, we went on a cliff walk (photos are attached) then went to lunch at a restaurant that overlooks the bay and then worked/toured a bakery in Middleton. Really a great day.

Hope all is well with you lot

xoxo

As Promised

I know I said I'd give you some pictures of the school/grounds, here's some photos...to keep you going.

I'll have to remember to bring my camera into the school.

Enjoy...I'm heading up this weekend to see Mum at KD's (I'M SO EXCITED!!)

Week 4

How's everyone...sorry I haven't posted anything for awhile, but the Internet has been down.

Last Friday after school we came back to our house and the alarm was going off, and we had no power. After about 3 hours someone came out to figure out what happened....apparently my toilet was dripping into the fuse box..causing the "melt down." So, the solution=wait til the fuse to dry out.....no problem what-so-ever with no power for a night, the problem I had with the whole situation....the bloody alarm was not turned off...for 36 HOURS.

Sleeping through an alarm is not a fun thing to do...luckily Charlotte and I left to go to Kilkenny...so we avoided some of the alarm, but not all of it.

We got to Kilkenny, and had a fun time...did some shopping and had some dinner, met Marc and Barbara for some drinks...only to find out Barbara's car had been stolen! So we had a full session then went back to Marc's for the best home-made curried chips I've ever had!

On a positive spin for the weekend, I got to see KD..went to Dodo's grave to say hello...had a lovely meal at Paul's restaurant and had a good drive back down to Cork.

I'll have to load pictures next time because the internet is REALLY REALLY slow right now, so until then...I'll leave you with this thought:

A bowl of Corn Flakes, has more salt in it than a cup of Sea Water!

I GOT A JOB!!

So the other day in our demo's Darina (Headmistress, if you will, of the course...Darina Allen) announced that someone she met in Italy was looking for a person to come and work with her from the summer cooking in Tuscany at a new restaurant...so I thought, Why the hell not...I sent the lady (Arianna) an email saying how I'd love to come and sent her my resume...we'll she's hired me! Can you believe it! The Ballymaloe name is so far connected...she know's I'll be well able for the job after doing this course....so the vague plan is to go at the end of March and get settled in.

Here's a bit about the town:



Its in a town called Panzano in Chianti. Here's what I found when I googled the town...

Panzano (498m) originally a medieval castle, still preserves some of its old walls and towers.

Its strategic and picturesque position is best appreciated on the approach from San Casciano.

There is one main street leading to the church of Santa Maria which was completely renovated a century ago. It has a late Gothic Madonna and Child attributed to Bernardo di Stefano Rosselli encased in a larger picture with saints and angels. In the nearby oratory is an Annunciation attributed to Michele di Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio.

Where is Panzano in Chianti: is located in the middle of Florence province, at the beginning of the Chianti area

How to reach Panzano in Chianti: From Florence, direction south on the Chiantigiana road S222. Florence is 30 Km far

Nearby: Visit the Chianti area, Greve in Chianti, Radda and Castellina in Chianti.

Distances: Florence 30 Km - Siena 36 Km

I'm not sure where exactly I am, but here's a map of Tuscany...

AHHHHH I can't believe it! Just found the restaurnt, in this photo its just a wine bar, but they are creating the restaurnt now, they open up in March!!

End of Week One

Its an end to a wonderful first week...so far this is what we learned:

Flapjacks
Homemade Lemonade
Brown Soda Bread
Poached Pears in Sweet Geranium Syrup
Winter Salad
Potato Soup
Carrot Soup
3 types of Savory Tarts
Mushroom a la' creme
White bread
Scones
Crackers
Candied Orange Peal
Choc. Hazelnut Tart
Apple Crumble Pie
A variety of salads
Jam
How to joint a chicken
Wings
Chicken Breast
Gamed birds
Fork Biscuits

To name a few!

So as you can see....its been busy :)

By the end of the 12 weeks I'm going to be cooking up a storm!

Here are some photos of my Housemates and some chicken friends lol
I heard this week that Ballymaloe was in the top 5 cooking schools in the world....so far it feels like it..bloody hard work, but so worth it. So ya...

This weekends plans so far:
-Farmers market, some shopping, dinner at Clonmel and maybe a day trip on Sunday to Kerry or Clare, not sure yet.

Hope you all had a good week.

xoxo
L

Our good friend.

William not enjoying me taking his picture lol..I reckon he's got a bit of peter pan in him what do you think?
Tipton wouldn't stop moving so I had to take a cameo and his eyes were shut so sorry for that...we were about to play some pool.

Charlotte (eating a bag of chips...she would not be impressed that I posted her in this photo eating lol)


Tom beating everyone at pool lol

Photos of the house

So as promised....here's some pics of the my room and of the house..also here's Lauren being so freaking cute coping the mannequin

Day One

OK it was probably the best day ever...I'm completely shattered! We started our day with a 2 hr tour of the grounds and planted some lettuce. Then we had a wonderful lunch then ended the day with a 4 hour lecture/demo...so amazing, this course is going to be amazing...so much information in 12 weeks and the tests! My god so much but so great.

I know I promised pictures but like I said...I'm shattered, I need sleep...I promise pictures tomorrow.

Lotsa Love

Laoise

Finally Arrived

We'll I just arrived and met my house mates here in Ballymaloe. Its too dark for pictures now, but I'll get some for you tomorrow.

So far there's Charlotte, Tipton and William. There's a nice group...Charlotte is from Holland, Tipton is from the states-Tenn I think he said and William is from Scotland. Were still awaiting the arrival of Tom, so not sure what his story is yet.

I left Marc (my uncle's) at about quarter after 3 and pulled in here at 5:30, so not bad at all. Then got my self sorted and met the group for a big soup and bread dinner....delicious soup. I've got to unpack shortly and get ready for a 9 am start walking the farm and then a demo...should be great fun!

See all you kiddies soon! Lotsa love

xoxo
Laoise

Happy New Year!

Well New Years was a blast as you can imagine! Had lots of laughs, food, and of course beer! My Uncle Marc had some people in for a bit of a session, and it was so much fun...we chatted and danced to music until about 6 in the morning...I'm running on a whopping 5 hours of sleep, but for some strange reason I'm wide awake. I'm sitting here flipping through the stations and what do I find.....Grey's Anatomy. It's about 7 episodes behind where I am in the series, but its still fun to watch.

So funny story from the night....Tony who is a vegetarian for about 20 years said his brother-in-law always says teases him saying he has photos of Tony tucking into a turkey leg one of the Christmases ago...Tony gets to hear this story every year...so this year, he said to his brother-in-law, before anyone could talk about a turkey photo, that he had photos of his sister with lots of past boyfriends, but it doesn't mean she loves them now.... does it...so just fuck off! Tony get's the gold star for that in my book!

Anyway here's the pics I promised from our ice skating! I didn't bring the camera out last night, sorry about that but I will take some landscape photos soon!

Lots of love! Happy 2009!!!...Make it a good one!

PS---Any resolutions?