Crystal, Cork and Cooking

Sailing to the Emerald Isle

To give us a change from Airport ques, restricted baggage and confined seating we decided to take the StenaLine Ferry to Ireland, sailing from Fishguard in Wales and arriving in Rosslare in Ireland. We had a beautiful trip over with Grace playing in the kids area for most of the 3 ½ hour trip. I’m writing this on the way back and the weather is not quite as good, so hopefully our trip back will be ok!

Crystal and Coastline

Our first stop was the small town of Waterford, renowned for Waterford Crystal and our (well Angela’s not Tim’s) main reason for visiting the town. We enjoyed a very lengthy look around the extensive shop and finally settled on some beautiful wine classes and carafe designed by Jasper Conran, which due to a free shipping and tax free offer we had sent back to NZ! (It’s the Aura range if anyone else wants to buy us more pieces!)

We so enjoyed the beautiful coast line and open spaces as we drove south from Waterford to Cork, we stopped in a great café in Dunmore East (another Lonely Planet recommendation), the coastal outcrop of An Rinn and enjoyed an ice cream Sunday in Youghal (pronounced Youl). The natural unrefined beauty of the Irish coast really reminded us of the beauty of New Zealand.

Cooking School at Ballymaloe (if you don't like cooking you may want to skip most of rest of the next bit!)

We stayed in Cork for three nights with Rose and Marc, our friends from Wellington and were able to explore the southern area at a relaxed pace. It was so great to be able to stay with them, Rose had just finished a work contract so was able to come out with us and act as Tour Guide and it was completely wonderful to have home cooked meals while we were away!

County Cork is renowned for great restaurants, cooking schools and loads of fabulous local produce. I was able to book in for an Italian demonstration at the Ballymaloe Cooking School in the small town of Shanangarry. (This place was similar to many in Ireland that it doesn’t give a street name, only the town, you’re just supposed to be able to find it, the Sat Nav was not so much use with out a proper address!)

The demo was part of a 12 week cookery school program. The 50 students watch a demo every afternoon, then between them, cook all the dishes the following morning. Throughout every moment of the 3 hour demonstration so much knowledge was being imparted, I took lots of notes and was completely exhausted at the end of it.

Fortunately at the end of the class I asked the woman next to me what the presenters name was. It was Rachel Allen, the daughter-in-law of Darrina Allen who had started the Ballymaloe cooking school - quite significant. Then as we continued traveling we discovered she was the writer of at least 4 cook books, has her own TV show and randomly appears on TV shows like Good Morning, pretty much the Nigella Lawson of Ireland!

Throughout the demo Rachel made from scratch Fettuccine, Papadelle, tortellini, capadelli, large and small ravioli using both plain and spinach flavored pasta dough

She also made Provencal soup, vegetarian and meat lasagna with a traditional ragu sauce, pistou, which is like pesto only with out pine nuts and a lot more garlic. On the sweet side of things she made a classic tiramisu and a walnut cake with American frosting, which is like a white meringue icing mixing hot sugar syrup at just the right stage with egg whites, it is very easy to ruin! It goes on as a soft mixture, but within about an hour a shell sets on the outside, while still remaining soft underneath. It was really quite amazing. The whole class was incredible! By the way, Tim, Rose and Grace got to hang out at various playgrounds in the freezing cold while I was there!

The Best of the Rest of County Cork

We visited Blarney Castle, refrained from getting into the precarious position required to kiss the Blarney Stone and so missing out of receiveing the ‘gift of the gab’. Walked through the Cork city shopping area and visited the vastly impressive Charles Fort in Kinsale.

The fort is a star shaped structure, built in the late 17th Century and was still in use until the early 1920’s when the British withdrew from England.