Today I started making Croissants. its a lengthy process so its best to do it over 2 days when we have other things to do. So I mixed the dough/pastry (its kind of a mixture of both) and then left it rest. After 2 hours I rolled it out, added a whole load of butter, folded it, rolled it out again and refrigerated. Then after another few hours I went back and rolled it out & folded it again. Ill shape & bake them tomorrow.

So wine exam at 8.30am - that was fun! 100 multiple choice questions and I did try to study but ended up guessing a lot of the answers. We'll have to wait & see how I faired out in that!

The morning demonstration with Philip Denhart on butchery etc. He cut up a pig basically!

Afternoon demo on Filo Pastry and the many ways of shaping & filling it. And Buns as in sticky buns such as Chelsea Buns, Hot Cross Buns etc. and also some doughnuts.

Today went a lot smoother than yesterday. I still managed to fit in a bread - this time Granary Loaf.

Mixed flour & salt - mixed water, yeast & treacle & combined all of them together to make the dough. Kneaded it for 10 mins & left to rise for an hour. Then knocked it back & kneaded it for a few mins, then shaped it & put it into an oiled tin to rise again.

Today was another busy one because Im trying to fit in as much as I can before its all over!

I started with Focaccia made with olive oil dough. its a white yeast bread so still needs kneading & rising. I left my over rise but chilled it for a bit which made it less spring. Then shaped it into a flat loaf, dimpled it, sprinkled with sea salt & olive oil & left it rise again. It worked out really well & was really tasty.

Ok, Im still sick but decided I wasnt sick enough to miss a morning in the kitchen. After a few hours of working away I started feeling very tired & everything was taking so long that I just wanted to finish & then forgot to take photos.

Anyway I made another batch of Puff pastry - same as last time make pastry dough - roll, shape, roll, shape, chill (3 times) - Ill use this on Monday.

Today was the second part of the course given by Blathnaid Bergin, The Restaurant Advisor.

We discussed how people come into trouble by not separating things such as VAT, PRSI & Holiday pay for staff. If this money is spent and not kept aside to pay when required, people often end up borrowing which puts them in a worse situation.

We ran through some kitchen management processes that can be put in place to ensure efficient running of a kitchen.

Next we studied an episode of Ramsay's Kitchen Nitemares Revisited assess what we thought about the way the restaurant was being run etc.

Today was a much better day than yesterday, thank god!

I got in early & made the pastry base for the lovely Blood orange Tart in the picture. I put a lot of time & effort into this tart but unfortunately the picture doesn't reflect this! Anyway I made a shortcrust pastry with a little orange juice in it, wrapped it up & chilled in the fridge.

The reason I put this picture up is because today was another one of those days where my body & brain were not in the same room & i spent most of the day going around circles & then forgot to take pictures of my food.

Yesterday I made a Blood Orange Sorbet with Campari - mixed the blood orange juice with sugar & poured into sorbet machine, left it for 30 mins - fairly simple. When the machine finished I moved it to the freezer & served it with a splash of Campari on top.

Next I made White Soda bread. Mixed flour, salt & bread soda together - added enough buttermilk to form a dough - shaped it, cut a cross in it & popped it in oven to bake - fantastic loaf of bread if I do say so myself.

Today was lots of fun - School Tour, yay!

First stop was Frank Hederman's Belvelly Smoke House near Cobh. Frank smokes a range of products from fish to porridge oats. Yes porridge oats, weird but fantastic I think. He smokes the porridge for a company that make biscuits out of it, tasty I would say.

After a quick tour and description of their work we were back on the bus & heading for Mahon Point Farmers Market.