Today we had a day with Blathnaid Bergin, Director: School of Restaurant & Kitchen Management Ltd & Director: The Restaurant Advisor.

We went through things like the importance of starting your menu before you even set up your kitchen, Very wise decision but something I had never considered.

We also went through different systems that can be put in place to keep track of everything in your food business & how each process should be done.

Just got the results for my exams on Friday:

Herb & Salad Leaf Identification 97% - I got all the herbs & the names of 2 recipes for each right but got 3 of the salad leaves wrong. I'm not too worried about this!

Technique exam 91% - I jointed the chicken a little awkwardly & I should have sharpened my knife before I started (I had done this in the house before I left) so marks taken off for this.

So Im quite happy with that anyway!

First of all - no exam results today, Im very disappointed but apparently we get called individually into the office tomorrow evening after demo to get our results!

Today was a really weird day for me - I kept making silly mistakes and had a lot to do so didnt have time for any of them. Therefore my presentation was rushed and doesnt look how I would have liked it to.

Our exams were in the evening so we had a demo on pizza! Lots of different variations & other pizzeria ideas.

Break for lunch to eat lots of pizzas while your stomach turns with the nerves about the upcoming exam, dun dun dun!!

For the exam we had to learn 14 herbs & 15 salad leaves & practice 30 different techniques.

So I arrived at the school and waited anxiously outside the kitchens to be called in. The windows had been covered in newspaper so we couldn't see in, it was all very serious.

Today was very busy so I got up extra early so I wouldnt be under pressure and it all worked out very well.

I weighed up my ingredients for my bread, we cant mix this til our teachers arrive so left aside til later.

Next I made Colorado Sauce for my Chilli Con Carne. Its basically peppers, chilli, onion, garlic & salt. Then on to the chilli itself, prepared my meat (cubed beef instead of mince - much nicer), then my veg - browned them off and threw them together with the sauce to stew for a few hours.

We had another wine lecture and tasted 5 wines from Australia.

Then a demo on Tapas with some Sherry thrown in at the end.

Its exam week and Im trying my very best to study so not spending too much time doing anything else.

This morning went a lot better than yesterday, thankfully!

For starter we had to make the lovely salad in the picture - Arsallagh Goats Cheese Croquettes with Roasted Red Peppers, Tapenade oil & Rocket leaves. First I made a balsamic dressing for the rocket. Then the tapenade oil - capers, olives, oil & pepper. Roasted the pepper in the oven, then covered & left to cool. Next I shaped the cheese into balls and tossed then in flour, egg, flaked almonds & breadcrumbs - refrigerated. Peeled and sliced the pepper.

Week 6 - Exam on Friday - eek!

This week is scaring most of the students as we all try to practice as many techniques that we can before Friday. We were given a list of techniques that we may be asked but need to know all of them as we can be asked to do any of them. This includes over 30 things such as: Fillet a round fish, joint a chicken, peel a tomato, segment a citrus fruit etc. etc.

Anyway this morning was hard for me, felt like everything I did was corrected even down to my choice of plate. Boo hoo

Anyway I made Ballymaloe Irish Stew - Lamb, carrots, onions, spuds.

On Christine's menu today was:

Alison's Chocolate Tart (Alison runs the Ballymaloe Cafe)
Brown Yeast Bread
Indian Paratha Bread

Tart takes ages so had to make it refrigerate it, roll it out, line the flan ring, refrigerate it again, blind bake it with beans in it, take it out, egg wash it, make the filling, pour it in, bake it again, then leave it set. Wasnt ready til 2pm and started the whole process at 8.30am! Absolutely worth it tho!

Busy day today - on top of my normal stuff I had some duties: make Lemonade, yum - clean the weighing up area, not fun!

So first I made the lemonade to get it out of the way. Melt sugar in water to make a syrup, juice lemons and mix it together with more water.

Next I got my ingredients together for Rabbit with mustard & sage leaves. I had to joint the rabbit was awful, his little head was still attached and I had to pull all his organs out - ill never make a butcher. I marinaded the meat in mustard, wine & sage for an hour.