So ... day 45 ... just so you know ... that's a lot of days writing blogs ... a lot of days !!! If I start repeating myself or making the same stupid comments over and over again ... shout ... or shoot me !!! 😇

So today was a non cooking day (as are all Wednesdays) ... and today we had our second business of food module with Blathnaid Bergin (Darina's sister) ... I wasn't overly excited about today as I wasn't really feeling on top form and when you've been in the "corporate" world for so long a lot of these lectures do sound "samey" after a while ... you just change a few buzz words here and a few key phrases there and you can adapt them to any industry! I had a hint of that with the first day and I really didn't fancy sitting through that kind of a day especially feeling as I did! However I was pleasantly surprised ... today we focused on costing (food costing and TAX) and setting up a catering business ... and at the end of the day I felt I had actually taken some things from it that I could use in the future (to put that into context ... over my 23 year career in finance ... I am not sure there were many days that I spent in training rooms (no matter how glamorous) that I left with that feeling that I could actually put it into practise and that it was not just useful bladder that I could file away in my head to draw on when I needed to motivate someone in the future or convince a manager I was actually listening and engaged! (cynic!!!) 😱

Our lunch was the usual banquet affair ... and finally there was some mackerel to cook ... and wow it was so good ... so fresh ... we'll be having some more of that this weekend (he promises himself).

I also decided to take a while for myself with a cheeky coffee outside and to smell the daisies (literally) ... I almost conked out in the garden! (still lethargic) 😴

After lunch we were back to the business of food ... at the end of the day I decided to ask that generic question (more for my own good ... and the good of people who can't understand why I am crazy enough to quit a fantastic job and consider the food world) ... "so ... you often hear people quote the phrase that 80/90% of restaurants fail within the first X years ... so what do you think they do wrong that would change that stat) ... so ... the response ... (1) That stat is often bandied about ... but it's not accurate ... and most of the people entering the business are missing fundamentals ... (I'm not going to go into it now as it's late and I've had a little wine ... but if you want to know ... buy me more wine and I'll tell you ) ... anyway the answer was reassuring (to a point) and didn't change my mind about entering the business (sorry) 😝

I also asked the question of Blathnaid ... if you were in our position ... (64 culinary students of all ages) would you invest or enter into the business (food) ... and the answer was a genuinely positive YES (for multiple reasons that I am once again happy to share ... with wine)😄

All in all a productive day in the classroom with some genuinely useable take aways!

The early evening saw us hold a meeting on the front of house for our pop up meal on June 16th (some tickets still available ... get them quick !!!) and I will be working on pulling some Joycean quotes and working them into a script over the next few days ...🤫

After that we were due to have a chocolate workshop ... but apparently there was a problem with the chocolate machine so it needed to be postponed ... but all was not lost ... as today was Wednesday we had our wine tasting scheduled ... and I have to say the girls who chose the wines today went all out (Merci Lucinda & Hannah D) ... picking bizarre unusual wines that stumped a lot of us (not that it's that hard)

Tomorrow back in the kitchen at 8 a.m. and I am cooking a rustic peach & berry tart and some spring rolls with dipping sauce ... interesting ... 🧐☺️

Day Forty Five - €€€€ 💥