Banishing the Bathroom Blues!

Sorry I've been kind of slack this week.  I've been working on several projects simultaneously around here.  I'm working on a puppy portrait. Did you know I paint dog portraits?  You can check out some of my work on my other website croissantdesigns.com.  Nothing wrong with a little self promotion right?!  I'm also preparing to host the first party at Casa Croissant, and the use of the word casa is no accident! We will be celebrating Cinco de Mayo a little early with the American ex-pat group we've joined. Finally, in case you couldn't tell from the title of this post one of my other projects this week was fixin' up the throne room.

Let's take a quick look at the before. Remember the odd different colored walls?

A little paint, which cost me nothing because a gallon was left under the sink, a ladder, and two days of rolling, and things were looking much better!

Now for a little atmosphere. I had this print from our bathroom at home sent over because I just love it so much! I did not want to put another hole in the wall so I used the existing nail which happened to be too high for this particular picture.  So I used this fun little ribbon technique, which also happens to add a nice little punch of color!

There was also the issue of an old and moldy roller shade on the window.  I was so eager to take it down and get rid of it the first week we moved in I forgot to photograph it. The glass is textured and there are no neighbors directly behind us, so the window did not really need a shade. However, I felt compelled to put something there if only to cheer things up a bit!

It was a quick and easy fix.  Cheap brightly patterned fabric, iron on hem tape, a tension rod, and an hour of my time! Now the bathroom is looking a little something like this.

Another part of the bathroom in need of a little sprucing up was the laundry closet.  Every time I was doing laundry I had to look at this.

So I took some of the leftover wallpaper used to back the bookcases in the living room and covered up all that ugliness!  Adam doesn't get it, but Adam also doesn't do the laundry!...anymore (Adam ninja edit)

So there you have it! I only had to purchase one meter of fabric at €4.95 per meter, and half a meter of the orange grosgrain ribbon cost under €1, and the rod and hem tape ran about €8. The paper was left over from a previous project, and the paint was already here, so it was free! I did have to purchase a paint roller and tray to the tune of about €5, and two new blue bathmats help add some more color and cost about €10 a piece at TK Maxx.  So overall my little bathroom makeover only cost about €39!

                                               BEFORE                   AFTER

Cookery School by the Numbers

There is a lovely cookery school (as it is called here in Ireland) just outside of Cork by the name of Ballymaloe. Before I even arrived on this island I was dropping hints and trying to convince my husband that I needed to attend the school's certificate program. Located in the middle of a 100-acre organic farm, the students assist in the gardens and can help to milk the cows in addition to running through a rigorous 12 weeks of instruction. Below is a list taken from their website of 67 things students learn while at Ballymaloe Cookery School.

(Long, but worth the read!)

Just 67 Examples of things you'll learn

1. How to lay a table, serve, clear and balance plates like a suave, professional French waiter.

2. Everything you always wanted to know about kitchen implements, kitchen equipment and kitchen knives (including sharpening the latter).

3. How to become a speed chopper, slicer, carver and peeler without chopping, slicing, carving or peeling any part of your anatomy.

4. How to make a really good meat or vegetable stock.

5. Why syrups are every chef’s best friend. How to make them. How to use them.

6. How to make a perfect loaf of brown soda bread.

7. How to make a selection of mouth-wateringly delicious biscuits, cookies and cakes.

8. Why it is important to prepare an ‘order of work’; how to do it; and the benefits in terms of speed, efficiency and – most crucially – quality.

9. More than you thought you would ever know about kitchen hygiene and food safety including the legal requirements if you go professional. Oh, and how to avoid and put out kitchen fires... just in case.

10. Soup secrets. From the most simple to the incredibly complex you will be able to soup it up on a grand scale.

11. The art of the tart. Become an expert at baking sweet and savoury tarts using melt-in-the-mouth pastry.

14. How to create some of the most famous salads in the world plus tips on how to create your own variations.

15. How to make traditional jams, preserves and chutneys that will have everyone coming back for more…and more…and more.

16. An enormous amount about cheese. How to buy it. How to store it. How to cook with it. How to serve it.

17. A great deal about wine. How to develop your palate. How to recognise the good, the bad and the indifferent. How to buy wine. How to store wine. How to cook with wine. How to serve wine. How to impress the snootiest of sommeliers with your expertise.

18. About 50 different things to do with chicken – all of them extremely tasty – plus why professional chefs always roast chicken upside down (the bird, not the chef).

19. How to prepare over fifty scrumptious and nutritional vegetarian recipes including Provencale Bean Stew, Thai Vegetable Curry, plus cooking with tofu.

20. Cooking Indian food that tastes like Indian food is supposed to taste including Mild Madras Curry with all the trimmings, delicious Dahl, and Onion Bhajis?

21. How to make the perfect chocolate fudge pudding.

22. How to make the perfect fluffy lemon pudding.

23. How to make perfect pecan and coffee squares, raspberry and coconut squares, glazed almond and…oh, you get the picture. Basically, how to make a range of perfect squares.

24. How to make an enormous number of other perfect puddings.

25. Cooking Mexican food that tastes like Mexican food is supposed to taste including hand-made tortillas, mole, quesadillas, fajitas, chilquilas, guacamole and tomatilla salsa.

26. How to fan an avocado.

27. How to cook beans and pulses.

28. How to pluck. How to gut. How to stuff.

29. What to braise. When to braise. How to braise like a professional.

30. How to cook traditional roast rib of beef with all the trimmings including Yorkshire pudding, horseradish sauce, roast parsnips, roast potatoes, gravy and…again, you get the idea.

31. Making a Cassoulet that the most pernickety of Cassoulet-lovers will love.

32. The best ways to serve prawns, shrimps and other shellfish plus how to make real mayonnaise.

33. Cooking Greek food that tastes like Greek food is supposed to taste including Mousaka, Spannokopita, Tsatziki, and an authentic Greek Village Salad.

34. Pies, pies, pies. Shepherd’s Pie. Cottage Pie. Spiced Vegetable Pie, Venison and Field Mushroom Pie. Ballymaloe Chicken and Bacon Pie. In a nutshell: how to make the best pies in the world.

35. How to cook game. Over twelve different ways to serve game plus some different side dishes and sauces to accompany it.

36. Over forty cracking egg recipes including Ouefs Mimosa, Egg Mayonnaise, the perfect frittata and – more difficult than it looks – the perfect omelette.

37. Creaming, mashing, roasting, steaming and caramelizing vegetables.

38. How to ice and decorate a cake. Piping and feathering.

39. The A-Z of making pate including smooth chicken liver pate, duck liver pate, Pate de Compagne, and others - plus how to make Melba Toast and Crostini.

40. How to identify fresh fish. How to fillet any type of fish.

41. Over sixteen different ways to cook fish including poaching, roasting on the bone, baking in a salt crust, pan grilling and cooking en papilotte.

42. Mile High Lemon Meringue Pie and why it is vital you know how to make it.

43. How to make marzipan.

44. Twenty-three incredibly interesting and tasty things to do with leftovers.

45. At least eleven different things to do with filo pastry - including salmon in filo with tomato and ginger, crab filos with a Thai dipping sauce, and filo water lilies with summer fruits.

46. How to open, prepare and freeze scallops.

47. How to make ciabatta.

48. Fourteen different breakfast dishes including kedgeree, kipper, porridge, black pudding, white pudding, waffles, crunchy granola, muffins, homemade muesli, Greek yoghurt, pancakes, spotted dog and stripy cat.

49. Get into a stew. Vegetable stew. Lamb stew. Chicken Stew. Beef stew. Oxtail stew. Other stews too numerous to mention.

50. How to make panettone bread pudding.

51. Fascinating things to do with rice including how to make a risotto that will have everyone thinking you are Italian (and will confirm it, if you are Italian).

52. How to fool around. Blackcurrant fool. Gooseberry fool. Rhubarb Fool.

53. How to make a really, really, really good glazed belly of pork with Savoy cabbage, celeriac and potato puree plus about seven other really, really, really good things to do with pork.

54. How to prepare a dark chocolate soufflé with marbled chocolate wafers and chocolate coffee beans – and make it look easy.

55. What to do when something goes wrong. Three simple ways to save the day.

56. Hey pesto. How to make pesto.

57. Running a market stall in a farmers’ market. Practical advice.

58. How to prepare gougons of sole, plaice or monkfish with a variety of sauces.

59. Raising the hamburger to an art form. How to make the ultimate hamburger. How to make a vegetarian burger.

60. Several truly wonderful ways to cook lamb plus all the trimmings from fresh mint sauce to pommes dauphine.

61. Everything you always wanted to know about menu planning but were afraid to ask.

62. How to glaze fruit.

63. How to bake rye and caraway bread.

64. Look east. How to cook Chinese Fish Soup with Spring Onions, Light Fish Soup with Chilli and Coriander, Thai Chicken, Galangal and Coriander Soup, Chicken and Coconut Laksa, Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls of Shrimp And Herbs, Spring Rolls with Thai Dipping Sauce, Stir-Fried Beef with Oyster Sauce, Asian Chicken and Noodle Salad, Donna’s Chicken in Basil & Coconut Broth, Thai Prawn Salad with Chilli and Fresh Coriander.

65. Becoming a professional chef. Inside advice on getting started plus practical, hands-on advice.

66. How to prepare duck leg roast with honey and rosemary.

67. How to prepare sweet pea guacamole served on warm tortillas with crème fraiche.

Amazing right? So why am I not there right now? I'll give you 10,295 reasons why. No I'm not going to share another long list; 10,295 is the number of € it costs to attend!

But here is another number... 19. That is the number of euros the Ballymaloe Cookery Course book cost on Amazon.co.uk. And guess whose copy just turned up in the mail the other day!?

Don't worry, I'm not going to go all Julie & Julia on you, although that bit of blog writing resulted in a book and movie deal, so not really a bad plan. The real reason I'm not going to go page by page preparing everything in the book, besides the fact that it's already been done, is the fact that the book is 639 pages with multiple recipes on each page and I'm just not that dedicated. What I will do with this cookbook is use it as inspiration and of course instruction on my quest to keep busy in the kitchen!

If you've made it this far you may be asking yourself if I actually cooked anything in anticipation of my second installment of What's Cookin' Wednesday. The answer is yes, and of course the recipe came from, where else, my new cookbook!

I thought I'd start with something typically Irish, and what could be more Irish than Shepard's Pie? Lamb, Potatoes, rustic one dish meal! However, I don't love lamb, so I opted to make a Cottage Pie instead which is the name when lamb is replaced with ground beef. In addition I added peas and carrots, which the Ballymaloe recipe did not call for. Extra veggies for my hungry man! And instead of regular old mashed potatoes I topped it with a horseradish and spring onion version for a little added kick!  

Bon Apetite!

Blank Canvas

Once I got rid of the coffee table on wheels seen here, it opened up some space for our new Ikea purchase  pictured below.  This simple table is known as a Parsons table.  The name is associated with French Designer Jean-Michel Frank who attended the Parsons School of Design in New York in the late 1920's, hence the name.  However, Ikea calls it a Lack table. While it is typically considered a more modern piece of furniture the Parsons table has become an American classic.  I'm delighted with our tailored simple 29 euro purchase, but there is one big glaring problem...

BORING!

It is a huge blank canvas just waiting for some sort of simple vignette, something like one of these inspirational coffee tables.

Just not this much stuff!  Where do you even put down your drink on this one!?

Although this is a pretty fab living room!

Anyway... I came across this tray at our TK Maxx and fell in love with the hexagon shape and the sleek black lacquered edge. What I wasn't crazy about was the map design.

So...

I took this 2010 botanical print calendar, an exacto knife, and a little Mod Podge,

and VIOLA!

It still needs some work. In fact I'm not sure I am in love with the end result, but it was a fun little project.  I actually only lightly tacked the paper down on the tray, so it can easily be changed if I ever come up with something better!

What's Cookin' Wednesday!

I've always fancied myself to be a fairly good cook, and more importantly I really enjoy being in the kitchen.  I think my interest and love of cooking stems from two different places.

Number one of course is my mother.  She may be modest and say she is no Michelin star winning chef.  Which is actually true (sorry mom)! Mainly because she does not run a restaurant, and she's not such a fancy chef.  Michelin may not give here three stars, but I would!  Three stars for making simple tasty food, and for always making sure our family sat down together every night at the dinner table while growing up.

The second influence which helped to cultivate my love of food and cooking was my time spent in France during a semester abroad in college. I can distinctly remember how much richer, fresher, and simply better the food tasted over there. My waist line remembers too, I gained 15lbs that semester!  On top of that, my host mother was an amazing chef!  A trip to the butcher, baker, and candle stick maker, farmers market was a part of her everyday routine.  Much like France, life here in Ireland affords me the opportunity to go to the butcher, fish monger, or farm stand daily and select the freshest ingredients, as mentioned in my recent English Market post.

So drawing on the simplicity of my mother's cooking, memories of France, and the amazing resources available to me here in Ireland I am aiming to further cultivate my skills.  I am trying to branch out and cook new things, while also working to perfect and tweak the tried and true recipes.   

I've been an obsessive blog reader as of late, and I got to thinking about what makes for a successful blog.  Many of the blogs I read have a weekly post dedicated to something specific.  Because going to the English Market, cooking, and eating have been such a large part of my time here I've decided to designate Wednesday as "What's Cookin' Wednesday"  I hope to post pictures, stories, and maybe even recipes of what I've been up to in my Irish kitchen.  I say maybe recipes because I'm not much of a recipe follower, except when it comes to baking which usually requires very specific measurements.  That's the beauty of cooking, things can really be adjusted to taste, and I subscribe to the phrase "a pinch of this, and a dash of that!"

Here's a little taste (pun intended) of what I been up to this past week...

French Onion Soup

recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

The trick is to caramelize the onions.  

It helps develop depth of flavor.

Homemade Giant croutons!

Don't skimp on the cheese!

Here I've used a mix of Edam & Parmesan.

Baked in the bowl until bubbly and brown!

Served with a steak baguette with grilled peppers, onions,

and horseradish mayo!

And for Desert!

 Rustic Strawberry Rhubarb Tart

A La Mode of course!

Adam couldn't wait for it to cool so it was cut a little prematurely
 hence the runny goodness, and melty ice cream!

Pimp my Ride

Adam and I have been meaning to post pictures of our sweet new ride for a while now. I am sure you are tired of hearing me say this, but I feel I must. Please be aware that our time here is limited and there is no sense in investing large sums of money on luxury items. A car falls into that category. Because I am a bit of a princess I can tell you I probably would not want this car parked in my driveway back home let alone be seen riding in it. Here however, I don't know anyone, and it gets us from point A to point B, but best of all it was cheap!

Our friend, Ciaran, put us in touch with a guy he knows here in Cork who runs a garage. We were able to arrange the purchase of the car quickly and easily. The guy even offered to buy the car back from us when we return to the states!

Without further ado...here it is! Our cool, maroon, 1997 Toyota Corola hatchback.  Check out the sweet neon confetti-like upholstery and the zip ties holding on the hubcaps!  It needs a good name, any suggestions?

Before and After Bookcase

Remember this picture taken the day we moved in?    

I wanted to make sure to point out the built in bookcases on either side of the fireplace.  While they are lovely and perfectly functional, they were feeling kind of ho-hum. As usual I must point out that this is a temporary living situation so painting the backs of the bookcases seemed a little too permanent. In lieu of paint I decided to tack this pretty and inexpensive wallpaper to the back. 

Now don't get too excited, it is a very subtle difference. However, I think it is just enough.  I did not want anything too bold because I have two large canvases I plan to paint in a fairly bright pallet that will eventually hang directly above the built-ins.

The after pictures were taken prior to our things arriving from the US.  (FYI they just arrived this week after 2 months on a boat!)  Once I unpack the few books and albums I shipped over, and have a chance to style the selves I'll post a new picture.  But for now here is a quick look at the before and after.

To Market, To Market, to Buy...

Walking down the streets here you might not know that tucked away behind the unassuming brick facades of the city buildings lies one of the oldest markets of its kind. The English Market has been serving the people of Cork since 1788! Today the market boasts a large variety of stalls such as:  produce, poultry & eggs, butchers, fishmongers, cheese shops, bakeries, chocolates, spices, etc. There is even a lovely cafe called the The Farmgate Cafe upstairs.

I've only been living in Cork for two months now, but I am doing my best to take advantage of everything the market has to offer. With the help of my friend Evin, and suggestions from Adam's co-worker Ciaran, I am learning which butchers have the best prices, who to go to for fruit and veg, and where to buy the best eggs.  It's such a different and wonderful way to shop. No shrink wrap and styrofoam here! It did freak me out a little when the man at the poultry stall picked out my chicken portions with no gloves, and then took my money and handed me my change with the same non-gloved hands. I'm over it, as long as I wash my hands and cook the chicken well it's all good!

Simply showing you pictures will not do it justice. The beauty of the English Market is taking in the entire thing with all of your senses. Smelling the fresh baked bread, feeling the slick wet floors of the fish hall under your feet, hearing the butchers sharpening their knives, gently squeezing that perfect piece of fruit to check its ripeness, and stopping by the olive stall to have a sample of a briny, juicy kalamata.

But since you can't be here to do all of those things, here are a few photos to tide you over until you come for a visit!