Making Sushi

As mentioned in the Kilkenny, LBJ won a free cooking lesson at a cooking demonstration we attended during the Savour Kilkenny food festival.  Last week, we attended the cooking lesson.

My trek to Citywest did not get off to a good start.  I got hopelessly lost in the country west of Dublin.  Eventually, I was able to turn around and get to the town of Saggart, where I was to meet LBJ at the Luas light rail stop (I drove; she took the train).  I could not find the stop, and my phone could not figure out my location.  Eventually, I pulled over, found the location on the phone, and made my way to the train stop.  But I had left LBJ standing in the cold for over 10 minutes, not a wise thing to do given her intolerance of the cold.

Somehow, we still managed to get to the Miele showroom (the location of the class) at 6:30, the designated starting time.  In fact, we were the second of three couples to arrive.

The class was about how to make sushi, and the instructor was Fiona Uyema, who also runs a very entertaining food blog here.  Despite being a bit frazzled about getting so lost (when will I learn that Irish road signs sometimes don't match Irish maps?), I had a good time.  LBJ, despite being left in the cold for 10+ minutes, did as well.  It started off with green tea, something we enjoy.  In fact, rumor has it that I might get some of this tea for Christmas, given how much I enjoy tea.

Next was some miso soup, which was also yummy.  (Everything was yummy, as expected.)  I can only hope that LBJ will make some in the future.  We also had endamame, which LBJ and polished off much faster than the other couples.  Hmm...were we a bit hungry?

Now, the main event - making our own sushi (as opposed to watching Fiona make the miso soup).  First up was a Temake, or hand roll.  We picked our own ingredients.  Here is my attempt, which wasn't too bad.  The important thing is that it tasted very good (I think I put mango and red pepper in it).

How about a little something for the effort?

Next was a big sushi roll.  Again, LBJ did better, but my attempt was perfectly acceptable - better than I expected.

Action photo of the hand roll (with avocado, red pepper and mango)

Look, I was taking the class seriously:

Being a "mature student" is not as easy at it looks

Our last roll was uramaki - and inside out roll.  I think I did a little better at this one, although again not as proficient as LBJ.  That's ok - she has attended cooking school, and I was smart enough to marry her!

FABJ claims that she doesn't like seaweed, but we suspect that we could get her to eat the inside out roll if she didn't see it.  She used to like sushi quite a bit, particularly salmon rolls.  Same for ORBJ.

Anyone else thinking of "Inside Out" by Phil Collins?

Finally, we reached the best part of the class - eating all the "big" rolls (we got to eat the small temaki rolls right after we made them).  The only down side was the rolls were served family style.  This was bad for me because many people included shrimp and/or crab in their rolls, and I'm allergic to shrimp.  Fortunately, most people wanted to eat the shrimp, so I had a fair amount of salmon and veggie rolls to myself.

Enjoying the fruits of our labor, so to speak

All in all, it was an enjoyable evening.  And it took us very little time to get home.  The only down side was that LBJ had forgotten to tell her mum how to turn on the heating, so she was cold and grumpy (understandably so!) when we returned.  And FABJ had a bit of meltdown about going to bed, although she's doing much better this week.  We give her a sticker every morning that she gets dressed by herself without any fuss.  She quite likes this scheme and has gotten a sticker every day this week.  Although the eagerness to get dressed will fade over time, it has been a very pleasant week.

halloween

Halloween is a prolonged affair here in Ireland.  Students typically get the last week of October off from school.  They are allowed to wear their costumes on the last day of class before the break.

As the picture below indicates, FABJ decided to dress up as a witch again this year.  So LBJ went to work on the homemade broomstick

Flight FABJ123 ready for take off

Alas, FABJ left her broomstick at school, which did not please her (as you might imagine).  She has been a bit agitated since then.  Not due to the broomstick, but likely due in part to the break from school.  She likes her routines, and she was out of routine.

Still, she went to UCD sports camp, which she likes.  She was in the same group as the daughter of two of my colleagues, and she got to go swimming in camp (normally, you need to be 7 to do that!).

But she wasn't quite happy about her costume.  So, by the time Halloween came around, the costume had been re-purposed as a witch pirate.  ORBJ stuck with her original costume - princess.  She's pretty easy going on that front (and many, but not all, others).  But the girls quite enjoyed a quick tour of the neighborhood for some sweets:

The girls and pumpkin #3 (1st two destroyed by rain)

However, the next morning, FABJ did not want to be a witch or a pirate witch.  But somehow LBJ talked her into being a fairy witch (or something like that).  So one costume, with a few accessory changes, provided 3 different outfits.  Good practice for the working world, I suspect.

FABJ has been a bit cranky, even though school started back up.  She's had a couple of meltdowns for the usual minor reasons, such as ORBJ going to a birthday party (without her).  So we'll see - hopefully she'll settle down again soon.

A parting shot of the first two pumpkins, which the girls quite enjoyed carving.  However, the weather was not so kind to them, so we got a replacement pumpkin (shown above).

Fine craftswomanship from LBJ and the girls

 

Kilkenny

The last Monday in October is a holiday here (no historical or religious event - just a day off for everyone from school and work).  We celebrated by going to Kilkenny for two days.

I was a bit late in researching accommodations, so I was unable to find a self-catering apartment in town.  Rather than stay out in the countryside, we opted for a B&B in town called Celtic House.  I found it via Google, which lead me to www.kilkennycityonline.com.  It was very conveniently located - a 5 minute walk from the main part of town, on a quiet side street with onsite parking.  Their family room had two queen beds, not ideal but I was tired of calling and e-mailing places that did not have room.  Plus, it was very reasonably priced.

The B&B was great for us - hearty Irish breakfast (without the pudding, which is fine with me).  The only challenge was the girls didn't really want to share a bed.  We ended up putting ORBJ on the floor (on a camping mattress) for the first night.  The second night, they woke us up at 4am with cries of "stop kicking me" and "get on your side".  Somehow, we got them back to sleep until 6:30am.

Despite the sleep deprivation, we had a very nice time in Kilkenny.  There was a food festival going on - Savour Kilkenny - and many of the events were within walking distance.  It was raining when we arrived, so we went to one of the food demonstrations.  It was led by a chef named Fiona, and it was on sushi.  The first sushi dish was vegetarian and designed to make with kids, so FABJ helped chef Fiona make the dish:

This isn't quite as exciting as I thought it would be.

Big deal, my mama went to cooking school.

When do I get to eat?

Yes, we took about 8 photos and these are the best of the lot!

FABJ didn't like her sushi roll of red pepper and mango - she doesn't like seaweed - so I got to eat it (without the red pepper or mango, though).  LBJ answered a question correctly from chef Fiona and won a free cooking lesson.  We're all looking forward to some Japanese food!

We ate well that weekend, and the girls quite enjoyed Kilkenny Castle.  The tours were self guided, but a couple of rooms had guides to provide more information.  One room was dubbed the "princesses bedrooms", so the girls enjoyed hearing about the princesses.  In the drawing room, the girls got to see more pictures of princesses and duchesses - they enjoyed the stories as well.

The ladies in back of the castle after the rain stopped

FABJ on the castle grounds

Possibly the highlight of the trip for me was a wonderful walk along the canal.  The weather was perfect, and everyone was in a good mood.

One happy family (I bet LBJ was smiling as she took this, too)

We even managed to visit a cultural site - Kells Priory (a different Kells from the Book of ...).  It was a fascinating site with no one else around.

Peppa Pig or Minnie Mouse, I can't decide!

Cutie and Patootie exploring the grounds

Not another soul around ...

The girls enjoyed some quality playground time on the way back at Castlecomer Discovery Park.  They have a climbing wall that we may take FABJ to some day.