Today I made : Almond meringue with strawberries and cream. The toasted almonds make it crunchy and toasty, a nice contrast to the juicy berries.  I had extra meringue so I made these little babies with mashed strawberries and cream. I like it when there are leftovers to play with because you can present them however you like. I prefer a messier, more rustic style than most of the dishes here. Not just out of laziness, it makes the food more approachable.

I also made chilled Lebanese cucumber yogurt soup. This was minty and bright, we served it ice cold so it was very refreshing.

Finally I made plain white scones, because I wanted to tackle my technique list. They get a generous coating of Demerera sugar before going in the oven so they have a crispy crunchy golden topping.

There is a lot of funky seafood around the place this week. Today people were filleting monkfish as demonstrated by Rory yesterday. Thankfully I didn’t have to. The teeth  freak me out.

Today Rory filleted a stingray and transformed it into a platter as pretty as a painting.

I learned: Dublin fish and chip shops used to use sting ray quite frequently, but these days it’s not sustainable.

Food of the day: Medjool date tart.

Line of the day: Darina’s business advice. ‘If there’s no point of difference why should people come to you?’

Órfhlaith