Today I made : Three kinds of pastry. I like pastry but today was a challenge because the kitchen was hot and sweaty. Ideally you want to make pastry in a cold room so the butter doesn’t melt. I did my best.

The first was Amaretto Almond and Strawberry tart. The shortcrust pastry was very crumbly and not pleasant to work with but it came out well in the end.

I made cinnamon rolls with croissant dough. I was feeling uninspired by regular croissants so I just went for it and sprinkled them with walnuts, almond praline and extra sugar. People loved them! They all got eaten and my teacher even wrapped one up to bring home. I like when people like my food.

I also started making puff pastry which is chilling until tomorrow morning. Easier to make than you think!

Rory cooked some delicious lobster dishes in the afternoon demo. He very humanely sent two lobsters to ‘the big ocean in the sky’ and we ate their luscious remains.

In the evening my coffee obsessed classmate Ronnie gave a workshop. He says you should always grind your own beans and recommends using bottled water for coffee, because it makes up 98% of the drink. I already grind my own but draw the line there. Plastic bottles seem wasteful. I’ll stick to my sub-par, tap water coffee.

I learned : Don’t drink decaffeinated coffee. The caffeine has been chemically stripped off the beans using harsh solvents. Just drink green tea instead.

Coffee originated in Ethiopia, which today produces just 5% of the world’s coffee. Brazil is the world’s largest producer.

It is illegal to catch female lobsters, to protect dwindling numbers.

Food of the day : Sticky Asian Pork and Roasted Peanut Salad.

Line of the day : ‘It’s only a mistake if it leaves the kitchen.’  My teacher Tiffin counselling me through a hairy pastry moment.

Órfhlaith