EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a blog from October 19th. Due to extreme technical difficulties I’ve been offline since then. Extremely frustrating but I’m BACK. Lots has happened since then but this is a solid blog on going through Hurricane Ophelia. I’ll post again in a few days and catch y’all up from then until now!
Hi Guys! I know it’s been a bit since my last post. The easy explanation is most of the country was in a blackout after a freaking HURRICANE hit IRELAND. First time in 50 years. Not only did Hurricane Ophelia hit Ireland but Cork took a direct hit. Knocked over a bunch of trees, blew off parts of our roof and knocked out power and water. No power = no internet = omg omg omg omg what now.
Let’s start by setting the scene. School was cancelled Monday out of precaution. We learned this late Sunday evening. Monday morning was “tepid” and many of us were questioning what the big deal was. Then it started getting windier and windier. Trees started falling and shingles were flying off the roof. Now before I get too dramatic I’ll say that is wasn’t THAT bad. Kind of fun even. My housemate and I first put our rain jackets on, grabbed wheelbarrows and delivered firewood to the houses. For the record that’s two look at me moments, #1 I was caught in a hurricane and #2 I heroically delivered firewood to people who weren’t necessarily in need. It just felt cool to “spring in to action.”. I did hurry inside though once trees starting falling around us.
So most of the cottages have electric stoves. Which is annoying considering we’re at cooking school. However there is one with gas. So a group of us gathered there to “survive.” This is still Monday, the day of the storm. By survive I mean everyone was perfectly safe and we had a good time acting like the apocalypse had hit. I made a pulled pork roast using a bottle of stout beer from Dungarvan Brewing Company, some leftover coca cola and some honey. The school also delivered bread and some frozen soup and another student’s Mom had brought some stew with her from the U.K. before she knew she’d be stranded here. We also drank everything. Which was almost catastrophic considering we didn’t know when another booze run would be feasible and the power wasn’t back on yet. Poor planning, I guess.
We ate and drank well for not having power or running water. Which leads to a perfect opportunity to plug just how reliant we are on power and water, something many parts of the world aren’t fortunate enough to have. Be thankful!
Fast forward to Tuesday and the school opened, although we were still without power. Colm McCann was able to join us on 30 minutes notice and we had our wine lecture a day early. Spirits were surprisingly high despite the body odor starting to set in and going a whole 48 hours without access to the internet. Tuesday night I hosted a “perishable party” since all of our fridges were coming to room temperature. By “hosted” I mean I lit a giant fire and invited everyone to bring their food that was going to spoil. We ate well for the 2nd day in a row without power or water (note we did have spurts of cold water when they’d use a generator to pump the well). I also started dry curing a pork belly. Luckily the school has been focusing on preservation and curing techniques heavily lately.
The power finally came back on Wednesday evening after another full day of lecture and the internet came back Thursday morning (it’s Thursday evening now). So for those counting that’s an entire 3 days without internet. Think, in these modern times, if you didn’t have internet or cell service for 3 days. It. Was. AWESOME. The world continued to spin and I lived life instead of being glued to my phone.
Okay, enough with that bitch Ophelia. Let’s move on to some introspection! Note that I didn’t know what that word meant until it was suggested that my blog reads as such. So we’re coming up to the end of week 5 and I’ve had a few thoughts. The first one came today during afternoon lecture. The past 2 days were spent entirely in lectures and I was starting to get a bit burnt out. But then we finally returned to the kitchen this morning (Thursday) and it was glorious. My energy returned and I started smiling during the afternoon demo after being “present” again for a second and remembering that I was here. That I do really love this. It’s not a fad. I love this. When it comes to me staying engaged in something the time is like dog years. My excitement to get in and cook my face off tomorrow after 5 weeks is really like 35 weeks. I seriously can’t wait. I have to make choux pastry, it’s a fickle pastry that is the base for éclairs, profiteroles, beignets, etc. I’ll then pump it full of cream and drizzle in a sugary sauce.
Alright, so everything I’ve written about so far has been about me quitting my job to pursue a dream and how awesome it is and look at me and all that. Let’s talk about some negatives. First, I don’t fit on my bed. My feet hang off and it’s about a shoulder width wide. My pillows suck too. Add that to the fact that it’s cave like darkness and silent and I’ve lived in Chicago next to the “L” for the past 5 years. Sleep has not come easily.
I’m also struggling with an issue I first realized in college. I don’t remember most of college but I do remember the moment I asked myself “who am I?” I remember I couldn’t answer it and it was terrifying. I still struggle with it although I’m getting better. One of the things I think about is the fact that I’m so social and I’m so extroverted that I think I’m covering up other stuff. What that stuff is I don’t know. But why am I always trying to impress and please people, always trying to get attention? Why can’t I just put my head down and focus on priorities? I hope this doesn’t come out wrong, I’m happy I am the way I am (I also don’t really have a choice), it’s just that I’m trying to figure out if I’m compensating for something or not. I’m also wondering if others ask themselves these same questions. Answering the question of “who am I” is something I’m going to give serious thought to as I lay awake in my kid sized bed.
Finally. I’ve sneaky been starting my own cause to get more people to write. It just dawned on me that’s it’s something I often suggest to people in conversation without thinking. It’s something I’m extremely passionate about. Write down your feelings in a given moment. Likely private so you can tell yourself everything. Our lives move so damn fast these days it’s impossible to remember all the little things that make you feel. One of the themes emerging in this blog is how important it is to A) feel and B) remember that feeling in detail.
Here’s a few more photos. Note I always forget to take pictures of the really fancy/technical stuff I cook. I’ll try and do better!
Thanks for reading.