Irish Cooking (and Drinking).

I apologize for not posting anything in the past three weeks. I have a lot going on and I have been busy and away from any ponderous thoughts or musings. But the other night I had an experience that I thought I would share. Its roots were from the Thanksgiving weekend of my previous post. That weekend I made the plans to attend the function that I finally arrived on my calendar.

On the Sunday after Thanksgiving I decided to take the family out to the mall for lunch. My daughter was in town for the holiday and it is always nice to share a meal where we can just sit and talk and not worry about the preparation and dishes. We had no special design or plan on where to eat so we just kind of winged it. We had just happened to park near an Irish restaurant. We had eaten at the restaurant before there before. We liked it.

I was kind of reluctant to eat there this day because it was Sunday and I would miss part of the football game. Oh well, majority rules. We stepped inside. The hostess sat us and gave us a printed announcement that the chef of the restaurant is now offering cooking classes once a month. Those of you who follow this blog regularly know that I used to be a chef. I had some experience with different cuisines. But I had never really studied or even knew much about Irish cuisine. This chef was offering instruction on how to cook Irish food. I signed up.

The menu for the class would start with a green salad with apples and candied walnuts topped with Irish cheddar cheese and a malted vinaigrette. For the main course he was serving (and teaching) the Irish favorite, a Boxty, the Irish potato pancake, with chicken and a white wine buerre blanc (white butter sauce). The entire evening would be topped off with a Guinness ice cream. I jumped at the chance to go and learn something about a cuisine about which I am unfamiliar.

I arrived at the appointed time and place and was surprised to see the room set with about 25 settings. Each setting was set with a placemat with four little plastic cups on it. Each cup had about an ounce, ounce and a half of Jameson's Irish Whiskey. The Jameson folks had arranged a whiskey tasting for the group. Today was our lucky day.

Given the go ahead we first tasted the standard Jameson product. Tasted great, taunted and warmed the throat on the way down. Next up was the twelve year old whiskey. Man, that was smooth. Nice aroma, and very smooth on the throat. I could have stopped right there. But there were two more. We also tried the Jameson Gold and the eighteen year old. These were both very smooth tasting. I like them both. The gold is my favorite. I am putting it on my Christmas list.

After four to five ounces of wonderful Irish whiskey I was getting kind of buzzed. I was loaded. By this time the chef started cooking and I was involved. I was drinking a lot of water and hoping I sobered up by the time the class was finished. The instruction turned out great and the food was fantastic. I really enjoyed my time. It was quite the experience. I am going to go in after the holidays and sign up for the next session. I am hoping the Jameson lady comes back.

D.