It's been a helluva long time since I last posted so much as a picture up here - but - have no fear - I am back in action! I have had a pretty hectic past few months between travelling and beginning to work at the new place that I haven't had a second to even scribble down an idea for Yummmmyy. I have however been snapping away, making sure to take pics of everything I have made or eaten over the past few weeks. And so, without further adieu, here's the food camera role...
Salted Caramel Glazed Choux Buns with a Vanilla Pastry Cream Filling. Trying recipes from work at home has to be one of my utmost favourite things. I spend so much time talking about what I'm doing in the pastry kitchen that when I finally show my family and friends the real goods that I can actually also produce at home there's a real sense of achievement.
Breakfast is clearly still a huge deal for me - it's 100% my favourite meal of the day. This is home-made granola, natural Greek yoghurt, fresh fruit and home-made rhubarb, apple and ginger compote. Grandad has a seriously overgrown rhubarb patch in the garden so when he began to offer me bundles after bundles of the stuff I had to be a little more creative than good old rhubarb crumble.
After a pretty crazy night out in town, myself and my brother Al decided to venture to TBC, the pop-up cafe by Daniella Moyles and Yogism in the George's St, Arcade to try the famous buckwheat-flax breakfast pancakes and frozen yoghurt. Holy moly were they good! Al went for the protein pancakes with fresh berries and fro-yo and I decided to try them with pineapple, maple syrup and coconut natural yoghurt. If I lived in town you would more than likely find me perched at a coffee table there every morning - they really were that good.
I HAVE FINALLY MASTERED THE SOUFFLÉ
I was seriously proud in work one evening to find that my soufflé had risen almost half its height. According to our head chef, my soufflé won out, hands down, over our chef de partie's best! No one has been able to wipe the smile off my face since.
I live in the Happy Pear - the greatest place to eat in County Wicklow. I really don't know how it has possibly taken me so long to discover this place but I'm so unbelievably happy to have now. The food there is unbelievably good. Everything is organic and healthy. Their salads are, hands-down, the best I have ever tried. They use fruit juices and nut butters to dress which I absolutely love due to my strange fear or mayonnaise and vinegars. Myself and my pal Mai have made it our morning ritual to stop by for a bowl of the place's delicious porridge topped with fruit compote and granola after the gym. The porridge is FREE and it's a mere euro for any toppings - you'd be a fool not to try it!
After a seriously long week I snapped a quick pic of my last plate in the restaurant. Peanut parfait with peanut brittle, cardamom foam, sesame paste and Dulcey Chantilly. I was one happy chef watching the waiter take that final plate from my pass.
It was my little cousin Oisín's 6th birthday a few weeks ago so, to celebrate, I baked him a lemon sponge with lemon curd, fresh strawberries and lemon butter cream.
Another work recipe tried at home - homemade marshmallow. We make some pretty whacky flavours to serve as petit fours. However, at home I made a batch of vanilla which were deeeeelicious in vanilla and chilli hot chocolate.
Cutting chocolate biscuit cake - one of my least favourite things to do in work. They always seem to crumble to pieces. When I was asked to make a chocolate biscuit cake for an order I was amendment to find a recipe that held and would be easy on the poor soul left with the awkward task of cutting it. My head chef suggested using condensed milk as an alternative to sugar and golden syrup which actually worked a treat. Hopefully Ireland's bakers catch on and I no longer have to piece crumbly old biscuit cake together in order to form a few slices !
Macaroons - something I had never made up until a few weeks ago. I was so surprised at how easy they are to make - it's unbelievable!
My "healthy balls ".
I have been warned by Mam not to call them that but I couldn't resist! These raw cacao, pecan and date bites are made with all natural and healthy ingredients. They're a delicious health conscious treat that really don't taste the slightest bit healthy. Don't worry, there will be a recipe to follow.
My Dad has entered into a new fase that I like to call smoothie madness. I'm not complaining though - every morning I wake up to a delicious vitamin packed smoothie to set me up for the day. The best part is that I don't even have to wash the blender! He puts everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, into his smoothies - carrots, ginger, cinnamon, avocados, even oranges and lemons with skins and all - the list goes on. They're surprisingly delicious nonetheless.
Hubba hubba...
Mam arrived home yesterday with a pack of Belgian sugar waffles. I decided to be bold and topped them with Nutella, fresh raspberries, date syrup, natural Greek yoghurt and toasted pecan nuts. They were heavenly.
