17 May 2012

Theory day. Today a guest speaker came to talk to us about making money from our food. I will not bore you with all the details but the day was surprisingly entertaining (I tend to dread all-day lectures as my mind tunes out and my bum falls asleep). The day started with an episode of Gordon's Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares - always entertaining - and then went on with various role plays and case studies.  But the real highlight for me was an exercise we had to do after lunch. We all chose a menu (from a real restaurant) and then analysed it from the point of view of how easy it was to read, the paper, the font, the contents etc. I randomly selected a simple laminated menu for a little cafe in Tipperary. It served standard cafe food but what caught my eye was their descriptions of the coffee... 

• Cappuccino - A chance for your favourite barista to show off. Really? Is Ricky here in Ireland? And is he moonwalking on the bar again? Seriously, isn't this person just doing their job?*

• Caffe Mocha - French chocolate conspires with Italian coffee to seduce your palate. Hmmm ... do I want to drink the result of an international sleazy tag team? I have images of greasy over-cologned coffee beans called Guido sauntering up to your taste buds and saying 'Ciao Bella', all under the command of a cocoa bean called Pierre in a striped T-shirt and beret. 

• Caffe Latte - An Irish Italian marriage made in heaven. What was Ireland's contribution to this beverage exactly? The milk? They have that in Italy too, where cafe lattes were invented incidentally. 

Strangely enough, these odd descriptions actually made me want to visit this place. So perhaps in a few weeks I shall be writing to you as I sip my multicultural marriage in a glass!

The Editor and I are now off to explore our adopted village - we are trying out a local restaurant which has come highly recommended. I will try my hardest not to deconstruct the entire menu and guess every flavour of every dish I eat - I fear I will be a real pest to dine with by the end of this course...

*Its fun to apply this to other professions:
Eclairs - a chance for your beloved baker to show off
Smoothies - a chance for prefered blender-operator to show off
Heart attack - a chance for your dearest cardiologist to show off
... and the list goes on. Please feel free to post your own variations!