Dingle 6: Epic Dinners

Tuesday July 16 Declan McCabe - the Dinner Blog; impressive student chefs!

        Meals on our trip have been mostly communal at the Rainbow Youth Hostel. We keep stocked up on breakfast cereal and bagels for rapid breakfasts before departure. Bread, PB&J, cheese and lunch meats have been our go-to staples for lunches at field sites. Denise at SuperValu has been graciously organizing deliveries directly to the hostel and we walk the empty crates back to town when we head in for activities.
        Dinners have been an interesting combination of things. When we fished, we filleted, prepped, and ate fish at the Dingle Cookery School which was a real treat. We have also had 2 scheduled sit-down dinners in local restaurants. But eating out every night is not an option for the entire trip and so we have had all sorts of meals cooked in the hostel.
        One evening we barbecued a selection of Irish meats along with burgers. Another evening the students took the lead and prepped a nice pasta dish with a sausage sauce and a salad. Last night was the Euro Soccer Final and many were anxious to get out to watch it in the pub. So we did a simple breakfast for dinner meal with pancakes and bacon. 
        We bought pancake mix in a bottle, filled to the line with milk, shook, and poured onto a hot griddle and students ate in shifts as the feast came off the pan. Honestly, it looked fairly basic next to the gourmet meal a French family was cooking up in the same kitchen.       
        But last night the students outdid themselves. We did a shopping run as a group and a small army of students hauled the various items back to our home-away-from-home. And then they took over the kitchen to cook up a delicious pasta meal with chicken and broccoli. Many wanted Alfredo sauce, which is not something that's available in a jar at SuperValu. But the students combined heavy cream, garlic, butter, and other ingredients to make a truly impressive sauce that Alfredo himself would have been proud to sample. Now it was our turn to be the envy of other diners in the hostel.        I have been truly impressed to see a dozen students pull together to prep, cook, and serve truly sumptuous meals. And those not so involved in the cooking have jumped in on the back end to wash dishes and leave the kitchen better than we found it.
        The original plan to issue students with debit cards did not come together as our hosts sliced and diced the costs to make the trip affordable. And so absent the debit cards we decided to provide as many communal meals as possible so that students did not need to spend a fortune eating out. Rest assured, no one will leave Dingle hungry and it has been a wonderful group building activity to come together and whip up meals as a group.