Cork City Weekend Trip

Just got back from our weekend trip to Cork City after what felt like 10 days there. Here’s a recap of the past few days….

Friday, May 28 was fairly uneventful. We worked all day in the garden. Lots of weeding to be done to make the garden look pretty for a wedding this weekend that would send 250+ people to Ballymaloe.

Susan, a South African native and the new head of the gardens, recently took over the job in February from a man who had headed up Ballymaloe’s gardens for almost 50 years. Susan is only making the gardens better, as she is almost completely organic (the old guy used chemicals) and Susan is moving the plants around and planting new things to make the garden more successful.

Also on Friday, Aidan had me trying all the different greens in the garden. My favorites were the mustard greens—a spicy, horseradish kick, the chive flowers that tasted like sweet onions, and lastly sorrel, a green leaf that tastes just like a sour green apple skin.

After work, Emily, Mel and I boarded the train to Cork. There we found a great hostel—Sheila’s hostel—for 48 euro/night total, where we had our own private beds and bathroom.

We scoured over the two Ireland guidebooks we had and made our plans for the weekend. Friday night we headed out to a really good but cheap vegetarian restaurant in Cork. We then stopped by a traditional pub called the Old Oak to try some of Cork’s favorite alcohols, Beamish and Bulmer’s, and went back to Sheila’s early to get ready for a busy Saturday.