Cathal McGuire in conversation with
SANDRA O'CONNELL
THIS IS MY second season as a ski-chalet chef with Highlife. I’m based in Morzine, in France, which is the biggest ski area in the world.
I’ve been a chef for seven years. Just prior to coming out here I worked in Lock’s Restaurant in Dublin, which unfortunately has closed down. Before that I spent the summer working on private yachts on the Mediterranean.
I’m into my third month of the season now. Every morning I get up at 7.30am. My apartment is a five-minute walk from the chalet, where we have up to 14 people staying. It’ll either be one big group or a few smaller ones, and the atmosphere is always great.
Breakfast starts at 8am, so I’ll prepare a continental option as well as hot food like bacon and pancakes. Breakfast finishes up by 10.30am, and then I’ll bake a cake to leave out for anyone who comes in hungry during the day.
By 11am I’m off. I spend most of my free time skiing. Up to last year I’d never even skied before. Now I love it. The scenery is spectacular here.
It’s very social, too. There are 16 of us on the Highlife team here, so there’s always a bunch to go skiing with.
We’ll stop and have lunch in some restaurant or cafe up the mountains most days, but if I’m tired I might go home for a bit and take a nap.
By 5pm I’m back at the chalet and getting started on dinner, which is served at 7.30pm. Skiing is a very physical activity, so people come in hungry. It means I don’t worry about cooking rich foods or having too many carbs, because the guests know they are going to work it all off next day.
I always prepare a three-course meal before finishing with a cheese board, and by 9pm I’m done for the day.
Most nights I’ll go to the pub. Morzine gets a good mix of people. Next week is midterm, so there will be loads of families. It’s also a busy summer resort, especially for mountain- bikers.
Most nights I’ll either go somewhere for a quiet pint or on out to a nightclub.
I much prefer working in ski chalets to working on yachts. The boats are way too intense. You’re cooped up in the one place all the time at people’s beck and call. By the end of my last stint I was suffering severe cabin fever. By and large I think skiers tend to be nicer people, too.
Once the season finishes, in April, I’ll need a month to recover, especially as the last two weeks are one long party. I’ll come back to Dublin then and maybe do something a little more serious.