Going to cooking school started out as a desperate attempt to find a plan B when I became increasingly certain I wouldn’t get in to business school last year. If not an MBA, why not cook? Right. Here I am, a ballerina / study geek turned fanker (that’s a “fake investment banker” according to the Lehman Menlo Park crew) who was hardly ever allowed in the home kitchen for fear of giving her poor mother a heart attack! Me, become the next Julia Child or Anita Lo? Far from likely. I just hope to be able to make a decent meal for my friends the next time I entertain in my tiny overpriced Parisian flat and we’ll take it from there.
The program so far has been perfectly tailored to ambitious 17-year-olds. The chefs are extremely competent both in the kitchen and as teachers, which I think is rare. Unfortunately, I’m not a teenager anymore and the strict discipline, heavy “homework” load and general spell-everything-out-ness (“you must be on time and respect others”) is not the style I would have preferred.
The students are very motivated though and not at all what I imagined (you know, the trendy cliques roaming the malls and hanging out by the kebab stand). They do, however, still have that sagging thing going on and I am now privy to the underwear preferences of most of my male classmates…Despite all that, I am happy to finally meet people who also make a beeline for the cooking magazines at the newsstand and take pictures of food like Asian tourists in front of the Eiffel Tower (guilty as charged!).
So far we have had 3 days in the kitchen, which means 6:30am wake up call (ah, the familiar Blackberry alarm is back), 7:30am start, 8am lecture in the kitchen (no chairs to be found) and cooking until 2:30pm with major cleanup afterwards. I am developing beautiful legs from running up and down 5 flights of stairs and learning to eat as fast as a starving athlete. We have learned the basic stocks and sauces and I even cleaned a chicken – me, the girl with a deathly fear of pigeons and birds in general! It is definitely more tiring and less glamourous than I hoped but I’m learning a lot. Where else do you get to flambé whole chickens and run around with knife kits? Fun…
The program so far has been perfectly tailored to ambitious 17-year-olds. The chefs are extremely competent both in the kitchen and as teachers, which I think is rare. Unfortunately, I’m not a teenager anymore and the strict discipline, heavy “homework” load and general spell-everything-out-ness (“you must be on time and respect others”) is not the style I would have preferred.
The students are very motivated though and not at all what I imagined (you know, the trendy cliques roaming the malls and hanging out by the kebab stand). They do, however, still have that sagging thing going on and I am now privy to the underwear preferences of most of my male classmates…Despite all that, I am happy to finally meet people who also make a beeline for the cooking magazines at the newsstand and take pictures of food like Asian tourists in front of the Eiffel Tower (guilty as charged!).
So far we have had 3 days in the kitchen, which means 6:30am wake up call (ah, the familiar Blackberry alarm is back), 7:30am start, 8am lecture in the kitchen (no chairs to be found) and cooking until 2:30pm with major cleanup afterwards. I am developing beautiful legs from running up and down 5 flights of stairs and learning to eat as fast as a starving athlete. We have learned the basic stocks and sauces and I even cleaned a chicken – me, the girl with a deathly fear of pigeons and birds in general! It is definitely more tiring and less glamourous than I hoped but I’m learning a lot. Where else do you get to flambé whole chickens and run around with knife kits? Fun…
Aww, Ann. I love reading your updates and miss you dearly. Wish I were in Paris to experience the joy of cooking with you.
RépondreSupprimerYou are already getting hands-on experience!! Great! The homework and "busy-work" doesn't sound fun, but you will improve your French. This should be a very "growing" (though perhaps difficult) year.
RépondreSupprimerRemember the words of bw above: "The Joy of cooking!!" caro
Thanks, Bel! I wish you were here too - we could travel, shop and cook together!
RépondreSupprimerCaro - thanks for the encouragement. I am speaking a lot more French now since the others don't really speak English, which is tiring but good for me...