Week 1: Foundations and Safety

Hello friends,


First week of school is over. Short story: We talked a lot and cut things.

Long story: This place is not like a traditional school where there is a lot of monotonous talk about what is expected out of us throughout the course. Granted, there is a lot of talk and expectations but it is anything but monotonous. Day 1 went as expected. Grab a seat anywhere, our teacher (Chef Ted) passes out syllabus, goes over it quickly and proceeds to talk about what we are going to be learning and doing with him in the first 6 weeks. Then the regulatory introductions begin. Who we are, what brought us to culinary school, favorite and least favorite thing to eat, what our plans are in the culinary world. blah blah blah. But thanks to my memory, I retained peoples names and started to network. Chef also showed us how to properly tie our neckerchief (or cravat for the technical people) and how our uniform should look. For those of you who have never tied a tie, its essentially the same thing. So, now I can tie a tie too.


Day 2, the highly anticipated knife and book day! We were given our brand new knife kits; stock full of sharp knives, measuring cups, spatulas and meat thermometer. AWESOME. Immediately we started learning the proper way to hold and handle the knives. We cut potatoes into sticks; 2 inches by 1 inch by 1 inch. It was like Christmas for a lot of us. Brand new knives to play with.

The rest of the week goes as scheduled. We often get off topic when in lecture but its a pretty entertaining group of people. Day 4 we cut a lot of onions, chop, julienne and slice....terminology will come later for me. I still smell the onions on my hands.

In the upcoming weeks, we will be making mayonnaise, twice, french onion soup and the mother sauces. All of this while we are learning safety and sanitation and prepare for the exam.

Ive got to go study now, I have a quiz tomorrow.

Today is the Day

The start of something new can be scary, intimidating and exciting all at once. After 11 years of working in an office environment and a string of unfortunate circumstances, I made the decision to go to Culinary school.

I called Le Cordon Bleu and the Art Institute of California and started gathering my options. Both programs are very similar, same time frame and same area of town. The biggest determining factor for me was the cost of the program. $17k vs $60k. After considering all my financial aid and scholarship options, I chose Le Cordon Bleu. I set up an open house appointment and started the wheels in motion. When I met with Lorolei, my admissions rep, we talked about why I want to be in Culinary school and what I wanted to achieve. OF COURSE I started to cry. For the first time, I feel that I am doing what is good for me, what I want to do and what I would enjoy to continue to do. For a few weeks, I continue the admissions process: financial aid, testing, uniform fittings, orientation and a lot of prep. October 1 was the start of a 9 month process and I was and still am very excited and scared. Scared of the unknown and the future, but excited for the same things.

Join me for this journey that is sure to test me, inspire me and hopefully help me succeed. There will be pictures, and for some of you that are lucky to be in the right place at the right time, there will be samples.