Counting Down

"The secret of good cooking, is first, having a love of it." -James Beard

It feels like only yesterday I was waving goodbye to my college roomies in Richmond and headed back home to begin the job hunt with the rest of the college graduates. The summer really flew by us all and I can't believe that in 8 DAYS I'll be starting culinary school!

Ever since I can remember, I've loved being in the kitchen...helping my grandma Nani make her signature "rocks" (not actual rocks I assure you, just rolls that tend to be a bit on the hard side) and assisting my mom with prepwork for a big party or just a fancy recipe that she cut out of Bon Appetit. And then there were all the restaurants my parents took me to in New York City that made me appreciate the work that goes into being a chef. Although as a little girl I dragged my parents to the Jekyll and Hyde Restaurant a fair amount of times, they, in turn, would bring me to places like Balthazar and Becco and in time, I was convinced that eating macaroni and cheese from a plastic skull at Jekyll and Hyde was overrated. My parents and I share a love of trying new restaurants and I've been lucky enough to go to some of the best restaurants in the world like Le Bernardin (where I met Eric Ripert...and then was subsequently extremely embarrassed in front of him, thanks to my loving brother.), Marea and more. These culinary experiences only made me want to learn more.

So it came as no surprise that when I was in high school, I wanted to further my culinary education more than just what I watched on the Food Network and read about in my mom's cookbooks. I decided to take an amateur class at the French Culinary Institute after my junior year of high school where I learned some basic French techniques that I still use, five years later. Even though I was the youngest person in the class to don my chef's jacket, the experience only strengthened my love of cooking and gave me more confidence in the recipes I tried and made on my own.

During college, cooking always took a back burner to work, friends...and beer, and soon I found myself graduated with a degree in Art History and Journalism that I didn't know what to do with. I occupied myself looking for jobs for the early part of this summer, going to several interviews in New York and DC, but none of the jobs I was looking at really made me as excited as I felt I should be. And everytime someone else posted their excitement at finding a job on facebook, I grew more down at the fact that I still didn't have one...so I turned to the kitchen. I found myself cooking every meal for my family and when I wasn't cooking I was planning my next trip to the farmer's market, researching our next meal or the newest restaurants, or reading about cooking. So once again I turned to culinary school and went back to the French Culinary Institute for a tour. As soon as I stepped back through those doors and felt the heat of the kitchens, a student whizzing by me in their chef's uniform and the buzz of the restaurant kitchen where the students eventually cook, I knew I had returned to the right place. Over lunch after the tour, I told my dad that nothing made me as excited as culinary school did, and being the supportive dad that he is, he told me to go for it. So here I am now, mentally preparing for what will come in the next six months of culinary school.

After reading a book called Under the Table by Kathering Darling, which was about Darling's time taking the same course I will be taking at the French Culinary Institute, I realized how much of this experience will be worth remembering and sharing. I'll try to share as much as I can about culinary school...from the French accents of the chef instructors to the hundreds of chickens I will inevitably carve and truss. I know it won't be easy, but I know it's where I belong.

So until next time...Bon Appetit!