Basic Cuisine at Le Cordon Bleu
Two days down and four and a half weeks to go in my intensive basic cuisine class at Le Cordon Bleu. This class is a welcome relief from pastry. No scales, no measuring every ingredient to the gram, no...
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Life & Death at Cordon Bleu
Second week over in my basic cuisine course at Le Cordon Bleu whew-hoo! I’ve been having to deal with dead animals and how I feel about eating and cooking them. I’m not normally squeamish but the...
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Crab Bisque
Today was another tough day. Give me a dead fish anytime and I’ll turn it into beautiful little fillets, but don’t give me anything’s that’s alive that I have to kill. I don’t want to be the killer,...
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Food For Thought: A Philosophy on Cooking
When you go to cooking school or work as a chef you are in the business of creating beautiful tasty dishes from items that were previously alive. On the metro coming home from Le Cordon Bleu I was...
View ArticleCooking School Blues…
Today was a frustrating FRUSTRATING day at cooking school. I woke up early thinking that my class schedule was from 8:30AM to 9:30PM with two demonstrations and 2 practicals. I pre-ordered a taxi the...
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The Cutting Edge
I haven’t seen daylight (and fashion) in weeks considering my hectic schedule at Le Cordon Bleu. I look like a white potato sack in my little uniform, so what’s the use of trying to accessorize?...
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Le Cordon Bleu Final Week
Oh la la la la la la, where has the time gone? four weeks have flown by at the l’Ecole de Beurre. Now I am in the final week consisting of difficult demos, practicals, one written final exam, and one...
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Final Cooking Exam
Whew-hoo!!! Final cooking exam over!!! I woke up early this morning and ironed my uniform, had a cup of coffee, showered, put on make-up (I’ve been ragged lately), dressed smartly, put my grandmother’s...
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Graduation from Le Cordon Bleu
The test results are in and I am officially graduated from my basic cuisine and pastry courses! We had a fun graduation catered by the cuisine and pastry chefs with free flowing champange and lots of...
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Back at Le Cordon Bleu
Today was my first official day back at le Cordon Bleu for my intermediate cuisine course. Fifty-four people in the class…yikes!!!! I thought it was going to be a nice little group like last time, oh...
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Le Cordon Bleu End of Week One
One week down and 7 more to go! We’re preparing regional recipes of France and making all the famous traditional dishes from each area. The most exciting demonstration so far has been the the recipes...
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Le Terrine: An Acquired Taste
I want to talk about Terrines, because le Français love these slow cooked delicacies and I myself find them beautiful but inedible. If there’s one thing I love about French cooking it’s how it makes...
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Soufflé Au Fromage Recipe
Let’s face it, soufflé’s are a little scary to make. The thought of them falling before they get to the table is almost worse than forgetting to put pants on before going outside. However, this same...
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Lobster Attack
I like to eat Lobster, but I don’t like to cook it. Anything with an exo-skeleton gives me the heeby-jeebies. You know that feeling when you wake up in the middle of the night with a black fuzzy...
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Lobster Attack Part II
Everyone got to class early yesterday for our first lobster practical at Le Cordon Bleu. Considering our 8:30AM start time, this was unusual. We all dealt with our pre-killing jitters differently, one...
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Fear Factor? Naaaah, Poulet en Barbouille
Poulet en Barbouille is a very old recette that some say dates waaaaay back to a battle between Ceasar and the Gauls. It’s similar to the Burgundian Coq au Vin but it’s origins are from Berry. The...
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Le Cordon Blur Countdown
The end of my intermediate cusine career at Le Cordon Bleu is in sight. It’s so close I can taste it! I know, bad joke, but I’m tired and run down– it’s all I can muster. I could use some serious...
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Crazy Crawfish
I promise after this post that I will cut down on writing about all the icky fear factor stuff we do in cooking class and write about some of the pretty things we make – like homemade sausage –...
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Avian Bird Flu in France
Picture by Mr. Fenwick Recently a friend, from San Francisco Photorama, asked me what Le Cordon Bleu’s stand on the avian bird flu was. I asked the chef’s the next day at school and the dominant...
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Hollandaise Queen: Final Exam
One day before my final at Le Cordon Bleu and I have a bad case of the I-don-wanna’s. Bad, bad, bad. I keep doing everything there is to do but, study. I should not be blogging right now. Okay, this...
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