After leaving the newspaper, the blog morphed into a place for me to share more specific food stories but again, recipes and observations.
But last summer, I started feeling as if I ... well, I wasn't a writer anymore. I had a lot to say but I found myself struggling to find the time and the desire to post much of anything.
A month went by, then a few months. Lo and behold, a year went by and I hadn't written anything on this blog.
Of course, lots of things were happening: I started a new job. My father got sick. I got engaged. My father died. I got married. And two days after my wedding, I started culinary school.
It's easy to say that I had a lot of reasons for not blogging, because I did. But more than that, I didn't have a place to focus. I didn't have a specific thing to write about ... other than food.
And so, rather than posting photos of every single thing I make at school on Facebook or sending mass emails out to my family members, I'm turning this blog into a diary of sorts about my culinary school experiences.
I haven't been in an educational setting in decades. It's challenging, exhilarating, fun, intense, exhausting and one of the coolest things I've ever done.
I'm in school full time, which is roughly 20 hours a week, at The Cambridge School of Culinary Arts. I'm also working full time, but less than I was, about 32 hours a week. I work as a cook so I'm in kitchens pretty much all the time, when I'm not in my car or on the commuter train.
The 'ah-ha' moments started the first day I was in school. From the very beginning, I remember thinking "Wow. I never knew that."
My program combines savory cooking (food basics) with pastry. I leave my house at 6 a.m. to either drive in or catch a train; class starts at 8:30 with a lecture followed by time in the kitchen. The first lecture I had was four hours on vegetables. That isn't typical, but most lectures are about 2 hours at the very least.
Each week there is also a seminar we must attend; knife skills, food safety, plating and tasting.
I carry a backpack that weighs 16 pounds. It has my school binder, my knife kit and other cooking utensils. I wear a uniform - white chef coat, checked chef pants, white school t-shirt, white apron, white chef hat, black non-skid shoes. I keep a big safety pin inside my pants pocket and attach my wedding rings to it when I'm at school because we can't wear any jewelry. Or nail polish. Or piercings.
The program I'm in is a 16-week certificate program; graduation is at the end of January. There is also a professional chef's program, which is an additional 16 weeks (and an additional $15,000).
So, that's the skinny, pretty much.
I'm tired a lot of the time, but energized too. I find myself way, way out of my comfort zone, which is a good thing. Most of the students are much younger than I am but there are a few that grew up without a cell phone.
I love the way my life is today ... busy and challenging and creative and happy.
