culinary school.....here i come

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“Cooks, I had learned, came to cooking not to fulfill a desire, but rather, by chance, to fulfill something already in their nature.”

Micheal Rhulman - The Making of a Chef

Ever wonder what it would be like to attend culinary school full time? I’d never given it much thought, until one day last August when I found myself checking out Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver. I had been drawn through their front doors by little more than vague curiosity. And I really liked what I saw. Dedicated, energetic instructors and a light, spacious facility all made their 15 week professional culinary program seem very appealing. I left the school thinking that someday that would be a really cool thing to do.

When it comes to the world of food, I have always considered myself to be a dabbler; someone who lingers in its corners and nibbles on its edges. In my working life, I run my own interior design business, lead community kitchens teaching youth how to cook, and (seem to) regularly make lots of friends and family happy with my own self taught version of home cooking. I am still not quite sure how I went from ‘tire kicker’ that fateful day back in August to enrolled student, but somewhere along the way I made the decision to take a sabbatical from my own business and other obligations, in order that I may immerse myself fully; living, breathing, slicing, dicing, julienning, pureeing, simmering, roasting, reducing, straining, grating FOOD. To keep you abreast of my trials and tribulations I will be writing a weekly update, to be posted here @ gp every Saturday (during the program's 15 weeks), starting January 5, 2008.