I DID IT ....

I remember using the same caption 16-months ago when I graduated from Le Cordon Bleu, now it is Wandee. I passed, with distinction I should add because I did well in my finals per remarks from Professor Wandee. There is a world of difference between the LCB & Wandee curriculum but then again, there is practically no difference whatsoever when we address the acquisition of knowledge in cookery. Wandee teaches the discipline of cooking in exactly the same approach as LCB, there is no question about it, having spent time at both.

Julia Childs, an idol of mine, wrote the following in her wonderful book 'My Life in France' which is relevant here in this blog, at this moment. It was 1950, she was attedning LCB in Paris, and she said .... 'the more I learned (about cooking) the more I realize how much one has to learn before one is in-the-know at all'. How simple, how appropriate, how humble and, how profound!

When I returned from LCB friends start calling me 'Chef' and each time I hear it I twitch nervously, imbued with humility. I am no chef, I do not deserve that title, and I will never make it to be a chef, that much I know. I am just a retiree who dreams, who yearns, who is passionate about cooking, who loves to play around in the kitchen like a little kid, in a chef uniform, pretending. Get the picture? Speaking of pretending here I am with a certificate and a grin, standing next to the doyen. The best I can do when I go home is ... 'pretend I can cook Thai', knowing all I acquired in 4-weeks is not even the tip of any iceberg, but just icicles that fell off.

Thank you, Professor Wandee!