Yes, it was expensive. I didn't go to the Harvard of culinary schools either (CIA). Nope, I took the "fast track" 18-month corporate route. Don't get me wrong; CSCA and Le Cordon Blue are fantastic. They did their best with what they had. But truth be told, if you were lazy you wouldn't get anything out of it.
I wanted to be there. When I told people back in my UCLA days that this is what I eventually wanted to do (after running my own record company, of course) they would say "Oh, that's nice". But I was serious. And when I got there in my starchy whites, creased checked pants and clean clogs, there was no stopping me. For 18 months I got burned incessantly (one of which got a nasty infection thanks to working the dish station), cut every finger I have, froze working long hours in the walk-in and busted my ass every day. And even though women still have to work harder in the kitchen to prove themselves, I held my own with the most sexist of pigs.
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