I remember the first day I slipped into the white jacket with blue piping and embroidered crest of Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa. It was a day that was two years in the making. It said to me that I was now a member of a private club; the fellowship of butter.
Dear Kermit - We both knew this would happen sooner or later. Cooking at a French school, we were bound to encounter the distasteful task of cooking frog. To be more exact... frog legs.
“If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.” ~ Harry S. Truman No question that enrolling in Le Cordon Bleu is among the most challenging and rewarding things I’ve ever done. Past the halfway point there is no…
When you work with fire, chances are, sooner or later you’re gonna' get burned. Ching Wan Hung (also written “Jing Wan Hung”) Chinese burn ointment. I have a big tub of it in my locker at Le Cordon Bleu which I apply liberally to the scorched, splattered, sizzled and fried flesh that arrives there.
The daily walk to school through the city's core - over the Rideau Canal, past the campus of Ottawa U to the big yellow mansion that is Le Cordon Bleu - is my solace. I focus on the classes ahead and leave behind any unfinished business that is anything other than my culinary studies and dive headlong into the plan of the day.
There are few things more intoxicating than the smell of butter. Melting, sizzling, baking, butter has been my great love for many years, along with its companion... cream they simply make life worth living. That is, until you are introduced…
“We don’t teach you recipes, we teach you techniques.” – Chef Gilles, Instructor, Le Cordon Bleu. So, down to brass tacks. It’s lovely to go off on a soliloquy of foodie swooning... warm buttery walls and mystical moments in the…
“Tell me how it tastes... is it salty or sweet? Is it bitter or is it bland? Did you even... taste it?” When was the last time you slowly licked the bowl? When was the last time you indulged in…
Week Two at Le Cordon Blue (Basic Cuisine) is decidedly different from the first. The first required nightly emotional bolstering and large quantities of wine. I found myself completely lacking in all those food stuffs that I ‘stuff’ with when…
Day Three – Le Cordon Bleu, Ottawa (BASIC CUSINE) First day in the kitchen and our first day with new knives. The first day I heard the butter sing.
From the heart of Canada’s western fruit belt, the beautiful Okanagan, there came a sudden change in plan. I’d set my heart on further gallivanting, visiting and general merriment when there sprang to light the reality of living the dream. …