Adventures of a new Culinary Student

[MarkIsCooking]

Hello all -

After considerable contemplation, I have moved from 'thought' to 'action'. I'm going to Culinary School! At 40-something, will I be the oldest student there? I'll find out Tuesday night when I go to orientation.

I'm blogging the adventure and I'd love for you to follow along. Will you??

Read all about it on my website: Mark's Website

Click on "BLOG" to follow along and I hope you'll post your comments here on eGullet.

All the best,

-Mark-

Edited January 6, 2007 by MarkIsCooking (log)

[foodite]

Congratulations! I look forward to reading more about your adventures at CSCA.

I'm less than a week away from finishing the culinary program at The FCI.

[MarkIsCooking]

Congratulations!  I look forward to reading more about your adventures at CSCA. 

I'm less than a week away from finishing the culinary program at The FCI.

←

Are you talking about FCI in NYC? If so, I'm jealous. How has it been? Where do you go from there???

-Mark-

[gregwa]

Hello all -

After considerable contemplation, I have moved from 'thought' to 'action'.  I'm going to Culinary School!  At 40-something, will I be the oldest student there?  I'll find out Tuesday night when I go to orientation.

I'm blogging the adventure and I'd love for you to follow along.  Will you??

Read all about it on my website:  Mark's Website

Click on "BLOG" to follow along and I hope you'll post your comments here on eGullet.

All the best,

-Mark-

←

Congrats! I'm sure you'll love it. I'm just finishing up my first semester at CSCA, and so far it's been great. When I was at my orientation, there were a number of students who were in their 40's and even older in a few cases. What program are you in?

[MarkIsCooking]

Greg -

Awesome to hear from you! I'm in the Professional Chef's Program. Is that what you're doing or are you in the Pastry program?

So, you started in September? How's it going? How are you liking the instructors? the school overall? the other students??

-Mark-

[MargyB]

Hello all -

After considerable contemplation, I have moved from 'thought' to 'action'.  I'm going to Culinary School!  At 40-something, will I be the oldest student there?  I'll find out Tuesday night when I go to orientation.

I'm blogging the adventure and I'd love for you to follow along.  Will you??

Read all about it on my website:  Mark's Website

Click on "BLOG" to follow along and I hope you'll post your comments here on eGullet.

All the best,

-Mark-

←

Mark...I'm not able to get your blog URL to work....?

[MarkIsCooking]

Margy =

So sorry. Try using this link instead:

Mark's Website

[gregwa]

Yeah, I started the Pro Chef's program in September. So far the instructors have been great. I wasn't crazy about the baking side of the program, but it turned out to be ok for the first part, but once we ventured into cakes, it was a real struggle. Luckily that's all over with now. The only complaint that I have so far has been the last seminar of business management. The instructor was some lawyer, and he started teaching us law instead of menu planning, food costing and the likes. They couldn't find someone to take over the class, so we had to tough it out for 5 weeks. Hopefully the upcoming wine tasting classes will make us forget all about that.

I have my seminar on Tuesdays, so I'll be in there this week. A couple of us usually go down the street to Spirit for a few brews sometime around 9. If you want to swing by after orientation, just shoot me a pm.

[foodite]

Are you talking about FCI in NYC?  If so, I'm jealous.  How has it been?  Where do you go from there???

-Mark-

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Yes, I've blogged about my time there at my blog. It has been a great and enriching 9 month experience, especially for someone like me who had no previous experience in the industry.

After graduation (on Thursday!!), I'll be traveling to South America and Europe for a couple months and return to eventually (and hopefully) stage at some place in NYC (or Europe if I can manage to get one).

Enjoy and savor your time at school - the first day is going to be extremely tiring, but fun at the same time.

http://www.foodite.com/foodite/2006/03/the_first_day.html

[MarkIsCooking]

Greg -

Thanks for the reply. Congrats on the graduation!! Could you be the next Bobby Flay?? He went to FCI, didn't he??

Have a great trip and we'll all be here eGullet-ing when you get back.

-Mark-

[vogelap]

Congrats, Mark... A few years ago, I did just what you're doing... AND I LOVE IT!

(Even though I am nursing a fairly serious cut on my left middle finger from a new knife I was using to cut butternut squash in the restaurant kitchen this weekend. Several of my chef friends, upon seeing my bandaged finger, said, "New knife?"!)

[MarkIsCooking]

New blog entries for anyone interested:

My website: MarkCooks.com

[lucylou95816]

Good luck Mark on your journey, i've book marked to check back. My bf is a construction worker who is also thinking of the same thing....you may be his inspiration. Thanks for the blog!

[scottie]

Man, I thought I was old getting into this industry at age 32. Those young whippersnappers have so much more energy and stamina than I do.

Are you planning on going into restaurant work, or private cheffing, or what?

[MarkIsCooking]

Scottie -

So here's quick funnie from last night's school orientation. One guy stands up (he looks early 30's) and says something like, "I feel as I'm getting into middle age, I need to make a career change . . . " I'm sitting there thinking, if he's middle aged, I better start studying how that new MediCare program works!

To answer your question, I have no clue what I might do with this, which I'm hoping will actually free me to really enjoy going through it. I don't see myself starting on the line in a kitchen. The hours are totally upside down for my life (still kids at home and a wife who goes to bed early). If I got onto restaurant time, I'd never see them. We'll see where it leads.

I hope check out my blog now and then to follow my progress and cheer me on: MarkCooks.com CLICK on the BLOG link

How I'm going to remember all these French terms and micro-organisms, I have no clue.

-Mark-

[MarkIsCooking]

First official class (knife skills) is in the history books! My blog has been updated. Check it out.

MarkCooks.com click on the BLOG page

[Porthos]

Scottie -

So here's quick funnie from last night's school orientation.  One guy stands up (he looks early 30's) and says something like, "I feel as I'm getting into middle age, I need to make a career change . . . "  I'm sitting there thinking, if he's middle aged, I better start studying how that new MediCare program works!

-Mark-

←

When I had a career down-turn (part of the dot-com industry crash in '01) I ended up sweeping trash at Disney's California Adventure. I had to go to a training class some while after I had started work there. Attendees were seated at round banquet tables.There was an ice-breaker exercize at the begining of the training where pieces of paper labeled with various historical events were placed on the table and bits of paper with dates were given to the table. The object was to identify the year of the event from and put the appropriate bit of paper with the date with the event. One of the events was the year man walked on the moon. I remember, as a teenager, watching Neil Armstrong step onto the surface of the moon. I looked around the room where we were being trained and realized that I was the only one there who was even alive in 1969. Talk about feeling old...

Mark, I wish you every success in your culinary career.

Porthos Potwatcher

The Unrelenting Carnivore

[MarkIsCooking]

Thanks for the encouragement! Not sure I'll make this a career, but it sure is fun so far learning. Here's a volleyback on your story. In last night's knife skill seminar, the instructor was 45. I'm 47. I don't think my last time around in school I was ever older than my instructors. The good news is that this school is very diverse and there are others who remember the disco era!

All the best,

-Mark-

[MarkIsCooking]

Hi everybody! Week 1 of classes are done and I've posted stuff to my blog. Check it out if you can. MarkCooks.com click on the BLOG page

[reesek]

Hi Mark,

Good luck! I'm in my last quarter of culinary school in Seattle. Also a career changer with a life that is not compatible with restaurant hours, I wish I could tell you it all miraculously falls into place and by the end of school you'll have a better idea of what you want to do with the new knowledge. Maybe it will be like that for you - personally, I feel just like I did about 10 years ago when I left college. (Now what??) Then I got a job as a waitress...now I guess I could get a job cutting salad...leading me to think I have a vaguely self-destructive personality.

Fortunately, I have loved culinary school. Never in my life was I a leader or much of an (over)achiever. Until now. It's an amazing feeling to be so committed to personal excellence...There's a difference between showing up and doing something well because you have a strong work ethic, and compulsively doing something over and over and over again because doing it well isn't good enough, it needs to be a part of you. Having the opportunity to devote 15 months of my life to something I love has been the best gift I could ever give myself - even if it doesn't turn into anything else. I hope the ride is the same for you!

[MarkIsCooking]

Reesk -

Thanks SO MUCH for the reply and inspiration! I'm only 1 week in, but so far (as they say at McDonald's) I'm Lovin' It!

I hope you'll check out my blog once in a while and let me know how the program I'm doing compares with yours AND I really hope you'll PM once in a while to let me know what you're up to.

All the best,

-Mark-

[MarkIsCooking]

Hi gang!

Another week under my belt and new blog entries are there. I hope you'll check them out!

My Webpage - click on 'Mark's Blog" to read the news.

-Mark-

[flamenco]

To answer your question, I have no clue what I might do with this, which I'm hoping will actually free me to really enjoy going through it.  I don't see myself starting on the line in a kitchen.  The hours are totally upside down for my life (still kids at home and a wife who goes to bed early).  If I got onto restaurant time, I'd never see them.  We'll see where it leads.

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Mark,

Best of luck to you! I believe I walked by your school a few weeks ago when I was in Boston. Cambridge is a great place!

My son just graduated from the CIA, and we couldn't be happier. He is so fired up that he's staying there to get the Pastry degree, too, an unusual double-major. He externed at Hiro Sone's Terra restaurant in Napa, a place whose reputation is close to the level of the French Laundry.

My wife and I are both foodies, and food is our main interest anywhere we've travelled. We both worked in restaurants in our youth, and we cook pretty much every day. I've already taken a one-day class at the CIA, and my wife and I are signed up for more this year.

My son has been working in kitchens since he was 14, and really knows the deal, having worked all sorts of hours, good places and bad, with luminaries and degenerates alike. Though I love food, restaurants, and cooking, I don't have the right stuff. First, I'm not keen on burning and cutting my hands, whereas my son proudly shows his burns, and gives them funny names! He'll also gleefully recount anecdotes where someone has managed to cut themselves and draw plenty of their own blood!?! Also, I don't particular enjoy working tons of (and peculiar) hours; in contrast, if my son has a good double-shift, he comes out still energized and in a good mood. It seems to me that the rule of thumb is that chefs are working when regular people are not - nights, weekends, and so on.

He has worked for some people that were very hard on him. Still, he is stoked about food, and we were amazed at the CIA how wherever he goes, he's a very Big Man On Campus. Although he's done some dating, he has put his work at the highest priority, knowing that this intense focus is the key to moving forward. Free time and relationships are often a fond memory to a chef, and they wouldn't have it any other way. He clearly has the right stuff.

Because of the extreme demands of restaurant work, I gather that you'll be looking for something other than the traditional chef path. Best wishes to you in your studies!

Dave

Edited January 26, 2007 by flamenco (log)

[Lonnie]

To answer your question, I have no clue what I might do with this, which I'm hoping will actually free me to really enjoy going through it.  I don't see myself starting on the line in a kitchen.  The hours are totally upside down for my life (still kids at home and a wife who goes to bed early).  If I got onto restaurant time, I'd never see them.  We'll see where it leads.

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Because of the extreme demands of restaurant work, I gather that you'll be looking for something other than the traditional chef path. Best wishes to you in your studies!

Dave

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I'd love to hear from other career-changers who have figured out what to do in the food world while maintaining a "normal" life. Mark, do you see yourself ever working on the line? If not, what else is out there for someone who can cook but won't cook during those insane hours? I'd also like to know how you feel about putting your hands in extreme danger. I, for one, don't feel like doing that.

Like anyone here, I'm very interested in food and feel that it, and coffee, are two of the few worthy goals in life. Okay, outside of good relationships, which may be antithetical to cooking for a living. What does one do with an academic background and an interest in food? Does the world really need another food writer?

Lonnie

[MarkIsCooking]

Dave & Lonnie -

Thanks SO MUCH for the replies! Dave - you sound like a very proud

Dad and I can totally relate, though my oldest is about to turn 15 and doesn't yet have great accomplishments under her belt yet, unless you want to count 1000 minutes a month on her cell phone! She's doing well in school and she's a great kid, so I'm very happy with that for now.

If your son has any interest in connecting, I'd love to hear more about his experiences at school and where he wants to go, etc. One of the things I have loved most in recent months since I decided to take this plunge is the wonderful time I'm having meeting new folks and chatting it up about food and the industry and such.

Lonnie - You've asked the very same questions that all my friends (and my wife to some degree) are asking. What next? [They're all assuming I'll do well in school - they're a bit more confident than I am after 6 of my 110 classes.]

No, I don't see myself starting on a line. The nightlife of hard core restaurant work just won't jibe with my role as Dad and husband as I approach the half-century mark. I've been in business for something like 30 years and so my wheels have been turning about how I might apply this passion.

Though I love the high end that the elite restaurants are able to play to, they're not very leveragable in terms of being able to build a brand and a sell-able business. There are exceptions like Jean George and Wolfgang Puck who have done what I'm describing, I think I'm too far down the path to pull that off. So, I tend to think it might be something in the mid-range, with more mass appeal, but with quality and attention to detail that is lacking in that part of the market.

We'll see. In the meantime, I've having more fun than I can say figuring out how to really nail a great Pate Brisee (short dough). It was demo'ed in class last week, but my first few attempts did not turn out too well. I literally just took one out of the oven and I have high hopes for this try as I type.

Thanks again to you both for replying and I hope you'll check in on my blog to see how I'm doing!

-Mark-