Future Chefs, Please Report

I decided years ago... 1992 to be exact that I was going to make a career out of what I liked to do for friends. Yup, Cook... I was going to Culinary School... so here goes! I contact The Restaurant School in Philadelphia... & the decision was made.. I am going to culinary school.

I chose to do this before all of the Media & Tv & Celebrity-ness of being a chef was out there, this was a purely creative decision, with a slight bit of horny 20+ ism because I saw these chefs in the restaurants that I worked, & the ass that they got from the waitresses & bartenders was crazy! they went nuts for these sweaty, foul mouthed, scarred armed, beer swillin' while they work guys. Let me tell you this.. I loved to cook for my lady friends... I really liked to cook for my lady friends & they seemed to like when I did that

All the great packets start coming in the mail. The information is overwhelming... come on come on, just let me in the kitchen, let me start my new career... I am a creative person, let me loose to CREATE!!

First day of school, pick up knives, (I opted out of the school suggested F-Dick knives & my wonderful parents, yup the same ones who casted my broken wrists, drove me to and from the hospital as a young lad for being... well exactly that, a young lad.. I had more stitches as a kid from playing & I mean playing harder than most kids ever did.. but yup... THEY JUST BOUGHT ME KNIVES & I was proud of my German Forged Henckels) & receive our text books, wait... where is my text book... ohhhh, here it is... its a photocopied black spiral bound from staples group of pages that have a plastic cover to it... hold on here.... oh but wait.. didnt i just get student loans for a $22,000 education?

oh well more into that as this saga unfolds! 

I go to my first "class" a truly unique group of people, 24 to be exact from all walks of life. We've got in no particular order (or maybe even in this pic!!)

The Smokers.. Please note that I was not allowed to have facial hair, but RS was...wtf

the soccer mom

the new career lady

the stoner

the hottie redhead

the right outta goretti girl

the aristocrat

the italian stallion

the $loaded$ kid

the artist

the culinarian

the paisano

the artist

the purist

the cutie very talented (hot) 

we are all going to begin this journey together, but guess what folks... Ive got my own agenda

We receive our class schedules & curriculum form the president & then head into our new environments. we begin by meeting the Chef Instructors 

Chef Gerry ~ Great dude, amazing knowledge, didnt like me, passed away a few years back

Chef Gary ~ Knowledgable chef, Hated me, ultimately 15 yrs later he liked me

Chef Colin ~ Welsh chef, not bad, probably didnt like me, but I found out later he hated me too

Chef Richard ~ This guy I liked, classy, kind of a dick, but in a very "i know what I am doing" way

Larry ~ Cornell Grad, Papa is in the Culinary Hall of fame (so Ive heard), we got along well

Listening to these guys talk was the best, I loved to hear the stories & what they wanted from us... it was very inspiring to me as a 20+ year old. these guys were CHEFS, These guys have been there, in the trenches, look @ their arms, some burned & scarred from years of working the line. their stories were even more inspiration for me to take control of where i was & to own this fucking school.

As I looked around the room, i realized that I was going to be with the people for the next 2 years, spending days & nights with them, studying with them & working with them & i also realized that in a short time we were all going to be going for the same jobs.... WHOA.... we were all going to be going for the same jobs.. I need to pay very close attention to this.... 

After this time we all went outside to the "smokers area" and started to talk, Where had we worked before, what our plans were for the future, were we married, single, attached.. who's banging who, which chef was a dick. But while this was all going on I kept thinking about the comment that I had made to myself before.. "we were all going to be going for the same jobs". 

Ya know, before this day I knew that I wanted to cook, I knew that I wanted to be in a kitchen, I wanted to be a chef... but @ the end of this day I realized that this was soo much deeper than this, I was gonna be good @ this, I am a leader, I can be the" head of the brigade" I can rock this business. It was a feeling that was so deep inside of me that I could GRAB it. 

Im gonna stop for a bit now & come back to all of this.....

Because this my friends is "The Thyme of My Life"!