The night before the first day of school I grabbed hold of my gratitude rock, sent my thanks out to the Universe and made one wish, “Please give us a great team!” Wow, that rock wishing is some powerful shit!!
I feel a kinship to Dorothy Gale. She went over the rainbow looking for a place that didn’t have any trouble, ended up in OZ and found the best friends a girl could ever have. I, too, went in search of an escape from the many struggles in my life, ended up at ACI, and found ‘The Cereal Killers’! This one’s for you, guys!!
While I had many expectations about culinary school, I never anticipated the almost daily, gut wrenching, bent over double laughter! When Shi, Tucson and I went into hysterics, we broke the sound barrier. Remember that one time I was standing in front of class in Basics and blurted, “I’m so hungover!” And in the world of tangential, started to twerk. X almost fell out of his chair. Then I told you all that I was venturing into the world of on-line dating. Boy, those stories went flying through the smoking section like wild fire!
There’s that time I got my finger stuck in a piping tip. Oh, and squirted sanitizer in my eye. We can’t forget the physical contaminant that ended up in Chef Maccs mouth during his final bite of my perfectly prepared hummus; or actually adorning the ‘man bun’ I made for him out of an old pair of pantyhose. Ty’s man bun and his facial expression the first time he tried a raw oyster. How about Tucson having to stand on a step stool when she laminated dough. The time those police cars were in the parking lot and I told X to get under his desk. He said something like, “Oh, blame it on the brown guy!”
“Back squirt!!” Remember how when Shi would get so intense, she walked like the back part of her body was trying to catch up? Head down, so determined….and so AWESOME!!! Angel piping up to share some of her scientistic, eccentric trivia and then asking Chef Macc if he chose to be bald? “I can lick harder than that!” EFF CONSUMME!!! Anytime you called me Mom. Heart melt!!
Chef Rigollets’ jokes and the way he pronounces the word, ‘cheekin’. The way Chef Santos pronounces the word, ‘cheekin’ and the phrase, “Do you understan…?” Chef DeWitt and how big her eyes got when she was excited. Her boundless energy and superb hugs. Chef Schroeders’ nerdy obsession with yeast and the constant smile on her face.
Chef Wolf and how much he loves to play with his food. Bruce Sandground and “NEWS! NEWS! NEWS!” Jim Baker with his class, funky ties, and those quirky cliches that were somehow hysterical. Finally, Chef Wilson, who had a dream and made it happen so we could dream, too!
One final reference to Dorothy and her friends. As our instructors guided us on our journey down the yellow brick road, any question anyone of us may have had with regard to our courage, wisdom and the ability to love, is no longer a question. My life is forever changed! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!
Such a great sentiment!
Thank you, Chef ! It was the experience of a lifetime:)