How many AudiogoNers are amateur chefs?


I know this is WAY off topic, but I am curious as to how many of you folks fancy yourselves as amateur chefs. I ask this as I just completed my first day of culinary school. This is not a school for training pros (we meet on Fridays for the day), but for those folks who want to become better cooks, learning to prepare menus, pairing foods and wines, etc. I still have my full-time profession, so this is for home.
slipknot1
I'd rather be cooking than lawyering. Can't boast about my talents in the kitchen, but I am know past the half century mark and started cooking around the age of five when my widowed mother would leave me with the housekeeper and, in my neurotic way, believed I could make better food than she could. I was right. And I can still make finer food than most. I know that self-praise is no recommendation, but someone asked the question. I will not delve into the effects of cultural differences on a person's outlook towards food when that person is from Québec, as opposed to the ROC or the US of A. I can only say God bless to James Beard, Michael Field, Craig Claiborne and the great Julia Child for leading the way and saving the US of A from what was a vast wasteland food wise. Now everybody and his uncle is a "gourmet". It's good that fine foods are available almost everywhere. What is not so good is the great number of people offering phoney haute cuisine. I still think that simple foods, well prepared, will win my vote any day. I wonder if anyone has read a book titled "The Adventures of a Happy Eater". I tend to agree with the author's philosophy. Not to belittle any other group, I think that the contribution of the Italian, the French and the Chinese to fine food in North America should also be mentioned. I hope no one is seriously trying to make a parallel between food and drink and stereos. It just does not work.
RcPrince,
We just did the same thing in our kitchen. The renovation is just about complete. We took the wall down between the dining room and kitchen, hardwood floors, granite counters, prep sink, new range hood, recessed lighting.. Decided that my skills, while pretty good, were no match for the new digs, so I enrolled in the culinary program. Maybe it's time to move things to another level: Music AND Meal get togethers ;) Glad to see so many people who like being in the kitchen.
Warrenh,
Today's class was soups and stocks. Also the proper way to dice an onion for soup.
Rshak,
Cook's Illustrated is nice. As a matter of fact, the school is giving away via random drawing, a 1 year sub to it each week of class. This session is 5 weeks long, there are 5 people in class. Gosh, I wonder how my chances are? ;)
Count me in- and to expand on Rshak's and Slipknot's posts, money spent on membership to cooksillustrated.com is money well spent. I consider it right next to Agon as the website with the most reliable information on a particular topic.

I do most of the cooking in my household.
How about on Audiogoner thats a real chef? I have two culinary degrees from Atlantic Community College Acadamy of Culinary Arts. I am the only student to complete both the Applied Culinary Skills and the Culinary Management programs. I have two gold medals framed on the wall above my desk that I am very proud of. The school was very intense when I attended. Each course was 3 weeks long, 5 - 8 hours a day. You had 5 courses a semester along with you academic courses. Each program was 2 years long. I worked my way up through the industry and eventually held the position of Executive Chef at three different, and well know, restuarants in my area. In addition, I held the position of Pastry Chef at a well known local restuarant, as well as at one of the Atlantic city casinos. I even had the pleasure of turning down and offer from Donald Trump to be his personal Pastry Chef after he tried a piece of my Banana Cheesecake (baked of course)!

However, I was forced to retire about two years ago, by the state and my doctor, when I was diagnosed with Narcolepsy. No wonder I was having trouble staying awake at work. Used to take naps on my break.

So, how much cooking do I do now that I stay at home all the time? Not much. It's just me and my wife, and she works all the time. So, I eat by myself most of the time. I usually cook on her days off. I have a rule that nothing I make for dinner can take more then 20 minutes to prepare. You would be amazed by what you can accomplish in 20 minutes when your professionally trained (time management shills). For example, on Wednesday I prepared homemade Pumpkin Gnocchi with a gorganzola cream sauce and octopus cevichi on a bed of spring greans with fried goat cheese and sun dried cherries. Dessert was Alvocado pudding with creme fresch. Please do not tell my doctor; I'm not suppose to be using knives - I could blink out and cut myself.

P.S - It's Soups and Sauces not Soups and Stocks. The secret to a good soup or suace is to start with a good stock. As a chef, you have to get used to tasting stocks when they are cold (to determine flavor and freshness). It's kind of like eating beef, chicken, fish, etc jello. Sounds yummy, doesn't it?