WHAT I WANT TO BE WHEN I GROW UP...
Our Level Three Chef at the French Culinary Institute gave us an assignment: to tell him where we envision ourselves in five years and then in ten years. Having focused on a 'career' for the past five years at The Times only to go in a completely different direction it's hard for me to seriously plan five years ahead over the course of four days. Well, I'm a Toys R Us kid and Peter Pan all in one, I don't ever want to grow up, really, but I do have some thoughts on where I'd like to go from here.
I have a passion both for cooking food and for writing about it so when thinking about the next 10 years of my life these threads are intertwined. Over the next month while going to school, I'd like to practice recipes for my final project (a five-course menu), blog Kitchen Toro, and take advantage as much as possible of what the school can offer someone who isn't also working during the day. At some point in the next three months I'd like to get an externship. I'm realistic about finding a job at a restaurant. I'd love to find a job at a three- or four-star restaurant to learn how they uphold and build upon reputations of excellence and to participate in what it takes to be a part of those standards. But I also want to work in a place where I can learn, where I can have the chance to advance without spending five years there and most importantly where cooking, as pressured and as routine and unglamorous as I'm sure it can be, can still be fun and interesting. I consider myself a hard-worker-- serious and committed but the reason why I got into this in the first place is because I have a passion for it and because I enjoy doing it. Ultimately, I don't want to go somewhere no matter how storied it is where my joy for cooking, for using food to bring happiness to people, has no place.
In the month after graduating from the French Culinary Institute I would like to attend a month-long sushi school program in Los Angeles before returning to New York where I intend work for about a year, a test period to see if I'm cut out for working in a restaurant, if there is such a restaurant for me and where my passion for cooking food lies, on the line or in pastry. During this time I'd also like to learn more about molecular gastronomy both on my own and from chefs at restaurants where it is practiced and perfected.
I'm also interested in going overseas to learn about food and cooking. I'd like to travel in three countries whose food has fascinated me from a young age, Italy, India, and Japan. I'd love to spend time in each country learning about food, technique and ingredients in restaurants and through experience, both planned and happenstance. I'd like to learn wine and cheese-making processes in Italy and authentic Italian cuisine. In India I'd like to learn the country's varied spices, their sweets, their curries and their capacity for cool and refreshing dishes. In Japan I'd like to learn more about their fish preparation, technique and the art with which they present their foods.
In between these trips I think I'd like to return to work in restaurants in the States, in New York, California and perhaps somewhere in the Southwest. During this period I would like to also build on my writing experience at The New York Times, pitching and writing freelance articles about food and travel. This takes me to the five year point.
At the five year point I would also like to have had experiences writing articles for magazines, newspapers or periodicals. I would like to have written reviews on an expense account (!) and perhaps bring my passion for food to writing a book.
I can't imagine the failures and successes I'm sure to experience trying to live through the loose plans I've outlined above so I'm not sure where I'll be at that point not to mention another five years later. So where would I like to be 10 years from now? Successful in one or both of the two fields I've noted above, in the kitchen and on the page, print or digital, as cook or an author, or both. Ideally, I would like to be in the positon of opening my own restaurant, a place where I can use what I've learned through different cuisines and through writing about food to do something new and interesting with it in a place of my own.
And if then, I find myself where I do now, at a point in life where I've just completely changed careers from newspaper journalism to cooking and writing about food for myself, like making wine, or teaching people English, so be it. I just hope that I'm doing what my grandparents and parents have always told me to do, working hard and working hard at something that makes me happy.
Is there a right answer? Do we get graded on this?!
I have a passion both for cooking food and for writing about it so when thinking about the next 10 years of my life these threads are intertwined. Over the next month while going to school, I'd like to practice recipes for my final project (a five-course menu), blog Kitchen Toro, and take advantage as much as possible of what the school can offer someone who isn't also working during the day. At some point in the next three months I'd like to get an externship. I'm realistic about finding a job at a restaurant. I'd love to find a job at a three- or four-star restaurant to learn how they uphold and build upon reputations of excellence and to participate in what it takes to be a part of those standards. But I also want to work in a place where I can learn, where I can have the chance to advance without spending five years there and most importantly where cooking, as pressured and as routine and unglamorous as I'm sure it can be, can still be fun and interesting. I consider myself a hard-worker-- serious and committed but the reason why I got into this in the first place is because I have a passion for it and because I enjoy doing it. Ultimately, I don't want to go somewhere no matter how storied it is where my joy for cooking, for using food to bring happiness to people, has no place.
In the month after graduating from the French Culinary Institute I would like to attend a month-long sushi school program in Los Angeles before returning to New York where I intend work for about a year, a test period to see if I'm cut out for working in a restaurant, if there is such a restaurant for me and where my passion for cooking food lies, on the line or in pastry. During this time I'd also like to learn more about molecular gastronomy both on my own and from chefs at restaurants where it is practiced and perfected.
I'm also interested in going overseas to learn about food and cooking. I'd like to travel in three countries whose food has fascinated me from a young age, Italy, India, and Japan. I'd love to spend time in each country learning about food, technique and ingredients in restaurants and through experience, both planned and happenstance. I'd like to learn wine and cheese-making processes in Italy and authentic Italian cuisine. In India I'd like to learn the country's varied spices, their sweets, their curries and their capacity for cool and refreshing dishes. In Japan I'd like to learn more about their fish preparation, technique and the art with which they present their foods.
In between these trips I think I'd like to return to work in restaurants in the States, in New York, California and perhaps somewhere in the Southwest. During this period I would like to also build on my writing experience at The New York Times, pitching and writing freelance articles about food and travel. This takes me to the five year point.
At the five year point I would also like to have had experiences writing articles for magazines, newspapers or periodicals. I would like to have written reviews on an expense account (!) and perhaps bring my passion for food to writing a book.
I can't imagine the failures and successes I'm sure to experience trying to live through the loose plans I've outlined above so I'm not sure where I'll be at that point not to mention another five years later. So where would I like to be 10 years from now? Successful in one or both of the two fields I've noted above, in the kitchen and on the page, print or digital, as cook or an author, or both. Ideally, I would like to be in the positon of opening my own restaurant, a place where I can use what I've learned through different cuisines and through writing about food to do something new and interesting with it in a place of my own.
And if then, I find myself where I do now, at a point in life where I've just completely changed careers from newspaper journalism to cooking and writing about food for myself, like making wine, or teaching people English, so be it. I just hope that I'm doing what my grandparents and parents have always told me to do, working hard and working hard at something that makes me happy.
Is there a right answer? Do we get graded on this?!
posted by Turo at 11:53 PM
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