CELEBRATING THE END

Having finished our final exams (three hours of cooking various combinations of two dishes) our time at FCI was finally, but suddenly ending. After the last student finished cooking we were lead into the dining room for a group picture and a champagne toast. Then we were introduced to the judges who scored our dishes. It wasn't long before we were back up in the changing rooms celebrating our accomplishments (left, Chad celebrating).

We'd built up some considerable anxiety over the past ten months in anticipation of the "terrors" of the final and now that the exam was over, we were all relieved, confident and even dare I say it, a little cocky. Smiles spread easily (at right, me, with Jane).

What had we been worried about afterall? We'd been training to do this for ten months and by now we'd done our own prep and cooked for service in the school's restaurant, L'Ecole more times than we could even remember, cooking fish, steaks, desserts, salads, soups, both dishes that we'd practiced and those we'd never seen before only a few hours in advance of paying customers sitting down in front of hour handiwork (at right, Tim allowing himself to smile after the exam).

"That wasn't so bad!"
"Man, sorry about snapping at you but I couldn't believe my lamb just disappeared and I didn't want anyone touching my shit!"
"That was fun!"
"Dude, where are we going for drinks?"

After meeting with the judges, joking around, laughing with our chef instructors, and taking some more pictures we all got changed in the locker rooms, left most of our belongings, our tools, and knives in soon to be emptied lockers and headed out into the night, ready for an epic night of enjoying ourselves (at right, Christine with Sampurna).

Some of us spilled into subways, some piled into cabs and a few students even had to brave automobile meltdowns but we all made our way to the lounge in Herald Square's Koreatown where our fellow classmate, Jung Min worked. Called Third Floor, it's a great space above an optical shop, a Korean lounge on the third floor of a corner building you'd never knew housed it (at right, Jessica and Marguerite celebrating at Third Floor).

With fruit-flavored sho-chus, great Korean lounge food, large windows, attractive Korean waitstaff, Third Floor is removed from the hustle of the streets and was a great place to celebrate (at left, Tim in green, and to the left of him, Dan).

Even though the lounge was packed, not 10 minutes after we arrived Jung Min managed to kindly sequester a huge table big enough to seat about 20 of us (at left, center, Jane, right Sarah).

The Stanley Cup-like kegs of beer appeared with Grey Goose vodka bottles, fresh fruit platters, sho-chu, followed by Korean fries and spicy food all pounced upon by students who had not yet tired of recapping the almost spills, the disappearing lamb, the burned nuts, and the over-reduced vinegar sauces of the past three hours (at left, me with Lisandra).

Because we started our final at 5 p.m., didn't finish it until about 11 p.m. and didn't arrive at Jung Min's lounge until about midnight, the celebration started late and carried on into the night. I'm sure most of us assumed it would be the last time many of us would see each other all together and so even though a few of us, including me had to work the next day (a 2 p.m. start for me) it didn't prevent us from playing until long past when we should have headed home.