It's all up to you

So you know how on the TV show "Cooking School Stories" the students seem to do nothing but make up meals using whatever basket of mystery ingredients they've been given?

That doesn't happen all that often at my cooking school. But tomorrow we are doing exactly that. It's been given a fancy shamncy name: Menu Development Day. Doesn't "Menu Development" sound far more exotic than standing in front of an open fridge door thinking "what the hell am I going to cook tonight?"

Keep that in mind next time you find yourself communing with an open fridge door. You're not failing to plan, you are having your very own Menu Development Day. And you didn't drop 10k on tuition!

I spent large portions of the weekend thinking "if they give me this, I will make that, and if they give me that I will make this, and if it's that I will make this other thing.." And then I got hungry so I made risotto.

We made choux paste and various eclairs on Friday. A chef instructor who I admire very much examined my work, turning the plate this way and that, and said slowly "this is very good work. This pastry is cooked perfectly."

And then he banged the table and shouted "Atta Girl!" I was so thrilled with the praise that I forgot to be pissed off that he called me 'girl'.

You win some, you lose some.