Graduation! Also, Duck Prosciutto...

it says proof because i'm too poor to order grad pics

Two years ago, I started this thing that people call culinary school. Last Tuesday, I finally Finished!

Looking back on the whole experience, there are a few things there are a few things that I have been thinking about.

A lot of people ask me: "Well Tim, You are finally done! Was it worth it?""do you think every aspiring chef should go to school?" My answer is always the more or less the same. "You get out of it what you put into it," and really, I couldn't be speaking more truthfully.

See, the thing about culinary school is that, well, it's pretty easy. There, The secret is out on how I passed all my classes. This may explain why there is such a wide variety of people that come to culinary school, Like the mom who wants to learn how to bake, the older lady who wants to open a cafe, or the GI thats looking to stretch his legs. There is also the line cook who has been working for ten years and decided that he needs a degree to move up, or me, who just loves cooking and wants to be a chef.

I'm not going to lie, anyone can do it. But what separates a chef-to-be and someone who will have a hard time finding a prep cook position is passion, drive, and commitment.

I am going to quote my Chef, Kevin Davis. Learning to cook is like standing in a fruit orchard. everything you could want to know or learn is right there in front of you. You just have to reach up and take it (He says a lot of things that blow my mind, by the way). Such is culinary school. I could have taken it easy, found a part-time job, and coasted through for two years until I was done, but that wasn't enough for me. Instead I worked 40 hours a week on top of school, practicing what I was learning.
Fortunately for me, I worked with some really great chefs who have cared about my success and have always pushed me to the next level.

Anyway, Thats a brief snippet of my opinion of culinary school. It has been a wild two years. Thank you Art Institute, and thanks to all the chefs who have helped me along the way.

I really couldn't have done it without you.

on a totally unrelated note, I am making duck prosciutto!

It wont be done for about two weeks though :(

Thanks for reading!

-TIM