by popular demand - The Onion Story

Many people have asked me how I sliced my two fingers on the first day. Let me set the record straight, I did NOT start hacking away at my hand and I was not blindfolded! Here's my story...


It was your average night, mid-February, lots of excitement in the air. The end of my first day in culinary school was coming to an end. The task at hand was to cut carrots, celery, and onions for a mirepoix. I had just rocked the carrots and celery and was feeling pretty good about myself (time to pat myself on the back, right?) All I had left was the onion...

THIS is what I was supposed to do:

Step 1- cut the beast in half through the root

Step 2- remove outer/yucky layers and place onion (with the flat side on the bottom) on cutting board

Step 3- place left hand on top of the onion and apply a little bit of pressure (you don't want the onion to move) With your right hand, make horizontal slices in the onion (start on the bottom and work your way up) without going through to the root.

Step 4- still holding the onion with your left hand, this time by placing it near the root, slice the onion, vertically, lengthwise. Remember to NOT slice through the root. At this stage the onion is still in one piece.

Step 5- slice the onion, vertically, moving from right to left. With each slice, you will produce chopped onions.

**note that your slices should be distanced the same amount from each other in steps 3-5. Cuts made close together will yield small, chopped pieces of onion. For larger pieces, make cuts farther apart.

Let's be honest, I didn't graduate from step 3. I was holding the onion down with my left hand and was about to make my final horizontal cut and the stupid onion squirted out its juices, my knife slipped and sliced my middle finger and thumb.

Bastard

It didn't really hurt though, it just looked awful. Going to the hospital and having the sadistic doctor stab my fingers with the numbing medicine (what is that stuff?) was the worst of it. That and the fact that I'm known as "the girl who cut herself on the first day of school." Seriously. I have classmates who go home and tell people about their day and I'm not known as Aimee but as "the girl who cut herself on the first day of school."

However, there's always a lesson learned. Aside from the obvious "don't cut yourself," I learned to finish my assignment BEFORE thinking I'm a rockstar. Never lose focus!! (It's like having a great day snowboarding and then tumbling down the slopes on your last run. Not a lot of fun.) I've also learned what NOT to do.

#1 when cutting stuff, make sure your stuff is dry. pat it down with a paper towel because things that are wet are slippery
#2 tuck in your fingertips (don't forget the thumb!) when playing with your knife. I've seen people come close to saying goodbye to the tips of their fingers.

That's it. Enough preaching for the day.

Amen

Introduction to Culinary Skills

Three days before school was to commence was orientation. It was exciting and scary. It was real. I realized that I was going through with it. I was committing. Umm, what was I thinking? I still owe Sallie Mae from my undergrad degree and here I was willingly signing up for more school debt. (How come most scholarships are for high school seniors/incoming freshman? Why don't companies give out scholarships for people who REALLY want to learn?) After squaring up with financial aid, I received my uniform. Let's just say that this "style" will never grace the cover of Vogue. And the shoes? A complete 180 from anything designed by Blahnik or Louboutin. What can I say? I was about to enter a foreign world...


My first class was Introduction to Culinary Skills. It sounded elementary enough. How hard can cooking be? Let me answer that for you. Very. On my first day I sliced not one but two fingers and was sent to the emergency room. (I blame it on the onion!) Talk about being put in my place! 9 stitches later, an extreme amount of pain, and a good dosage of humility gave me a new found respect for working in the kitchen. Cooking is no joke and you need to focus and be on your "A" game at all times. Otherwise, you might lose a digit or two!



The next week and a half I had to wear a surgical glove to protect my injuries. Ugghhh! And that was the least of my worries. I was totally exhausted from my 5 hour a day classes/5 days a week. My previous office job did not prepare me for this! AND there was the homework!! Homework consists of reading, writing assignments, and bringing in cut vegetables. In a nutshell, culinary school had taken over my life! Luckily, I love it! My parents and friends, God bless them, have agreed to eat whatever I cook for them. And I'm finally getting some use out of my kitchen-like everyday!


At the end of 3 weeks/70 hours, it was time to say goodbye to Introduction to Culinary Skills. I'm walking away with 2 mean looking scars, a love/hate relationship with potatoes, and a deep respect for everyone with the title of Chef. Oh yeah, I'm also walking away with an A (by the skin of my chinny chin chin.) Maybe now, I can get a scholarship!

the beginning

So, I've decided to document my culinary experience online. How modern am I? For those of you that don't know, I am unemployed and a student at Le Cordon Bleu. "How did that happen?" you ask. Well, I found myself in a rut and I knew that the life I was living needed change. Two months ago, I sat down and wrote a list of what I wanted to do and accomplish. One of the bullet points on the list was learning how to cook. Now, my close friends might think this is bizarre since I NEVER cook. But that's the point! I never cook because I don't know how. I googled culinary schools and enrolled into a culinary program that was to begin the following month. I immediately had daydreams of myself emerging from this program as a fantastic master chef. After all, I graduated from college with a finance degree, how hard can cooking be?