The Graduate

Sunday, January 21

On Friday evening, we had our graduation dinner at the school, with a nice ceremony with the founder and our president, and family and friends to support us. I couldn't and can't believe that I finished school and my school mates are off taking off for their internships and in different directions, including moi. Our founder said that this year marks 30 years for the school and around 2,000 have gone through the chef's training program to date. She tries to make it for every graduation as it's a thrill for her and very important. She asked us if anyone knew what they were doing afterwards and there were no answers. She said this was a good thing to be open to what's ahead and change, and she knows that the course will change us in some way, after hearing back from grads over the years. She said that like the butterfly effect she believes that every small change will affect the order of things and influence change in the world, and that includes each of us and the opportunities that lie ahead for us to make a difference in our own ways. After the ceremony, we had a lovely Mexican-inspired dinner made with love and lots of work by chef Sue, supported by chef students in the kitchen.

On Saturday, we had a nice brunch at my friend Etsumi and Bill's place with some of my classmates. It was nice to see them one more time as I don't know when I will see them again. Over the weekend, ate a number of interesting and delicious places (it was hard to pick the last ones for now), including The Spotted Pig, a popular gastro pub in Grenwich Village with a rising woman chef called April Bloom who has numerous followers, including Bill Clinton who rented out the whole restaurant and kitchen staff for an event. More on my best places to eat and be in NYC in a future entry I hope...

Well, it's very cold in NYC today (by NYC standards that is) so I'm hopefully escaping to a warmer destination by heading to San Francisco today...