Graduation Le Cordon Bleu Paris

SNOW in Paris! It was somehow appropriate to have snow in Paris on our Graduation day with the Holiday spirit in the air. I took a stroll on the snow covered walkway along the Seine. It was a serenely beautiful sight as I placed fresh footprints along the river. I walked for about an hour through St Germain, and St Michel areas and finally called it quits when my fingers were numb.


A couple of hours later I took a metro to the school for the Graduation. As I emerged form the Subway, I ran into Tanya who came in to get her Certificate and had to leave immediately to catch her flight to Moscow. Graduation was at 3pm with the ceremony taking place in the already cramped Winter Garden. Four classes had their graduation: Basic and Intermediate Cuisine, and Basic and Intermediate Pastry. I saw Sjoerd and his wife Jayne. It was nice to see Jayne and do a bit of catching up before the chaos of all the students filling up the Winter Garden.

The ceremony kicked off with the presentation of all the Chefs and a brief bio of each presented by the Head Chef Patrick Terriene. They were all smiley faced and Happy. Maybe it's my imagination, but like any teacher at a graduation, these guys seemed proud as they faced the fruits of their labor.

First let me say that EVERYONE passed! My group was the first to be presented one by one in alphabetical order French Style (because for some reason the letter "R" was first to be called). Flanked by our primary Chefs, Chef Strill and Chef Lesourd, we each paraded to the front to receive our Certificate. Unfortunately, not all classmates where present because of personal travel and family/friend commitments.

We were all anxious for the results of our final as well as our total standing in the class. I want to congratulate the top 5 in our group who were then recognized for their excellence. I am proud that my Group B had 2 in the top 5. They are:

1st Tanya
2nd Will
3rd Jennifer
4th Yolanda
5th Kelsey

Only 3 of the above 5 were present at Graduation. Here they are being recognized:

Kelsey, Yolanda, and Will. Congrats!!

Chefs Strill and Lesourd

After the ceremonies, the mob moved upstairs for some Hors D'oeuvres and Champagne for some mingling with fellow students and Chefs.  Sjoerd, the ever jokester, gave me the following graduation gift insuring that I will never miss my plate while eating on the plane.

My Graduation present from Sjoerd

Next stop was the corner Cafe for some drinks. We were also joined by Leanne the translator and Chefs Lesourd and Caals. We all talked about what's next, where everyone would be for the Holidays, etc..For some of us, this was the end and for others it was just a break before the start of Intermediates in January.

In keeping with our ethnic restaurant tradition, it was decided that Christos would guide us through a Greek Culinary experience for dinner. We had already "travelled" to Korea thanks to Julia, and Wen Bo had given us a taste of China, so tonight it was off to Greece.

I headed home for a couple hours of down time before I joined the group at Le Delices D' Aphrodite in the 5th. Christos took charge and ordered a never ending barrage of Grecian goodies and wines. Once again, there were lots of plans for the future and exchange of contact info. It was a nice final dinner with the group, although it was not the same with some of the gang missing.

Grecian Restaurant

It's officially over. It was a fantastic journey. I elevated my cooking skills to a new level, met some wonderful people, and had the opportunity to live in Paris for 2 months. It will take some time to absorb and digest it all. One thing that is certain is that I will miss ALL of my classmates. I wish them all Bon Chance and Bon Voyage.