Bridges Restaurant, Amsterdam (Sjoerd LCB Classmate)

Many reasons to celebrate today, to include Sjoerd and Jayne's 7th Anniversary, led us to Bridges Restaurant for a taste of fine dining. This restaurant is within the Sofitel hotel and focused on seafood as its specialty. Tonight we opted for a 6 course Chef's tasting menu with wine pairing for each course. Upon seating we were presented with an Arrive' which consisted of a cube of salmon with wasabi and ginger crystals, olives ,and puff pastry mozzarella cheese stick served along with the most delicious Champagne I have ever tasted. Next came the amuse bouche, a sardine with tomato foam on julienned red and yellow pepper topped with a pea shoot garnish. The following course came from the raw bar, an arrangement of raw oysters from Bordeaux, Normandy, and Zeeland (Netherlands). Also, there were 3 shot glasses each filled with a different type of fish or shell fish, herbs, and sauces.

We were then served a starter of lobster prepared cleverly with Indian ingredients. The  half lobster, resting on shiso leaves, was coated with a tandoori sauce, and presented along a coriander pesto sauce,  a yogurt/cucumber sauce, and Nan. The presentation was beautiful.

The main course was a monk fish on a bed of pea risotto, and was coated with a  mussel beurre blanc foam and tempura asparagus.

Finally, after 2 1/2 hours of eating, we were greeted with the dessert pictured to the right. All in all it was a feast, a treat, and a fantastic session for 3 people highly interested in food to discuss and explore fine cuisine. After the meal we managed to get a tour of the kitchen and met the "back of the house". What a night! I'll remember this meal for a long time. Thanks Sjoerd and Jayne for arranging this fantastic night! 

Amsterdam (Sjoerd LCB Classmate)

I'm having fun in Amsterdam visiting Sjoerd and Jayne. I'll keep the writing brief and just share a few pics of my stay so far.

Happy Hour, then went back home to cook

dinner for Jayne

Squid Ink

Rolled out and drying on a broomstick

Skate

Sjoerd demonstrating a Dutch Cooking

technique

Plated

Jayne made dessert

Cook for Fun, Fly for Money

My decision has been made. As nice as it is to fantasize about cooking professionally, the reality is that the flying job provides (and will continue to provide) me the income and flexible scheduling that has allowed me to pursue my passion for cooking. It has allowed me free time to practice at home, to study in Paris, and enough time to do a 10 week internship. It would be easy to throw caution into the wind and flow with the adventure of the unknown if I was fresh out of college, but age brings about such boring virtues as responsibility and accountability. Additionally, I am only a couple of years away from being eligible for retirement and it would be highly negligent to forgo all of those benefits.

So, no Intermediate Cuisine this November. Currently, it's difficult to justify the expenditure of going to France, if it's only as a hobby. Perhaps I will attend in the future. In the meantime, I will continue to hone my kitchen skills by cooking for friends and family. Sometimes, my own kitchen can be the greatest classroom. In the meantime, I can "experience" the professional kitchen world through the eyes of my friends like Sjoerd, or Will who have continued on to work in the real world.

On a more upbeat note, I am excited for my Basic Cuisine friend Alan who will begin Intermediates in one week and plans to follow that with the Intensive Superior in November. Congrats!

I am heading to Amsterdam in 2 days to visit my friend Sjoerd and his wife Jayne. It'll be nice to get a first hand account of his adventures in a real kitchen.

To Cook or Not to Cook, That is the Question!

Not to imply that my dilemma is as burdensome as the one faced by Hamlet, but at times it does seem to weigh me down. I am paralyzed with this seemingly simple decision whether or not to go to France this November to continue my culinary education. Although the above title may imply otherwise, I will always cook. What is at question is "in what fashion" will I cook? After my 10 week stage in a Michelin restaurant, it became clear to me that working in a restaurant kitchen may not be the path for me (although I won't close that door quite yet). As much as my mind was intrigued and challenged, my body just didn't like the physical punishment the job demands. Catering,  being a private chef, and instructing do not interest me either. But I still have a huge appetite to learn more about the art of French Cuisine. Where does that leave me? Am I simply destined to cook just for myself and for those around me? Maybe the center of the struggle is the disappointment that all of this may lead to no place new professionally. Which brings me back to the Paris decision. The investment to attend Intermediate Cuisine is only fully realized if one couples it with ultimately attending Superior Cuisine. Given my financial responsibilities, Is it wise to make such a financial investment in something that may only bring personal satisfaction? I suppose that only I can answer that question.

just thinking out aloud....advice? comments? wisdom?