Hello friends,
I’m going to mark this week in my calendar as the week I started my career change. Not officially, I haven’t done anything too irrational just yet1. But I’ve had the push I needed to start taking this whole food business more seriously and I’m going to come up with a plan.
On Monday, I traveled back to London to compete in the final of Le Cordon Bleu Scholarship Competition. I applied for the scholarship back in the springtime while recovering from surgery and, with nothing to do but stare out the window and wonder what this whole bloody thing called life was all about, I started looking up food training, changing your career, how to cope with existential crises etc. There was clearly some lingering delirium from the painkillers because that was the same week I rambled on about the miracle of custard. It allowed me to put my heart into the application though, and I was chosen for the next stage.
The semi-finals were an interview that took place at Le Cordon Bleu in Bloomsbury. I had the chance to explain to the panel why I wanted to pursue a career in food, what I liked to cook, what my long term goals were. It was really nice to speak about this in fine detail (and reasonable length) to three people who had no choice but to sit and listen - in fact, it was specifically what they were after. There was a taste test which prompted a great deal of over-thinking and unnecessary flapping, but overall it was a good fun. I even got a little bag of cinnamon and a snazzy tote bag. Can’t argue with that.
Cut to a few weeks later. For a while, I assumed I hadn’t reached the final because there had been no word back since the interview. Luckily, at some point afterwards I was having some technical issues with something unrelated and was digging around my emails for a verification code. There it was! The final invitation had been sitting quietly in junk mail next to random spam and unwanted marketing. Good job I forget my passwords2. I’d made it to the last 16 out of about 500 hundred applicants, so I packed my best spatula and off I went to the big city.
The day of the final was a lot of fun. We got chef jackets to wear and took part in a demonstration with Chef Eric Bediat, which was an incredible learning experience, and then we recreated the dish (a Provençal tart) in a timed challenge. We were all very chatty during the morning but as soon as the cooking started everyone was immediately focused. There was a definite hush in the kitchen. We took our tarts to be judged and I had a lovely conversation with the judging panel (Chris Galvin, Emily Roux, Ellie Smith and Chef Emil Minev - wowzer). They asked me what my dream was, and gave me some useful feedback. How many chances do you get to share your ideas with leaders in the field? I felt incredibly lucky.
Of course I was a bit bleu not to win, but the room was stuffed with talent and creativity, so I was just glad to be in there with everyone. The top three were extremely passionate and no doubt will go on to do great things - looking forward to the day I can use their restaurant openings as my claim to fame. At one point we had a very long and entirely serious conversation about the benefits of Isle of Wight tomatoes, just before I stole one of the sandwiches for the journey home3. The award ceremony was a beautiful dinner at CORD to celebrate the day. One of the very best Mondays of my life.
Well, what now, you might say. What now indeed. The whole experience has made me realise that I can’t spend the rest of my days waiting for something to happen, I’ve got to get my act together and make it happen. I may have lost the scholarship, but the runner-up prize was a healthy dose of motivation (perhaps a little undeniable stubbornness and also the pen I took with home with me). More things to come in the future - you can’t keep a good Deb down.
Yours in white and bleu,
Deb
If my boss reads this, please don’t fire me.
Well actually, given that I didn’t win, probably wouldn’t have made a fat lot of difference. Spoiler alert! (Joking, I would have been very sad not to go).
No regrets, it was a truly excellent sandwich.
This is the beginning….😘
But you won the hearts of the people.