Culinary Dreams

A few years back, I got this crazy idea in my head that I wanted to drop out of college and go to Culinary School. I even went to visit 3 different culinary schools in my area of southern California. I was smitten. I wanted to wear a chef coat and create amazing scallops on a big plate with green and orange garnish sauce underneath and vegetables stacked perfectly on top.

I've always loved baking and cooking my entire life. It's my sort of zen. If I'm stressed, I usually bake or cook something. I even had the measurements of 1/8 of a batch of chocolate chip cookies memorized. It makes about 4 cookies. I started to put 2 and 2 together, realized I could potentially cook for a living. Would that be so bad? I ultimately decided finishing my undergrad would be a smart back up plan. (This was before I decided to change my major. Idiot).

So I've started researching culinary school again this past week, with 1 semester left of my undergrad. I just found out that the Cordon Bleu in Vegas costs $40,000 for the culinary and $25,000 for baking. W.T.F.?

My private school for 5 years of education will not cost me as much as the Cordon Bleu program.

Now I've chatted with several people that now tell me you don't HAVE to attend the CB and many other schools are regarded just as highly and are significantly less expensive.

But then I researched what life is like for an aspiring chef. It's long, strange hours for the next 10-15 years of my life. Strange hours meaning, 4 pm to 2 am including holidays. Is this the type of life I want? Not really. I want kids. I want to be able to come home and hang out with my husband. I want to be able to go out with friends.

I've heard that culinary is like the film/television industry, in the fact that if you can picture yourself doing something else, you should do the something else. I've magically found myself interested in 2 very niche passion industries.

Can I picture myself working 12 hour days in a kitchen? Yes.
Can I picture myself working on a set for 14 hour days? Yes.
Can I picture myself doing something else? Yes.

Well, damn it. Now what?