“Holy Toledo!”

Or something like that.

That’s the typical reaction I’ve been getting to the latest Life Decision I’ve made. After a lot of thought and consideration, a lot of soul searching and weighing of pros and cons, a lot of whining and wailing to patient friends, I’ve finally arrived at the answer to all the questions surrounding my future, my more immediate future anyway.

Hold onto your hats, ladies and gents. This gal’s going to culinary school.

Yep, you heard me right. I’m going to cooking school. It’s just a matter of which one now. I plan on starting sometime at the end of August or early September.

AHHHHHHHH!

I hardly know how to react to all the invariably supportive people that I’ve told. Everyone seems to be super excited for me. “That’s so cool! That’s gonna be so fun!” they exclaim. I think a large part of what makes people so enthused is the prospect of knowing a future chef…and that’s fine by me. I don’t mind being novel.

The two schools in the running right now are the French Culinary Institute (FCI) in SoHo and the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) over in the Flatiron District. FCI has the connections and opportunities that a young chef would die for, but ICE provides the option of a dual culinary and management degree. FCI’s program is intensive and quick, whereas ICE’s is longer, but much more flexible. After tours of both schools, I’m leaning more towards one than the other, but I’m not going to say which one yet.

Stick around for the big reveal in the next couple of weeks to find out where I’ll be enrolling.