Culinary Muse

INSIDE THE CIA

EPICURIOUS.COM is my go-to website for culinary questions and inspiration. If I am trying to figure out what to do with a bumper crop of zucchini or to read more about important culinary figures like Edna Lewis this is my first stop.

On February 7 they launched INSIDE THE CIA, a video series about life inside the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park. I was hooked after the first episode. They were able to convey exactly that feeling of complete chaos and panic that ensues on the first day of cooking school. It brought back great memories.

Tanya Wenman Steel, Editor-in-Chief of Epicurious.com, was kind enough to answer the Culinary Muse’s burning questions about this entertaining new series.

CM: What was the inspiration for the series?
TWS: I've always wanted to know what it's truly like to be behind those hallowed halls, in the kitchens, really sweating it out to become a true top chef and so last fall, the title came to me, we approached the school and it all fell into place.

CM: Did you go to cooking school?
TWS: I've taken lots of cooking classes in my 20 years in the food publishing world, but I've never had the luxury of being able to immerse myself in months or years of training.

CM: Episode one brought back vivid memories of my first day in cooking school. I thought you did a great job of conveying the overall state of confusion that reigns in a production class in the first few days. My only comment is that the episode was too short. Will they be longer as the series goes on?
TWS: We have so much good material for each week as the four students are actually shooting every day, in and out of class, it's so hard to choose from amongst all the great footage. We do realize that people can't sit in front of the computer watching for very long so we try to keep to the industry standard of about three-minutes long or so.

CM: There seems to be almost no interaction with the chefs. Is this on purpose? Episode three has one of my favorite instructors from my cooking school days in it (Skebikie). As he asks Marco about his plate presentation it occurred to me that potential culinary students could really benefit from seeing this chef up close and personal. He is intense, serious and a wonderful instructor. Also scary as anything on the first few days of production.
TWS: In the future, we will definitely feature more of the chefs. We do, however, have to keep a balance between all four students, in and out of class, so it's hard to fit everyone in there.

CM: About the demographics of the students selected. Does this pretty much mirror the demographics of the CIA - 75% 19 year olds, 25% 25 year olds?
TWS: I'm not sure. I can check with the CIA. We chose those students because they were talented, articulate and interesting. We sought a balance between the programs and a balance in gender.

CM: What surprised you the most about the series once you started shooting?
TWS: I guess just how grueling their schedules really are. They are in class for about 8 hours a day, plus some of them do other things on the side, as well as enter competitions etc. It's a very hectic, demanding schedule.

CM: Any embarrassing/worst moments you would care to share with us?
TWS: I think there was some funny footage of Markos with a fan club of girls that we ended up taking out--only because we ran out of time. It was funny with them all fawning over him.

CM: What do you hope to convey to your viewers about cooking school?
TWS: I think the millions of users who come to Epicurious are as fascinated by what it really takes to become a chef or pastry chef as I am and the whole point of this project is for them to get a real birds-eye view of how strenuous, demanding, and at the same time, incredibly fun, attending the CIA is.

CM: Will you be doing a follow up series with the same students once they graduate? I know that there is a big gap between what culinary students are paying for an education these days and what they can hope to earn once they graduate. Any plan to address this?
TWS: We have talked about doing an Epi-logue. We haven't finalized anything yet.

CM: What kind of feedback are you getting from viewers?
TWS: So far the feedback has been very positive. There is even an Inside the CIA page on FAN POP, so that's very cool!

WHY I DIDN’T BUY THE $8 EGGS

On June 27, 2005 I posted a story on this site about why I had purchased one dozen eggs for $6.00 from MARIN SUN FARMS at the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market. Or rather, how I could justify spending so much money on one dozen eggs. My arguments remain the same. If I want delicious, organic, pesticide and hormone free food then I should be willing to pay the extra amount it takes to produce. This desire to do the right thing by the food I put into my body and the health of the planet is brought home ever so hard by the book I am now reading, The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. It’s more like a crisis than a dilemma, let me tell you. So this morning I took my book with me to enjoy in the warm February sun on a bench by the water. I finish reading Chapter 11, ‘The Animals: Practicing Complexity’. Now I am really fired up. I am even more convinced that my $6 spent on a dozen eggs is more than just good sense, why it’s now become my political statement. So I close my book, grab my Peets coffee and head straight to the Marin Sun Farms stand. There is the sign. One dozen eggs, $8.00. How can this be? When did this happen? A 30% + increase? And, dear reader, I just couldn’t do it. I don’t know why. Surely, I will spend $8 on something else today. Maybe a cocktail this evening. Or maybe I won’t. But somehow $8 a dozen for eggs just knocked me out. Look, the Marin Sun Farm folks are a nice bunch and certainly deserve to cover their expenses and pay their mortgage. But I guess I am just not willing to be part of this particular equation any longer. My grandmother would tell me it is because I have come to my senses....

Valentine's Day, SF Style

I say take the afternoon off and indulge, San Francisco Style.  Cocktails at CAMPTON PLACE. Last minute chocolate confection shopping at THE SAN FRANCISCO CHOCOLATE FACTORY (a great place to find lots of boutique chocolatier and confectioner's products), a bouquet of flowers from the flower stand in front of the old I. Magnin building or maybe just a gardenia corsage.  Maybe a hot fudge sundae at GHIRARDELLI SQUARE? Celebrate your loved one, your friends and your good fortune to live in such a glorious city.  Happy Valentine's Day to you, dear reader.  Love, The Culinary Muse.

TAGGED: FIVE THINGS ABOUT ME.....that you probably don’t know.

I am very fond of Amy of COOKING WITH AMY. She is a new friend and gives me great business advice. When I talk about charging X amount of dollars for a project she laughs and says she can’t believe that I am not charging twice as much. So I do. I owe her a few lunches.

Anyway, I am pleased to be tagged by her for this meme.

1.LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and me. It is October of 1978 and I am seated in the last row of a nasty TWA airplane (people still smoked on airplanes then) on my way home from my first trip to Paris. My seat companion is an old(er) man, ruddy complexion, jeans, beautiful blue cashmere sweater tied around his neck and a camel colored Fedora pulled down over his eyes. He shares his BIG bottle of Jack Daniel’s with me as we cross the Atlantic. We laugh, he pours more Jack Daniel’s into my coffee cup, we laugh more. I ask what he does for a living. He tells me that he is part owner of a jazz club. At JFK we hug each other good-bye and wish each other much luck and happiness.

Two years later. I am having dinner with a friend who was on that same flight. She tells me how she has always envied me for getting to meet Peter O’Toole. ‘What are you talking about?’ I ask. ‘Peter O’Toole. The man you were sitting next to on the flight from Paris. You didn’t know who that was?’ I couldn’t believe it. But I had never seen ‘Lawrence of Arabia’...

2. My earthquake kit includes, of course, a bottle of Jack Daniel's, a bottle of 10-year-old Madeira (Malmsey), six chocolate bars and tuna.

3. My great-great-great-great aunt was married to Christopher Columbus (the explorer, not the director).

4. On Fridays I can be found at US Restaurant in North Beach for their fried calamari special. Order the pasta with pesto and the cheap house red wine. I have been eating there since college days at Cal.

5. I walk from the Golden Gate Bridge home (NOB HILL) three times a week. Which is why I can eat chocolate every single day and fried calamari on Fridays and not look like the Michelin Man's sister.

AMEDEI OF TUSCANY CHOCOLATE, ITALIAN WINE AND THE MUSE!

Join us this afternoon from 4 to 6 pm at Biondivino Wine Boutique on Russian Hill. Owner Ceri Smith will be pouring Italian wines. I will be behind the AMEDEI OF TUSCANY CHOCOLATE table where I will be talking about how to taste and derive as much pleasure as possible from a bite of this divine chocolate which some believe to be the best in the world. Chocolate and wine buying opportunities abound. Liz Rivera of URBAN DAHLIA NYC/SF will be present to take flower orders for Valentine’s Day. $5.00 tasting fee.  Don't let the rain scare you off!

BIONDIVINO WINE BOUTIQUE 1415 Green Street, SF, 94109, 415.673.3230.