They call me Chef

Well that sounds nice dosen't it. At term of respect and authority. At first when the students addressed me as Chef, I almost looked to see who they were talking to. Then I realized it was me. At my catering business and then my restaurant, everyone called me Lynne. I was not used to the title! But it sounded so good, I thought I could easily get used to it. And when in rome.....

And so life as Chef began. When I saw my colleagues in the hall I also addressed them as chef. Hello Chef. How are you Chef. Nice to see you Chef. Chef what are you teaching these days. Chef, would you stop by and let me know what you think of my ham? Chef, your fish class is amazing. Chef, how come you wear a hard hat in class instead of a Chef Toque It started to sound like a Marks Brothers routine after awhile. As I greeted another in the hall one evening early on, he informed me that if I forgot anyone's name it was easy because they all start with a C.

So now I am in my own classroom, my first class. I have 21, mostly under 21 students and we are going to spend 6 weeks together. I am going to be teaching them Skills 1 and 2. We will be in class for 7 hours a day with an additional 1 hour dinner break. How many times a day do you think I will hear the word Chef?

21 Students many of whom have never picked up a knife before and we are going to start knife skills trays in the next two days. For 40 minutes every day they will have a tray with 4 onions, 2 shallots, 3 cloves of garlic, 2 potatoes, 1/2 cup parsley leaves and 2 roma tomatoes. I will teach them basic knife cuts and from that day for the next 6 weeks they will do a timed knife tray. For the first three days I hear the word Chef about 100 times an hour, seriously! Before during and inbetween the bloody trips to the nurse, all day until the end of class. Chef Chef Chef Chef Chef Chef Chef Chef Chef Chef Chef Chef Chef Chef Chef Chef Chef Chef Chef Chef Chef Chef Chef Chef.........and so on it goes.

By the end of class I feel like that Cheech and Chong Album from the 70's and the skit about Sister Mary Elephant. For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, you should go rent it. In an progressivly louder and more aggressive voice, Sister Mary Elephant attempts to squelch her class by yelling :class, class, class, now class, class,
class, class, really class, and it ends by her screaching SHUT UP!

Now it gets louder and louder because my little darlings are quite full of energy despite the blood loss. At one point in class I am simply at a loss as to what to do. I collect myself and think of something dramatic that does not include yelling, screaching or even wining. I am holding a stainless steel all clad saute pal when it comes to me. And it's a swing, hear the crack of the pan and she hits one out of the park. I wound up with all that I had, did a girls fast pitch and laid that all clad down on the top of a stainless steel table. You could hear a pin drop. 21 twenty somethings and absolute pristine silence. You've got to love it. Ahh, its good to be Chef