I Cooked My Heart Out...And Then It Was Over

I can’t believe it’s come to an end, and at the same time, the whole thing feels like a dream. Like...did I really do this?! And now it’s over?!

On day one, the chefs told us culinary school is “addicting” and that we’d all get hooked and want to come back for more. I think I felt that almost immediately, and now that it’s over, I’m honestly hungrier than ever to keep learning.

Culinary school is such an expedited way to learn. You have access to chefs with years of experience, constant hands-on practice, specialized equipment, and ingredients you might not normally work with at home. But one of the biggest things I’m taking away from it is the confidence that I can keep learning on my own.

There is SO much I still want to understand, practice, and get better at, and what an incredible time we live in to have so much knowledge right at our fingertips.

I’m leaving culinary school with more questions, more ideas, and way more hunger to keep learning than I had when I started. And for me, that might be the greatest thing I ultimately take away.

I’m also just so full of gratitude for all of you cheering me on and encouraging me through this whole experience.

As life-changing as it’s been, it definitely hasn’t always been easy. And when I say your messages brought me to tears multiple times, I really mean it.

On the hard days, I had SO much encouragement from so many of you, and being out here on my own, that meant more to me than I can really put into words.

So truly, thank you for following along, rooting for me, and being such a big part of this whole experience.

So with that, here’s how the final week went!

We finished up with some very unique proteins, none of which I think will ever make their way onto my website, but they were definitely fun to learn! Haha.

We made liver and sweetbreads, and while I did try both and neither was bad per se, I think it was mostly a mental thing for me. I just couldn’t quite enjoy either one enough to want them again anytime soon!

And then we moved on to desserts.

Even cuisine chefs have to know their way around pastry, and as one of the chefs told us, you could be called on to help with pastry at a moment’s notice in a restaurant, so it’s something you always need to keep practicing.

Well, no complaints from me because I LOVE desserts. Making them AND eating them!

And we made some really fun ones.

We did snow eggs, which are French meringues served over crème anglaise with homemade caramel. We made lemon tarts completely from scratch, homemade caramel ice cream, chocolate fondant cakes (lava cakes!), nougat with berry coulis, and choux pastry filled with pastry cream and whipped cream and served with a berry sauce.

And WOW was it fun to spend a few days completely immersed in baking. I loved it!

Just like that, it was time.

The nerves were HIGH, and I don’t think I slept more than four hours the night before. Why was fish haunting my dreams all night?! Haha.

We were up and at school by 7 a.m. the next morning, and then testing began.

In case you missed how the practical works, we don’t know what we’re making until the exam starts, and we can’t bring in any notes or recipes. We get a list of ingredients, the clock starts, and we have exactly two hours to complete everything.

And the clock does not stop for anything.

No talking. No asking questions. Just cooking.

The chefs in the kitchen with us grade proper technique, hygiene and cleaning as we go, organization, teamwork (proper kitchen language), and controlling waste. Anything we don’t use has to be properly returned to the scrap collection instead of being thrown away.

There is SO much to think about while also trying to cook everything well and get your plate up at exactly the right time.

Ten minutes late is an automatic FAIL, and every minute past your deadline is a 2% grade reduction.

Once your plate is finished, it gets passed into a separate room with a tasting panel. They judge the cleanliness and warmth of the plate, the overall presentation, every individual element, how everything tastes, and the doneness of the protein.

If they ask for a steak medium rare, it better be medium rare! And if a protein is undercooked to the point that the tasting panel can’t safely taste it, it’s an automatic fail.

No pressure or anything! Haha.

In all the weeks I’d been here cooking, I hadn’t cut myself once.

And then...final exam day.

I cut myself grabbing my knife from below my station right as we were getting started. With the adrenaline going, it started bleeding like crazy.

I was completely frazzled. My time had already started and I hadn’t even grabbed my ingredients yet!

One of the chefs pulled me aside, got me plastered and bandaged up, and told me to take a deep breath.

I was able to regroup, and from there, I just gave it everything I had.

The whole final was a whirlwind, but I stayed focused, trusted what I’d learned, and cooked my heart out. And somehow I walked my finished plate up at exactly the right time.

Then I went straight back to clean my station! Haha!

Once everyone finished the practical, we changed out of our full kitchen gear and headed into the written exam.

It was all electronic and covered basically anything and everything we’d learned.

Specific beef cuts, where certain spices originate, mother sauces, ingredient names, culinary techniques...you name it.

And it was actually harder than I thought it would be!

Once everyone finished, we finally got our phones back and were released for the day.

We all decided to go get pizza together and celebrate being DONE.

And yes, we went to Napoli on the Road again.

I know. I have a problem. Haha!

We don’t get our final results for two days, which feels slightly torturous, but I do feel good about what I presented.

At some point I just had to force myself to stop replaying every little thing in my head and enjoy being done!

I also finally made it to a burger place that multiple chefs had told me I needed to try.

My husband had actually gone without me while he was visiting and I was in school, so I had been very jealous ever since! Haha.

And I LOVED it.

The burger was amazing, but honestly, the fries stole the show for me.

I genuinely think they might be the best fries I’ve ever had. Turns out they’re fried in beef fat instead of oil, so...that explains a lot. Haha! SO good.

I grabbed a few last-minute things for my kids, headed home, and went to bed early because I had a 4 a.m. wake-up the next morning for my last full day in London. And I’ll share more on that in a separate post! :)

And that’s a wrap on culinary school!

It still feels completely surreal that this experience I looked forward to for so long is already over. I learned more than I ever could have imagined, pushed myself harder than I expected, and left feeling even more excited about cooking than when I started.

But more than anything, I’m SO ready to get home to my husband and kids. I’ve missed them like crazy, and I cannot wait to be back in my own kitchen cooking for the people I love most.

Thank you again for following along through all of this. Sharing the highs, the hard days, the food, and everything in between with you made this experience that much more special. ❤️

XOXO, Chelsea