Why start Mrfrancophile's blog now?

Because ma famme has been most generous and has given me the freedom to pursue a lifelong dream to pursue training as a chef. I love to eat, so why not cook - then you can definitely get it hot off the stove. I've put this off for years with one excuse or another...can't take the time off work...can't afford it...can't speak French. But my wife, just like our good friends at the Nike megalopolis, said "just do it."

So I am.

Right after my sister-in-law gets married on Oct 27th to her gourmand partner-in-crime, I jet off for gay Paris for the six-week César Ritz course at the Ecole Ritz Escoffier, off the dark back alley behind the ritzy Ritz hotel on the Place Vendome. I'm a little intimidated due to my limited knife skills, short attention span, and abysmal command of the lyrical French langue, but the classes are translated into English and there are no tests! I believe the French term that best describes that would be "boo-ya!".

Ever since I was 8 years old, I loved to bake. Since my mom wasn't really into baking, someone had to pick up the slack. Over the years, I worked my way up from yellow cake (no, Mr. President, not that kind of yellow cake) to flourless chocolate tortes, crème anglaise, and mocha hazelnut dacquoises. Yup, me likee the bakee. What's not to like? Butter, oeufs, chocolate, sucre. All the good stuff. The 3 food groups, actually. Fat, Sugar, and Caffeine.

But mon amour is a little bit more focused on health.

So now we buy only organic produce and dairy whenever possible, cook most of our meals out of Cooking Light (which are actually pretty spectacular recipes, for the most part - very flavorful while less fattening than your typical Gourmet or Bon Appétit fare) and all around don't bake that much anymore. So what does this mean now that I'm heading to the Grand Temple de Cuisine? Well...

OUT Plan A: Pursue Certificate de Patisserie

IN Plan B: Pursue Certificate de Cuisine

Hey, what the hell. I figure that if I'm a better cook all around, it works out better for everyone, whether it's super light and healthy or pork belly stuffed in lobster wrapped with bacon in a raspberry citrus brown butter (oh sure - it sounds gross to you now, but just wait until I make it!).

So now it's just pay the bills, pack the bags, arrange for the taxi at Charles de Gaulle, and spend some quality time with the girl before I'm leavin' on a jet plane.

Details as they happen, mon amis!

J