Course One
Hello, Welcome
There’s something really surreal about finishing Course One of culinary school already. Fifteen lessons in, and somehow it feels like both the beginning and something I’ve been slowly working toward for years.
Before starting culinary school, I kept telling myself I wanted to create a blog and document the journey properly. Part of me wishes I had started sooner — posted more of the recipes, random food experiments, and plates I made over the years instead of letting them live only in my camera roll.
But maybe that’s what makes this moment feel special. Culinary school finally gave me the push to stop overthinking and actually begin.
What makes me laugh is that this technically isn’t even my first blog.
When I was 12, my aunt helped me create a little blogspot called I Ate It My Way — a blog about being vegetarian, plus all the crafts and recipes I was obsessed with at the time. The grammar was terrible, the design was probably chaotic, and honestly… it was kind of adorable. I loved posting little projects, recipes, and creative ideas whenever inspiration hit.
Looking back now, it feels like younger me was already trying to create the same thing I’m building today — a space to share creativity, food, and the process of learning.
Only now, the recipes are a little more technical… and hopefully the grammar is better.
What I’ve learn from Culinary School so far.
There’s something humbling about realizing culinary school is not really about cooking fancy food first — it’s about learning discipline, repetition, and technique.
Fifteen lessons into Course One, and I already see food completely differently.
Before starting school, I thought knife skills were just about cutting things smaller or faster. Now I understand that every cut has a purpose. A batonnet, small dice, chiffonade, or oblique cut all affect how ingredients cook, taste, and even look on the plate. I’ve learned how much precision matters in a professional kitchen.
I’ve also learned that simple food is often the hardest to perfect.
Making soups, roasted vegetables, omelets, vinaigrettes, mayonnaise, stocks, and purées sounds simple until you actually have to make them correctly. Suddenly things like heat control, seasoning, texture, knife consistency, and timing become everything. One extra minute can completely change a dish.
One of my favorite things so far has been seeing how techniques connect together. A roux becomes a velouté. A velouté becomes soup. Roasting changes flavor entirely. Blanching and shocking vegetables can completely transform color and texture.
But honestly, beyond the recipes, I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is confidence.
Every class feels like another layer added to the foundation. I’m still learning, still making mistakes, and definitely still struggling with some knife cuts… but little by little, the kitchen is starting to feel natural.
1st practical exam in culinary school.
Going into it, I was definitely nervous. One of the main cuts we were tested on was the batonnet — clean rectangular cuts measuring about ¼-inch by ¼-inch by 2½ inches — which then had to be turned into an exact small dice. It sounds simple until you realize every single piece is supposed to be consistent in size and shape.
I’ll be honest: my cuts still are not as perfect as I want them to be yet. But I’m starting to understand that culinary school is not about mastering everything immediately. It’s about repetition, consistency, and training your hands to improve little by little every single day.
What makes this experience feel emotional sometimes is realizing how long I’ve actually dreamed about this.
I’ve been an aspiring home cook for years, always thinking maybe one day I could go to culinary school. At dinner parties, friends would constantly ask me why I didn’t become a chef or even an event planner because I loved creating experiences around food so much.
When I was younger, food was always part of my life in some way. I played the Cooking Mama games obsessively, watched Yumeiro Patissiere, and spent hours watching free culinary videos on YouTube. I practiced how to hold a knife, learned about plating, seasoning, taste, and flavor pairings, and read books about food long before I ever stepped into a professional kitchen.
In college, my love for food kept growing, and I even started a culinary foodie club because I wanted to bring people together through cooking and shared meals.
So standing in culinary school today, taking my first practical exam, honestly felt surreal.
Over the past week, I spent hours studying culinary terms, food safety, knife cuts, and all the foundational techniques we’ve been building so far. And walking into the practical today, I actually felt prepared.
That alone felt like progress.
No matter how the exam turns out, I’m proud of myself for showing up, putting in the work, and continuing to learn. Little by little, the kitchen is starting to feel less intimidating and more like where I’m supposed to be.
