Spring......................................................................Le Cordon Bleu - Final Examination

Spring has sprung in Paris.

Wind – part warm, part chill - whiffs by. Street performers setting up arenas. The sky’s deliverance of cleansing rain and refreshing sunshine. Childhood glee filling playgrounds. Hatched shells falling from nests. Thawed earth cracking open for rejuvenated growth.

A poetic gesture to suggest that life is progressing forward. Winter has closed. Spring is opening. The unavoidable, turning cycle.

Spring ushers a sense of freedom and release from winter’s captivity.

Picnics, long strolls, and endless café lunches are soon coming. Awestruck chateau visits, wine country tours, and coastal explorations also fit the warmer weather.

As for Le Cordon Bleu? Spring calls for examinations. My attention is being pulled by today’s weather, but my focus must remain in the books.

There are two parts to LCB’s final examination. Written and practical. Over 90 recipes. Multiple techniques. And pages of vocabulary terms. All are game.

Part one. Written exam. Thursday afternoon a recipe with blanks will be presented. Fill-in-the-blanks. Filling in quantity, ingredient, temperature, or time. Multiple-choice. Matching ingredient lists to recipes. True-False. Identifying reality based on French vocabulary terms.

Part two. Practical exam. Yesterday we were given a list of 10 recipes. All need to be committed to memory. On the day of the exam – upon entering the kitchen – we’ll draw a colored chip from a hat. The 10 recipes will have been whittled down to two. Our colored chip will correspond to one of the two dishes.

Then it’s 2.5 hours to complete our work. And anonymously present to non-Le Cordon Bleu chefs for grading. Bringing in outside chefs help to eliminate biases.

A second part to the practical exam is a technical dish. We have been told that we’ll need to turn two artichokes. Out of carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, and artichokes, we definitely were given the easiest. I shall never turn another carrot, potato, or mushroom.

In addition to my cuisine exam I also have one for my wine class. Written and practical, as well. Written will mainly be multiple-choice and true-false. The practical will be an opportunity for me to blind taste a wine - describing the appearance, nose, and taste. Determining if the level of acidity, tannins, and alcohol are in good balance. And how the wine enters, develops, and finishes on the palate. Ultimately, determining if the wine is in good harmony.

Studying – memorization and practice – is my current agenda. Wine exam is on Monday. Written cuisine on Thursday. And practical cuisine on the 17th of March. Then – believe it or not – Basic Cuisine will be over. One-third of my experience behind me.

With or without a successful examination, spring will fully bloom. And gently turn to summer.