Squeeze bottles & Ecole Ferrandi?

My friend Irene walked into our kitchen & immediately noticed my plastic squeeze bottles. She said, “I can’t believe you have 2 squeeze bottles in your kitchen”. She comes from New York & gets straight to the point. A trait, by the way, that I find refreshing, seeing as I tend to sway that way myself. These bottles are regularly used in professional kitchens, but who normally has them stocked in their home kitchen? I responded, “yeah, and the weird thing is is that I bought them years ago while we still lived near Chicago….we had a restaurant supply shop near our house. I used to go there & look at all their stuff.” It’s weird because I used to dream about what it’d be like to own my own restaurant…. I used to look at all the equipment...big & small. And now I'm actually part of this somewhat strange world of professional cooking! Back then, I never thought I’d actually do it. I kept looking at it from a distance; always wanting to do it, but always talking myself out of it: “It’s hard work. Long hours. No pay. Education costs too much (more than my MBA!). And finally, the nail in the coffin (back then), nobody starts doing this in their 40's”.

But last year, I did just that, bucking all my own odds. Well, I practically had to. We found ourselves living in Paris. Eric kept encouraging me. If I didn't finally see the writing on the wall, I never would! I took the plunge at last, and went back to school - Ecole Gregoire Ferrandi (Ecole Superiure de Cuisine Francaise). Glad I did. It's been really hard work. I know that's not saying much. But trust me, it is! Good thing I'm loving it.

So, yes, when Irene & Robbin came over for lunch recently, ….. we used these squirt bottles to “dress our plates”. A bit unnecessary, I know. But I can't help it that I picked up new habits this past year!