Deciding To Teach Myself To Cook

Don't get me wrong. I have learned to cook the basics. I have also spent up to 3 years agonizing over a particular recipe in order to get it right. (My husband will attest to this, having suffered along with these passions.) I now accept that I don't have the money to afford to attend a culinary training institution and that my real life won't let me anyway.

You already know about the husband. There is also a son, a dog, and a for-the-summer hamster in my life.

For several years I have had a cookbook called "Le Cordon Bleu At Home" sitting on a shelf. What made me buy it was the gold medallion on the dust jacket with the words "Learn classic french cuisine from the world's most famous cooking school", and underneath "A complete course in more than 300 recipes". How could I resist?

Armed with Le Cordon Bleu At Home, a copy of Jacque Pepin's Complete Techniques, and the DK Pocket Encyclopedia of Cook's Ingredients I will teach myself to make classic french cuisine. Even if it takes another 3 years.

Just so we are all on the same page, here are the details of each book:

Le Cordon Bleu, Inc., Le Cordon Bleu At Home (HarperCollins 1991)
Jacque Pepin, Jacque Pepin's Complete Techniques (Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc 2001)
DK Pocket Encyclopedia of Cook's Ingredients (Adrian Bailey ed., Dorling Kindersley Limited 1990)

I will cook the first menu this Saturday.