The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry

The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry; Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World's Most Famous Cooking School, by Kathleen Flinn, is the author's story of her time attending Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. I found it in the new books section at the library and was intrigued, particularly after reading My Life in France about Julia Child's experiences studying there.

Flinn sets the stage early on, describing what led her to the culinary school of all culinary schools,

As a little girl, while other children played house, I played restaurant. In our basement, I set up two sets of child-size chairs and tables topped with fabric remnants and plastic flowers. I scrawled menus in crayon, featuring the likes of licorice soup, Pez casserole, and cotton-candy pie. I pretended to prepare everything for my guests- often imaginary- on a broken-down Easy-Bake oven. My parents viewed it all as an overzealous game of tea.

When Flinn is downsized from her job, attending Le Cordon Bleu, something she has always dreamed of doing, is the next step. With the encouragement of her boyfriend, she moves to Paris and enrolls. The remainder of the book is a description of lessons learned, relationships established, guests hosted, places visited, and lots of food descriptions. It is written in a very comfortable and approachable style, and I'm happy to report that her experience at the school was a more positive one than Julia had. (I'd like to think that I'm on a first name basis with Ms. Child...)

I enjoyed this memoir very much and can heartily recommend it. I liked the way that the author takes lessons learned in the kitchen and applies them to her life. One in particular is the advice that she hears over and over and over and over again, to taste, taste, taste, at every step of the way.

As in cooking, living requires that you taste, taste, taste as you go along- you can't wait until the dish of life is done. In my career, I always looked ahead to the place I wanted to go, te next rung on the ladder. It reminds me of "The Station" by Robert Hastings, a parable read at our wedding. The message is that while on a journey, we are sure the answer lies at the destination. But in reality, there is no station, no "place to arrive at once and for all. The joy of life is the trip, and the station is a dream that constantly outdistances us."

After each chapter, Flinn includes a recipe, and I was determined by the end of the third chapter to try at least one of them (although many of them look really tasty.) I wasn't up to butchering an entire lamb (just kidding- her recipes are much more realistic for the normal person than that!) and I decided to attempt the chocolate souffle. I've always been a little scared of souffles- everyone says how difficult they are to make, so I've never tried to make one before- but after all, this is the year to try new things, and what's the worst that could happen??? I must say that it was pretty labor intensive, and I dirtied up just about every bowl and pot that I own, but the recipe turned out great and tasted really good. I made little individual ones instead of a giant one- there are plenty of leftovers for the moment, so let me know if you want to come on over to share! And to any sibs that might be reading this- no, I will not be making these at the family reunion, although I'm happy to pass along the recipe if you want it...