La vie d’un chef apprenti anglais en France – je commence à m’y habituer
Cette semaine nous sommes tous rentrés à l’école pour reprendre le rythme scolaire – beaucoup plus doux, c’est clair, que mes 2 semaines de travail à La Fontaine et au Zephyr. Par contre, je commence à trouver une certaine calme au fourneau à l’école (….parce que soyons clair, je ne suis que très rarement au […]
Game On !!!
So, I finally got my hands on my knives today….ok, it was only so that I could cut up some veg, but hey, I can honestly say that I was absolutely delighted at the end of the session (5 hrs)…..carrots maçédoine (biggish cubes), jardinère (batons), “ciseler” (cut in fine little cubes, whilst leaving the root […]
Ready, Steady, Cook…
alors, c’est parti !!! My funding has been validated and I’ll be starting my course in just over 2 weeks time (8th Oct)…..elated, chuffed,….they will pay a total of 24000€, which ain’t bad. Now the planning starts, going to top restaurant “Fontaine Gaillon” tomorrow to check it out with my future teacher from the course […]
..and on and on and on …..
today was the appeal committee and normally my “adviser” should have contacted me to let me know personally what the outcome was…..but I ain’t got an adviser….I’ve got a “gestionnaire”, a person who just follows the procedure ! Madame Radel…I won’t forget her name in a hurry….let’s just hope that the committee have seen through […]
I can see clearly now the rain has gone…..well, it’s going….
Still in the throes of finalising our proposition for the Fongecif (funding of my project), but if this last week has taught me anything it’s that this training is something that I MUST do. Simply facing the very real prospect of having no funding during 7 months has enabled me to answer my 1st basic […]
the heat is on…
Stevie sent me “mate, sorry to hear about the funding.. I didn’t know whether to add this into the diary or just post my comments in a personalised message! Any latest?? see you soon.. you can cook for me if you like?! Seriously, though, hope it works out”…..basically my wife spent the day trying to […]
it ain’t dead but it ain’t easy either this french admin lark….
New hope – if I shorten the length of the Cuisine course then there may be a chance….we’ve got to see how to manage to cut off 1 month….I may have to get one of my former restaurants to send me a letter saying that I spent 6 months working in their kitchen….even then it’s […]
Down but not out…..
Tuesday morning, Fongecif refuse my funding – “my application would cost too much and there were lots of other people whose need was greater”. So, the first step and the first knock-back. Time to start negotiating with the Fongecif, and calculating the cost to us as a family if we have to pay for this […]
Waiting for the fongecif…
Finally the d-day is nearly here – tomorrow I’ll be getting the decision from the fongecif (the organisation to which all companies contribute which allows people like me to have their salary paid whilst they follow a long training course). Will they pay 90% of my salary and the training fees for the 7 months […]
