My grandparents, whom you no doubt remember from our weekly Sunday brunches, are longtime aficionados of culture, fine food, and all things French. They have spent much time abroad, and when my father and uncle were growing up, they moved the family to Paris to live. In the 1960s, my grandmother had the opportunity to take classes at Le Cordon Bleu, a well-respected cooking school in the heart of Paris. Because of the recent interest in French food and cooking spawned by Nora Ephron’s film Julie & Julia, I thought it would be nice for my Granny to share some of her experiences of her time at the school. Luckily, my grandmother responded just in time… she and my grandpa are, as I type this, on the plane to France!
Le Cordon Bleu, Paris 1963-64.
Here are some of my memories of my classes at the Cordon Bleu.
As Julia Child noted in the film, Madame, the owner, was icy and unwelcoming. No one liked her. Our class of six students was conducted in the unheated basement of the Cordon Bleu. Each morning we would descend into the chilly room, look at the menu posted for the day, take our posts in front of our gas burner, and await instructions The chef, a portly, irascible Frenchman, padded around in large bedroom slippers, pinching the girls on their backsides as he checked on their bèchamel sauce and belted out criticism ( in French , of course) He did not have a high opinion of female cooks and claimed that no woman could ever work in a bakery. After three hours we would break for lunch, sit at a table and be served what we had prepared during our morning class. Afternoons were devoted to demonstrations in a large auditorium also conducted in French by our chef and open to anyone who bought a ticket. After three months I received a certificate which is now hanging in our Minnesota kitchen. The recipes , possibly 100 in all, rest on a Rolodex hidden away in a cupboard. Unlike Julia, we do not cook with much butter or cream.
Granny & Grandpa Veggie Patch are also hip!
The Upwelling is certainly worth buying. We ordered two CDs from Amazon, and enjoyed them immensely.
cool !! i just saw that movie last night. it looked like a very intimidating place to learn to cook!
Incredible! Thank you for sharing the memories.
how awesome! that is funny that he would go around pinching the ladies.
your grandmother is beautiful, and I bet she has some amazing stories
if they ever want someone to carry their bags on one of their trips…I’ll volunteer!
Oh, wow! I had no idea your grandmother went to Le Cordon Bleu! What a cool guest post!!
I hope they enjoy their trip to France
What a wonderful thing to be able to have a grandma who can tell stories like that to you. I just started crying b/c I miss my grandmas. Both are gone. I am happy for you that you have your grandma
I love this post
I had no idea…so cool!
You are so fortunate to have your grandmother to share that with you… she is beautiful, by the way!!
<3 <3
I loved this post!! What a dream it would be to go to the Le Cordon Bleu and eat all the wonderful French food! You and your Grandmother are beautiful foodies
Thanks to your grandma, who is absolutely adorable!!!!
[...] for all of your enthusiastic responses to my grandmother’s post about her time in culinary France… I’m sure it will make her very [...]
that is SOOOO cool. i just saw the movie and i cant believe how amazing it was, and now with this “insider” info its even COOLER!
[...] It’s gotten a lot of criticism in terms of the “Julie” part of the story, and my grandmother thought Meryl Streep “overdid” Julia’s idiosyncrasies a bit. However, the whole [...]
I love this report. And I nominated you for the Food Buzz Award. Hope you win. Sally
If people are going to use clumsy dated overused phrases to claim they have some special, magical supernatural power then I think someone has every right to question them on it without being accused of arrogance. ,