If you've read my previous Post, then you can see I had begun down the path of the culinary calling but High School soccer, photography, etc had taken over. I was a student at the Knox Prep School in St. James NY, and let's just say that the menu and kitchen there were stark. I did learn that Welch Rarebit is NOT rabbit, but basically cheese on toasted bread, and croquet isn't just a game played on the lawn.
Then there was graduation and college.
I attended Hartwick College in Oneonta New York, which is a small private school with two really great things - the soccer program and the kitchen. I'm not kidding, our "commons" had two hot food lines, a grill to order area, salad bar AND ice cream bar. When the Holidays approached they would have a steak dinner (you got one ticket for one NY strip steak) with all the trimmings including unlimited peel and eat shrimp in an actual Ice Sculpture.
I had found food once again, and found that it could be good. I was an art lover and not artist at that point as I lived on campus and had no access to a stove or refrigerator. Entering my two Senior years (one off to reflect, one on to graduate) I lived with two roommates on the second story of an old Victorian house downtown. My skills were primitive and I banged around with easy college foods (Mac -n- Cheese, Ramein Noodles, bacon grilled cheese sandwiches, etc.).
One day I returned to the apartment after classes to find my roommate Walter preparing a whole chicken for roasting, along with potatoes for mashing, and some kind broccoli dish. He was kind enough to share with me his/his mother's knowledge of roast chicken dinner. I was re-engaged with the cooking desire, the desire to prepare food that way I liked it, and the way the Frugal Gormet (Jeff Smith) showed me how to do it.
Yep, the Food Network didn't exist but thank God PBS knew a good thing and had Jeff along with Julia Child helping while away many a cold and snowy Winter's afternoons.
Side Note: Oneonta is between Albany and Binghamton NY and has vicious Winter weather. My Freshman year had one week in January where every night it got down to at least 20 below zero, and as much at 30 below.
My roommates and I would take turns preparing "family" dinners every so often when we weren't busy partying and fooling around. Humble beginnings indeed for a Chef. No great back story of working as a child in restaurants, or being whisked away by a European uncle for culinary training in the old country. Nope for me it has always been a fascination driven education of self teaching. Next we move onto the early years of my adult life, and some humorous mistakes along the way.
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