Hello. My name is Aaron, and I'm an exceptional bullshitter. I am creative, intelligent, witty, and a fast learner. Because of this, I tend to half ass my way through a number of things in my life. This blog in many ways is a tool for me to take the first steps in really mastering a skill about which I am passionate: cooking.
A bit about me. I'm 23, living in Orange County California, and have a large arts background. Theatre from first grade through high school, classically trained musician at Chapman University, graduating with my BM in Music Education, minoring in Arts in World Cultures. I currently work as a voice teacher, and it's very rewarding work. I've found I've grown significantly as a musician and a teacher in the past couple of years, and greatly enjoy the stories I can tell from my experiences. For example, quieting an uncooperative 5 year old voice/piano student by threatening to cut off his toes. Don't worry, his mom was on board with the idea.
For the record, we didn't cut off his toes.
However, most of my friends still comment how my screen name for Instagram (aaronschwartzmusic) is a little off, since I have no pictures of anything having to do with music, and tons of pictures of recipes I've created. I cooked a lot in college, watch Food Network to excess, and have an event every year known across the land as the "Latke Party," where I cook traditional Jewish recipes for my mostly gentile friends. Matzo ball soup, Hamantaschen, and Latkes from a recipe handed down from my Polish Grandma. She spoke 9 languages and was a Holocaust survivor. She peeled potatoes for the Nazis, and survived eating the leftover skins. So when Grandma Helen said, "Eat the skins, they're good for you!" you had better fucking listen.
My friends and family always encourage me to cook more, but I find myself with little professional training. I have considered culinary school, but after Chapman, I'm fresh out of money. Plus, based on my exposition to culinary arts education (mainly through daytime TV commercials for La Cordon Bleu and Food Network competitions), I had the predisposition that the prime demographic for cooking school was hispanics, lesbians, and guys with mowhawks. It had occurred to me that culinary school graduates could acquire mowhawks and or/become lesbians, but it seemed irrelevant considering one can't just BECOME hispanic (yes yes, one can't just BECOME gay, but it can be discovered or revealed or... whatever you know what I'm aiming for). Also if you have an accent you can attend culinary school. French, British, African, South American, even Jersey accents are all welcome.
Then a number of months ago my Grandma on my Dad's side, Dodo, (not a Holocaust survivor, but she also has opinions to which our generation NEEDS to listen), gave me an old copy of The New Professional Chef Sixth Edition. This is the primary textbook for the Culinary Institute of America, one of the best culinary educations one can get in the world. It's the sixth edition, and I believe they've updated to seventh or eighth, but in any case, this massive volume is a wealth of tasty info, and I'm going to Julie & Julia my way through it.
Thus, this blog is going to be of me cooking my way through the book. I plan on doing a chapter a week. 30 chapters, 30 weeks. Roughly 7 and a half months for you TI-84-wielding folks. To be fair, I'm sure I'll take weeks off or have to take more time etc, but we'll see. This blog will be informative, emotional, cheeky, mildly clever, and (mildly?) offensive. For those of any color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, disability, or any kind of identification, my apologies in advance. I have many friends of all different creeds, and don't discriminate or put any kind of prejudice. Being Jewish, I take a Mel Brooks approach to cultural tragedy and comedy. Laugh at things that are funny because they're funny, and get over yourself. It's better to have everyone laughing at something than shooting at something I suppose. If the world could just adopt this idea, then everyone would be a lot happier, and... less dead.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy. Again, this is primarily for me to get off my ass and do something I care about on the next level. In any case, I'm glad to have you, internet, with me through the laughs, the sighs, and the swears.
Cheers
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