Drink Well, Eat Better: 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" is a great memoir written by Kathleen Finn. I read this book and then immediately chose it for my book club selection, so all my girlfriends would read it too. I chose this book even though I knew not all of the book club ladies are as passionate about food as I am - to 'get' this book, you don't have to be. On top of the excellent writing, this book is inspiritional, funny and has a great love story to boot.

Kathleen Finn was a journalist, who then fell into a job in as a software executive working in London. Despite being very good at what she did, her position was eliminated and she was let go by the company. Faced with the task of finding another job, she decided instead, she would pursue her passion. She cashed in her savings and moved to Paris to attend Le Cordon Bleu. Without speaking French (outside of basic terms) or having any culinary training, Ms. Finn made her dream come true. Deciding to enroll in the degree program, she embarked on her food journey, that would take her about three years to complete. During these years, you learn a bit about her childhood, for example, why living in Paris had been her dream, a lot about food & French cooking, and about her love life. Also examined in the book is the role of friends in your life, especially when sometimes you are "competing" against them. There is one scene in the book where they are cooking duck (if I recall correctly), one class member burns their duck badly and needs another one. However, there are none left, except one of their friends has an extra. Instead of giving her friend in need the extra duck, she quietly ignores her, since she wants to be the top student in the class. When I read this book, I, sadly, could relate to having friends that are competitive, even when there is no need to be. It's stories like those that make this book so relatable, although I am still stuck at my job that I happen to be good at and not living my dream.

Aside from the great story, part of the reason I enjoyed this book so much is (obviously) the food. I read this book shortly after taking Techiniques in Fine Cooking 1, at the Institute of Culinary Education. The course I took taught me all the basics of French Cooking, so reading this re-inforced all of those lessons, and since I had known them, it made me feel pretty good about my cooking techniques. On top of the great techinique tips thrown in there, Ms. Finn goes above and beyond and includes recipes as well. In fact, she's so great, she included a whole section for book clubs, which can also be found here. Her inclusion of this section made this blog very easy to write and hosting book club a joy. The hardest part was deciding which of her recipes to make! After much debating, I ended up making the Golden Onion and Roasted Tomato Quiche and the Provencal Spread*. My good friend Madeline brought us some apples, a baguette, and cheese so we mastered Ms. Finn's cheese tray. And all of my other friends were kind enough to bring along some delicious French wines, to play with the theme in the book. All in all, it was a great book and made for a deliciously great book club.

All my onions in my saute pan: