Cooking Careers
Cooking is Hot!
Cooking is Hot!
Mar 2013: Hi Everyone, Thank you all for such wonderful responses to my last Newsletter--Where are they Now? The responses were so heartfelt and grateful, I thought you would like to read three of them from past students. It is truly a reminder how important people's culinary education at Tante Marie's was so many years later. Gratefully, Mary Risley, Tante Marie.
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Where are they now?
Where are they now?
Feb 2013: Now that we are in our 34th year of teaching students to be professional cooks and bakers, I thought it would be fun to write this month’s Newsletters about some recent graduates of Tante Marie’s Cooking School in San Francisco. Often the people who invest the time and money to come to one of our Professional Programs don’t really know what they want to do with their career. They are often in a transition from a previous career; or moving to or from San Francisco; or in the midst other life changes like marriage and/or parenting. Nevertheless, they almost always say the six months spent learning to cook at Tante Marie’s was the best six months of their life.
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Now is the Time to Enroll in Cooking School
Now is the Time to Enroll in Cooking School
Aug 2012: Are you between jobs? Have you gone as far as you can in your current job? Is it time to go back to work? And, to work in a field that holds your interest? Well, Tante Marie’s has the solution.
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What Does it Take to Be a Good Home Cook?
What Does it Take to Be a Good Home Cook?
Feb 2012: It's totally amazing that since the discovery of fire, people around the world have been heating food to make it more edible and appealing; and yet there is a whole generation that thinks cooking food is a great mystery. It's really pretty simple if you understand a few principles.
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What Does It Take To Be A Cooking Teacher?
What Does It Take To Be A Cooking Teacher?
Jan 2012: The most important thing about teaching cooking is being open and honest with everyone and having a love of sharing your knowledge and expertise. You need to also be somewhat of a showoff - someone who likes to be center of attention from time to time; and, you need to be a people person - someone who can be encouraging to absolutely everyone. It is also very important that you keep coming up with new techniques and new recipes to teach so that students will continue to be inspired by you.
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What does it take to be a Pastry Chef?
What does it take to be a Pastry Chef?
Nov 2011: The answer from Amanda Michael the Chef/Owner of JANE is “be prepared to work really hard!” Amanda was my student in the Full-Time Culinary Course at Tante Marie’s about twenty years ago. From there, she went on to work at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco making pastries. She has had jobs making breads and desserts in a restaurant in Lake Tahoe, as the pastry chef of Plump Jack in Squaw Valley, and worked for Plump Jack and Balboa Café in San Francisco before stopping work to have her two beautiful children. She is a very talented and dedicated Pastry Chef, and about a year ago she opened her own bakery/café/restaurant called JANE on Fillmore Street (between California and Sacramento Streets).. I am very proud of her!
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What does it take to be a Chef?
What does it take to be a Chef?
Sep 2011: Almost everyone in the restaurant business will answer "Passion"! Cooking for a living is hard work; however, for the right kind of person, it can be very fun and rewarding. Working in a restaurant kitchen is best for people who like to be active, who can keep track of many details at once, and who love to keep up on what's happening in the food and cooking scene. Not only are chefs and cooks making hopefully delicious food for people who love to eat, but they are cooking with other like-minded people in solid teamwork; and sometimes get to participate in events with others in such activities as last weeks street fair in the Mission or this weekend's Chez Panisse celebrations.
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What Careers are Possible After Culinary School?
What Careers are Possible After Culinary School?
Oct 2010: In these uncertain economic times, lots of people are turning to cooking to make a living or supplement their living—and it’s working! What I am going to do here is describe some of the careers graduates of Tante Marie’s Cooking School have and give the specific example of Jennifer Pappas of Half Moon Bay who graduated from our Six-Month Part-Time Pastry Course in March, followed by my recipe for Mom’s Apple Pie shown here being made by my friend, Sophie.
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Want to Go to Pastry School?
Want to Go to Pastry School?
Jul 2008: Here is a recent entry from a fabulous blog written by Anita Chu called Dessert First. In this entry she answers questions many of her readers have asked about going to pastry school.
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