The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen, by Jacques Pepin#

This book contains so many interesting stories about his life as a chef, growing up in France and then moving to America.#

Some of my favourite stories: still an apprentice, he prepared a wonderful meal at the hotel and surprised the guests with his age (p. 62); the structure of a later restaurant's kitchen staff structure (p. 89); the absurd meals made for a general (p. 100); the perks of cooking for the French Prime Minister, such as a limousine with police escort for last minute shopping (p. 119); the requirements for employment in America: being French (p. 136); turning down being the White House chef (he had been the French's chef with little publicity) for Howard Johnson's (p. 153); being on the forefront of franchise cooking development (Chapter 10); receiving lobed off calf heads from a meat manufacturer (p. 175); meeting his wife (below, p. 187); buying ducks from a hippy couple for eating (p. 208); her daughter asking for hollandaise as a toddler at a friend's house (p. 208); eating a fried fish in China fried so fast it was still breathing (p. 237-238); and, cooking food from the trash bin at an interview, because he hadn't brought anything (p. 263).#

"You want to get together for a drink?" I asked.

After accepting my invitation, Gloria skipped lunch and called a friend to walk the dog that evening, certain that "drink" was a euphemism for drinks, dinner, and who knows what else.

I had something more literal in mind and escorted her directly to my apartment, uncorked a bottle of red wine, poured us each a glass and then drank. When our glasses were empty, I checked my watch and said, "I have to get to a class in ten minutes. You can make your way home by yourself, can't you?"

Gloria promised herself never to speak to me again. [p. 187-188]