Soup Nazi Has Nothing on Me!

This week almost did me in. We had nine soups to prepare in our group. I struggled a lot
this week. I started to question more heavily whether or not I can make it as a chef. This was the
first week that we got slammed and I completely understand why Chef Jack did it. He needs to
give us a taste of a busy day in the kitchen as much as a smooth day. I am sure the busier days
are far more important lessons to learn than the easy days.

Probably the highlight of the week for me was my group’s cream of mushroom soup. Dr.
B. came by and said he loves that soup when it is finished with a splash of dry sherry. That’s
exactly what we did. Dr. B tasted it and loved it. After class I dropped a container with LuAnn to
give to Dr. B.

We lost five people this week which was very hard for me to watch. Eventually every
person with my level of restaurant experience has dropped the class. I feel very much alone. At
the end of Thursday, I was dead tired. I am sure that my frustrations with myself were written all
over my face. I headed for Mr. Grippe’s class and saw Chef Jack there. I could tell based on his
facial expression that he is worried that I am going to drop the class. Unfortunately, at that
moment, I just needed to get away. I could not address what was going through my head.

That said, I went home, fell asleep in my chef jacket. I was so exhausted. The next
morning I got up and was back in Chef Jack’s kitchen. He looked at me like I was a mirage. At
that point we were able to talk. I told him I have no intention of giving up as long as he is behind
me 100 percent, which he is. It would have been incredibly easy to punk out this week but what
Chef Jack did not know about me at this point was that I do not give up that easily. The one thing
Chef Jack said to me that hit home the hardest was, “Those people may match your experience
but they do not have your drive.” That sentence truly renewed my spirit.

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