I.C.E. and a Little History of this Adventure

Starting in January, I'll be attending school at I.C.E. (The Institute of Culinary Education) in New York City. I'll be taking classes in Baking/Pastry and also in Culinary Management. My interest in baking started long ago. When I was a little kid, I'd help my mom in the kitchen (she loved to bake) and every year, we'd make batches upon batches of cookies at the holidays. Throughout school and ever since, I've been cooking and baking for friends and family. Over the past 5 years, my love of baking has grown and it is now my favorite pastime. I decided early in 2006 to pursue it as my career and have been taking the steps to make that happen. In May, we visited New York and I interviewed at two culinary schools (I.C.E. and the French Culinary Institute). Although the FCI was nice, I felt something at ICE that just felt "right." Later in the Spring and Summer, I also visited a couple of culinary schools in Chicago and, again, although I loved the city and enjoyed visiting the schools, I kept coming back to I.C.E. After our visit, I continued to be excited about the possibility of training at I.C.E. and asked Todd to check wiht his company to see if he could go with me. They agreed and we both became more thrilled at the possibility of living in New York for a while! When we returned from vacation in October, I had a message waiting for me from the Admissions Counselor at I.C.E. I was "in" and classes would begin January 4th! I turned in my notice at my job and started the process of transferring my pharmacy license to New York. (I plan to work part-time there while I am in school.) Since then, we've been getting busier and busier with the planning and we officially leave for New York in 10 days! We have an apartment in New York City, a rental truck and our things are making their way into boxes. Time is quickly approaching and I am SO EXCITED! I.C.E. and New York City, HERE I COME!