50 in 2012: Book Twenty Three

The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World’s Most Famous Cooking School in Paris by Kathleen Flinn

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I write this review having never been to Paris and wholeheartedly admitting to have rather limited culinary talents. I don’t stray from plop-able meats: those that can be plopped into a cooking contraption without begin touched. Prior to reading this book, I couldn’t tell you if I chopped or julienned vegetables. I go with an across the board “cut up”. Size, shape never making a difference. Apparently, that is important?

Kathleen Flinn’s job has just been eliminated and she finds herself at a crossroads. Ultimately, she decides to fulfill a lifelong dream, moves to Paris, and enrolls in Le Cordon Bleu cooking school *I totally say it with a fancy schmancy French accent every time I read it, though I am not entirely sure what a real French accent sounds like, but mine is fabulous, trust me. Lots of exaggeration of the euuuuuuuu*

I find her courage to take a chance, leave everything behind to pursue a lifelong dream incredibly inspiring. Her story is full of humor, mishaps, and discovery. Her fellow students represented different stories, struggles, and ethnicities, yet they were all bonded by a love of food.

Quick, fun read. I am inspired to take a cooking class. Or at the very least, learn to properly hold a knife and “chop” an onion…