One hundred fifty-eight days ago I stepped into kitchen 601 at ICE and learned how to hold a chef’s knife for the first time. This morning, I made seared rack of lamb with homemade pasta tossed with mint pesto and roasted tomatoes in exactly 90 minutes and without a single recipe in sight. I served the dish to Chef Sabrina and breathed a sigh of relief. Module 5 practical exam - done.

I've been busy going back through my recipes from previous modules in my Culinary Arts Career Program at ICE and I stumbled upon one of my all-time favorites from Module 3, Polpette Fritte.

There are maps posted everywhere to navigate the subway. You have GPS on your phone to figure out which direction you’re headed. But what do you do once you arrive at a list of wines written in foreign languages that have price tags from the 10's the the 10,000's? Enter the class: How to Navigate a Restaurant Wine List from ICE’s Center for Wine Studies.

I’ll be the first one to admit it. I’ve never met a dessert I didn’t like.

Now in Module 4 of my Culinary Arts Career Program , we've ventured into the world of pastry and baking where butter, sugar and flour rule.

Two nights, 20 sauces. This was the task at hand as I stepped into the kitchen for my very first two-session recreational class at ICE, Mother Sauces and Their Offspring.

If I’ve learned one thing so far about pastry and baking, it’s patience.

One of the benefits of being President of ICE, is that I can go to any class I want. So on Monday Feb 22nd, I joined the Culinary Management students at ICE for a special morning talk and tasting from Randall Grahm, founder of Central California’s Bonny Doon Vineyard, and one of the original “Rhone Rangers” (a term granted to those who preserve and produce Rhone varietals in California).

I've had a lot of "firsts" as a student in ICE's Culinary Arts Career Program, and cooking scallops was right up there with filleting a fish, making homemade pasta, rolling sushi and disjointing a lobster.