Tools Of The Trade

About a week ago, I posted about starting a new project inspired by Chef Gordon Ramsay. In the subsequent days that followed I've been getting really excited about it! Even when I stumbled upon someone trying the exact same idea as me, I still didn't let it get me down. I actually find it quite funny! I've even acquired a brand new knife set! Granted it was a free set that my grandmother was about to sell at a flea market and  had never opened before but...it's a start right? The knives are still super sharp!

Starting to get serious over here...

It's important to note that I've never been 100% sure why there are so many different kinds of knives. If they're sharp they'll do the job, right? Apparently not! I know that the tiny paring knife at the bottom is used for peeling ( I actually prefer it to a standard carrot//potato peeler). I can't wait to learn what each knife is best used for and hopefully not lose any fingertips in the process! I also need to invest in a good case for these new shinies! Right now I have them wrapped in a towel and in a cloth shopping bag. I know. Safe, right? Instead of just throwing them in the drawer with the rest of the knives, I want to keep them separate, embrace them (figuratively, not literally), and treat them like a real chef would!

I'm also trying to get my hands on a copy of Gordon's Ultimate Cookery Course book! It's not easy to come by! It seems most copies are currently in the UK and will take over two weeks to get here! I guess I could start with another book of his while I wait? I wish it didn't have to be that way but I'm chomping at the bit and really want to get started soon! 

Over the week, Yeti and I discovered another one of Chef Gordon's shows based strictly in the UK called "Gordon Behind Bars". I must say, if you haven't given Gordon a chance outside of "Hell's Kitchen" and "Kitchen Nightmares", type Gordon Behind Bars into YouTube and check it out. It's all about the Chef's attempt to teach convicts in HM Brixton Prison how to cook/bake and run a business, which not only provides them with some useful skills when they are eventually released, but also allows them to make money and give back to the prison while serving their sentences. Their operation was named simply: The Bad Boys Bakery. I can't help but applaud such an honorable idea. As someone who watched a loved one go through the prison/rehab process, this hits particularly close to home for me. 

Now i'm not talking about the child molesters, rapists and murderers. They can rot, as they are a danger to our society. I'm talking about those who commit victim-less crimes. Crimes that could be avoided if these people were given a decent chance to try and change their ways. Yes I do know someone who went through the system. I watched as he screwed up over and over again. Every time it would end with the same result: a jail sentence. The ultimate "time-out" to sit and think about what they've done. We thought that all hope was lost for this person. It wasn't until one judge sent him to a rehab facility that we started to see real change. A place were he had to earn privileges by being an upstanding member of the program and attend regular counseling sessions. It was a long, hard, road but eventually I got my brother back. Does he still have his ups and downs now? Of course he does. But he's far better off now then he was. He's not the only person that has come out of the program for the better either, I know a few more who have. All have re-acclimated themselves to the outside world and have become fully function and respectable member of society.

You could tell just by watching this show that Gordon really cares for these men he recruits for the program. His drive to help them learn and actually feel good about DOING SOMETHING for themselves is extraordinary. Even knowing the dangers that can come with working inside of a locked kitchen, he still went in and did it. It's nothing short of inspiring. If he feels that even these people, the ones that society has forgotten, can learn to cook and successfully run a business, then why can't I? Granted I don't have the same stigma attached to me that these inmates do, but it still gives me hope that I CAN do this. I've never been more motivated!

Kudos to you, Chef Ramsay! Kudos to you for inspiring the down-trodden to be better than they are. Even if they aren't up to your standards in the kitchen, that doesn't mean they aren't willing to learn and BECOME great. Everyone has that potential in them. They just need to be given the chance.