Gigi and Me at Spark
By Jessica Angel, Spark Graduate, Clifford Summer 2007
My name is Jessica Angel, and I joined Spark in Summer 2007. My top apprenticeship choice was to be a chef, and I got it. Spark matched me with Chef Gigi, founder of Kids Culinary Adventures. I met her on our first day at Spark, and at first I thought that it would just be fun and games because she was really energetic and was laughing at everything that I said. But then I thought that it would not be fun, because maybe she would just make me laugh but not show me any actual cooking skills in the kitchen. I told myself to be patient. On the first apprenticeship day, when the time finally came to go to the kitchen with Gigi, she made it so much fun that ever since then, I started to look forward to the next day.
Gigi and I had a lot of fun together. She took me to several restaurants and stores to look at the food and learn how it was made. Of course, we got to try tasting everything too, and even tried an official tea service! Then we started making pastries ourselves. My first project was to make cream puffs, and it was really exciting. When I finished the cream puffs Gigi told me that I had “the chef’s touch,” and that was really important to me. Once I started cooking I couldn’t stop, because it was so much fun being around Gigi. We made petit-fours, fruit tarts, chocolate éclairs, cream puffs, and more.
It was really fun when I was at Spark and I wish that I could have stayed longer. I learned a lot from Gigi, from how to make delicious pastries to how to cook safely and understand germs and bacteria. I wouldn’t change anything about the experience. I recommend Spark because you will learn a lot and make new friends. Thank you very much for reading my article, and I hope you students do join next year.
