We first noticed Amy - of Ms Glaze's Pommes d'Amour (msglaze.typepad.com) - when she was in the 'superior' programme at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. We charted her progress as she agonised over what to cook for her final exams (the students knew the ingredients they had to use, but created the dishes themselves), wished her luck as she applied for a stage (unpaid apprenticeship) at the Michelin three-star restaurant, Guy Savoy, cheered for her when she was accepted, and raved when she was asked to continue working after her apprenticeship - not bad for an American woman in the male-dominated world of French haute cuisine. During her stint on the coveted meat station, Amy learned to cook wild game such as boar, hare and pigeon (which arrived in the kitchen with fur - or feathers - and head intact), slowly overcame her meat aversion (she still prefers fish) and waited for her work visa to come through. When it did she was made chef de partie (head of a kitchen section). In between her gruelling work shifts (8am-11pm with a 90-minute break after the lunch service), she manages to post recipes using ingredients found in the Paris markets.
Amy has returned to the United States and is working at an unnamed top restaurant in New York City. She's happily making the transition back to normal working hours and having a life outside the kitchen, and is starting to post recipes again. It will be interesting to see where her culinary journey takes her next.