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When I was 19 years old and just after I had left cookery school, I took a job working as a chef in a chalet in the French Alps. It was a big, beautiful chalet just off the main slopes in the resort of Val d'Isere and accommodated about 16 guests plus staff. At the time Val d'Isere was considered the very last word in chic, style and elegance if you were taking a ski holiday in Europe. This was the middle of the 90s and I don't think that many people had really discovered the beauty and peace of Scandinavian ski resorts. The Alps was the only place to be with celebrities frequenting resorts like Val d'Isere, Meribel and St Moritz. All these resorts are still indescribably sleek, expensive looking and polished, but maybe not quite as fashionable as they once were.