Ready for first day of school!

What role does food play in my life?
Being raised by a single mother, my brother and I were naturally “momma’s boys.” She raised us on simple foods. We weren’t well off, so we didn’t have many choices, but never-the-less food was memorable and to this day I still enjoy food we had growing up like oatmeal, natto and rice, chasuke with tuna and shoyu omelet, and hibachi grilled eggplant with shoyu mayo. As I got older I frequently helped my mom in the kitchen whether it was cutting the vegetables for the salad, or washing the dishes. Throughout my entire life dinner was never separate from family time – we’ve always sat and ate at the table together. Thinking back on those hard times I’m reminded of how lucky I am to have a mother who was silently tough, but also physically and emotionally loving.
Moving forward through the years, my very first paying job would determine my job path and inevitably my career path as well. In 1994, the year after graduating from University Laboratory High School, I took a job at Subway in McCully Shopping Center. This is where I first learned about things such as mise en place, taking inventory, and how to “break down” and clean. I also got a quick lesson on how to mop an entire shop after I flooded the whole prep room and service line one night during closing because I forgot about the mop bucket I left filling in the sink.
Ever since then I’ve worked in restaurants - mostly front of the house as a server. However, ever since I was young I used to watch cooking shows, and I was always interested in cooking (my mother and I would always watch Jeff Smith, The Frugal Chef on PBS). In 2001 my friend’s sous chef, Bruce Nacion at Kincaid’s, mentioned that he needed help during the holidays, so I asked if he’d consider me for the job. I worked the pantry station for 3 month’s which in that time I received an Employee of the Month recognition (a plaque which still has my name on it to this day at the restaurant), and was soon moved to the sauté station. During that time I was still waiting tables. And being young, I opted for the quick money job rather than the long, hot nights of low pay. So, after about a year working at Kincaid’s I left to strictly wait tables again.
Now 33 years old, through trials and errors, I’ve finally figured out my passions in life. So now I’m now back in college to pursue a culinary degree. Now older (I’ll use that as my excuse), I have a willingness to learn and pursue that passion that I’ve kept repressed because of the fear of hard work. I’ve changed my perspective of a career that I once looked at as too little pay for too much work. And now the Confucius saying, “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life,” no longer seems unreachable to me.

My one goal in taking this class.
One thing that has always gotten the best of my confidence, whether it was in my learning abilities, or being successful in other careers, was not having the basic knowledge and skills to develop to something better. I believe however, I’ve achieved this in another passion of mine which is a martial art I’ve been training in for sixteen years. I’ve learned the fundamentals, I’ve done the repetition and hard work, and I’ve taught it for years, which gives me a better understanding and validates the significant importance of the fundamentals.
I look at the skill of cooking in the same manner. Just as in my martial art, I believe I have the passion and innate ability to conceptualize (and in this case, food), but I don’t have the fundamental skills to better my ability as a cook. Getting a professional education to learn these fundamentals is my goal in Culinary 120. I believe everything we learn here will benefit my career and skill development for the rest of my life – everything from knife skills, sauces, stocks, and other prepping and cooking methods.

What will I bring to the culinary world?
I had a change of heart in the way I looked at our culinary industry beginning in January of 2009. I no longer saw it as a dead end job of being a server, and hustling for tips. I began reading one book after another, and this started to change my view point and fuel this passion I had. The first book was “The Soul of a Chef” by Michael Ruhlman, followed by “Heat” by Bill Buffort, then “The Devil In The Kitchen” by Marco St. Pierre White, then “Setting The Table” by Danny Meyer. I couldn’t stop. By reading I saw that there was so much exciting things to learn, places to see, and impact you can have on people and the world in this industry.
When my perspective opened up to all these many things I knew there was no reason why I couldn’t learn about authentic pasta, bread baking, and different flavors and share it with people. And with all my years of experience in the front of the house, there are things that I’ve learned about hospitality that I personally place importance on which I could share as well. And lastly, I believe that if I were to end up in a management position or become a business owner of a restaurant one day, I could have an impact on our industry, our earth, and people of less fortune.
In a nutshell, I hope to bring creative flavors based on classic methods, professional employment, as well as hospitable service. However, aside from food and service, I feel that it’s necessary to support my community and support our industries environmental work practices.