Thursday, March 27, 2014

Starting Back

**disclaimer: I am not a writer! The only reason I passed English and history in college was because my sister edited my papers. In exchange, I helped get her through Spanish. So please ignore the grammar, punctuation and tense shift errors. I know it will make some of you cringe so in the future there will be less writing and more list of ingredients and instructions.**

My Food Story! 

I love cooking! I would call myself more of a food enthusiast instead of a chef. I have not been to culinary school but have had some great food experience. I began working for catering events in middle school, that's where I learned how to cut and stuff a bell pepper. :) I think that's when I really started to love cooking. In high school I began working for a catering company but did not do much cooking, more assembling and serving, but still loved it.

Then my senior year of high school my aunt and uncle started the south beach diet and asked me if I would be interested in cooking for them. So I became their personal chef and cooked 2-3 dinners for them every week and also prepared some lunches, snacks and desserts. This peeked my interest in nutrition and I wanted to learn how certain foods react in your body and what your body really needs.

So I went to college and majored in nutrition for my first two years. Then one of my professors laid out for us our job options as a nutritionist: dietitian in a hospital, food counselor, or food critic/writer (I know there are more but she said these were the main ones). I knew I had no interest working in a hospital and as I already told you I cannot write, so I quickly changed my major to art (my other love) and just minored in nutrition. Before I graduated someone asked me why an art student took organic chemistry... Ugh don't remind me!

While in college I got the opportunity to be a personal chef for a family in town. They loved organic food and tried to limit their meat intake. This was new to me, growing up in a family with 5 kids, I was used to meat and potatoes to fill up hungry bellies. It was so much fun getting to spend someone else's money on buying all the organic food that a poor college student couldn't afford. I worked for this family for three years and the only reason I stopped was because I graduated, moved and was getting married. It was one of the best jobs I've had!

After getting married, I continued to dabble in food some: catering a wedding, selling casseroles and eventually working at Gourmet Tiger (bakery, catering company and cafe). I am taking a break right now since I just had baby #2. Even though I am not working right now does not mean I have stopped cooking or experimenting with food.

My love language is serving food, it's how I express myself and it's a stress reliever for me. I love sharing recipes and getting people interested in food. So I began this blog forever ago and kind of let it go. Oops! I blame it on the babies.

Anyways, I want to start it up again. I will be adding tips and recipes to help inspire you to cook! Feel free to post any recipes or ask questions. I will try to answer anything I can. Hope you enjoy!