I once thought that art was my passion… and in a way it is… but I found that drawing and painting were fun and all, but that was all it was… just fun.. I couldn’t see myself making a life based on that. And that’s when I finally realised that I loved – passionately, whole-heartedly, completely loved – to cook. I have been cooking since I was old enough to know how to hold an intelligent conversation. My grandmother was a cake decorater professionally and so she baked cakes – a lot! And so she’d set me and my brother out on the front porch, give us a table, a few bags full of frosting, and said, “Go at it, boys!”
And we did.
When we were through, we naturally devoured it, but only after showing it off to anyone who cared to look. I have always loved food. I eat so much that if my metabolism were any lower and if I didn’t get as much exercise, I’d have to roll everywhere.
But I began to find a love for cooking that could never be sated. And so now I am currently employed in a resort cooking food… but its not what i want yet.
I had applied, 2 years ago, to Le Cordon Bleu Pennsylvania Culinary Institute. A fifteen month, $50,000 course that would teach me everything about my passion. I was so close, I could taste its sultry flavors… and then like a dog being cruelly teased, it was torn away from me. We went to the financial aid office and they claimed that they’ve helped students in worse situations than mine. My step-dad’s credit was marred from his youth, but he was slowly fixing it; and my mother had NO credit. She never had a home loan, never had a car loan… nothing. And no matter who tried to cosign for me, they couldn’t get me any financial aid. And they sent me home packing and said, basically, “Come back when you have the money.”
I was crushed to say the least. But I’m working still, its still my dream to get into PCI become a chef that people know in households across the nation.
