I finally understand this statement…. I am a “Jack” of many creative things. I know how to paint and decorate many different crafty things from fabric to wood to clay pots…. I dream it and I paint it. I have painted frames, mirrors, and letters. I have made beads for locs, and bracelets and necklaces. I have drawn pictures, made desktop wallpaper on photoshop, poked fun a J-Stank Marching band with photoshop, created banners, logos, flyers, business cards… and more. I have written many poems, started on novels, have several short stories, created random small inventions, built things with legos and k’nex…. I can think of everyday items to use to fix things or use for other things…
Yet through all of this I have not mastered any of it. I only dabble in all of it….attaining the rank of novice, beginner and perhaps intermediate. Why? I realized that I love all of the things… but not enough to devote all my time to it. I thought I love writing enough that I dedicated my college career to it. I obtained my degree in English (It may as well been English Lit. Because that was our main focus at SU in the English Department… not much on the techniques and mechanics of it all). I still love writing my degree has not changed or added to that… I now know what my passion is and has lied for so long. A passion that I ignored and pushed off in order to do something else… what was that something else I do not know.
Rewind……
I remember my first time cooking. I was 8 and hungry. I was over my Aunts house. I asked her if she could make me some pancakes, bacon and eggs… her response… “Don’t you know how to read?” I said yes… she proceeded to tell me to cook it myself. I do say it came out well… so well she was like can I have a plate. I told her to fix it herself. I got in trouble for being a smart mouth but from then on I was in love with cooking… I began to cook whenever I had the chance. In high school I mixed spices and herbs trying to make the perfect blends. I became “famous” to some of my friends for the lemon pepper chicken and shish kabobs I made. One field trip took me and my classmates to a Vocational center. The kitchens for the culinary department were amazing! The stainless steel, the chopping blocks, the brilliant flame of the gas ranges… I was hooked.
Sadly, I could not go to vo-tech because of scheduling conflicts… I resorted to watching iron chef on late nights… I still experimented in the kitchen. In College, food network became my best friend… watching yet studying English. I graduated… and still longed to be in the kitchen. I chose my Chef Idol, Morimoto. I picked cuisines… Japanese, African and Italian… I dreamed of fusion dishes and I looked for work in my degree area….
It’s 2010, I don’t have a job in my field… I have been looking. I have had to return home. … to 2 year old Culinary school about 15 minutes from where I live… to me being in the kitchen more… to me discovering where my true passion lies. I will forever do my creative things.. But this is the most creative thing that I am willing and ready to dive into and learn about, practice and perfect. I have goals I wish to obtain in the culinary arena. C3’s my restaurant (Cool Culinary Cuisine), Going on Iron Chef America or Chopped or some Food Network Show… maybe even throwing down with Bobby Flay, meeting Morimoto…being a breakout new chef in Food and Wine Mag. Even if I can’t attain C3’s… if I can cook under any of The World’s great Chef’s…. I’m ready…. And I believe God is putting me in position to go forth… Allez Cuisine!
