The Once and Future Cook

I don't know where my love of cooking came from. I grew up in foster care, and home-cooked meals were not a common thing in the houses I grew up in. Lots of sandwiches and convenience foods in family homes, cafeteria-style foods in group homes. Food was something I ate because I had to.

When I got a work permit as a teen, McDonald's was really the only thing available. But it still gave me a familiarity with the mechanics of cooking and the mathematics of ordering that have served me well throughout my cooking career.

I've worked in a variety of restaurants and with practice have honed many skills, but it's hard to see the world when your work is in a fixed location. I decided I would get a degree. I chose an English program on the terrible advice that it didn't matter which degree I went for. That it would be the connections I made with other students that would determine the shape of my future career. I chased that advice all the way to a master's degree. We had a pandemic, and I never quite made it back. I hadn't made the connections I needed to. I went back to cooking.

But I'd moved to Colorado for the masters, and here I rediscovered a childhood love of the outdoors. I hike nearly every day even a decade later. I hear the mountains calling but can rarely afford to take more than a day trip. There had to be a solution to my problem. I was determined to find it. I looked in all the usual places for a job with the flexibility I required. Job hunting was exhausting and demoralizing. I had nearly given up.

And one day, while scrolling social media, I found a VA class. And right there, decided that would be my solution. I would make that my solution. It's been slow going, taking an SEO class and building this page in my off time. My skills aren't as sharp as my kitchen knives. Yet. But my skills are varied and my willingness to learn unbounded. I am here to show you what I have to offer. Life is short and the world is wide. There are stories to be found, campfire meals to be shared, and beautiful things to see. I hope you'll travel with me.