Hello from California (Bay Area)

[rjx]

My name is R.J. and I just turned 29. I started cooking when I was about 8 years old and remember watching Julia Child with my Grandma quite often. However, even though I started at a young age, I never evolved in the kitchen until recently. I was always somewhat fascinated with cooking but was always turned off by how long it took to cook, and I dreaded cleaning up after myself. So thats that.

21 years after being introduced to the kitchen I find myself being quite interested in cooking and wanting to please peoples taste buds.

I watch food shows on television all the time and are in and out of the kitchen trying new recipes frequently. My family enjoys what I make and I constantly hear from them, "why don't you go to cooking school?" etc. I would usually ignore them because, well, I don't know why. Anyways, I have been looking into cooking schools for a while and decided to take that question "why don't you go to cooking school?" more serious.

So here I am, 29, watching cooking shows all the time, trying recipes, increasing my knowledge, and building confidence. I am not married (yet), have no children, and have been unemployed for two months. I am real close to getting educated in the culinary field, hopefully for a future career.

I found ChefTalk.com and became a member on 10/02/06 and have been reading many topics in the last 4 days gathering information and finding most of it extremely valuable. Many of the questions I had have previously been answered and I thank this wonderful community for sharing their knowledge.

Living in the busy, fast paced Bay Area we have many fine dinning restaurants all over the place. I have learned from this site that before attending a school, I should work in a restaurant FIRST! So after I read a few books that I ordered I will start my search for an entry level position to make sure this is something I really want to pursue. Hopefully it will work out.

I have been asking myself what my goals (dreams) are? I would like to be an independent personal chef, open a catering business, and maybe open a restaurant on the island of Kauai (Hawaii). Whoa, first I need to learn how to crawl before I can walk hehe.

I spent a lot of time looking at book topics and put together an extensive list of books that I would like to read. After searching the net last night (all night) I ordered many books. I admit that I went crazy.

Some of the more important books I ordered are:
Professional Chef (8th edition)
The Professional Chef's Knife Kit
LA Varenne Pratique
Becoming a Chef
The Making of a Chef
The New Making of a Cook: The Art, Techniques, And Science Of Good Cooking
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen

One school that has really caught my attention is CIA. I also requested brochures from Scottsdale Culinary Institute, New England Culinary Institute, J&W, FCI, ICE, CCA (about 40 miles from me), NY restaurant school, and PCI (about 4 miles from me).

And to wrap up my first post on this site I would like to mention that my ultimate goal is become the best cook/chef I can be. Whether pro/amateur, or even home chef. This site has already helped me with that.

[Mezzaluna]

Wow, RJ- you've got lots of energy directed toward your new pursuit, and you're doing your homework. I'll bet by now you've cruised through the site and have a good idea for how and where to look for what you want to know.

Keep on comin' back! Things change pretty fast around here, and you're bound to learn something new every time you come. We hope you visit often to learn and to share!

Welcome! Regards,
Mezzaluna

[AlbanyMike]

Welcome!!

I'm 29 also and just starting my career in Culinary Arts.

I too started cooking at a young age but never really though of it as a career. I had hesitations being that I am almost 30 but after reading this forum, along with others, I know now that it is never too late to start.

I will be attending one of the local community colleges near where I live. The program has a good reputatation locally and with my financial aid I won't pay a dime!!