Yup, another newb

[FNG]

Hey all, I'm the FNG for now. My name is Mike.

I've come across this website in the past but never paid much attention to it really. Now that I've finally decided to go full bore into this thing, I figured I'd actually join.

A bit about me. I got my first experiences in hospitality when I was about 9 years old. My neighbors ran a B&B and I would help in the kitchen, serving, setup and breakdown of weddings, dinner parties and the like. Little could I have ever known that that would be the start of almost 20 years off and on in hospitality. Over the years I've worked as a Soda Jerk, server, dishwasher, busser, barback, cook (sorta) and now I'm a Flight Attendant in the US Air Force. It's not what you'd think either. I plan menus, shop, cook, store, clean toilets, load luggage, vacuum the floor and whatever else for the First Lady, Vice Pres, Sec State Rice, Sec Defense, Senators...pretty much any big Wash DC hotshot that has to travel, I'm working for.

It's not that difficult really to plan for 40 - 100 people for weeks on end and put out semi-gourmet meals at 35,000ft.

Well, after all that experience, it is time for a change and to follow my heart. I'm finally in a Culinary school, on the culinary team even, and getting my basics. I know how to cook but I don't have a basic foundational education.

In the next 2 years I plan to have my own catering company. The way I see it, the basic formula used to cook for 2 or 1,000 is the same. Only the quantities change.


Anyway, I look forward to learning from everyone as much as I can and give back when I can.

Mike

[Mezzaluna]

Thank you for the introduction, Mike. I'm sure you have plenty of stories about your time in the Air Force, but I'll bet you'll have to wait a bit to publish your memoirs.

Many of us learned our cooking chops early in home kitchens, and then went on to a culinary career. A good number entered another career field before coming to the realization that cooking was their passion. You'll run across a lot of CTers who can empathize with that. We have a Professional Catering forum that I'm sure you'll find informative and interesting, but don't miss all the great features here: cooking articles, cookbook reviews, recipes and the photo gallery. We also have a good search tool to help you navigate.

Welcome!
Mezzaluna

[FNG]

Thanks for the welcome Mezz. I'll definately be using the search and catering forums. I spent about 4 hours last night looking through a bunch of threads there.

And it couldn't be at a better time either. I half-heartedly replied to a catering posting in my school this morning. No sooner had I left my message did I get a return call from the person "that was out of the office" according to the secretary. It's a small deal for 35 people with a really simple menu and they are less than 10 minutes from my place. They want to do a tasting in the next few weeks, which is good, right?

[Gummy-Bear]

Hey I'm Shelby. I go by Gummy-Bear on forums etc. I am very interested in going to a culinary school and becoming a caterer and I would love to get to know you. I would love your insight and advice. I also noticed you used newb.... might you be a gamer as well?

[FNG]

Hey Shelby from TX,
I'd be more than willing to plass along any lessons learned from my impending doom and mistakes. Though my standing policy is to watch others crash and burn first then do what they should have or didn't do. I am sure that I will learn alot to pass along. You have to promise that you'll learn from my mistakes though.

[Kelz]

I actually went to culinary school with two flight attendants from the Air Force! They attended my cooking class so that they could learn more and maybe apply it to their job

[Gummy-Bear]

Originally Posted by Kelz

I actually went to culinary school with two flight attendants from the Air Force! They attended my cooking class so that they could learn more and maybe apply it to their job

That's so cool. I would love to get into culinary school but I have no idea where to begin.