Hi, all.
I wasn't sure how to describe my culinary experience, so I'll do it here:
I'm completely obsessed with food. I cook at home, of course. I read cookbooks & food magazines compulsively. I'm extremely lucky to have an SO who gets off on wining and dining me like I've never dreamed of even in my wildest foodie fantasies (Citronelle in DC, Valentino in L.A., Veritas in NYC, etc...)
For over a year, I've been working part-time for a fairly large, successful catering company in SoCal as a "cook". Of course, there isn't much cooking involved: it's mostly reheating things, assembling tray-pass appetizers & salads, plating dinners & desserts in assembly-line fashion, etc. But I love it! Lately I'm starting to understand the whole process of on-site catering a lot better. There's so much to learn!
Sometimes, when things get extra-busy, they let me work in the Big Kitchen (a 10,000 sq-ft kitchen facility where most of the real cooking takes place.) Mostly I just do prep and assembly--but again, I can't tell you how much I adore this. Chef tells me to peel 200 hard-boiled eggs or skewer 400 shrimp or crimp 500 tiny lobster shumai or assemble 600 cucumber-and-watercress finger sandwiches...and I'm happy as a pig in slop. Seriously.
I am currently finishing up a B.S. in Biology (though I am well beyond the age of your average undergrad....I dropped out of Mount Holyoke when I was 19, worked as a stripper, went back to school, dropped out, worked as a stripper and an itinerant field technician in wildlife biology...then some other stuff happened....finally I went back to school with a vow that I would receive my biology degree once and for all, even if it killed me...Which it might!)
Anyhow, I am VERY seriously considering culinary school after I finish my undergrad. My ultimate goal, however, would
not be to work in a restaurant kitchen (I lack leadership qualities and am quite sure I could never be a chef)...but I would love to make some kind of life in food: as a food writer and/or owner/operator of a gourmet shop/catering business. (Of course, my complete lack of business sense could be a problem in the latter scenario...but a girl can dream, right?)
So...That's my story. In conclusion, I guess you could say I'm just an all-around food geek. I like this forum. There are people here who are as obsessed with food as I am.
I am not sure if I'm allowed to post in any of the professional forums...I mean, I work for a catering company, I get paid to cook (sort of)...But I am nowhere near a chef, haven't been to culinary school, and probably couldn't hold a station as a line cook. So...I don't know. I guess I'll just stay out of those forums for now.
Thanks for reading my little ramble! Nice to meet you all!
Cheers!
~Indigo
Just an All-Around Food Geek... 
); and your recognition that the culinary world is where your furture lies. 
