Table of Contents
By Anonymous Staff
In 1996 I made a decision to go to school, as a result of closing a ten year catering truck business, fired from a corporate job and the break up of a relationship. I have enjoyed cooking since I was a young girl, with no formal training. I researched taking a cooking class at the community college, which was six blocks from where I lived. I never thought about the formality and requirements of taking this class, I just wanted to cook. This decision became a turning point in my life, with many learning experiences and opportunities.
I did not have a job. However, I was able to do part time catering with a friend, and live with my sister. She told me that while I was going to school and got on my feet with a full time job, I could pay her what I could, until things changed for me. After completing my first semester, I was so elated to have completed two classes. The exposure to so many opportunities, the encouragement to go forward and pursue a career was something I had not experienced. I was older and had life experience that most of the students did not have, therefore, I was given responsibilities that they were not able to handle.
I was offered a job for the summer as a cashier in the Culinary Department cafeteria and to assist with catering assignments. During that summer, I worked during the day and took an advanced culinary class at night. I had so much fun that semester.
These jobs gave me a small salary to cover my living expenses. In order for me to have these jobs, I had to carry twelve units of credits. The challenge frightened me, however, I had the tools of recovery and my fellowship to support me. I followed other people’s suggestions of how to handle a class, just like I would a meeting. Show up on time, be prepared with your tools, shut up and listen. Recipe number one. I was off and running to meet this challenge of going to school when I was 50-years old. As a young woman, I just never believed I could do it and that marriage was my solution to living happily ever after. It was a lie.
I learned about a recipe and the purpose of it. A recipe is a set of instructions for producing a certain dish. Many people believe that learning to cook means simply learning recipes. Knowledgeable cooks, on the other hand are able to prepare food without written recipes. They have learned techniques and procedures you can apply to any recipe. No matter how detailed a recipe may be, some judgement by the cook is always required.
Briefly, there are three types of recipes. A standardized recipe is a set of instructions describing the way that a particular establishment prepares a particular dish, such as The Fat Olive. There are very specific details to direct and control the outcome of the product. The purpose of an instructional recipes is to teach basic cooking techniques. It provides an opportunity for you to practice, with specific ingredients, the general procedures you have learned. Cooking with judgement is the third type of recipe where you should apply your knowledge and thinking about the recipe in relation to the skills you have. I share this information with you and how I learned how to compare it to my daily living in my new life.
I have always been somewhat rebellious in my life, never wanting to follow the rules because I thought I was special or just did not want to. I never worried about the outcome, I just wanted to have fun and “f” the world. I made that decision, though not consciously, when I was a young girl. One day, while I was in a baking class, which was not my favorite class, I became aware of why I did not like baking. You have to follow the recipe in order for the product to be successful. There I was, getting the message that this was what had happened over the years. I did not like to follow the recipe of life. In all of my relationships, I never wanted to learn the ingredients to make it successful. It wasn’t working, I left. That was the pattern for a long time in all areas of my life, until I went to school to learn how to cook.
I use this in my class today to teach young students the importance of following directions in order to be successful in life. The measurements, the cooking method, the procedure, and the temperature are all needed to produce a tasty and bountiful product. I use the outline of recovery as a comparison for my sobriety which includes: don’t drink no matter what, find a sponsor, attend regular meetings, be of service and trust in God. If I do this, as suggested, I have the gift of sobriety and the opportunity to live happy, joyous and free, therefore, producing a beautiful fluffy cake.