Personal Culinary Excellence

Opening the door to the smell of butter smacking you right in the face. Walking to the kitchen, you cannot help but notice the steam rising from a pot of simmering pasta sauce. You see a tray of well-oiled crostini with olives and cheese. You pour yourself a glass of merlot. Sit, sip, eat. You are home. All of the day’s stress wipes away as the comfort of food fills your body with bliss. You can finally take a deep breath because in those moments, nothing else matters. You deserve a time to fill your body, take a break. This is what food does. Food serves us.

I crave it. I sit at work and then something comes over me. I am craving a croissant. I go the bathroom, wash my hands with mint soap, and crave mint-chocolate chip ice cream. I am watching a movie and yearn for caprese salad. I am reading and want something fried and covered in cheese, honestly, how can you go wrong? I, we, crave all types of foods because food makes us happy. Food makes me happy, that is for sure.

Flashback to fourth grade, we are assigned to decorate our composition notebooks with anything from the magazines the teacher gave us. I immediately search for everything and everything food. I find Emeril Lagasse and Giada De Laurentiis on the cover of the Food Network Magazine. I overlap their faces on pictures of strawberries, cake, steak, and Remy from Ratatouille. Someone asked if Emeril and Giada are my parents. I laugh, thinking they are joking, then come to realize my classmate is indeed not kidding. I look at them with astonishment across my face and actually got sad they did not know who those cooks are. I sit at my desk, look at the notebook I just decorated, and dream of having someone wanting to glue my face on their notebook.

I woke up on a Saturday morning when I was seventeen, no school. I plop down on the couch and turn the T.V. onto Food Network. I devour my cereal while watching Ina Garten cook meatloaf. I stay in my pajamas as episodes of cooks such as Paula Dean, Bobby Flay, Emeril, Sandra Lee play on the television screen. I spent my weekends cooking and watching people cook. I told myself I did not have to be just like those cooks. I let myself know that I can be a chef with my own imaginations and my own ideas. These cooks were inspiration, not cooks to copy from. Nevertheless, I did not have the desire to go to parties at seventeen when I could spend the time watching someone prepare a proper creme brulee. I fantasized someone wanting to watch me make a proper creme brulee.

I sat down a year ago, and came across a documentary series of chefs world-wide sharing their experiences and recipes. I became inspired. I was hungry, for food and success. Someone’s birthday was coming up, and I wanted to make macarons. The finicky, french cookies I desired to tackle. I researched: watched videos, read recipes, tricks and tips, and even bought books pertaining to the pastry. I rolled up my sleeves and got cooking. Whipped, room temperature egg whites and granulated sugar was all that was needed to make meringue. Combine powdered sugar and almond flour to the meringue and that completes the macaron batter. Pipe batter into circles onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Smack the tray onto the counter to get rid of air bubbles from when the air was incorporated into the meringue. Let sit for about 30 minutes to form a nice skin or maybe crust would be a more pleasing word. Pop into a 300 degree oven and cook for about 12 minutes. I turned on the oven light to see that “feet” had formed and each cookie was a masterpiece. I had made macarons on my first try and I felt unstoppable. I created an online baking business where I mastered in baking customized macaron orders. I made tasteful macarons out of ordinary flavors: chocolate, banana, raspberry, coconut, lemon, and peanut butter. I thrilled myself with the likelihood that I was succeeding. I questioned myself with what other foods could I succeed at making?

We can only imagine the endless possibilities of what we can do with food. There are so many different variations and that excites me. I am delighted to invite you to be with me on my journey to becoming culinary excellence. Join me as I share my experiences and recipes in the world of cooking on a daily basis.

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