This entry is going to be Part 1 of my back story. I figured I should probably split the whole thing into two parts so that I don't bore your pants off with my first entry! In order to truly build my story, I have to go alllll the way back to my senior year in high school when I was supposed to be deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up. Pshh it easily took me 20 minutes to pick out shoes to wear with an outfit... make me pick a profession?! Good luck with that! Either way, I always loved to be in the kitchen so I figured that culinary school would be my next step. Wrong. George and Sherry Kay (big, intimidating father who is a teddy bear and southern belle mother!) were footing the bill for my tuition and they were more comfortable with me getting a bachelor's degree that I could "fall back on in the future." They said that if I still wanted to be a chef after graduating college then I could go back to school on my own. Four years later, I had graduated with a dual bachelor's degree in Business Management and Marketing from Millersville University and couldn't find a job. I had been interning with UPS for almost a year and was going through the interview process to become a full-time sales representative when they entered a hiring freeze. Things went from bad to worse! Not only were they in a hiring freeze but then they had to cut the intern program from their budget. Me and the other interns were laid off and I was completely lost. I had put all my eggs into one basket! Rookie mistake. I started working part-time while applying for sales jobs, but things weren't going anywhere. I was in a huge funk and didn't know what to do. My roommate at the time, Claire, had a birthday coming up and her boyfriend had asked me to help with the surprise party. He knew how much I loved to bake and left the birthday cake up to me. With an AMPLE amount of free time, I said, "Screw it! I'll make the cake myself!" I went all out, making a replica of Dwight Shrute's desk from "The Office."
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| My very first cake. Looking back at it now... I cringe! |
I had NO CLUE what the hell I was doing. It was the first time I ever touched fondant or gumpaste. I had never stacked a cake with more than three layer before.... but I was hooked! I spent hours planning everything, molding the bobble head and making the computer screen. Yeah, that weird, grey box thing is supposed to be a computer. I loved every minute of it! All of the tiny detail work put me into a zen kind of mode and this is coming from the girl with EXTREME road rage and the attention span of a fruit fly! However, I knew that this was something I was meant to do! So, the day after Claire's birthday I started looking at culinary schools.
My search took me to Johnson & Wales University where they had a program called, Garnish Your Degree. It was specifically for individuals that already had their bachelor's degree and wanted to return to school for an associate's degree... Ummm HI! That'd be me! In one year I would have my degree because all of my general education credits from Millersville would transfer and count towards my associate's degree. I would only have to take lab (technically kitchen) courses along with a sanitation certification class. SOLD! Johnson & Wales has four campuses in the United States; Providence, Charlotte, Denver, and Miami. I originally applied to Charlotte because it would get me out of PA (another reason I wanted to go back to school), but would be close enough if I wanted to go home to visit. My acceptance was deferred because the Baking and Pastry program was full in Charlotte, leaving either Denver of Miami. Decisions... Decisions.
BIENVENIDO A MIAMI!!!!
Hahah well that's where I'll be ending Part 1 of my little story! My next entry will be about culinary school and everything after graduating. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I promise my future entries won't all be novels!
Always,
Sarah
awesome!
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