The first thing I should mention is that I moved to Portland, Oregon.
In the most unpredictable of moves I decided to not only stay in the country, but leave
the one city I insisted was the only one worth living in: Chicago.
Let me break it down for you:
I was in Chicago, wrapping up my senior year of college and working as a nanny. I liked being a nanny a lot but I don't want to spend my whole life watching other folks' kids and I knew I certainly wasn't going to use my Latin American Studies degree. I went into total life-crisis mode, brought to me live and in technicolor by the wonderful people at Depaul University and the tuition bills I will be paying back until I am 105. So what did I do? I crawled into bed and I watched the food network.
Most of the chefs on the food network are total nuts; women who cook cleavage first, men who have more ego than salt (and, let me tell you, a cook needs a helluva lotta salt). I started thinking about food though, thinking about who was making it, wondering what was happening beyond the celebrity chef/foodie world. I started picking up cook books and really reading them, I mean READING them.
Know what happened? I didn't learn shit but I got jealous. I got jealous that all these people were devoting their lives to food and I was on the fast track to a cubicle job in some dank HR department. How dare those assholes devote their lives to what they love, I can't do it! Yeah, well, fuck that, turns out I can.
I decided I needed to get out of Chicago and do something with food. I loves me the Chi-city, but I knew I'd be stagnant if I stayed there. They have a wonderful food scene, one of the best in the nation, but I just couldn't be there anymore. I started shopping around for something new and I found Portland. I've been here since August 2008.
It's relaxed here. I feel like people move the way I move, and I like the way we move. I like the food carts and the farmers markets and the generalized laughter at the hilarity and weirdness that is my life now. Currently. I'm a culinary student on a massive job hunt.
I'm not saying this is the right choice. I'm broke as a joke but I don't feel the nausea on this path that I did when I was on the cubicle trail. Before, I was familiar with food as an occasional hobby but never even considered it as a career. Honest: I'm no hot shot, no superstar. Hell, by no means am I even skilled in a kitchen. I'm going to be though. I might not be good (yet) but I'm super food-curious. Oh, and I also carry a big knife.
