Back To School?

Okay you see that picture.  That could be me in a couple years.  Well, not the food, but you know, the hand garnishing that amazing looking dish.  Okay, I'll give you some context so you can stop looking confused, or if you're not looking confused, well, then, I don't know.  Anyway, since moving back home, there are times when I'll flip on the tv, not very often, but on occasion when I'm eating or doing something in the kitchen.  Most of the time there's nothing good or appropriate on so I've taken to watching Food Network, because, hey, I like to cook and bake and its always interesting to see what other people are fixing and get some good ideas.  My parents noticed this since I fix dinner a couple days a week and usually when they get home that's what I have on.  As we were watching one of the shows while having dinner a week or so ago, my dad made a comment that I should consider going to culinary school since I like to cook so much.  I was a bit surprised, because, well, culinary isn't exactly one of the "practical" college degrees that my parents used to always suggest I go for.  Now don't get me wrong, I know my parents have always had my best intentions at heart when they suggested those practical degrees, but I know I could never do something like business or accounting or even something like being a teacher.  No, no, no.  I would die of boredom or in the case of being a teacher, I think I would lose my mind trying to deal with kids.  I like kids, I think they're cute and all, but I only like them from a distance if I don't know them.  The only kids I actually like dealing with are ones that I know and even then I don't think I could do that everyday unless they were my own.  But that is in the far distant future and not something I'm going to worry about right now.

So, anyway, moving off of that bunny trail, as I said, I was surprised by my dad's suggestion, but then again in more recent times, my parents have become much more supportive of my desire to pursue acting or at least something that I would actually enjoy doing.  Culinary is just something I'd never really considered because, honestly, I had one impractical dream and I figured having two would just be a bit much.  Not that culinary is exactly impractical, but its not the same as having say a business or law degree or something more like that.  But my dad is right.  I really like to cook, and more than that, I like to experiment.  I mentioned my dad's suggestion and that I might be going back to school to a couple of my closest friends last night.  Obviously their opinion wasn't going to be a make it or break it kind of thing, but I was encouraged when they did tell me that I was a good cook and that it was something that I would probably be good at.  One of my friends commented that I do like to experiment with different recipes or try new things, for example I once cooked a couple of whole salmon for our weekly get together and for Thanksgiving I made a cake in the shape of a caramel apple, whereas she likes to cook things that are quick and easy.  And she's right.  I don't like to cook for myself, but if I'm cooking for other people or for my family, I like to try new, daring things.  I like to play with spices and create food from scratch.

Of course, going back to school would bring about a lot of changes.  First of all, I work full-time.  Chances are, I wouldn't be able to keep up a full-time job and go to school meaning I would probably have to start working part-time.  The good thing is, I should still be able to keep my job, I just wouldn't work as many hours and I would still be making a decent paycheck.  The thing with that is that if I did go part-time, I would lose my benefits so I would have to back onto my parents insurance and everything.  And then there's the school aspect.  I find it amusing that I thought I was done with math forever once I graduated high school because I had taken and passed College Algebra my senior year and none of the degrees I had in mind at that time required anything higher.  Well, guess what, I would have to take some math classes if I went into culinary.  No!  Though, actually it probably wouldn't be a bad thing because since I haven't really had to use anything but the most basic math since I graduated, I've forgotten just about everything algebra or geometry related.  Granted, I don't think that would count against me since most of the math with culinary will be more in regards to recipe production, yield adjustment, food costs, and cost ratios.  Goodness, I don't think I've done ratios since...um, middle school, freshman year of high school.  Oy vey!  But still, it would be applied mathematics that I would be using regularly so therefore I think I'll be less likely to just recycle it.

The other fun part of going back to school is that I would be going back to CNM which means I would be transferring again.  This would be my third time I think transferring credits and what not.  Yup, third because I transferred my high school credits from CNM to ENMU and then from ENMU to UNM and now it would be from UNM back to CNM.  Yay for transferring!  Okay, I'll stop now.  But the great thing about CNM is that looking at the courses I would be required to take, it prepares you for more than just knowing how to cook.  It goes into nutrition, food and beverage service, purchasing and cost control, and even hospitality operations management.  I think that's brilliant.  The other part that's great is that you can earn the degree in about two years.  But that's also with taking 16 credit hours a semester.  Ouch.  Not sure if I'll be doing that.

So that's what's going on in my life right now.  Pretty exciting, but also a bit nerve-wracking too.  Still, I'll see what happens and where things go and pray that God leads me where He wants me to be!