My Cooking Resume

     Page Sixty-Three.
     You know, considering the fact that I successfully(?) pass myself off as a private chef, I really have very little professional experience. And, I really don't try to ever deceive anyone into thinking that my cooking resume is fat. It just isn't.
     I've had three food service positions in my life. 1) In the eleventh and twelfth grade, 1978-1979, I made submarine sandwiches at a sandwich shop on Taylor Road, here in Cleveland Heights. 2) In the summer between eleventh and twelfth, 1979, I temporarily quit the sub shop and spent the summer working in a family-style restaurant where I apprenticed as their ice cream sundae-maker (this restaurant was known city-wide for their over-the-top ice cream sundaes). 3) From 1999 until 2002 I was a barista at a local coffee bar. That's is. Now, of course, I also have years of experience working as a nanny and elder-care provider and those positions bring with them much food prep. And with most of my positions I did actual cooking, not Kraft mac 'n cheese or "quick 'n easy" recipes.
     I also took cooking classes for a while. Cleveland has it's share of reputable cooking schools and in the spring of  2008, I took the entire recreational track at one of those schools. Meaning: Level I was every Tuesday morning in February; Level II was each Tuesday morning in March and III was in April. We were taught many kitchen basics and those classes really did fill some gaps.
     But primarily, I'm self-taught. I began cooking for myself when I was four, I read cookbooks for pleasure and experiment a lot in the kitchen, what with my job nannying for a large family. So I tell people I'm a private chef. And, they buy it. Thus, it pays my bills (mostly).