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).   

Vegetable Filling for Casseroles

     Page Fifty-Four.
     It was the year 1066 and I was in England attending cooking school. The Normans were busy invading and boy were they were getting hungry. William II wanted some vegetable casserole and he was really picky about how he wanted those vegetables prepared. He went to every restaurant and nothing pleased him. Then he started in on the cooking schools. I was attending Saints Sonny & Cher Cooking School and we were the seventh one he walked into. My cooking school administrators elected me to be the one to make the vegetable casserole because I was a trouble maker and they wanted to get rid of me. I tried every method I knew to cook the veggies, but he didn't like anything. Finally, and this really surprised me, William came into the kitchen and rather graciously instructed me on the method which he preferred. This is it:
     Dice up 1/2 of a large sweet onion and dice up 1/2 of a red pepper. Saute them together in a fry pan, over medium heat to which you've added 1& 1/2 tablespoons of oil or butter. If you like mushrooms, you can slice up a handful of those, too, and add it to the onion/pepper mixture. Saute 'till the onions turn glossy adding just a bit of salt and pepper. 4-5 minutes will probably be long enough, but, you'll see. Once cooked, remove from heat and set aside. While veggies are cooking, take about 2 cups of frozen peas and 2 cups of frozen corn and place in a colander and run under very hot water for a few minutes until they're completely thawed. Now, all you do is mix both sets of veggies together and Viola, you have veggies for a veggie casserole. Oh, how easy was that?