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I grew up watching my mother cook in the kitchen every night. She would make such simple and delicious home cooked meals for my family and me. The aroma from walking into the house after a long day at the skatepark made me feel warm inside. My mother had to cook for a full house every night, consisting of four boys and two girls. Once most of my siblings went off to college my mom slowly stopped making dinner and packing lunches for me. I then realized that I needed to start creating my own satisfaction of hunger. I did this with a couple of my friends from high school every morning before class. I had done some research and found out what kind of food I liked that my mom used to cook and what it was like to cook for other people. Once I got the hang of timing and execution, my friends told me that I should actually pursue this field and go to school for cooking. At first, I thought they were just being nice and complimenting my service. But, after months of practice and subtle dislike of the university I was attending, I dropped out of Cal State University San Marcos and applied and enrolled at the Art Institute of California San Diego. Just shortly after starting school, I landed a job at a local mom & pop pizza kitchen in Carmel Valley called Savory Kitchen. I started out as a dishwasher and expressed to the owner that i was dedicated to learn and wanted to become an agile, well trained line cook. so I washed dishes, and I prepped salads, pizza dough, lasagna, house-made meatballs, and deli case items. After about six months of grinding in the back of the house, I was promoted to lead line cook and supervisor of employees on duty. Staff was small and was treated like family in this establishment.I eventually moved on from that experience and moved out of my moms house. living closer to mission valley where my school was, I landed a job in La Jolla at The Med Restaurant @La Valencia Hotel. Here, i started out as prep cook for about six days. shortly after, I was offered the opportunity to work the Garde Manger line. here, I learned the importance of balance in a dish and how to plate food creatively. every day I have to come up with a special raw fish dish. This concept helped me grow immaculately in the sense that I had to use my brain before even coming into work everyday. I researched sashimi chefs and techniques on how to slice fish efficiently to get the best texture out of each type of protein. I have been running the Garde Manger line since March 2017 and only have more techniques to finesse and more motivation to perfect each dish I create every day.