Follow The Path To Your Dreams

A Petals Story; Part 1

When faced with a major life decision is when my heart spoke to me…

Sharing your dreams to the world has never been easy for me. When I was young I was asked, what do you want to be when you grow up? I would say things that interested me or say an enticing topic which offered enriching knowledge and always something with an element of fun. As I grew, and as the world exposed itself to me, I narrowed my interests. I would list them; farming, growing, cooking, events, flowers, homegrown, homemade and hard work. I did not say farmer or chef or event coordinator or designer or homesteader…. I loved them all. How on earth do I follow a career path with words in common. Maybe that is where I went wrong, I said career. Who am I kidding, do I really think I can do what I love, what gets me excited and what motivates me to connect with others and to share with the world what I love to do? Well, it may have taken me 20 years, but I believe in myself now more than ever.

My story starts in a kitchen, my favorite room in any home, the place I feel the most comfortable.  I love to cook. For me, it was not always about the end result, it was about the ingredients. My source for the freshest, for the in-season, for the tenderness and for the flavor. I wanted to be a chef. I wanted to learn from the best, grow my own and open my own farm to table restaurant one day. My 22 year old self would say this dream in interviews and to her closest friends. I followed my path to my dreams by creating my plan. New York City, check. Work under a James Beard awarding winning chef, check, check. Follow the farm to table movement and read every Wednesday issue of the New York Times, check. I conquered a prep cook, a line cook, a sous chef, a pastry chef and personal chef. I was on my path to opening my restaurant. My next stop was a year in Italy and the University of Gastronomic Sciences; studying cuisine, culture from the farm and food by the farmers to the hands of the chefs. I applied to a program that would enrich my passion, entice my senses and expand my skills and knowledge as a chef. I was accepted into the program and my excitement exploded. I was following my dreams, I was going to travel through Europe and I was building my career. But then it all stopped. I was not going to Italy, my dream quickly faded into the background. I was moving home. 

****follow my story, part II, in our newsletter next week