Food is where my heart is

An old post... transferring all posts from my previous blog here.  Enjoy!

Two years had gone by and I still haven't practiced my culinary skills professionally. If you're going to ask me whether I love culinary/pastry arts, yes I do. I'm lusting over it. Though I have to choose between competitive compensation and benefits in an office or a job that I will sure love despite of the stress and hard work it will bring but pays way low that it will go to my bills, fare and food.  A choice between working for a fine dining restaurant owned by a known French chef here in the metro, or in a known international company that caters almost everything around the globe.  With last year's current economic state that is still ongoing, I had to choose the practical side of things.  That's why I'm now working for this international company that is in no way related to culinary because of the health card that covers my dependents--which are my parents.

My dad passed away September last year, and I think I made the right choice slaving myself in the corporate world--at least.  At least I was able to support dad financially on hospital bills, which I think is the only positive thing among the tragic phase I've been through.

And now I want to move on.  Working in this company reminds me of the choice I made back in January 2010.    I recently told my manager that before this year ends, I'll be handing my resignation.  He's not in favor of it, but there's nothing else he could do.  My stats at work are pretty much above average.  He's been telling me on our series of one-on-one meetings that he sees a leader in me, and there came to a point that I'm training the part without me knowing (at first).  It's flattering but I don't want to work in the administration side of this business even it means that my salary will triple up.  That's when I really realized that I should go back to what I really love doing--cooking and baking.  And I've been dreaming since I was kid that I want to have my own business.  I've worked on different fields but I always say to myself or to my close friends that I want to own and run a business that has something to do with food.

But I'm on the edge of having to focus on cooking or baking.  I'm more interested in baking even if I only had a two-week introduction to it when I was studying Culinary Arts at MIHCA.  Frankly, I'm not that good in baking.  All I learned were the basics but I usually catch myself baking whenever I get the chance.  I do think that it's more challenging than cooking because it's a very detailed task, plus the fact that I love bread, pastries and desserts.  Thus, I'm thinking of supplying baked goods (that became in demand on my seasonal sales for the past couple of years) this coming January to this coffee shop that I'm eying if ever they were going to get supplies from me.  I'm in an experimental mode.  The major problem for me now is where to bake and where to buy a good condition three-layered oven.  But as I've noticed I think too much ahead, I should first make a sample and have the coffee shop's manager/owner taste my product/s.  Then from there, I'll make a plan.  Sigh.  Thinking of these things are stressing me out right now.

Whatever happens, I will really resign from my day job.  Office is not where my heart is even if this is the best place to work so far because of the people that I work with, the friends I've made here, and the environment.  Baking and cooking is my life.  I feel so much rewarded when positive feedback were thrown right at me after tasting/eating what I served.  It feels so good.  It's something that I can be proud of.  Putting up a business is risky.  But after reading this entrepreneurship book that my sister lent me, I was enlightened and it boosted my confidence way more since I fit in the shoes of an entrepreneur based on its characteristics that the book points out.  Kulang na lang pangalan ko na lang ilagay dun (My name should've been printed on it instead)!  Even if most of the people around me are not that supportive on my plans, I'm still going to push through it.  I might fail, yes, but life's full of failure.  I won't be able to learn from the business if I won't fail.  Now I'm thinking maybe I have wrong set of friends.  They won't get discounts anyway.. hehe.

So, from today on, this part of my blog is focused more on my struggles towards putting up my business.  At least we will learn from things at the same time.  And, of course, I'd appreciate it if you're going to help me along the way.