There is nothing, nothing like cooking for people who love to eat. Especially, if those people are open to trying new things or have broad palates. Also, especially, if those people like to show their appreciation for your efforts by making happy food noises and bringing you bottles of good wine or flowers or chocolates… or if they say, “Wow, that was the best food I ever ate. You should open a restaurant.”
I have had people propose marriage over my brownies and chocolate chip cookies. My sticky, sweet and sour BBQ sauce has garnered wreaths of laurel. People have said they would rather have an invitation to dinner at my house than go out to eat at some really fancy places in various cities in which I have lived. All of these things make me feel really good about my kitchen skills. They do not, however, fulfill my desire to do something productive with those skills.
Yes, there is the opening of a restaurant. I would love it. But I also like being a mom who is there for bedtime and long, relaxed breakfasts on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Restaurant hours preclude that.
I have toyed with the idea of going back to school to get my teaching certificate in English. I also know I would burn out really damn fast.
The perfect day job for someone who wants to cook and teach and write about cooking away from her day job? Teaching cooking. Seems obvious now. What are the qualifications for being a cooking teacher? Not a culinary school chef, but someone who comes to your house and teaches you and several friends how to make spaghetti and meatballs from scratch. What would it take for me to convince people to pay me $50 an hour to show them how to make scones? How many clients would I need to make this viable? What kind of overhead does this kind of business have?
Tune in next week when Victoria says, “Gee, I didn’t know I had to have a business license for that.”
