Cooking Collaborative

Starting only a few weeks ago two of my friends decided to make homemade tamales after an interesting conversation with one of their mom's who was in town helping her move-in. She, Alex, had just arrived, freshly transferred from UT's sister school UTA. Her mom seemed to have doubts that either Alex or Kristine, our other friend, would be competent enough to live on their own and sustain themselves.
Out of that conversation we decided to start a cooking collaborative that brought together our friends every Sunday to make a dinner from a specific country all from scratch.
This past Sunday, French. Tomato mozzarella salad and mushroom soup for appetizers. For our entree dish; quiche, boeuf bourguignon, goat cheese and basil puff pastries, parsley mash potatoes. Lastly, nutella and banana crepes for dessert.
I had to list everything out because I like to brag about my friends, they make up most of my readership after all. Also to prove that college students aren't wholly lazy and uninterested in self-improvement. Although I have doubts about my generation, like Alex's mom, I don't feel that we are totally incompetent.
That's what I like about the cooking collaborative. It's a group of students trying to gain a skill that according to a New York Times article, people of my generation are losing more and more.
Also, the fellowship involved in the collaborative is priceless. A large amount of students go to colleges in new cities and the prospect of making new friends can be daunting. Events like this help create network of friends by bringing together weak links/secondary links or acquaintances. Also, if you change up some of the people that come every week it creates even larger friend circles.

I mention this as I said, partly to brag about my friend but the other to preface my next interview with my boss, chef/owner Melba Garcia.
The extent of my mother's culinary skill lie within around a weeks worth of dishes and the best restaurants in the area I grew up in consisted over chain restaurants like Johnny Carinos and Texas Steak House. When I moved to Austin and started to explore the culinary scene I was blown away. Not that Austin has the most impressive one but it definitely was a major step from where I came from. Also the service was at a different level that made dinning more of an experience.
I applied to a Brazilian restaurant, Sao Paulo's, where the owner Melba hired me. After actually experiencing the restaurant industry first hand and seeing the joy that you bring to your patrons, it was very gratifying.
My next interview with Melba then, is about being a chef/owner and how she got there and how you can too. I have a passion for food (that may just stay with me dining out rather than owning...we'll see) but later this week her interview should be up.
Photo's taken by Alex Webster