My Fast Food history.

     Fast food was not a part of my life as a child. I first started eating fast food when I was about 13 years old. My family and I would go to either McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Carl’s Jr, or Jack in the Box. Personally, I have always liked McDonald’s. We ate fast food about once every week. I would always look forward to that day because I always looked forward to eat something new every week. At around 16 I was introduced to Arby’s, Subway, Popeye’s, In-n-out, and Chinatown Express near the Centerpoint Mall.
     My favorite meal from McDonald’s has been and always will be the BigMac. Now I order it meatless and add my own chicken at home, but it is still the same burger to me. The Jr Bacon Cheeseburger has always been my choice when eating from Wendy’s. Why you ask? It is my favorite because it has the greatest ingredient made out of meat, bacon. It is as simple as that. My favorite from Carl’s Jr has been the Teriyaki Burger. You might have thought it was the Western Bacon Cheeseburger, but no. Do not get me wrong it is a good burger, but the teriyaki burger is absolutely scrumptious. Jack in the box has the best Sirloin Swiss and Grilled Onion Burger. Well it is the only Sirloin Swiss and Grilled Onion Burger I have ever tasted that has captured my attention quite a lot. At Arby’s I always like getting the cheese steak, NO substitutions. The meatball Marinara is my favorite from Subway because it beats all of the rest by the fact that it is the only “Italian “sub. At Popeye’s it is the Shrimp Po’Boy. In-n-out has always made me smile with the animal-style fries. The flavor is off the hook. At Chinatown Express you should always get the chow mien, orange chicken and tempura shrimp. That is the best combination you will ever taste.
     Presently I do not eat a lot of fast food mainly because my job is 20 minutes away and on class days I do not have the time. Currently I eat fast food about once every month. I do not miss it as much as I should mainly because I am a chef and I am always trying out new recipes. If I crave a bacon cheeseburger I make it myself, but add a few more seasonings and herbs to make the burger taste better, and I use olive oil, grape seed oil or sometimes chili oil for the fries. Honestly, do you need fast food with a meal like that? I do not think so. The day that I do eat fast food I am probably at Wal-Mart or the Pacific View Mall. I do not regret ever eating fast food because I would have never found out how to do the awesome burgers that I make occasionally. If I would regret anything from ever eating at a fast food would be that I did not get more of a variety. I always stuck with my favorites.

Who I am...in a nutshell.

My past is a big blur to me. Some years have completely disappeared from my memory. Others I have just enough memories to paint a general picture. Why this is happening all of a sudden? I have no idea why. What I can tell you based on pictures and the remaining memories is just enough for this assignment. Well, let us start off with the basics. I was born in Ventura, California in the year 1991. I am the eldest of two children. I was born from the second oldest sibling out of 12 and the fourth youngest sibling out of 8. If you are scratching your head I just described my parents. Growing up I mostly enjoyed being alone doing whatever my mind would think of. Whether I would be playing with toy soldiers, reading a picture book, or taking apart toy cars, I enjoyed my time alone. Yes taking apart cars not destroying or demolishing like other little munchkins. Of course I had many friends in school, for I was a very energetic child as well.  Any person will call that bi-polar, but if one is bi-polar he or she is not aware that he or she has “two sides/personalities”. No I knew when to be energetic and when to be calm, even at the tender age of seven. And like every kid with energy running amok, I was an occasional bully. I still have that side, but as a grownup I see myself as a person who likes to laugh and point occasionally. I also had many pets growing up. Fishes, wild birds, a lizard, turtles, stray cats and tens of pet rocks. My favorite was the turtle because my favorite color is green and the turtle was green and tiny. When my sister was born, well seven years after, I played more and more with her than alone. That is when I added the ‘social badge’ to my personal checklist. The times I did not feel like being alone, with friends, or with my sister I would be in the kitchen with my mom. Sometimes I mixed random stuff together to see what it tasted like, only to throw it away 5 seconds later, hence me being a chef in the future.

Speaking about being a chef, let us come from to past and into the present shall we? Currently, I am studying to get my AS in Culinary Arts. I began my path towards becoming a chef technically as a little kid, but scholarly speaking, Junior year in high school. I did not always want to be a chef, I wanted to be a painter when I was 10, a marine biologist when I was 15 and a chef at 17. My first job was as a grill cook at Oxnard College Cafeteria. I was told by many students and staff that I was the best grill cook in a long time, but because of budget cuts the college let me go and hired a voluntary. Only 2 weeks after that job I was hired as a dishwasher and a busser at Café Amri, and I am rising  through the ranks already.

What the future holds is simple. Chef, restaurateur, celebrity chef, Iron Chef, Cookbook author, and eventually a professor at a culinary institution. Pretty far fetched, but I know I will achieve all throughout my lifetime. It all may seem shallow as well to other people, but how can I not be all of those things if that is what I love and wish? Of course, I would also like to be a blogger, YouTuber, and an author on the side.