Clementine Brown
Bio
Stories (1/0)
Cathy’s place
What did I just do! Ever since I was little I wanted to own a restaurant. I used to spend hours in my grandmothers kitchen making cakes and cookies, narrating like I was on the cooking channel. I am sure I must have given my family a lot of laughs, but they always encouraged me and my love for all things food. As I grew into my teenage years I did that thing all kids do, I stopped pursuing my uncool hobbies to better fit in with the popular kids. Always complaining when I was forced to help bake cookies for Christmas but secretly glad to have the excuse. I think it hurt my grandma a little when I pulled away from cooking, it was what we bonded over when I was little and watching me deny it felt like I was denying her. I stayed that way, in a holding pattern, for a long time. Until my life tumbled upside down and I finally got the push I needed to move away from my oppressive hometown. It was hard for a few years, working long hours for poor pay, learning what freeway traffic really was, trying to deal with the fallout of old relationships and the struggle of a new city. That really took me away from cooking, it took me away from everything. I was sad and angry and scared. We were so broke we had a roommate in our one bedroom apartment and we spent 9 months without a table or chairs. All of my passions fell off the radar of life for several years, until finally we started to learn how to manage our new life. We got new jobs, a better house, and some furniture. We had time again, and energy to take care of our souls. It started slowly for me, making old recipes from home, a comfort meal here, a batch of cookies there. Things to make the house smell good, flavors that brought me joy. I didn’t experiment much in the early days, just cooking what I knew would be delicious. As we found our footing and worked our way into our dreams I got bolder. Adding my own ingredients to my grandmother’s spaghetti recipes, tasting things I was scared of, using Christmas as a time to experiment on my friends. I never really thought it would go any deeper than that, I figured cooking would always be where I found my peace, something I would pass on to my kids and grandkids, to add a little joy into the world. Then the world spiraled.
By Clementine Brown4 years ago in Feast