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Published July 30, 2014 at 9:00 a.m.
Most of what I know about cooking and baking I learned from my first post-college job. I was living in my hometown, Binghamton, N.Y., with my boyfriend (and future husband) in a downtown apartment building populated largely by other underemployed, creative, twentysomething punks. It seemed like we all worked in restaurants.
Though it had nothing to do with the social work degree I had just spent and borrowed tons of money to attain, I landed a job I'd secretly wanted for years. I was a limited partner at a kooky, hippie, cooperatively run natural-foods restaurant, the Binghamton institution Whole In The Wall. I'd fallen in love with the place as a teenager. I loved the shabby/cool decor, the all-wood interior, the artsy owners, the vegetarian menu and the cooperative ethos. If you worked there, you worked on everything. As a server, I was called upon to master many skills. We repaired broken appliances, covered for the often-absent dishwasher, drew up menus, prepped for the cooks and made the signature soups, salad dressings, sauces and quiches.
But my favorite job was baking. We served raspberry chocolate chip brownies, cheesecakes, cookies, tarts and pies — and they were all amazing. So it was that I learned to make a mean pie crust from scratch, and from some mighty talented cooks.
Though it had nothing to do with the social work degree I had just spent and borrowed tons of money to attain, I landed a job I'd secretly wanted for years. I was a limited partner at a kooky, hippie, cooperatively run natural-foods restaurant, the Binghamton institution Whole In The Wall. I'd fallen in love with the place as a teenager. I loved the shabby/cool decor, the all-wood interior, the artsy owners, the vegetarian menu and the cooperative ethos. If you worked there, you worked on everything. As a server, I was called upon to master many skills. We repaired broken appliances, covered for the often-absent dishwasher, drew up menus, prepped for the cooks and made the signature soups, salad dressings, sauces and quiches.
But my favorite job was baking. We served raspberry chocolate chip brownies, cheesecakes, cookies, tarts and pies — and they were all amazing. So it was that I learned to make a mean pie crust from scratch, and from some mighty talented cooks.
This article was originally published in Seven Days' monthly parenting magazine, Kids VT.
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