“I think what inspired me to go into culinary and cooking was just the happiness. Seeing people happy from something that I put a lot of effort into, seeing people feel joy and pride, has always been something that I gravitated towards. Being able to do that with baking, something that’s really close to my parents and my culture, really drew me towards culinary. 

A really fun experience I had was when I tried to make a three course dinner for my family. It was kind of funny because I had all of the courses planned out, but I made a mistake with one of the ingredients for the entree. My parents had to help me, even though they were the ones that I was supposed to be serving. I also made a mistake with the dessert, but my sister liked it a lot, so I was happy.

I think what I find a big challenge to be is the timing of everything. The recipes that I use are easy, half an hour recipes, but then I’ll actually try it and it’ll take me over an hour of prep work. It’s annoying because everyone does it differently.

I really like making this alfredo with roasted vegetables. It was a recipe that I found online, but I changed it up so that it’s really good, and everyone, my parents, all like it. Whenever someone comes over they ask me to make it, and that makes me feel really proud of myself. Then I also make this really nice blueberry cheesecake with an Oreo crumble.

In terms of easy baking recipes, I’d suggest tres leches, a poor man’s chocolate cake, or depression chocolate cake. Those are really simple to make in my opinion. They’re just a little expensive. That’s actually a big thing about cooking as well. It can be expensive if you’re trying to make it for a bunch of people, but I would say it’s really fulfilling in terms of food. 

I really want my side hustle in college to be working at a bar. I really like making drinks, and so for my part time job this summer, I worked at a bakery, and that was a really fulfilling experience. Cooking is just such a big part of me that I would always do it at home. I think that value has been instilled in me by my parents: to not eat out every day. I think because of that, I value my cooking. Even if I don’t pursue a career in it, I find joy just by doing it for myself every day. The satisfaction of eating something that I made myself and tastes good is so magical to me.”