I’ve always wanted to…..

Learn how to make cheese

Burrata Cheese

Mozzarella and I met, I mean properly met, during a college semester abroad in Florence, Italy. This was mozzarella as it was always intended to be- hand stretched, soft, milky and delicious. I developed a great love for mozzarella, especially Buffalo Mozzarella. My first bite would not soon be forgotten- melted on top of a margarita pizza; “Mozzarella di Bufala” became something I would request whenever it was available. After tasting authentic mozzarella there was no going back to packaged part-skim shredded mozzarella. I sought out mozzarella imported from Italy to cure my cheese craving and a longing for the Italian life I had so identified with.

During my post college years I lived in the culinary epicenter known as San Francisco and my love of food deepened. San Francisco introduced me to Burrata: a fresh mozzarella cheese filled with mozzarella scraps and fresh cream. When sliced open an interior of soft stringy curd and cream oozes out like a little hidden gift. I first had Burrata as an appetizer garnished with a simple splash of good olive oil and a sprinkling of sea salt. Later, one of my favorites was Burrata resting on top of a salad of baby arugula with sweet seasonal persimmons. San Francisco, among other things, knows its cheese.

I was ready for a change and left San Francisco to pursue wine studies in Napa Valley. Somewhere along the way, a thought kept running through my mind, a crazy thought- wine might just be the beginning: learn how to make mozzarella cheese next! Leaving my job in San Francisco was in many ways a jumping off point. Like committing to go skydiving, standing on the edge looking at the distance between you and the ground and hoping to God the parachute on your back doesn’t malfunction. The point at which I admitted, “something isn’t working right for me here in this city, in this life; something’s missing, and I alone have the power to take a chance and change direction.”

I wasn’t sure yet what that something was that was missing, or what needed to be changed but I felt deep down in my gut that despite the recent tanking economy it was now or never, sink or swim. The moment of truth- a leap of faith- do I stay in this good and safe job or go confidently in the direction of my dreams?

I was determined to not let the bad economy and fear of not finding another job prevent me from pursuing the path I yearned for. Why should my generation suffer and let their dreams fall by the wayside all for fear of an unstable job market?  So feeling that it was either the craziest decision or the best decision I’ve ever made, or maybe both, I quit my job in San Francisco and headed to Napa Valley to study wine. Perhaps, I rationalized, I was still young enough to have another crazy adventure and to take a big risk and once again challenge myself to try something new. The path of self-discovery is not a straight shot.

Napa was a season of change for me and as my wine studies came to an end and no clear wine-related job was in sight, I knew I was ready for another big change and I left my beloved California and it’s vibrant food culture and awe-inspiring redwood forests and headed for my hometown in Texas.

Cheese was still on my mind and I wasn’t quite ready for another office job yet, I had more learning to do. I felt like a sponge. I wanted to have as many experiences and learn as much about different aspects of the food industry and a life well lived as I could. Up until now I had worked in restaurant and food PR. I knew how to write a concise and informative press release and promote a good product, chef, or restaurant but I wanted to learn about food from the ground up. I wanted to see how products similar to the ones I had promoted were made and meet the people involved in the process. I liked learning things and hearing people’s stories, chef’s stories or how an entrepreneurial cheesemaker got started, or even words of wisdom from a far-flung Costa Rican surf instructor. Stories interest me. I wasn’t sure why I needed to do this, at the time, but once an idea takes root in my mind, there’s no plucking it out, determination kicks in and the rest is a series of tenacious events.