Hello Steemit - I'd Like to Introduce Myself and a Short History of Becoming a Cooking Enthusiast

  STEEMIT HELLO!   My name is Nestor, I live in Florida with my wife and daughter. I enjoy, weight lifting, bicycling, and fishing. But my biggest love is the kitchen.   I have a lot of passion for cooking. Since I was a very young in Cuba I loved the kitchen. My mom and my grandmother introduced me to cooking when I was just a little boy. From there I involved myself further into the culinary arts and did the best that I could with the little options that were available there at the time.       There were not many opportunities to be creative because, in Cuba, there was not much variety of foods, much less ingredients. The staples were pretty standard. It was the mid 80s and food rationing was in full swing throughout the island. Meat was such a very rare find that at home we would prepare, our “imaginary” steak out of grapefruit peel, - we peeled and used the white. Boiled it, and then fried it seasoned to taste. With a little bit of imagination, that became our family steak delicacy! Of course, it was in those times that I become a pretty good fisherman….( a story for another day)    When I was 18 years old I finally got my first opportunity to work as a dishwasher at a local hotel restaurant in Havana. I was tuff working long hours; crap dishes, washing, stack, and repeat. Over, and over, and over. But soon my big break came with an offer to work in the kitchen when one of the guys took sick for a few days. I never looked back- From kitchen assistant, to assistant cook, to lead preparer. It was for me, very educational. I worked hard but I love. I worked at the sautéed, & dessert stations, and also in food presentation, I felt great cooking to order with all burners going full tilt. But, it was with the custom dishes that was really where I got to shine and discovered my talent. On nights when I laid and bed I was filled with many ideas for new creations.       

 

   Well finally I left behind the land of “grapefruit-steak” and moved to Florida with my wife and daughter. At first it was a little difficult living in a completely new environment, missing my family back home and living in a place without knowing much of the language, but at least the fishing was good!   My first priority was getting a job, so I worked odd jobs at the start, until one day I got connections to an opportunity working as a dishwasher for Disney World. Well, after working as lead cook in my home country it was a little bit of let down, but I was happy finally be once again in the kitchen. And hey, it was Disney World! The opportunity to cook came quickly. Finally the dream I dreamt of growing up in Cuba came true. I had an abundance of opportunities and ingredients, in order to fully express my culinary creativity!    
 

 

 

 I have moved on from Disney since, but these days in my spare time I still enjoy creating different dishes, and playing with and discovering new spices and flavors. I always had a desire to have a platform like Steemit to be able to share my taste for cooking and my creations and recipes, so I'm ready to go! Follow me here this blog for some instructions on some pretty tasty dishes that I think you will find very interesting.    

<h1> </h1>