3/15/09
I plead guilty to blog abandonment, but now I’m back in full force (a few pounds heavier, and a whole lot happier – well..I think, happier – we’ll get to that). I’d like to recap my days at Living Light beginning with the last day and working backwards.
First, I will sum up the entire experience:
I had heard from a few sources, personal and non, that attending Living Light Culinary Institute would change my life. It took me up until the last few days of the program to really feel convinced of this. For the majority of the program, my sentiment went something like: a) The food is great b) the people are great and c) this feels right
It was nice because I lived with a group of raw foodies. The total number of people living in the house (Living Light Inn is really just a big house with several bedrooms) at one time ranged from 15 – 25 depending on the program. The refrigerator was home to an abundance of fruits, veggies, smoothies, nut milks, salads, dehydrated tortillas, olives, kombucha, miso, nut butters, etc. No meat, fish, dairy, or cooked food allowed. Everyone was at different stages of their raw journey, but each person was just as supportive as the next. There was so much love and positive energy contained in this one group of people, I could barely believe it. I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt this happy and carefree. I didn’t want to be anywhere else. It was the perfect Next Step in my post-college/post-LA…life.
So at what moment did I fee like my life had changed? I would say the change occurred during the three or four hours that followed my demo presentation. In the Associate Chef and Instructor Training program, all students are required to present a recipe in front of the class. This includes setting up your demo tray, prepping the ingredients for the demo, demonstrating techniques for chopping, dicing, mincing, chiffonade-ing, blending, processing; giving nutritional info and history of the dishes, plating the finished product, and keeping everyone engaged throughout. The thought of instructing people on how to prepare raw food dishes had never enticed me before.
Do I like teaching?
No.
Do I like being in front of people?
No.
Why would I decide, all-of-a-sudden, that this was right for me? Maybe it’s the fact that I don’t have a job. Maybe it’s the fact that Jennifer Cornbleet could be handed a pile of shit and make it marketable if given the chance. *Jennifer Cornbleet is a Living Light instructor and creator of the class kit instructor training programs and incredible saleswoman * I bought two of them. They are not cheap.
Maybe it’s because I feel very passionate about the benefits of raw foods and want to share it with the world. Maybe it’s because I have painted a picture in my mind that I could seemingly teach classes AND write music consistently AND make a living AND grow a garden AND enjoy my work AND learn to love teaching and being in front of people and it would work to my advantage as a musician and songwriter.
