Each Saturday morning a faculty member stands up and asks if any students are willing to cook Saturday dinner and Sunday brunch. This requires a crew of about eight students to cook meals for the rest of the semester. I liked cooking so the first time I raised my hand for the Saturday dinner crew. I was one of the chosen students and we were told to meet at the kitchen at 4:30.
I walked up to the kitchen nervous, because this was one of the first weeks and I wasn’t close with any of the other people cooking that night while multiple of them seemed to be friends. Our teacher, Katie, was leading our crew and was obviously an experienced veteran in this kitchen. She showed us where to find everything we needed then told us we would be making sweet potato burrito bowls.
I was put on the vegetable cutting team while others started on dessert, gathering ingredients, and heating up the stove. One other student and I gathered a giant bag of onions and some sweet potatoes. I looked at those onions and knew my eyes would be burning. I considered running back to my cabin to grab goggles but ended up deciding against it.
As we started cutting onions my eyes began to water. I looked up and made eye contact with my partner in vegetable cutting. I could see their eyes watering and tears running into their mask. That broke the ice and we started cracking up at each other. We spent the rest of that time laughing and attempting to not drip tears on the food.
From that moment on I was hooked on the dinner crew. Onion and other vegetable cutting is even the job my hand shoots up for almost every time. Now, half way through the semester, I still haven’t missed a single chance to cook dinner. Throughout all that cooking, I have made the best cookies ever and secretly ate a lot of the dough. I have taught the best way to crack eggs then cracked hundreds of eggs in order to make a quiche. I love cooking and it reminds me of home but it is also a great way to make memories and connections.
Addy Holzer, Thetford Academy, Thetford Center, VT
