"When I was 13 years old I walked up to the front door of the Cooks’ House and left my phone number on a slip of paper for Jen to call if she needed a sitter for Abbe. I remember watching her for the first time - Abbe said: “I’m hungry, let's go downstairs and get something to eat." We tip-toed downstairs and went through the dining room to the kitchen. All the plates were lined up in perfect rows, gleaming on the wooden countertop. Some enchanting smell drifted toward me from bowls high above my eye level.
I will never forget this moment when I first stepped into a kitchen.
I am 18 years old and graduating high school this year. When I graduated from Traverse City Central High, I will be a semester short of finishing culinary school at the Great Lakes Culinary Institute. Having lived in Traverse City, MI for the first 18 years of my life, I am anxious to switch it up a bit. I will put my culinary school on hold for a while and begin a liberal arts degree with a focus in Spanish and business at Kalamazoo College. I plan to study abroad in a Spanish speaking country (probably Spain) for a year and get to know the cuisine. I am excited for the next steps of my life, intentionally creating open space for internships and jobs across the scope of working in food, environment, and social justice. Someday, I hope to open a restaurant that embodies what I have learned of food, the world and myself over the years of my life. Each piece of the menu and the restaurant will have a story behind it - why it is the way it is."
-Aiden Voss
Check out Aiden's recipe for BLiS Bourbon Barrel Maple Syrup, Salt, White Spice Cake here