The mad race begins. College counseling fired the official shots, but it started much earlier- the search forthe summer plan to beat all other plans before senior year.

Last fall, my best school friend and I started In a Nutshell, an online culinary show. The idea sparked from a love of all things food – from creation to consumption. It initially led us on a venture of scholastic food journalism (writing, photography, videography, etc.), but since, it’s evolved into much more than just that – it’s become the manifestation of a dream.

This story begins in Spring, when we thought “what better way to inspire others and share our journey of everything we’ve done than by writing a book?” That’s right, nothing. Better yet, we already had a little prior knowledge on book designing and we felt ready.

Then, to gain some first hand experience in the “real” food world, both of us started working at bakeries halfway through summer. Not only did we gain experience, but we also made some money, which we used to buy our own ingredients and fund our book. We stopped relying on our parents and embraced our new-found independence. It was like we punched the glass and it broke on our first try. We were our own bosses.

Except… I can’t deny that I was originally hesitant to dedicate my summer to writing a book when we had no clear vision of what the end result would be. I felt pressured to just apply for something and  follow a safe path, set by teachers, college counselors, parents, and a big chunk of my classmates. I felt a little boxed in by science and internships.

But in the end, we decided to fully believe in ourselves and wrote our story, expanding on what we had already created. With a couple of Google docs, two cameras, and a truck load of patience, we first made a website where we posted new and previous recipes (inanutshellfood.com). Then we started writing our book, which is still being filled with anecdotes and seasonal recipes.

There was no one pushing us around. We were in full control… which had its ups and downs. Slack off, and it was reflected in our work. The book didn’t write itself. The website didn’t design itself. If we were lazy, we were enemies to our own success. So we chose to be productive and took advantage of our independence.

Because we pursued what we loved and did it by ourselves, every finished step felt like the best victory. Certainly, we had to adjust to the roadblocks, but every detour lent itself to a better result – like the outcome from the first detour we took from following a set path.

Shots were fired, but we had already made it to the finish line. As we crossed the ribbon, our idea turned into reality and taught us that there is always an alternative in any circumstance to strike gold.