Ever since the age of 4 years old, the kitchen has been my happy place. Whether it was watching my family members cook, taste testing (the best part), or spending my free time developing recipes or as my mom would say “using ingredients she needed for dinner that night.” - sorry mom! When I was 7 years old my grandparents told me to go into the formal dining room, because my birthday present was in there. Before me sat a basket wrapped in cellophane with a bow. Its contents? A Betty Crocker cookbook, measuring cups, a box of cake mix, I believe a whisk along with some oven mitts, and a white envelope with my name on it. As I was about to dive into the cookbook, they said wait a minute open the envelope! So I did and it read something along the lines of: Dear Brielle, you are invited to be our guest at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa to be a part of our Grand Adventures in Cooking class. I believe that was the best gift I've ever received to this day. When I got there, I was in the lobby with a few other children and once they made sure we were all accounted for, we said see you later to our guardians and headed to the kitchen. My fist time wearing one of those tall chef hats felt like a crown had been bestowed upon me. We tied our aprons and proceeded to make macaroni and cheese, as well as sugar cookies that we all put way too much icing on. After plating our creations, we brought them to our guardians to try, thank you grandma and grandpa for gifting me that experience and for eating my slightly salty macaroni and cheese with a smile! As the years progressed, I developed muscular dystrophy. Cooking started to look different for me. I had the chance to audition for a junior cooking competition show but do to not seeing anyone who looked like me, I turned it down. Although I still cooked for family and friends, my passion for cooking went on the back burner no pun intended. It wasn’t until the recent years when I started to really focus on my health, eating less processed food, eliminating artificial dyes and flavors, shopping organically and locally when possible, that my passion for cooking became ignited again. So what it may take a little longer to make a meal, so what I might look a little funny while cooking, as long as I am still blessed with enough mobility to create delicious meals, that is what I will do. My hope for you whether disabled or not is that you never give up on what you’re passionate about just because life throws you a curve ball, big or small. Let’s cook!