JSin, if you're ever interested in some other culinary paths (not instead of but in addition to what you're already planning), let me know. I've been in the biz since I was 15. My stepfather was/is a Swiss trained chef and I started off in his restaurant as a salad prep chica and bus girl, then went on to work in just about every aspect of the restaurant biz-both front of the house and back- from ages 17 to 26 before becoming a private chef and then a personal chef. I spent a handful of years working in the whole foods, vegetarian and macrobiotic circuits (back when I was more militant and OCD), then back to formal European for a bit, then Greek, Japanese and American Bistro style before finally getting sick (literally) of the 60+ hour work weeks and choosing to go into biz for myself. I've loved my job, for the most part, but am now finding that I want to try some other avenues. Just getting burned out now after 11 1/2 years of doing it on my own, but I've found that being a personal chef allowed me much more freedom, flexibility (necessary when you're raising kiddo's) and has been surprisingly stable. Er, well...more stable than the restuarant biz anyway where the turnover rate is through the roof!

Once my kiddo's are all on their own I think I'd like to try being a private chef on a yacht, but until then I'd like to focus on writing cookbooks and finishing up that damn psychology degree I started more than a decade ago.

Anyway, I'd love to hear more about your aspirations and such and, if you're interested, swapping a few stories.

-K

p.s. You will most definitely be lifting much more than 50# on a daily basis, and much more than that if you get into catering at all. My back is a big ol' tangled mess of pinched nerves and I occasionally have tendenitus (sp?) so bad that the pain wakes me up at night. But, it sounds like you have a pretty resilient and strong body so hopefully you're own career won't be cut short due to the physical demands of the job. Just get in good with a massage therapist that loves good food and you'll no doubt be quite happy.