Inmates rise with culinary program

Katy Manoff wanted to enroll in culinary school, but life didn't turn out the way she'd planned, the 28-year-old said as she put the final touches on a gingerbread house Monday in the kitchen at the South Lake Tahoe Jail.

Sheriff's deputies arrested Manoff years two years ago in connection to a string of burglaries throughout El Dorado County. She'd been in and out of jail before and suffered from a sense of worthlessness, she said. But when she started cooking with the jail's culinary program about a year ago, her outlook changed.

“It means the world to me, the accomplishments. I spent so many years fooling around and not accomplishing anything. I didn't believe in myself. My situation became so destitute, I would have given up, but no one here let me do that,” ...

http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/article/20121207/ARCHIVES01/121209928/