Flour all over the countertops, something delicious in the oven, and a girl waiting to try the masterpiece she created. Ideas fill her brain as she thinks of new foods that she wants to recreate and new places she wants to visit.

Mei Li Dickerson is not your average small town girl. Adopted from the Jiangxi Province in Tonggu, China when she was a baby, Dickerson moved to San Francisco, California to live with her new parents and brother. From San Francisco, Dickerson moved many times with her family until they settled two years ago in the small town of Fredericksburg, Texas. But moving all the time didn’t stop Dickerson from pursuing her dream of being a chef.

“I’ve liked the idea of food my whole life. I love just eating food and seeing it being made,” Dickerson said. “But I didn’t realize I really liked cooking until fifth or sixth grade.”

Cooking Asian cuisine has always been something that strikes interest in Dickerson’s mind. But cooking with these ingredients became more of a challenge when she moved to Fredericksburg.

“I like to cook a lot of Asian food, and they don’t have an Asian market here,” Dickerson said. “So the ingredients are limited to where we live.”

Everywhere she has lived, there have been various opportunities for her future. When asked what home gave her the best chances, Dickerson had much to say.

“Since I didn’t really know I wanted to cook when I lived in California, probably Texas,” Dickerson said. “Because it has a bunch of cooking schools that have different locations.”

Dickerson has lived in many interesting places, including Los Angeles, California.

“I did like living in L.A. because we lived on the Walk of Fame where all the stars are,” Dickerson said. “So that was fun and I had a lot of friends there.”

Although Dickerson had enjoyable experiences in all the places she’s lived, it definitely affected her personally.

“We thought we were going to stay in Austin,” Dickerson said. “So when your parents keep saying that you’re going to move, it’s hard to keep moving.”

Although moving was hard for Dickerson, living in Fredericksburg is not something that she would change.

“It would definitely be a lot different,” Dickerson said. “But I don’t know, I like Fredericksburg.”