Honesty is the best policy.

If there was anything significant that I've learned in the past 3 months that I have been working in Kakawa Chocolates, it's being honest with food. With all the new fancy food that has been coming out lately, it's hard to find food lately that hasn't been defined or labelled in some sort of fancy schmancy twang only to be disappointed with the actual execution.

Now, to be fair I have really high expectations when it comes to food and desserts. One of my close friends have actually labelled me a "food wanker" because I have this really irritating habit of trying to change or adding something to food whenever I order to make it "better". Either that or it's just really difficult now to really "wow" me with the food or it takes me forever to actually find something that I like in the menu. My excuse for that is because I work in an industry where having a food-wankerish palate is in my job description - it lies in the territory. I have to know what's good, great and what works together.

That being said, although my standards have not really dropped my understanding of food has definitely changed. I've learnt that you don't need fancy, exotic and complicated combinations to make food interesting. Sometimes the simpler the food is, the better it is. If the food is executed right, changes and tweaks don't have to be made that's why it is imperative that basics have to be grasped and mastered and other techniques following that.

A Beautiful Spring Wedding ...

Even on a busy schedule working almost 11 hour days there are some things that you just cannot help but be a part of. 

On the 8th of September, in a beautiful Sydney Spring day my beautiful friend Naima Farah married Demetri Tilliris - and as a 3 yr old promise made with the bride... I will be making her wedding cake. During this time once in a while, one cannot help but think about love ... 

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Tilliris! 

Raspberry Red Velvet & Dark Chocolate Layer Cake with White Chocolate Rosewater Buttercream

Photographs courtesy of Vanessa Farah and Janice Razon 

Chasing the dream...

Depression hit hard as soon as I got back to Sydney. I guess Melbourne always had that effect on me or any kind of holiday that I come from on that matter. I don't know what it is about Sydney that just make people so hard hearted and cold. Other people might disagree but Sydney has definitely changed like it has lost a part of it's soul, for me anyway.

I was just about to give up on being a Pastry Chef and already considering other alternatives when I stumbled upon this ad looking for an apprentice Chocolatier. And it was all alarm bells a-ringing and more. Could this be a sign? And before you know it, I scored an interview the following day, a trial the following week and the job days later. It was probably one of the best days of my life!

It was nothing like I have ever imagined. It's a lot of hard work, training and more training. Working with chocolates required more than talent, it required a lot of patience, skill, a lot of love and a whole lot of passion. For the first time in my life I actually have to work for something, work really hard for something. It required a lot of humbling down and a lot of motivation to keep myself going.

A dear friend told me something once which I never really understood at the time- "It's important not to get ahead of yourself. Be humble and never think you are better than what you think you are."  And if you don't either I suggest you work with chocolates. Because one day you'd think you can temper perfectly and the next day you might not be able to. Chocolates require a lot of trust, intuition. instinct and it involves a whole lot of science. I definitely understand what she meant now and I would take it with me wherever I go, especially working in an industry where ego always tend to over-exceed talent.

So here I go one step at a time to reaching the wonderful dream..

White chocolate lotus 

Inspiration from the other city...

As Sydney wasn't playing very nice in all it's buzzing glory, I decided to have a holiday to good ol' Melbourne town. Everyone didn't think it was such a good idea to splurge on a holiday seeing that I wasn't really earning money, but I did. The traveller in me have always thought that it's essential to get away from the normal life every now and again just to gain a fresh new perspective. And so I went, one solid week and Melbourne has worked it's charms.

Alley ways and more alley ways of interesting art, glorious hole in a wall cafes with absolutely beautiful coffees and amazing food and inspirational design aesthetics from Degraves lave to Bourke st mall to Hardware lane just transports you to another world. It's exactly the kind of fresh air that I needed. It was incredibly good for the soul.

In my usual city exploring, I was mentally going through a journey as well... looking at different ways to achieve my dreams and my goals and to rise above the deep end of the pool. And as I walked through the Victorian inspired architectures of their galleries I stumbled upon an interesting sight that is, Koko Black. I ventured in to find a very french designed interior filled with damask feature walls and chefs moulding and demoulding chocolates by the window and warm smiles from the hosts. It was as if I had found my calling.

Chocolatier sprung to mind.

It was also in Koko Black that I found myself entranced in the most beautiful piece of choux that I have ever had in my life. 

A chocolate choux pastry filled with vanilla bean creme patissier and raspberry coulis.

And as soon as I got back from Sydney, I couldn't help but recreate the wonderful pastry myself! 

Unemployment sucks... or does it?

A week after resigning from work, I'd realised that it probably wasn't one of the smartest decisions I have made. I was unemployed and doing absolutely nothing and was making a mess out of my life or at least I thought I was in a rut. I was lost out of my wits as to what exactly I'm going to focus all my energies on. Good thing I have friends who continually make a productive use out of me, giving me cake orders and offering some sick ass collaboration with cake works.


Two weeks into unemployment and there is no rest for the wicked.

1920s Cabaret Cake Collaboration with Charlie

Tiffany Cake Box Collaboration with Charlie

Lemon Meringue Pie 

French Earl Grey Mini Tarts

Banoffee Pies with Maggie 

Boom Box Piping Skills 

Boom Box Cake Collaboration with Charlie and Kimmy 

Bittersweet Endings..

All good things come to an end... at least that's how the saying goes.

I had been working in David Jones for a good three years or so this year and I can definitely say that it has been one of the formative years of my life. It is there that I was continually exposed to food and reaffirmed my love for fine things. It is there that I had met my closest friends that have continually made an impact in my life. It is the place where I found myself and gained confidence in myself and I owe a lot to it because I wouldn't be where I am now if it wasn't for that. But it's also a place where you could get easily comfortable in and stuck. 

As a budding pâtissier, comfortable and stuck are words that couldn't ever be in my vocabulary. I'm continually in a pursuit of a challenge to make myself better and continually wanting to expand my horizons. Essentially, I am a dreamer - dreaming of the almost impossible and big, big aspirations. It was increasingly frustrating for me to think that my life was going nowhere and a friend's advice made it even more concrete that life will turn out once I leave. Somewhere along the way .. I just had to jump. 

                            

So as to bid you farewell. 

French Earl Grey and Lavender Macarons 

Hatched.

Hatch
Pronunciation:

/hatʃ/

noun

• a small opening  allowing access from one area to another:
  
  
  

  

  
  

  

  Chocolate Brownie with Salted Caramel

  
  
  This cannot be anymore suitable for a description of new awakenings and new beginnings. In the previous post that I had earlier this year, I spoke about how important I had perceived Art and how it is an extension of myself as well as inspiration and motivation to what it is that I do. 
  
  I had been blessed enough to be given a chance by my friend Maie of Maiden Threads to expose some of my "art" in her exhibition Friends.of.Maiden in which showcased a fine collaboration of talents which ranged from illustrations, media, design and fashion. And through this, in it's most simplest way I was able to share an experience, show and explain my calling... just how it is to be hatched. 
  
  

  

  
  
  

  

  image from Maiden Threads
  
  
  image from Maiden Threads 
  
  

  

               with the talented designer Maie and the talented Artist Gotch

  
  

  

  with my amazing moral support for the night Jason

  
  

à l'amour et la vie ..

Life without love is like a whole year without summer…

- Swedish Proverb

Naima is a very very dear friend of mine from work, over the three years of knowing each other we developed an instant connection with our glorious obsession and passion for food with her being a previous chef and me being an aspiring one. 

After a whirlwind romance with the wonderful Demetri, the couple got engaged in sweet, sweet fashion on the 15th of April this year while having a fabulous dinner in Naima's hometown, Adelaide. From then on, it's wedding bells a-ringing! The couple hosted their engagement party on Friday, 15th of June in an intimate gathering of close friends in which I was very lucky to be a part of, let alone having the honour of providing them with engagement cupcakes for the night! Oh what a joy that was, the laughing, the eating and the dancing! 

Raspberry & Dark Chocolate Red Velvet cupcakes with Rosewater Creamcheese frosting

Cheers to the Happy Couple!!!
Congratulations Demetri & Naima!

For the love of art.

Growing up I never really thought of myself as the 'creative type'. All my life I have been very "academic" as they would say it. However, University was very confusing for me as I would always get distracted from my studies to get lost in painting, drawing and looking at the wonderful photos of food in recipe books and often found myself researching the next recipe for a culinary challenge. It was only after I had graduated from Uni that I really pursued my passion for food and explored the wonderful world of Art.

Art became an extension of myself. It was altogether a source of motivation, inspiration and an emotional outlet. Baking and cooking wise I found myself delving into exploring different flavours and finding ways  for them to compliment with each other. In my free time,  you'd find me wandering about museums and impulsively going into exhibitions gathering some form of inspiration. On the train ride to work, I'd be drawing on my book of anything that caught my eye on that particular day and other days with camera in hand, you'd see me wandering about Surry Hills and Darlinghurst taking shots.

Art made me who I am today. I'm lucky enough to know who I am because of it and a lot of people I know are still going about in their lives trying to find themselves. If only they had known of George Bernard Shaw that they would know that "Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself". 


So when I find the same people who share the same insight in life and in art as I do, I feel a certain connection with them. One of them is Maie of maiden threads, an upcoming artist/designer whose creative genius is humble, interesting and inspiring. In her upcoming exhibition - FRIENDSofMAIDEN, they are showcasing a collaboration of different forms of art from illustrations to photography to videography to design to jewellery and fashion. She described the concept of the exhibition as an awakening, in which it illustrates a renewed perspective in life brought on by the people from all ranges of creative loci who has inspired her to develop her work, life and art.

In supporting this exhibition I had asked Maie to make her some cakes and just like in delightfully weird fashion and a little inspiration from the exhibition & Mr. Heston Blumenthal, I present to you...

hatched.

White chocolate & Raspberry swirl egg cakes

Tea Inspiration ...

A few weeks ago, I found myself wandering about the Queen Victora Building while waiting around for one of my friends. I always like to wander inside the T2 store as I find its entirety to be aesthetically pleasing... the aroma of teas, the dainty little tea cups and tea pots and the strategically placed multicoloured tea boxes that are stacked on top of one another. Everything about the store is just a delight to the senses... well at least for me anyway. So as I reached the counter ready to make my purchase with the amazing (& ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.. may I add) box of Sencha Quince tea, something from the corner of my eye stole my focus --- French Earl Grey Chocolates.

image by Fractal Theory

These were in fact tea infused chocolates, I thought they were quite interesting so I picked up the thongs and tried the delightful treat. It was as if a lightbulb moment happened and I was obsessed with this wonderfully crafted delight. However, as I was running towards the really rusty side of poverty with only $20 left I was faced with a dilemma on choosing between the tea and the chocolate. I had to go with the tea and promised myself to bolt to the nearest T2 store once pay day hits.

To my demise and disappointment they were gone the next week when I finally had the money to buy it. And to make everything else worse, they were out of stock for the next 5 weeks!!!! OUTRAGE.
So as to satisfy this craving, I thought I could probably make them myself and off I went with some couverture chocolate in hand and some amazing French Earl Grey Tea (which you REALLY must try, It's a MUST. A MUST. As in get it here.. NOW) off I went to some amazing chocolate venture.

Et voilà!!

French Earl Grey Chocolates. 

Inspirations from Paris...

In the last week I came into some pretty devastating news about my career path.
I'll never become a trade qualified chef. 

Shocking news. For some reason, I got into the wrong course and TAFE told me that the only way you would become a trade qualified chef is if you do an apprenticeship and certificates in hospitality just don't really cut it and even if you have experience, you would only be a Pastry Cook. And frankly, I don't want to be just a Pastry Cook - I want to be a Pastry Chef.  So I called the Apprenticeship body and they told me that I was 'too qualified' to obtain an apprenticeship. 


How can you even be too qualified when you haven't had enough experience or training to begin with?! 

Confused and depressed as I was with this news, I didn't really know what to make of it and so I sulked on the idea that my entire plan for my life is going down the drain. Goodbye Switzerland, goodbye travelling, goodbye to the dreams of actually becoming a Qualified Pastry Chef. It even got to the point where I went through the same mental path as I did when I quit my Commercial Cookery Apprenticeship.

I just didn't want to do anything anymore.

But I guess the funny thing about passion is that it's just like an itch that you cannot help but scratch. It's a compelling feeling that just motivates you even more to go beyond the norm, explore ideas, tap into your creative side, gives you that feeling of enthusiasm and that desire to just do.

Walter Bagehot once said that "The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do".
And so just like in ordinary fashion of classic retaliation, what better way to say 'up yours'!

Desperate to seek some form of inspiration and motivation, I stumbled upon a French Cookery book section. I started scanning through the pages of a particular book that captured my eye: Sweet Paris by Michael Paul.  Filled with photographs of Parisian aesthetics, a familiar sight caught my eye: The Mont Blanc.

image from Bonjour Paris

Earlier this year my friend Leon, travelled all over Europe and told me about a dessert that he had in Paris at Angelina. It was described to me as one of the best desserts he has ever eaten called the Mont Blanc which is a meringue base with cream and topped with chestnut purée. It was something that I was not really familiar with or actually have never heard of and when I was fortunate enough to be given a Mont Blanc from Becassè, I finally got to try the dessert. While it was nice, apparently it wasn't like the one from Angelina's and with tasting the flavours and the textures I gained an idea of the entire concept of the dessert. The meringue with a sweet and almost powdery, crunchy & chewy texture with a light and fluffy crème chantilly centre and a smooth, nutty chestnut finish.

So as a next challenge I seeked out to attempt the Mont Blanc.

First challenge was to find a recipe which resembles that of the Mont Blanc in Angelina, luckily enough I happened to find one on the internet by Chef Sebastian Bauer.

Next challenge was to find a particular piping tip used for a Mont Blanc, which I found in Chef's Warehouse in Surry Hills while casually having a stroll around the area after brunch with my friend Mikki (and if you're a music photography enthusiast, you should really check out her site!).

The final challenge was to find some chestnuts. Seeking all over Sydney for fresh chestnuts with my friend Elly as they are supposed to be in season, I found myself in an Asian grocer instead where they sold ready to eat roasted chestnuts and off I went to produce this enticing dessert.

Meringue, Cream & Chestnut. Done.