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 

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 

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

  
  

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

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. 

Little Miss Teapot ..

This was one of the most challenging cakes to date.. A teapot cake.

The body had to be carved entirely out of 2 x 8" square pans to get the shape, the flowers, teapot handle and spout had to be made from scratch. I cannot deny that it has been fun to make though. It took me back to the artist in me, playing with colour and capturing the realism of a flower and the actual construction of a teapot cake.