Seriously Long Overdue Update

To begin with, I have to apologize for the long overdue update. It's been about a year and a half since I've written a post. I have to say it's been a crazy year and a half with great fun and support from everyone I'm around with.

Let's continue from where I left off,
As you all know I attend a culinary school at New York City called International Culinary Center in Soho. After a month of searching a job, I found a "home" at Lafayette restaurant as an Extern at first. I've worked as a Banquet Cook, Garde Manger, then Hot Apps (in that exact order) for about 9 months in total.

As I was working as a Line Cook, I saw a position in Lafayette's Pastry department. In a matter of a couple of weeks, I became the new Pastry Cook. I've worked Brunch, Lunch, and Dinner services. Even though it was only a month that I was a Pastry Cook, I learned a lot from the chef there and would've loved to continue my career there. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay in the restaurant I called "home" (because it was my first restaurant fresh out of culinary school), but I found a new "home" and I'm enjoying every minute of it.

Fast forwarding to the present now, I'm currently working at a Soho restaurant called The Dutch as a Pastry Cook. Again, I'm loving every minute I step into the restaurant because the vibe the Pastry team has just feels like home with supporting teammates helping out.

During the "flying" couple of months, I've been testing different cake recipes and I think I found one that my entire picky family actually enjoys. It is actually from Woodland Bakery Blog.

The recipe is called Yellow Cake: http://www.woodlandbakeryblog.com/yellow-cake-recipe/

This is an oil-based cake, so it stays moist even from the fridge (it doesn't make it into the fridge). I've made it into a 12-inch cake for a friend, a rectangular cake for a family dinner (with homemade strawberry jam in both of them).

I also took the cake and rolled it into a Swiss Roll with Whipped cream and diced fresh strawberries a filling. It didn't turn out that well because the cake just wanted to tear and make holes (probably the cake doesn't have enough gluten since it uses cake flour). Nonetheless, the final result tasted good and that's my culinary side of me doing the talking. Additionally eating the cake just as a snack, is really good for curing that sweet tooth.

Begin new to the Pastry industry, I've been having concerns on my pastry knowledge and skills, and my culinary knowledge as well. Not having the formal training has always made me feel insecure about how well I'll do in the industry, but the best advice for those who made the same transition as I've made, is to keep your head down, learn as much and fast as you can. I did that for 6 months now and I've never regretted my decision to follow my passion in Pastry.

Now I don't know if anyone has felt this but as a Young Cook who made the transition from Culinary to Pastry, I feel like I've been losing my touch from working on the Culinary side. All the knowledge that I've gained from the Culinary program is disappearing; leaving me with the knowledge of Pastry.

I've been reading a specific book called "The Pastry Chef's Apprentice" by Mitch Stamm. This book interviews a handful of pastry chefs and it talks about the journey that each one has been threw over the years. During each interview, I've compiled specific words that stood out relating to the title "Pastry Chef".

This is the picture I've picked from the Word Cloud Program: www.wordle.net

I hope you enjoy my Seriously Lone Overdue Update. I have to say I miss blogging and sharing my experiences with certain recipes. I definitely enjoy testing recipe especially those that satisfy my sweet tooth. 

Please subscribe if you want to see more upcoming post. I'll try to post in the coming weeks about recipe testing and any updates I have in my Pastry career.