Holy Hanna banana! 2 major moves in 13 months! I’m tired but words of advice if you are planning on moving HIRE MOVERS!!! It’s so worth it. If you told me a year ago that we weren’t to get too comfy because giddy-up we’re going to do it all over again soon, I would probably have run away screaming. However, in this case, the ends truly justify the means. If you remember from one of my recent posts, I talked about opportunities and questioning the what-ifs that come into our lives. Well low and behold, opportunities do present themselves as I am living proof of that and one does have to swallow their fear and self doubts and keep moving upward and onward.

We were in Calgary this time for a year (‘though we lived there previously for 6 years) and I had a good job where I met some amazing people. It was a great year and I learned so much and as such, I wanted to extend my thanks to some people who really helped make the year for me: Suzanne, Michael, Guy, Leopold, Hayoto, Jonathan, Clark, Andreas, Simon, Kevin, Joy, Linda, Purdy, Jim, and Julia. You all taught me in your way and I am eternally grateful. I also had some amazing students, and although I can’t name them, I hope they some day read this post and know that I was and still am proud that I had the chance to be their teacher and I learned as much from them as they did from me.

We are now living in beautiful British Columbia, Kelowna specifically and I truly believe that Kelowna and the Okanagan Valley is Canada’s version of Hawaii. We moved because I have been given the chance to roll out and teach a brand new pastry arts program (for those who don’t know, I’m a pastry instructor) Again, opportunity was knockin’ at my door and once opened, I was rewarded with the dream job of making a pastry program my own and leaving my stamp upon things. What this actually means is: fleshing out curriculum and building a strong foundation of pastry knowledge where the students in turn will have the ability to work anywhere, being productive pastry employees and further growing the industry. Ahhh… no pressure.

I have learned over the years that there are many types of chefs. This breaks down further into sub-categories or genres if you will of pastry chefs and bakers. Being a pastry chef or a baker are entirely different professions in Europe and it’s been this way for hundreds of years. It’s only in North America where the powers at be have lumped pastry chefs and bakers together. When it comes to training, what is good for the pastry chef to learn is good for the baker to learn. That can’t be further from the truth but that is the way the current North American system is set up with very slow change taking place.

Neither profession is better then the other it’s just the skills needed to do the job as a pastry chef or of a baker are quite a bit different. What you are starting to see now, and it’s more noticeable for those that work in the industry, but a further sub-genre of job titles developing with very specific skill sets. Now there is the Confectioners (people who make candy), the Chocolatiers (people who work with chocolate), Glacier (people who make frozen desserts including ice cream), of course the baker who makes the bread and then you have the pastry chef who oversees all of these people, at least in a traditional french brigade system.

One of the challenges with rolling out a brand new pastry program is deciding where to begin. I believe a great place to start is focusing on building a very strong foundation, a solid core in which as the student grows in skill set, the core gets stronger and stronger. I’m a huge believer that without that solid core, the rest ends up getting built like a house of cards that crash when things become more challenging. Wanting to be the next star chef on the Food Network is a great aspiration, but if one can’t properly mix and bake a simple cake, then what good are they to the future employer if they can’t understand production? After all, that’s the position one is being hired for when they start out in the industry. It’s not glamorous, but that’s the 1st step of many one has to make in a long line of training to get to the Food Network. So where do you begin? What is the very first thing you need to teach that student that will set them up for success right from the word go? It’s a hard one to answer.

I guess it’s safe to say, that though I consider myself a pretty open-minded individual, I place a lot of value in experience. I instinctively trust chefs more if they can walk the talk because they have been through it. They know what it’s like to work crazy long hours because they have done it. They understand how to work in cramped hot kitchens and get on with it, the results being nothing short of a miracle because chefs just know how to use ingenuity. They can share war stories like the best of them, share a glass of wine or break bread with you.

Consider the pastry shop the eye of the storm; ’cause when it’s crazy in the kitchen, the pastry shop has their #4%% together. We highly pride ourselves on that and you can take THAT one to the bank! Having experience and being able to share your war stories with the next generation of chefs is invaluable. In my mind, it helps make you a better chef, a better teacher. If you don’t, then how can a student take you seriously? If I was a student and you couldn’t back up what you were saying, I in turn wouldn’t take you seriously. I just couldn’t. Experience speaks volumes and for those that don’t think so, go and get some experience instead of talking about it.

I have also learned that there are many different types of pastry chefs out there. Some are naturally gifted, but most of us have to really work hard and train. I have more respect for the pastry chef who knows a little about a lot of stuff. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great idea to be really good at something, but in reality, one is being depended on to know and do more. Kitchen budgets are getting tighter and costs of ingredients are getting higher. Employers want bang for their buck. It’s not always a pretty reality but it is reality (unlike reality tv)

I never had the desire to be the greatest pastry chef out there. What I do desire is having the solid reputation of being a strong, knowledgeable pastry chef and instructor. I’d rather be known for being a fair, open-minded and empathetic teacher instead of a dessert genius tyrant. I love what I do and I love dessert, but there are other things in my life I love more. To get to the top and be the best at anything, one has to pay a heavy price and to me, it’s not worth it. Everything, and I mean everything comes at a cost. I’m a strong believer in a healthy work/life balance and if one lives to work, then there’s something off in my humble opinion. Most of all, if I can’t have fun doing my job, have the room to be creative and constantly learn something new, then it’s time to pack it in. Although I haven’t traveled internationally with my job, dessert has taken me through many journeys and as such I have solid industry experience behind me. Simply and honestly, I make dessert and I get to teach others how to do it. I have the best of both worlds, and doing what I do is the icing on the cake.