Learning Curve

I'm taking advantage of my one week "vacation" from cake decorating school to learn other things. My classes will resume in a week's time and I'm busying myself learning how to bake. I'm not really a baker and my experience in baking is very minimal. It's really Ma who is the excellent baker. We work as a team. She bakes, I decorate. Simple. However, I strongly believe that if I want to be good at what I do, I should learn the whole process. In fact, I'm very willing to.

I've always thought that I'm a corporate person. (I guess I have another side that I didn't know until recently.) Give me a project to work on and I know my way around. Initially when I started decorating, I felt disoriented / lost. Why? Because the kitchen is not my territory. You have to understand that I'm used to sitting behind a desk and working on my laptop but an oven? I'm admittedly an amateur whether it's in cooking or baking and it takes practice and a lot of experience. Just yesterday morning while I was making my own gum paste and fondant, I was feeling my way around the recipe. Hmm, what ingredient goes before what? Both turned out well and I did learn a lot when I made it on my own.

What I love about baking is that it's experiential. You have to try doing it on your own to learn the tricks. Today, I'll be learning chocolate with S, a chef consultant. She's just a fantastic and generous person. Tomorrow, I'll be attending a free whole day orientation on baking operations. I think it'll be fun to know how commercial bake shops operate on a bigger scale. Then on Saturday, this is what's really making me excited! I'm attending a baking class with Dennis Hipolito. He holds his classes in New Manila and he is a chef consultant at Unilever. I'll be learning how to make premium cupcakes. :-D

I shall call it a day. I need a shut eye. It's 12:47 AM. Tata. Sweet dreams for me.