I had a funny conversation with two other baking aficionados this morning. A very talented and beautiful woman who has been in the baking and wedding cake industry for over 20 years now. She was my chef instructor. I have a high regard for her craft and her business acumen! With us is a pastry student currently taking up her apprenticeship at Mandarin. Her fiancé came with her. They really look good together, getting married really soon.
It started out with stories in kitchen, long hours, no holiday, no weekend schedules, kitchen boo-boos and burn marks- lots of em! Oh and yes… ugly dry calloused hands and veins popping out of your tired feet! Suddenly my Chef instructor commented. Looking at the only thorn among the roses in our table. “ You think she will actually cook for you every day when you get married?---- Of course not!” I couldn’t agree more. Our lives revolve around the kitchen. Imagine standing and cooking for more than 12 hours a day, preparing for a function of not less than a hundred people or perhaps doing a wedding cake as tall as a human being (even taller). By the time we get home. All energy is drained out. The trick is, she shares… “If you have a restaurant, put in your hubby’s favorite dishes in the menu! That way, whenever he wants to have something, he can just order it!” – Smart huh?!
How ironic that as pastry chefs and cake makers, we never have cakes for our own birthdays. I thought it was just me, hahahaha NOT. It’s our birthday…. So most probably we will be at some spa relaxing and getting a massage or in some nice resto having wine and cheese instead of baking. Cakes for sons, daughters are usually grand though! (With a little bit of say… overruns from the sugar flower production line. A little crack or discoloration in the petal won’t hurt would it???? Hehehehehehe.).
The message???? As much as we may seem excessively obsessed with perfection, effortlessly bringing out items from the kitchen… when the ovens are shut off and the kitchen lights are out, it is actually the support and understanding of family and friends that gives us that much energy and time to bring out only the best from our kitchen. With out them, it would be impossible to go through it all. Thanks to my family and friends, owe it to you!
