When I started cooking in 1983 at Oskars Restaurant on the Gold Coast of Queensland, I looked up to the Executive Chef... GARY MARTIN...he was the most amazing man. When he walked into the room, the air was just different..he had presence and awe. His skills and seriousness about food amazed me.
He was an extremely tough character and at the time I did not appreciate all the things he taught me, years later I understood and thanked him immensely for everything he put me through for those tough lessons are the ones that made me successful and made me remain with the program all these 30 years since.
Some of those lessons are not allowed any more. The world of political correctness and labor rules forbid them. But sometimes we need to learn the tough lessons the hard way to be thankful for everything else..I fear that the softening of our industry will eventually be its demise, but thats for another blog post..
One thing at the time though that seemed most amazing was his friendships of people from around the world.
Remember in 1983 we had never heard of computers, iPads or iPods and anything more advanced than a calculator...
He spoke of travels he had had and he friends with foreign accents stopped by the restaurant continuously to visit.
Today , I too have travelled and have had the pleasure to meet and make friends with many many people from around the planet, but it also much easier today.
People talk of Facebook being a social media , You Tube being a source of enjoyment and blogging being a way to think out a load, but I see it better than that..they are all potential tools for us today as well.
When politicians years before spoke of globalization bringing us all closer together I thought nothing of it. I was not into import export so what did I care.
But today I see the potential.
When I log onto my blog every day I am simply amazed at the breadth of readership and I thank you all for stopping by. Russia, India, Tahiti, Australia, Croatia, France , Philippines, Indonesia, and literally hundreds of other countries show up on the STATS page every single day.
And that makes me realize that while I must impart a sense of my own self on these pages I also have a responsibility to teach a little along the way...Facebook and the friendships I have there are mostly with like minded professionals and has the opportunity for us all, not just to be social but also to use it as a teaching forum. Today I can lecture to the world, by imparting a recipe, a photo and a skills set via you tube and linking it to my Facebook page.
I will start to do such in coming posts. But imagine if we all did this...how amazing the world would be...in cooking, each of us imparting to the friends and those who stop by our blog to teach, to learn and to share the passion..
Globalisation of our career. no need to travel so far to learn or to spend such big dollars to pic up a skill set..
Passion feeding passion and like minded people enhancing the talents of those in the industry who desire to self teach and learn.
I thank each and every person who stops by this page for taking the time. the responsibility i feel is immense and I will return such by teaching more from now on..., recipes and info will follow... it is after all not my desire to hold onto the recipes I have been entrusted with all these years only to see them die with me. they are such brilliantly well tested and proven recipes that everyone deserves to use them.
A recipe after all is merely a list of ingredients, it takes talent, passion and skills to produce something delicious and appetizing from it, and thats where we, the pastry chefs of this world step in...
Have a great day world....and happy cooking. !!!
He was an extremely tough character and at the time I did not appreciate all the things he taught me, years later I understood and thanked him immensely for everything he put me through for those tough lessons are the ones that made me successful and made me remain with the program all these 30 years since.
Some of those lessons are not allowed any more. The world of political correctness and labor rules forbid them. But sometimes we need to learn the tough lessons the hard way to be thankful for everything else..I fear that the softening of our industry will eventually be its demise, but thats for another blog post..
One thing at the time though that seemed most amazing was his friendships of people from around the world.
Remember in 1983 we had never heard of computers, iPads or iPods and anything more advanced than a calculator...
He spoke of travels he had had and he friends with foreign accents stopped by the restaurant continuously to visit.
Today , I too have travelled and have had the pleasure to meet and make friends with many many people from around the planet, but it also much easier today.
People talk of Facebook being a social media , You Tube being a source of enjoyment and blogging being a way to think out a load, but I see it better than that..they are all potential tools for us today as well.
When politicians years before spoke of globalization bringing us all closer together I thought nothing of it. I was not into import export so what did I care.
But today I see the potential.
When I log onto my blog every day I am simply amazed at the breadth of readership and I thank you all for stopping by. Russia, India, Tahiti, Australia, Croatia, France , Philippines, Indonesia, and literally hundreds of other countries show up on the STATS page every single day.
And that makes me realize that while I must impart a sense of my own self on these pages I also have a responsibility to teach a little along the way...Facebook and the friendships I have there are mostly with like minded professionals and has the opportunity for us all, not just to be social but also to use it as a teaching forum. Today I can lecture to the world, by imparting a recipe, a photo and a skills set via you tube and linking it to my Facebook page.
I will start to do such in coming posts. But imagine if we all did this...how amazing the world would be...in cooking, each of us imparting to the friends and those who stop by our blog to teach, to learn and to share the passion..
Globalisation of our career. no need to travel so far to learn or to spend such big dollars to pic up a skill set..
Passion feeding passion and like minded people enhancing the talents of those in the industry who desire to self teach and learn.
I thank each and every person who stops by this page for taking the time. the responsibility i feel is immense and I will return such by teaching more from now on..., recipes and info will follow... it is after all not my desire to hold onto the recipes I have been entrusted with all these years only to see them die with me. they are such brilliantly well tested and proven recipes that everyone deserves to use them.
A recipe after all is merely a list of ingredients, it takes talent, passion and skills to produce something delicious and appetizing from it, and thats where we, the pastry chefs of this world step in...
Have a great day world....and happy cooking. !!!
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| BANOFFEE PIE 2013....Caramel creme, cookie streusel, caramelised bananas, thick cream and sage infused caramel shots.......... it is amazing what our minds can see when we step back from a traditional dish and rethink its parts....skill, talent, passion and a good set of taste buds....life is amazing as a pastry chef |
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