Aaron Maree: May 2015

Sunday 17 May 2015

HONG KONG

I have travelled 85 countries in 35 years, I had a job once that saw me flying more each week than most fly in a year and I have frequent flyer miles cards from nearly two dozen airlines.
yet for the past 18 months I was actually happy not to fly anymore.

The last flight I took was the funeral of my mother,other than the flight that relocated me to the Philippines. I guess the flight home to say good bye to Mum was enough and I just did not want to fly anymore after that. I was finally done !!

Suddenly in the space of two weeks I will tomorrow be traveling to hong Kong for the second time.
The first was a work trip, the second is pure and absolute luxurious time off.
Flying was fun last week, but it was about a comfortable seat and sleep as I had a freshly broken rib and had worked a very long day with it.
This trip is about, no laptops, no work, no phones, just peace, pool and relaxation.
So on the eve of my next flight I thought I had better post a few photos of the wondrousness that was Hong Kong, last week, so that I can free up some space for the posting of next weeks photos.
Food glorious researching food and some free time and fun will be the order of the day.

A good friend worked there for years and speaks admirably of the once British enclave, others I know speak not so fondly of the place. As confusing as it is tiny, I do know that it takes forever to get a taxi and even UBER has its issues finding you at busy times.
Schedule and plan, I was warned for a trip to Hong Kong and so after posting this, I am off to plan dinners, lunches and getaways as well as sleep time, pool time and massages.

to those who are reading the blog from the Ukraine, Sri Lanka and Finland, Welcome !! it is a pleasure to find new readers of the words and I appreciate the time you spend search through the old posts.

Be safe and see you all again soon, and enjoy the pics of Hong Kong's HOFEX 2015 and some of the hotel in which we stayed last week and this, the amazing Peninsula Hong Kong.

THE PENINSULA HONG KONG

The LOBBY

The Peninsula Hong Kong's lobby, the perfect way to start the day - coffee and a newspaper

the pool

heaven in water

The BBQ room - yummy - a behind the scenes photo

THE PENINSULA BOUTIQUE

THE PEN BOUTIQUE

PEN BOUTIQUE pastries

HOFEX 2015

Monday 4 May 2015

JUST BUSY...

I get a lot of comments via email and FB and blog about why I don't post more blog entries...the fact is ..I'm just busy.
Working 10-12 hours a day, a young family and life just gets in the way of future endeavors.
No complaints from me, I have a great job and work for a fantastic Hotel group and have a team I adore as I watch each of them grow into the pastry chefs they are soon to become. The past month has also seen us work exciting events such as MADRID FUSION hosting Michelin Star Chef Mario Sandoval and Local Celebrity Chef Myrna Segismundo. Long hours and late nights but great to see the world of Michelin coming to Manila.
Blog entries are just the loser when it comes to priorities among all of this culinary excitement.

In any case, I am here tonight and am so thankful to all the new readers of the blog and for those who visit for some inspiration into this amazing career called PASTRY.
I have been in pastry now for 33 years this year and love every single minute we are creating new things, being pushed for more creativity and being challenged by the daily operation.
There are days we all wish things were simpler, that operations could be flawless and simplified, but thats life, and as I am constantly reminded by my immediate superior, if it was flawless then there would be no need for me to be there.

Great things are coming our way anyway, new cakes, new breads and new chocolates soon. We are constantly on the evolving trail of new and exciting items for our guests for unstring that our Hotel remains at the pinnacle of the industry.

To those new readers from Russia, welcome to you. Nice to see about 400 Russian readers through this past month , also the readers from Bulgaria, Morrocco and Ukraine, Saudi Arabia as well as Germany.
For all others, thanks too and enjoy the photos of this past month which has seen us enjoy Easter and preparations for Mothers Day. Coming soon, photos from HONG KONGS HOFEX 2015 as we take a whirlwind trip to see the latest equipment we hope to bring to Manila.
Stay tuned and come back soon.