I focus on the garde manger station, making salad dressings, spreads, pickles, as well as desserts and bread. On an average day I set my station, get my mise en place ready, make up any desserts or salad dressings that we’re running low on and help run the dinner service.
After high school I obtained a certificate in dog training and behaviour through Gemini K9 Obedience in Scarborough and worked as a dog trainer for a few years and then at an animal shelter.
Due to corporate restructuring, I lost my job. I decided to go back to school for something I was passionate about: cooking and baking.
When my nieces and nephews were kids I would make birthday cakes for them. There are a lot of cooks in my family, so I decided to pursue a career in baking and hope to start my own bakery one day.
I enrolled in the culinary management program at Durham College and when I found out they had a baking and pastry arts program, I took that next. Culinary management is a two-year program and baking and pastry arts one year. I went full time.
I learned about confection – making chocolate and candies – which I never had experience with. I also made sugar sculptures and sugar art. It was a lot of fun, and I really liked it – it’s something I’ll continue to do. Working with yeast products was also a new thing because I didn’t have a lot of experience with the different types.
The program helped me become more confident, and without that I wouldn’t feel comfortable in my job right now. One of the things we had to do was make a schedule for how we were going to organize our time in class and in our lab – what steps we were going to take to make sure we stayed on time.
Some of my classes were quite long, and baking demands a lot of your time. We would multi-task, so while cooking and baking, we were working on another element of the dish or another dish entirely.
In 2014 I entered the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers Culinary Competition and won. I designed and developed my own recipe using greenhouse vegetables. I came up with a gazpacho martini sorbet with red pepper tuile and balsamic vinaigrette.
My job can be stressful when there’s a rush. A bunch of people are expecting to be fed at the same time, multiple dishes are going out at the same time, but I still like it.
To be a good baker, you have to have a lot of patience. My background as a dog trainer has helped me. With dogs you have to be calm and patient, especially when working with shelter animals, and in the kitchen you have to be patient as well. I enjoy baking because it’s methodical, organized and precise. I find it relaxing. I know other people find it stressful, but that’s not the way it is for me.
Where to study: Continuing Education
