iamafeeder.net

My first team, my best girls!

Just when you thought I’d disappeared into the ether, never to be seen again, I figured I’d stir things up a bit and write a blog post. I know, it’s almost like I’ve been doing this for nearly five years, or something!

So what’s going on with me? Well, I’m still pastry chef-ing, though I have recently moved on from a wonderful year filled with learning and excellent people at Claridge’s. I briefly worked with a small business but it wasn’t a great fit so I moved on (it seems strange to have so much turnover in this industry and yet it happens all the time! TS was just remarking the other day how the hospitality industry appears to be the only one where people regularly lose their minds and just walk out in the middle of their shift; I didn’t do this, by the way), and I now work as a slightly higher position in a restaurant/hotel which I officially cannot talk about. It’s a bit like Fight Club – the first rule of your new job is: do not talk about where you are currently a pastry chef. The second rule of your new job is: DO NOT TALK ABOUT WHERE YOU ARE CURRENTLY A PASTRY CHEF. Suffice to say that I am very happy, learning a lot, loving my team and I get to play with liquid nitrogen. Oh, also, my new executive head chef is somebody I’ve admired for a long time so the fact that I get to work with him now is just a dream come true! The chef fan girl in me quietly freaks out every time he talks to me, which I would never admit in person because I’m pretty sure he’d get very embarrassed and then, uh, never talk to me again.

So life is ticking along, I am alive and you can still find me Tweeting sporadically and taking many, many photos of cats.

Our cats Ellie (B&W) and Elsa (calico), aka. Big Cat & Little Cat. They run our lives now.

Oh yes. We got cats. That has been a large part of my last year and I’m sorry not sorry to admit that I am now a total crazy cat lady. I’ve been trying to tone down the crazy cat lady thing at my new job because I now work with a lot of boys and I can see them drifting into boredom land as soon as I mention the word ‘cats’, but I am a total crazy cat lady. Literally nothing makes me happier than coming home and being covered in cats at the end of a long day. And I do mean covered in cats because as soon as I sit down on the sofa my two cats jump on me, purring and headbutting me, then they collapse in a heap and fall asleep and then, oh, look at that, it’s 2am.

Funnily enough, though I haven’t blogged for a very, very long time, I still get a lot of emails from people who stumble across the blog whilst researching cookery school. I also recently met a girl who was a long-time reader and had opted to go to the cookery school I went to because of my blog, so that was incredibly flattering and surprising! But it’s a great school in many ways so do keep sending me those emails – I love to read them and promise to respond (eventually!).

In other vaguely related news, I am actually working on a project this year which will see me doing some writing again and, after so much time, I am actually incredibly excited about it. I don’t want to reveal too much at this stage because it is very early days but all of my free time is being spent working on it at the moment. It’s going to be great (I hope)!

And finally, TS & I are about to embark on our first trip to New Zealand together. We’re travelling via. Hong Kong for Papa Lee’s birthday and a much needed catch-up with my other family (ie. my HK-based friends!) but I am incredibly excited and simultaneously terrified about this trip. Excited because oh-my-goodness-it’s-New-Zealand-how-could-you-not-be?! Terrified because I have absolutely no idea what to expect, no idea what to pack and no idea what we’re going to do.

I should probably just chill out a bit and enjoy the summer because yay! It’s going to be summer on the other side of the world. TS has promised me a whole host of touristy delights, such as a tour of the Cadbury’s chocolate factory, the South Island culinary treat ‘cheese rolls’ (not going to lie, a little bit scared of these), an actual real glacier and (my personal favourite), a peek at some tiny blue penguins. Guys. They’re penguins. They’re tiny. And they’re blue. SQUEE. He has also promised me some tasty treats, so expect many photos when we return. Many.

I promise to share a recipe next post and hopefully it won’t take me a year to write it. Hopefully. Happy new year, you filthy animals.

Until next time, peace and love,

Jax x