How Sweet It Is...

Pastry...how sweet it is! It is my love...A passion. A desire. An obsession. A quest for nirvana! I really love pastry. I used to spend so much time in the pastry area in my earlier years as a cuisinier...from kitchen to kitchen. From chef to chef...learning, growing, pushing, feeling the pain of the search for perfection, harboring that desire to be the best. When I dine, I try to order as much pastry as I can to just bliss out so-to-speak! Well, I learned. I enjoyed. I refined my craft. I pushed myself and those around me to strive for perfection. I stumbled. I got back up. I have developed and cultivated a cool thing here at where i live(work). The crew changes from time to time of course...some for the better, some for the not so much. Either way, it is good. It is good to move people through there who may not even think of being in the pastry department. Some should never be in the pastry area mind you. To bring a savory cook into the pastry and have them stage there for a good stint of time...a tour of duty if you will, is a wonderful thing. It is seeing and watching a savory entity and transform into a delicate, patient, disciplined butterfly. It is a discipline they will carry with them throughout their career for the better! As said...we have had some cool pastry folks. We have done some great things, no denying that. But currently, for some odd reason, yet not hardly odd at all, we have a chemistry and uniqueness in our pastry shop today that is truly amazing and wonderful. I am blessed with two awesome girls who literally kick some ass! Do we have issues at times? Sure. We are human, we are cooks and we are crazy (at least I am). Do we make mistakes?...absolutely! There is probably not a day that goes by that we do not. If we didn't make mistakes, we shouldn't be here. We are learning and constantly aiming to perfect our craft and our work. Refine our palates and get better at our efficiencies. This is a learning kitchen. We do not always hit the mark but we sure do work hard to do so. We are serious. But what I have always felt, is that if we set our sights and standards higher than we can actually and knowingly obtain, then our shortfalls will be or should be higher than what may be expected from others. Maybe not. Anyway, the point is, is that I work with two great women in the pastry area and I am proud to have them working with me. I become more and more amazed at their drive, desire and passion to be perfect. I learn from them each day. So it is with this post that I salute, raise a glass and share a toast to you Rosann...and you Liz to a job well done, each and every day, week after week, month after month, through good times and bad...even if we did let the expediter fire the mezzo directly with you! :) You guys are my savior in my own search for happiness in the pastry department. Thank you both...