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Saturday 30 July 2011

What's it like to be .. on a cooking course?

Happily I can say that the photos are of dishes I cooked from scratch  - pan fried sea bass with butter and dill sauce, and poached fillet of sea bass with salsa verde (I filleted the fish myself) and a Thai-styled Mango Salad with Griddled Prawns (I chopped all the ingredients with speed).   

One of my new year's resolutions for 2011 (aside from not getting a parking ticket) is to stop dreaming and start doing, which basically means to stop sitting on my butt at home dreaming about things I want to do or things I want to try.  I am consciously making the effort to push myself to realise some of those dreams.  Not big life changing ones - hell no, just small ones - like trying new things and learning new skills.  Well in the spirit of learning a new skill I took a Jamie Oliver Knife Skills course - Chop, Dice and Slice.  

Here's my story: http://www.timeandleisure.co.uk/articles/food/1032-chop-slice-and-dice.html

Wednesday 27 July 2011

What's it like to be.. a Chef working for Jamie Oliver?

Most of us like to cook and we all get addicted to watching Masterchef, perhaps even wondering whether we could cut it in the kitchen for real as a chef.  May I introduce you to Ms De Waal, entertainer, performer and chef-extraordinaire.
My vitals
Annegret De Waal
Head Chef/Food Champion (Jamie-speak)
Jamie Oliver Recipease, London
Age 29

My background
.. born and bred in Somerset West, South Africa. Completed culinary art training in South Africa and moved to London in 2004.  Work experience includes: Eastwell Manor in Ashford, various gastropubs across London including The Castle in Notting Hill and the Star Bar and Brasserie in Aldgate.  Then joined Jamie Oliver's Fifteen as a chef de partie and then became Head Chef/Food Champion at Recipease.

My head said
.. Food and wine have always been therapeutic for me from a very young age as I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with my father who owned a vineyard back home. I knew it was going to take a lot of hard work to be a chef but I am passionate about food and enjoy cooking as part of a better lifestyle.

My heart said
.. take a chance, work hard and stand my ground against the boys in the industry.  The world of cooking is a tough gig for girls but I grew up around animals, hunting and shooting so I know my way around an animal and I love to butcher.  My butchery skills speak for themselves and can silence the boys in the kitchen.

My job involves
.. a whole bunch of stuff as my philosophy is to adopt a hands-on approach so I'm often doing whatever is needed.  Generally it involves managing a kitchen team, prepping for classes, teaching classes, public cooking demonstrations as required (eg at the recent Jamie feastival in Clapham Common) and some admin/bookwork to ensure the smooth operation of Recipease and maintaining a happy kitchen. 

My highlights
.. doing something I love every day makes me feel lucky.  On top of that it is extremely rewarding to teach others.  I had a teenager come up to me after a Kids Class and tell me that he thought my class was fantastic and that he had learnt greater food appreciation and skills for life. Wow - that makes me feel pretty good.  Meeting Jamie was pretty amazing too.  He is exactly like you see him on TV - a really really nice down to earth guy who has such a great attitude to food and cooking for the ordinary person.  Jamie also makes a point of taking care of his staff so we all feel valued.

My lowlights
.. I've worked some ridiculous long hours (7am-11pm) for next to peanuts.  It is also true that some chefs live up to their bad reputations and can be brutally demanding, uncompromising and vocal.  I've had one chef throw a series of soup bowls at me when I wasn't doing a good enough job.  I've also butterflied my hand open with a knife once - ouch.  All part of the job I guess - as they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

My ideal happiness
.. at some point in the future to run my own baking business - maybe wedding cakes from home or my own cookery school? I'm pretty happy where I am and wouldn't trade it for the world.

My last word
.. find something you love and are passionate about in life and go for it. The hard work will eventually pay off even though it may feel so distant at the time.

Tuesday 26 July 2011

What's it like to be .. a Grown-up Intern?

"The first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind, is curiosity" (Edmund Burke)

It is an innate human trait to be curious particularly curious about other peoples' lives hence my new series of blogs entitled "What's it like to be ... ".   And as I generally don't think it's fair to ask people questions I am not prepared to answer, I thought I'd go first with my own experience.

My Background
I was a corporate lawyer with over 10 years experience.  Skip on five years, a pond crossing from Sydney to London and three children later, I am struggling to find a way back into the workforce in a 'suitable' role that I can live with as a mother.  I want to explore a range of options before I reach a landing.

My head said
... get with the programme - get yourself up to speed.

When I surfaced from the haze of motherhood back into the real world I noticed that the digital age had forged ahead at breakneck speed - iPhones, Androids, iPads and Apps had left traditional platforms of print media, books, magazines and journals in its wake.  The world had gone online in a big way and I felt slightly left behind.  So I started a blog, and last week I started an online internship with a local lifestyle magazine for SW London and Surrey residents - Time and Leisure (who I also guest blog for).

My heart said
... pack your bags you're going on a guilt trip - what about the kids?

What to do with the kids for the next two months or so whilst I undertake this internship? Well, it's summer holidays so at least I don't have nursery runs but I do have pangs of guilt leaving them at home with the nanny. To be fair, we did just come back from a family holiday in the South of France and the office hours for my internship are flexible so it's not abandonment and I shouldn't feel weighed down with guilt but I do.

My job involves
... a whole bunch of stuff I have never done before and lingo that sounds at times like a foreign language.  I feel like an old dog trying to learn new tricks as a grown-up intern but T&L make me feel very welcome and valued despite my inexperience.  I am guided through how to research and prepare articles for their website, source images and upload magazine content online.  There are weekly planning meetings to bounce ideas around for articles and I even get to write about topics I am genuinely interested in.

My highlights
.. I get to be around adults, wear office attire, flex my brain and challenge myself outside of my comfort zone.  I also get to learn new skills in a publishing environment, meet loads of new people and have a hot cup of coffee at my desk without interruption from children.  Seeing my articles with my name go live on the T&L website was secretly fun too.

My lowlights
.. being away from the kids for a couple of hours a day.  In actual fact, this internship is really a gentle and soft re-entry into the workforce as the hours are flexible and I don't have to spend my whole time in the office.  Hopefully it helps condition me to better cope when I am truly ready to return to full-time work at some point in the future.

My last word
.. it's natural to be fearful of the unknown but I'm better and happier for giving something new a go - and I'm a firm believer of happy mother means happy children.

Thursday 21 July 2011

What's it like to be a young professional tennis player?

We all think it's a glamorous gig being a professional sportsperson, but is it really?  I had the chance to chat to Jocelyn Rae, an up and coming British tennis player for her take on what's it really like - click here to read more.

Andre Agassi said in his recent autobiography 'how beautiful to dream, but dreams are so damn tiring' - I am sure there is a lot of truth in that statement for most of us.

Tuesday 19 July 2011

Tiger Mother or just tired Mother?

I was born in Vietnam and immigrated to Australia at four.  I spent most of my life in Sydney where I was educated, became a lawyer, a wife and a mother.  In 2007 we moved to London where I currently reside with my husband and three children.  I am affectionately known as a ‘banana’, Asian on the outside with a western sensibility.

I don't know whether it is because I am a mother or whether it's because I'm Asian (or perhaps both) that I felt instantly compelled to buy and read Amy Chua's book "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother".  In reality I suspect it had more to do with the fact that it sparked so much controversy that I wanted to read it and form my own view.  You see I am a tragic in some regards, I love watching pretty much every legal TV show because I am (or was) a lawyer and I pretty much read any book written by an Asian author because it gives me a bizarre sense of kin and I feel that somehow I am contributing (financially) to their success by buying their book (even if sometimes the book frankly isn't any good).  It doesn't make any sense I know but I'm pretty sure I'm not alone, my Asian friends.

So what's the fuss all about?  In one word - parenting.  An extremely touchy subject that instils fear in our eyes, love in our hearts, doubt in our minds and exhaustion and ache in our bodies.  Whole sections of bookstores are dedicated to the subject matter and yet for all the texts and experts out there, none provide a fool-proof manual or any definitive conclusions.  Sure, they provide some general guidance and advice but what you really learn is that parenting is not for the faint-hearted and is a tricky business - the stakes are so high and the Philip Larkin poem “This be the Verse” torments every parent to the core.  As a parent you need to determine your own style - a bonder, a disciplinarian, child-centred or parent-centred and just as you get comfortable your style changes as you and your children evolve.  Moreover, each of us carry within ourselves our own baggage from our upbringing (not to mention adding another layer of displacement migrating to a foreign country) that we are barely comfortable with our own identity let alone be in charge of any offspring.

Some of the methods adopted by Chua are questionable if not bordering on cruel but some of her ideals, albeit in diluted form are common in many Asian households (I refer to Asian because that's what I know from personal experience but I am sure it also applies in many other households).  For as long as I can remember, it was drilled into us that education was paramount.  Education being the key to escape poverty, achieve success and attain respectable social standing.  And so on and so forth, you know how it goes. My parents were very strict on study but thankfully were not extremists.  I did not fear study or the sitting of exams.  The only thing I did fear was disappointing my parents.  It scared the bejesus out of me and that alone was enough motivation.  Anyhow, provided I maintained excellent grades then I was given some latitude with my interests outside of study.  I participated in varied extra-curricular activities such as debating, mock trials, a handful of sports, athletics and community work and enjoyed myself immensely.  Even now when I think back, the memories I hold dear and that are indelible are not those of my academic success, accolades or awards won, but of friendships formed, of games played and lost and of all the people who I was fortunate enough to cross paths with during my education who in some way shaped the person I am today.

So what lessons have I learnt and what wisdom do I have to apply in the parenting of my own children?  Honestly – I don't really know. What I do know:
  • children are a great antidote to self-absorption;
  • I am not alone in my struggle to understand my own identity as an evolving adult and mother;
  • I don’t want to be Amy Chua -  I want to let my children be children; and
  • my children are not my trophy, my project nor my masterpiece. 
If my children are able to go forth into the world as generous and courageous citizens then I will have succeeded.  

Saturday 16 July 2011

Wimbledon Fortnight

For all you tennis fans - what a fun fortnight it was here in SW19, click here for my local tennis experience.  Sorry the post is a little late but I just got back from holidays in the South of France where WiFi is not so reliable. Bless the French! x