Friday, May 1, 2009

hello, mr angliss.

Life just gets better every day.
Thanks to my colleague who visited this blog (*wink) I have now completely lost my sanity and cannot think about anything other than culinary schools.
Turns out that there's another school I should check out, and my, if this is possible, it's even better than the cordon blue below. I mean, they're the same bascially but there is a slight difference in courses. And the William Angliss Institute offers one thing I've been dreaming about: a combined major of patisserie and restaurant management.
Crazy stuff.
And there's one course that stands out the most from the school; it's something I've never heard before: Resort Management.
!!!!?!??!?!?!?!!?!?!
This is my kind of heaven. Back in jr.high I used to daydream with one of my besties that one day we'd have an island where I can manage the hotels and resorts and she could deal with the architectures and buldings :)
So anyway. This is the list of courses that attracts me the most:

Certificate II in Hospitality
(Kitchen Operations)
Semester One
Semester one gives you a basic
understanding of: customer relations in
hospitality, presentations, health, safety,
security and hygiene procedures, patisserie
production of hot and cold desserts, pastries,
and yeast goods, presenting food, kitchen
supplies, basic cookery, and organisation
and preparation of food.


Certificate III in Hospitality
(Patisserie)
Semester Two
Semester two gives you a broad understanding
of subjects in the areas of: financial
interpretation, safety and security, bakery and
patisserie products, decoration of cakes and
cookies, gateaux, torte, cakes, and petit fours,
and stock control and supervision.


Certificate IV in Hospitality
(Patisserie)
Semester Three
This semester gives you a basic understanding
of: patisserie budgeting, quality control,
compliance, chocolate production, coffee shop
planning, liquor studies, and sweets production
such as marzipan, sugar work displays, and
sweets buffets and showpieces.
Duration 1.5 years
Total Fees A$21,000


Diploma of Hospitality –
Specialising in Patisserie
Semester Four
This qualification gives you a broad
understanding of hospitality management
skills and knowledge, and also explores, in
substantial depth, theoretical concepts relating
to business operations; hospitality budgeting;
workplace diversity; legal knowledge for
business; rostering staff; and hospitality
service and quality.
Duration 2 years
Total Fees A$27,600


That's just crazy feces, I tell you.
I am really interested in the Certificate IV - 1,5 years for AUD 21,000.
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggghhhh.
.....So how's everyone doing? :) Hope you've had a good week.
You know what, I don't care. Sorry. But I can't concentrate on anything except these schools !! The Angliss one is located in Victoria, Melb by the way. And they have Coffee Academy. And their own cafes. And...well the list is endless, just go to their official site.
Arghhhh I hate this. Hopefully these past two posts could be useful for you guys as well.
Now now, let's hope I could go there someday, yes ? :)


Have a good weekend, everyone!

Thursday, April 30, 2009

g'day then mate! :D

There was a newscaster in my train yesterday.
I can't even begin to tell you how weird it was- I was dying from laughter on the inside. The woman wore a uniform, carried a mic and just started reading political and finance news out of the blue, greeting the passengers as the new ones hopped on and said goodbye to those who stepped down.
But hey, gotta appreciate the courage and efforts, right?
;)
So guess what, I found one of my wishlist books yesterday, yay!! In case you didn't notice, you ignoramus, I made a wishlist there in the left part of this blog and I found The Mysterious Benedict Society, hooray! And I didn't find it actually-my sister did. Yayyy :*
I only read the first few pages but I like it already :D Again, if you know me well enough, I might even lend you the book.
By the way, something kinda funny happened today. Remember how I've been craving for a culinary school? On the train this morning I chatted with Nice Old Fella and oh so suddenly he talked about his nephew, who was studying hospitlaity & culinary in Australia.
Talk about fate. Or something.
So he went on, cheerily talking about how proud he is of his nephew while I listened in envy with my jaw on the floor. So turned out that the nephew's only like 18 and he enrolled in New South Wales's Le Cordon Bleu. I finally told Nice Old Fella about how much I've been dreaming of it and he said, wisely, that I should just pursue it because of my youth and that I have my whole life ahead of me. He told me that now that nephew of his could serve pastries of all kinds at family gatherings and how he was recruited with a few good hotels in Aussie so he doesn't wanna go back here. Lucky little feces.
So of course, being me, I googled the school and, well, I'm hooked. I'm completely, utterly hooked by Le Cordon Bleu and not only because of their prestiges and collaborations, but by their course subjects. Check this out:

Le Cordon Bleu Professional Culinary Management Program

The focus of the Professional Culinary Management or the
Le Cordon Bleu Diplôme Avançé de Gestion Culinaire is specifically geared to the international culinary industry. For those wishing to succeed within it, the knowledge and skills embedded in the Advanced Diploma complement the passion, drive and commitment required to reach the top professionally.
This innovative Le Cordon Bleu two years & three months (2.3 years) culinary management Advanced Diploma offers comprehensive training in either Cuisine or Pâtisserie. Underpinned with 12 months of academic studies in the fundamentals of front line management, this course is considered a world leader in culinary education.
The Professional Culinary Management Program builds on successful completion of the Le Cordon Bleu Diplôme Program / Certificate III in Hospitality (Commercial Cookery or Pâtisserie).


or


Sydney Campus - Le Cordon Bleu Diplôme de Pâtisserie

Description: A vigorous and exciting course, the Le Cordon Bleu Diplome de Patisserie encompasses Le Cordon Bleu's Basic, Intermediate and Superior Patisserie courses, allowing students to master the techniques of classic patisserie while being introduced to all aspects of the kitchen.
The course progressively teaches the student to prepare a wide selection of cakes served in restaurants, patisserie shops and tearooms, through to classic and contemporary French desserts using advanced techniques in chocolate and sugar work.

Please be aware from our July intake the course will be 1.3years in length as the Superior Cuisine has a 6month work experience component attached.

Prerequisites : Applicants must be at least 18 years of age at time of course commencement
School leaver- Satisfactory completion of Year 11 is required or equivalent interstate/overseas secondary education.
International entry- Minimum of General IELTS 5.5 with no band score below 5 or recommendation for direct entry from a Le Cordon Bleu recognised English language provider.

All dates are in the format 'mm/dd/yyyy'

07/16/2009 - 04/21/2010

Tuition: AUD 25,000.00
Courses that make up this diploma :

Basic Patisserie: 2009 - Term 3 - Session 1 (07/16/2009 - 09/26/2009)Intermediate Patisserie: 2009 - Term 4 - Session 1 (10/06/2009 - 12/16/2009)
Superior Patisserie: 2010 - Term 1 - Session 1 (01/26/2010 - 04/21/2010)

I have died and gone to culinary heaven.
Getting a diploma on patisseries!??! Are you kidding me????? I highlighted the most appealing things to me , as you can see.
It's AUD 25,000 for 9 months- which bank do you think I should visit with a rifle gun and an empty sack? But that 9 months extended into 1,3 yrs during July intake because there's a 6-months work experience, it said. And from what I've browsed around the website, it is a paid work experience. Wow.
God I want this. I want the second one more. I almost never wanted anything so bad- I mean, academically. I don't know why but I have a feeling I could do it, one day.
Somehow.
Amin.
I hate it when people say "well you don't always have to get what you want, right?" I think that's a pathetic way of thinking. Of course I have to get what I want, as long as it's for a good cause - that's part of the reason why I live! That's part of the excitement, the challenge of life. (Maybe you won't know that because you're such a boring person. Boo.)

Credits for http://www.cordonbleu.edu/, by the way.
I will not be able to stop talking about this, so be prepared. This is me all worked up, me in love; this is me when I'm too obsessed with something.
I WANT TO GO THERE !!!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

who will be my five people, then ?

Hello, dorklings. What's new?
I wanna run to the bookstore and grab a copy of Tuesdays with Morrie. I can't wait to read it. I'm discussing The Five People with Illa who's in the middle of finishing the book, and as our discussion grew , I realized I like the book even more.
So basically the story's about Eddie, an old guy who works at the pier. The first chapter of the book is titled "The End", which might confuse you but as the author wrote, all endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time.
So the book opens with Eddie's death and how he travels to heaven to find five people that somehow, indirectly, have touched his life when he was alive. The saddest one was when he met his long-deceased wife, of course.
The point is, according to this author , when we die, we have five people waiting for us. That's the idea. We don't even have to wait til we die; right now, there are five dead people residing in heaven getting in line, waiting to meet us and explain to us how they affected our lives once. The funny thing is, those people aren't likely to be your dad or mom or sis or brother. It's the kind of people who you never thought you'd meet but when they explain why, you'd see the connecting dots that somehow, some way, they did have an impact in your life.
What a great storyline, yes?
Especially compared to my old obsession of Gossip Girls or Au Pairs haha.
Shoot (or shall I say, feces) - I got a new task.
Write later!

Monday, April 27, 2009

passion, anyone ?

I've finished reading The Five People last night.
It was good. It was, as I said before, full of beautiful quotes. I will post them later - I have one particular quote I love the most. The book was also sad, though. Now I wanna read Tuesdays With Morrie.
By the way, the other night I watched Oprah. It featured young millionaires and stuff but the point was, people really succeed when you find yourself doing something you love, and not for the money. The happiest kind of people is those who continue doing something they're really passionate in; then it will flow from there.
Wow - Oprah and Mitch Albom all in one day.
Anyways, accidentally, today at campus I met Tania and we had a brief lunch and we discussed bout life after college.
Which really, really made me think.
I mean, Oprah and those people were actually right. I don't wanna do something because it results in huge amount of cash. I wanna do something I really like; the one I really enjoy doing.
I wanna be 50 and be able to say, "You know what, I loved my job." I wouldn't care about the money it makes because as long as you're passionate about something, then you'll get the best result there is. So me and Tania talked about what we were really raging for. For her, it's fashion marketing stuff; how she regret not enrolling in a fashion business school and at UPH instead. Bingo- the big R word.
I don't wanna feel regret. I hate that feeling. So now Tania's wishing for a fashion school or courses after she graduates. Another friend of mine has also known what she wants to do: open a dance studio. Another one is now also doing EO stuff and it's looking quite good.
What about me?
I realized that there are two things that I'm always passionate about: foods, and children. After my last leadership class today, I was so moved by the videos of poverty-stricken children my lecturer showed in class and I so badly wanted to open a foundation that houses the poor kids in the street. Seriously. But of course not now- I don't even have the money or the people for it.
As for foods, well, my mom loved to cook and I think I inherit the passion for foods from her. The difference is, I can't cook. Haha.

I figured that I can always build a foundation when I'm older. But for my "life after college", I want to open a restaurant. Here, good. Abroad, even better. I told you in previous posts before how much I wanna do this; but I don't think you understand how bad I want it.
Back in fifth semester, we had a PR Writing class. To this day, it's still one of my fav subjects ever. We were told to make a false company and be the PR for it; make press kits and stuff. I was ecstatic when my group decided to make a Spanish restaurant- it was located in Kemang and we held events and stuff :D it's all make-believe, of course, but still I did it so very thoroughly because I loved it. I loved every bit of that class.
Aside from that, I also like advertising. But only the copywriting part- I love stringing sentences together and awe others. The lucky thing is, I'm enrolled as a communication major. That connects to everything. I could even double as the restaurant's PR, right. I mean, what if I decided to study like Engineering or something? :S What will I do then, you know.
So, I think I'm serious about that culinary school. I don't care if you say that's unimportant and useless; if I don't end up getting my dreams to open a restaurant, then at least I will be able to serve foods other than fried rice and fried noodles to my kids.
How 'bout that? >:)
It's gonna be tough, I know. And the thing is, first, I don't know a good culinary school here or abroad. Well surely Switzerland has the best ones but come on-that's too much for a beginner, no? Unless I get a scholarship or something.
Tell me if I'm being unrealistic here, but I wanna reach it all before thirty. By then, I wanna be settled with a family (and twins for kids, please? :D) and I wanna be someone my kids can look up to. They'll be able to learn that people should still have fun while working, too. That when they grow up they're inspired to follow their dreams as well. By then, I wanna have a nice job that I can be proud of because it is my dream; not because the big bucks it makes. The question is, am I brave enough to do that? To prioritize my actual hope and dreams and not money? Because we do need money every once in a while, eventually. I don't wanna cave in, but I also don't know if I can do that.
That's the coward-ish side of me that I loathe.
I'll have to continue this post later, seeing as I don't wanna bore you to tears and thus preventing you from visiting this blog again. And besides, I'm so tired that my eyes are seeing funny things now, haha. I need those eyedrops.
That's just something to mull on, peoples. Are you really doing something out of passion or are you still waiting for that egg to hatch?
Let me know. And if you've suceeded in it, please tell me how to conquer the fear and how to just follow your guts and hearts instead.