It was a lovely sunny day outside and the sun shines brightly through the skylight into the Tearoom, as I was glancing over at my chiller as I sat at one of my tables with a quirky table cloth full of cups and teapots sipping my China Rose & English Breakfast lose leaf tea mix, I felt that it was time that I was able to offer more speciality Cakes. I picked up my laptop and started searching for courses on Patisseries, Bertinet Kitchen in Bath always seemed to be the place that kept appearing on my feed, something was obviously telling me that this was the place. I entered the courses schedule and a 2 day course appeared doing a Chocolate & Sugar Masterclass, something inside came to light and this was definitely where I needed to start. The first hurdle was to raise the funds but with some kind family members this was resolved and I was booked into the two day class in October. Already feeling excited I was counting down the days.
I packed my bags and off we went to Bath with my husband, and two dogs. We stayed in a dog friendly b&b outside and also made this into a little holiday the same time. On a cold October morning my husband dropped me at Bertinet, feeling very excited and nervous the same time. I walked into a lovely building with lots of character, the old fashion door bell rung as I walked in through the door where I was greeted by Richard Bertinet the owner of the Cookery School who is also a fantastic Baker. He was full of chat and eager to discover what my background was making me feel right at home. I was taken down the stairs by one of his team Alex to the kitchen where the classes are held where I was introduced to Yolande Stanley who gained the prestigious Master of Culinary Arts Pastry in 2000. Greeted by the most wonderful smile and warmth I felt that I was in for a great two days, and boy I wasn't wrong.
We were introduced to the first day of 'Sugar' as we were all handed our own recipe sheets where we were going to make a sugar sculpture, I felt myself say to myself 'omg I am way out of my depth'. I took a deep breath and said to myself 'you can do this' as the morning went by my mind seemed like someone had turned a switch on, I knew it was there but felt the fuse had been taken out. I was bursting with excitement and enthusiasm and felt that I did deserve to be in the kitchen and I wasn't out of my depth. My recipe sheets over the day had my own scribbles in every corner, blank space I could find, so much knowledge and I wanted to learn as much as I could. As the day came to and end we created our own individual sugar swan sculptor, I actually felt so emotional and remember turning to Yolande and say 'I can't believe I have made this, I didn't think I would ever be able to make anything like this' and a full smile was sent in return, I was bursting with joy. Yolande is the most inspirational person I have ever met. We all sat around a table where they gave us the most delicious lunch, various type of Richards delicious breads, cheese, delicious cured meats and salads, the most amazing homemade pesto I have ever tasted and all to be washed down with a chilled glass of french wine.
The perfect end to a perfect day...........Day 2 on Chocolate coming soon
No comments:
Post a Comment