 |
| Lake Louise October 2018 |
For those of you who just started following this blog but don’t know me I am Tom. For the first part of my international year I choose the Fairmont Banff Springs Banff, Alberta, Canada. Like my colleague Derek I am also working as a pastry chef at this property. Banff is a town located in the heart of the Rockies in Banff National Park.
Since my last post we have seen quite a change in
weather. The start of October brought approximately 40 cm of snow. This snowfall
was unprecedented and broke records set back over 100 years. Autumn fell on a
Tuesday, I think, then straight into
winter. Since the end of September, the day temperature has not reached above
10 degrees Celsius, most days barely above 0. The lowest night temperature so
far has been around minus 16, with the average around 0 to minus 4. Preparing
for winter comes at a significant cost, this is something you have to take into
account before coming to the mountain region. You have to buy winter boots
which cost me $180 and then your winter layers which can cost up to $800. A key
thing to remember is one coat doesn’t suit everything. You have to have
insulating, windbreakers and high-water resistance jackets. You also need
thermals and fleeces. It is vital to have all these layers for maximum warmth. If you want to do winter sports such as
skiing, or snowboarding a season pass costs approximately $800 for a midweek
pass (Monday to Thursday). This does not include equipment which can be rented
or bought for additional costs. For example, a second-hand pair of skis can
cost about $300. I decided not to buy a ski pass as I am only here till the
start of January. Day passes with equipment rental costs about $150.
 |
| New Deck Oven with Sourdough |
The start of September brought a very different
kitchen scene. Lots of colleagues left to go back to college or because their
visas were up. This finally opened up the opportunity for overtime. Almost
everyone in the pastry shop was doing six days, and overtime other days. This
was great as it allowed me to save extra money and also made the time go a
little quicker. I find the days seem to go slowly but the weeks fly by. The end
of October gave me the opportunity to move into the overnight bake shop which
was the only area of the pastry shop that I had not worked in yet. I was
delighted to be given the opportunity as I am interested in breads and doughs.
The bakeshop produces lots of different breads daily. These include brioche,
ciabatta, sourdough, rye, baguettes and many more. The volumes of bread being
produced is also vast. For example, we produce approximately 50 loaves of
sourdough every day. I have learnt a lot about dough feel, different starters,
breads and techniques. Working the bake shop shift challenges me as there is a
lot more responsibility. Flipping my sleeping pattern also came as a challenge.
This took a while to get used to and still causes difficulties especially after
days off. I am enjoying working bakeshop and hope to stay here till I finish my
internship, however, I would not do my entire placement on bakeshop as you can
become very isolated in terms of having a social life. At the start of October,
the bakeshop became a whole lot easier with the installation of a new deck oven
(Which was meant to be installed in April). The deck oven contains four decks
and increased our bread production from 12 loaves at a time to 48. This means
that we can bake most of our bread for the day in two batches. It is very
interesting to get used to using a deck oven. It requires a little more
attention as they are not as sophisticated as other ovens in terms of
technology. I have yet to use the deck oven for pastry items but according to
my colleagues the end result is also of a very high quality. |
| The Walk to Banff Town Center September 2018 |
Sustainability is becoming a huge part of the hospitality
industry. Recently one of my colleagues has embarked on an eco-ethical venture in
the form of a platform called EachtBia (https://www.facebook.com/EachtBia/).This venture aims to help change how we view the planet we live in, by
adapting lifestyles to save it. It is our duty as chefs to take into consideration
our practices and how our choices affect the food we produce. A part of Fairmont’s
ethos is to promote the healthy and sustainable production of food. This
involves sourcing produce locally from Alberta and surrounding provinces. They
have also introduced targets for the reduction of waste being produced, this
involves weighing all the food waste from the kitchens and recycling as much as
possible. One recent change within Fairmont was the change from using non-degradable
cloths to using bio degradable cloths produced entirely from flax plants.
Although, these practices have been introduced Fairmont is like most other hospitality
businesses where the customers want comes first. This means that seasonality is
very lightly taken into consideration. A lot of the winter menus have been launched
but still contain ingredients such as raspberries, cherries and other fruits
that are not in season. These ingredients cannot be locally sourced so
therefore the distance the food travels offset the locally sourced produce. It
has to become acceptable not to have certain ingredients throughout the year.
 |
| Lake Louise before the Slip and Slide |
One of the big advantages for working for Fairmont is
the access to the benefits scheme. My benefits started the middle of September
approximately 3 months after starting at Fairmont. As I am only on my
internship till January the benefit scheme is particularly lucrative to me, as
you get the same amount of benefits as staff that are permanent. Some of the benefits available are $230 towards glasses and contacts
one pair of orthotics and matching shoes, $500 towards massage and
chiropractor, $1500 towards physical therapy. As a resident in Alberta you
automatically have free health care but the Fairmont benefits scheme covers any
prescription you may need. If you are an employee for one year you become
eligible for dental and hearing benefits.
Again, I can say the experience has its ups and downs
but it is generally positive. I have some new skills; however, I feel
the smaller restaurant or hotel moves at a faster pace which keeps the
adrenaline flowing. I miss having live
service, where the buzz you get from working in this industry comes from. I
still feel that quality can be passed in exchange for quantity in the larger
hotel. I am enjoying the outdoors, but have learnt all about wearing the
appropriate footwear for the season after a hike that ended up being a comic
display of someone trying to stand on ice for the first time or discovery of
the fact that being on your back is a great way to look at the sky. (I ended up
sliding down the mountain on my backpack). I wasn’t deterred by this and am
very excited to try out winter sports, I’ll just put mountain rescue on speed
dial….
No comments:
Post a Comment