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| Moon Rising over Mt. Rundle |
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.
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| Christmas in the Rockies |
It’s hard to believe that my time in Banff is nearly
finished. As I said in my first blog the days go slow but the weeks fly by, as
it turns out the months went by even quicker. Since I arrived in Banff, I
immediately fell in love with the area, living wild in the Rockies couldn’t have been a truer statement. It’s the first time I ever lived in an area where
the animals have the right of way, where you can look up all day and see
different mountains and where you can have one hundred perfect photo opportunities
in one day. With all the beauty of Banff sometimes it feels like you are
trapped in a cage where everyone can come and go except you. Banff is described
as a town with no soul by the few people who live here. All the tourists come
to use the hot springs, to hike, to do winter sports and to visit the castle in
the Rockies that is Fairmont.
Working in Fairmont has been an interesting
experience. Although I didn’t learn as much as I expected I learnt some skills
which will be beneficial for my career. Working the morning shifts helped me to
improve my cutting ability and speed. Working the mid shifts allowed me to
improve on my time management skills as I was responsible for ensuring that all
the functions for the current day and the next were completed and ready.
Working on outlets allowed me to produce the desserts for the restaurants and
fill the orders for that day. Then section I learnt the most on has to be bake
shop. Since my last blog I have only worked on this section. I have learnt a
lot about bread that I did not know before. I have made so many different types
of bread that I had never made before. Breads that I hadn’t heard of before.
For example, for Christmas we are making stolen. Stolen is an enriched dough
which has soaked fruit added it is then rolled with a marzipan stick in the centre.
As it is proofing it is brushed with butter. Once it is baked it is soaked in
more butter and then rolled in sugar. It is a very interesting tasting bread
and something which I had not tasted before. I feel that my ability and
knowledge of doughs has vastly improved. Working overnights has been hard,
getting used to changing your sleep pattern around on a weekly bases as had its
ups and downs.
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| Candy Castle |
Christmas in Fairmont is described as a once in a
lifetime and for me thank god it is only once in a lifetime. The madness of
Christmas in Fairmont started sometime in mid-November where enough Christmas
trees arrived to clear a small forest. It continued into the start of December
where the Candy Castle was completed (I’m almost certain planning
permission had to be taken out). Then all the Christmas party nights started
including the staff gala which I will say was a very good night and now as we
are only two days out from the biggest day in the hotels calendar, we are
preparing for Christmas buffets. These buffets are going to serve approximately
2400 people plus all the restaurants are going to be open as well. There is
everything at the buffets from oyster stations, to smore stations to the more
classical turkey carving stations. From the bake shop there is every type of
bread imaginable being produced. We also have a lot of lamination done to make
sweet and savory croissants and danish’s for the buffets.
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| Sun Setting as Another Day Ends at Fairmont |
As my time is basically up working in Fairmont, I have
to wonder would I recommend it to future students and I am still not sure. My
expectations from my internship were not met. Fairmont is a great company to
work for but, I feel as though the quality of fine dining is lost in the mass
production of food. I think before making the Fairmont Banff Springs the choice
for your internship you need to figure
out what you want to gain from working here. That goes for any choice
realistically. The experience of living in the mountains was far greater than I
ever imagined. For me I got the experience of traveling to a country that I
would have never got to see. I got to try so many different activities, some
which worked better than others. Winter sports are not for me I have tried a
good few and I am equally as bad at all of them. Watching me ski would
defiantly make it onto Americas Funniest Moments. I was terrible. On the plus I
tried it and learnt that when Derek says a sport is easy … run as fast as you
can. Since working in Fairmont, I have
changed where I want my career to go. I now know that I don’t want to work in a
large hotel and I am quite happy working in smaller establishments that are
more intense. I would love in the future to perhaps go into some sort of small
artisanal bakery to work with the end goal to have my own business. I never
looked at bread as a serious business idea before but I can now see plenty of
gaps in the market. So, for now this is
the last blog from this side of the Atlantic. Hope you all have an amazing
Christmas the next blog will be from Venlo in Holland where my European
adventure will begin………
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| Some of the Pastry Team and Friends Made Along the Way |
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