Monday 30 November 2009

Hi from my parents other home..


this is me in Kaohsiung I am well thanks!!!

Heyz...so I'm gonna be staying at my parents country home here in Taipei (Y.M. mountain) and I'm gonna recouperate for a few days before I plan my trip back to Vancouver. Just wanted to clear up somethings... First and foremost I wanna thank my wonderful friends on YT and bogger and facebook..for all their kind words and encouragements. I am always in debt to my family and friends and without them I dunno how'd I survive. I often don't delve(SP?) (gosh can't spell) ? into my personal life and I decided to finally open up and answer some questions. Now is also a good time to ask me some things that u wanna know about me! So here goes I'm going to answer a few questions I get asked a lot of!

1)What's your food industry background? and how did you get into the CIA?
A: Well from the beginning...I knew food was my passion in life. When I was 4 years old I new there were 2 things I loved the most, making yummy stuff in the kitchen ( my mom bought me baby cooking toys) and my other love which is Michael Jackson. (Notice the present tense as those 2 things are still my loves... RIP MJ!)
So from an early age I was already making stuff in the kitchen, cooking and baking and doin' the thriller at the same time. So I suppose it's an innate love for cooking..and I think if u dream about it and think about it often then that's really your passion in life. Then during high school I took lots of culinary courses at school, then I started to intern at various hotels around my hometown. Then I went to university( UBC rulez) and took human nutrion. That was kinda my mistake, as I wasn't really interested in dietetics and more into making food. So I picked up my feet and headed to Le Cordon Bleu. I took a 2 year culinary course and graduated. But something was still unfulfilled at the moment, and I figured I really enjoy the pastry world a lot better. One of the reasons I switched was the kitchen was male dominated and I felt a lot of pressure, so then I went to Hawaii for more work experience. I worked there for a few months before I started the pastry program at CIA. It was a pain!! to apply for as you need a gazillion references, and interviews but luckily I passed, and I started in May 2004. 4 years later and a bachelors' degree after I started to work in the pastry world. So my advice is... hit the ground running, and accept that this industry is tough, what may seem wrong to you, sometimes is right to the chef and you just gotta nod your head to accept that the chef is always right. Be humble and be a hard worker, keep a keen eye of your surroundings and always think a few steps ahead of everyone else that's how you win in this industry. Work fast and work clean, that's how it works! I wish you all good luck for those pursuing this career as it's a lot of hard work and if you aren't ready to bust ur azz then don't bother continuing ;-P

2) Why do you love Nars so much?
Since I started nars..wow when I was like 20? I was mezmerized by their wonderful colours and concepts and their philosophy that beauty is in everyone , just gotta enhance it. I love the artistic genius that is Francois Nars and I don't know if anyone is par with his transitional,magical skills with makeup. I heart Nars! and I'm sorry I will not sell my nars mirrors.... I might throw a contest but that's if I can find a way to protect the glass...anyhoo.....

3)Why can you speak English if you live in Taiwan?
Err...I dunno how to explain this as I've mentioned this before but for my new followers my Hometown is Vancouver, BC, Canada where English is official language including francais. My true hometown. Taiwan is just my heritage and where my parents and family are from, but I'll forever be Canadian! I am Canadian, although I'm also Taiwanese... (not PRC) hehe. I speak Mandarin, Taiwanese, most Cantonese, English and French ( err but a bit rusty) that's all ;-p

4) What's your skincare regime?
Ppl ask me this a lot because of the long hours I work and yet luckily I haven't broken out yet. ;-p my secret is... I take a crap load of vitamins, including iron and vit.B and I use a sheet mask every other day. It doesn't have to be an expensive one but I just slap a sheet mask on my face before I go to bed and take it of an hour later. The serum really absorbs into your skin and I find that it really "plumps up your dermis" Another thing I do is, one day a week I don't add anything to my skin. I just wash it and leave it for the whole day. The reason is you need to let your skin breath and let it produce it's natural oils, if you keep putting on product your skin becomes reliant on it and your skin will age faster that way. ;-p hope this helps.
FYI I'm using Embryolisse moisterizer, aqualable form essence, and triakyline and eye duo creams

Hopefully I answered some questions

BISOUS xxx

Cathy

Wednesday 25 November 2009

Hey Babies








I'm back! I am feeling a bit weird and in shock now as it's been officially 2 months working for Robuchon and I finally quit yesterday. The working hours were killing me and my health is deteriorating quickly. I'm very upset as I'm leaving a job that I love and leaving 2 very talented Chefs (Chef Narita and CHef Kanai) and I hope one day I can persue this career path again. In the meantime I'm going to take a break from being in pastry and maybe i'll start my own business selling confectionary online. Please stay tuned for that, and now I can finally put on makeup! My love for makeup as returned and I'm excited I will be blogging more and making more videos and basically letting myself enjoy life! I know I know 2 months was nothing ..but i was exhausted physically. I wanna thank you all for all the great encouragements throughtout this hard time in my life and I will "add oil" for my future endeavours.

XOXO

Cathy