I have done it….. I have taken the step that moves me away from all that is comfortable and safe and puts me into a new and unknown world where I will be challenged.
What have I done? I have resigned from my Service Delivery Manager position After 15+ years in I.T. and taken up a role as an apprentice chef. I am now living away from the DB for 5 days a week and travelling the 2 ¾ hours home on my days off. As one of the guys wrote in my farewell card; “and the master becomes the apprentice……….”.
I am now the lowly (mature aged) apprentice, with a salary to match 🙁
I have spent my first week away, living in a staff accommodation share house with limited phone coverage and no internet. Working up to 10 hours shifts in one of the finest restaurant kitchens in Tasmania. And I don’t regret my decision. I miss the DB a lot, a hell of a lot. The hours are long and it is hard work (hard for someone used to sitting behind a desk) but I have learnt so much already.
Our kitchen focuses on local, seasonal produce and the menu changes each season. With Autumn on the way, we get a brand new menu next Friday. I hope I will be a bit more on a level playing field then, as no one will have made the dishes before.
I am currently working in the in the desserts section, and I get to taste everything. There is a different menu every day with two different desserts. Then after 5 days, the menu rotation starts at the beginning again. In this last week I have been exposed to 10 desserts. These included soufflé, tapioca, baked panna cotta & ice cream from scratch. Our section also makes the bread rolls, petite four’s & cookies for the hotel and restaurant.
Stay tuned for home tested recipes, when I get to come home on my days off and show off what I have learned.
