My patisserie and commercial cookery journey.

There were 2 main stages in my patisserie and commercial cookery journey: 

1- January 2014 :  

Cert III in patisserie (6 months intensive program) at Meadowbank TAFE. 

- exam for every few units to pass 

- kitchen safety 

- the bread we made in class was sold at the TAFE Meadowbank bakery (so we had to buy back our own products as the ingredients were owned by school) 

- for local students (I was a PR) so studies were govt funded, I was lucky to only pay for my own kitchen equipment, and student fees. 

2) Dec 2014:

Cert III in commercial cookery 

(1 year) at TAFE NSI.

- patisserie units articulated into commercial cookery (so I don't repeat the units) 

- menu planning 

Start of Restaurant Service: 

- service at student run TAFE restaurant at Ryde NSI for one semester. 

Restaurant Placement: 

- a 3 month placement at a real restaurant where you are out on your own, where you clock every hour, doing kitchen prep and baking, if required. 

In the end, after I finished the program, I went back to teaching, because the pay, leave and break times was standard, and I also had a bachelor in early childhood to qualify to be a licensed kinder Australian teacher.