Montel Mama and the French Chef

Since I seriously started baking, I always had a dream to learn from a French Chef or Baker. I know it will always remain a dream of my going to France to learn, or even to the United States, considering the money I have to spend on logistics alone, not including tuition. The sum of which would cost more that what I could ever afford.

I have been baking/cooking since I was 7 or 8 (Actually, I was the lazy one - but that's another story). I have been greatly influenced by my mother who used to bake buns for the family. She would knead the dough and shape them into small balls and then cram it in a round pan. When baked,the smell was indiscribable.

When I started to work and could afford to pay for classes, I would be driving all over KL, Subang Jaya, Petaling Jaya and Kajang to go to classes. All my salary went to my love for baking. Either in the form of classes or books.

A few years ago, I attended a Cordon Bleu class for petit-four in Taylor's College. I was in love! A English speaking French man teaching pastries...what more can I say? It was a half-day class, which was not enough for me. But I still couldn't afford to go to any of the Cordon Bleu school ( the nearest would be in Australia). Nearly a year past when I recieved a call about a French Cooking School in Kuala Lumpur. So that was the start of my love affair with HTC - The French Culinary School in Asia and the Year was 2004 ( April 2004).

Back to present. Last Sunday a class with my favourite Master Pastry Chef : Chef Jean Francois Arnaud. If you look closely at the photo, you will see a black shadow behind me. That's Bruno trying to be funny.
The French Flag on Chef Arnaud's collar means that he is Un des Meilleurs Ouviers de France Patisserie (in simple english, The Highest Award Winning French Pastry Chef). In France they have a competition every 4 years to see who is the best chef and only a selected few will recieve the honour of winning this coveted awards.

At least now, I don't have to go to France to learn to bake like a French Pastry Chef. Cest Bon!

Following are some of the things I learnt from the 1-day class in The French Culinary School in Asia with Master Pastry Chef Jean Francois Arnaud MOF