The Expat Baker Story

My Journey didn't start in the kitchen, matter of fact, it was so far from the kitchen.....

Once upon a time, I was working on an oil rig in the middle of the ocean before becoming a design engineering for an Oil Service company in Houston, Texas.  After nearly 10 years, our family relocated to a small village in the south of France.  It was quite a challenge for all of us to adjust to this new life. 

Everything was different.  One of the first challenges I had was to buy a birthday cake for my son who was turning 5.  There were plenty of boulangeries and patisseries but there were no simple sponge cake with icing like the one back home.  So I watched a lot of YouTube videos and ended up making a Betty Crocker's box cake that my husband brought back from a trip to the UK. 

Since I wasn't working, I had decided that making a decent birthday cake was going to be the one thing I needed to conquer.  But it didn't stop there.  A local chef happened to opened a patisserie school not too far from my house.  Of course, I enrolled and learned everything from basic pate sucre, to tabling chocolate, to macarons, to entremets.  Everything that they were teaching for the CAP Patisserie (a French certification), I had to learn it.  I knew then that this was my calling. 

Fast forward a couple of years later, we found ourselves moving to London.  This had allowed me to complete my professional culinary training at Leith's School of Food and Wine.  It was an eye opening experience but I know baking is my thing.  After training, I worked at a local Japanese Bakery (Happy Sky Bakery) as a baker.  I can say that working at here had established my foundation of Japanese baking and what it means to be passionate. For the next 2 years I remained at the bakery and take in every lessons and friendship that will last me a lifetime. 

Next move ... Perth, Australia.  Everything that I've learned from France was finally get to put into a good use here.  I was working as a proper pastry chef making traditional French desserts and pastries. I was learning everything from sourdough to croissants.  I was always the oldest but that doesn't mean I'm the slowest.  

After 3 years, we came back to London for the second time.  With all the experiences that I've had in my hand, I felt very confident with  trying new things and testing out my new ideas.  Fusing French technique with my own twist.  Every croissant and pastry that come out of my kitchen is a piece of my journey, handmade for you to experience the expat effect.   I cannot wait till the next pop up market to showcase some of my new creations.    

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story.

See you at the next pop up.  

Alisa