Yesterday, I helped my brother at his pastry shop. Since I will be going again today, I will briefly talk about the trivial things I felt yesterday.
Christmas is approaching!
Christmas would be the busiest season for most bakeries in my area, especially pastry shops. In Japan, people often buy and celebrate it with chicken and strawberry shortcake, although I don’t know why that tradition began.
By the way, yesterday, I experienced baking several cakes: ganache cake (chocolate cake), cheesecake, and small choux cream (cream puffs). My part was measuring, mixing, and cutting.
Ganache cake and cheesecake take time and effort to make. Chocolate needs to be melted and mixed carefully, and it is also necessary to maintain the appropriate temperature. Cheesecake takes 4 hours because it bakes at a low temperature.
On the other hand, shortcake is much simpler. We can make it in a relatively short time.
It may mean that having chocolate cake or cheesecake at Christmas is a bit of a luxury.
The difference between a professional and a beginner
Last week, I realized something that distinguishes professionals from beginners: a professional keeps their desk cleaner even after working. On the other hand, in my case, when I spread chocolate cream, the table became stained with chocolate. In addition, my tools—such as the bowl and spatula—became messy with chocolate.
That may be one difference between skilled people and a beginner like me. My work was still inefficient.
However, identifying such a difference motivated me. It enables me to predict more effective techniques. Predicting is more exciting than being taught.
That may be why logical people like us can learn quickly with only a brief lecture on principles. We can sometimes learn just by watching someone do it. Grasping the essence enables us to mimic the key points of skills.
It also means that forceful lectures without a logical explanation give us pain and helplessness. That may be why helping someone independently is more efficient than being managed. We can predict more than being taught.
Conclusion
Anyway, learning to bake and helping someone in need is enjoyable.
Being a beginner is also fun if we are logical. We don’t need to force ourselves to appear professional.
Identifying principles satisfies us, even if it leaves us physically exhausted.
Thank you for reading this article. I hope to see you in the next one.
