EBPS Day 1: First Day High

I remember a few years ago that one of my goals before hitting 30 is to learn how to bake a cake. Now I'm doing it! I'm finally back to school after 8 years from graduating from college. I am currently enrolled in a 23-day certificate course in Baking and Pastry at Heny Sison Culinary School.





A little bit of background how I got to this...

As early as December of last year, I wanted to enroll in a long term baking course but I have the tendency to be impulsive sometimes so my boyfriend suggested that I try joining one-day workshops first. And that's how I ended up at Heny Sison Culinary School and took the Baking 101 for the Ovenphobics class.

I was fired up after taking that workshop that I almost enrolled for the EBPS January batch.  I let it pass just to test myself if I still wanted to do it by the time the next class opens and I was not ready, financially at that time. I got so busy with work at the start of the year and temporarily lost my focus on it. When April came, I felt I really wanted to pursue it so I started inquiring again from different schools but I still chose Heny Sison.

The 23-day course's fee can already buy me a second-hand car so I had to inform my parents about it and thankfully they were supportive of my decision to enroll.

Now fast forward to Today.

June 22, Saturday.

I got up way earlier than I normally do on Saturdays.  Mama, Ashley (my niece), and Ate To (our yaya) are preparing to go to the parent's orientation at 9am at Ashley's school. I was supposed to be the one to attend but my schedule won't permit.

I made sure I had a power breakfast since it's gonna be a long day of orientation and lecture. Before hitting the shower, I double checked my bag if I had my pen and notebook inside aside from the regulars (wallet, phone, makeup kit, etc.)  I decided to bring a bigger bag so I can also put my handouts in it. That way I can be sure that I won't left it at home. I'm Ms. Forgetful sometimes.

No need to wear uniform today yet so I picked a simple and comfy outfit from my closet. Black shirt, red skinnies, a pair of nude flats, and my signature scarf. I tied my hair into a ponytail and put on red lipstick and that's it.

My class is at 10 and since I live near, I left at 930am. I remembered that I was the first one to sign up for the course so I really had no idea how many classmates will I have or will I have any classmate at all. 

I arrived 10 minutes earlier and went straight to the office. A 50ish lady came ahead of me so at the back of my head I was like (okay we're 2). I had my attendance checked and while waiting for my kit, a 50ish man arrived with a teenager. From their conservation with the staff, I learned that the teenager is his daughter and he's taking the cooking course while his daughter will be in our class. So that makes us 3.

I put on my name tag and collected my stuff and headed to the kitchen. Still a bit nervous, I entered the door and about 7 students of different ages, mostly girls were already seated. I took a seat on the second row but later transferred to the front row as there are still 2 vacant seats. As I was fixing my things, one of the girls approached me and asked if I'm also taking the baking class. When I said yes, she asked me to seat beside her.

Her name's Grace. A stay at home mother of 3. She has a home-based cake business which she started last year after attending the basic cake decorating workshop at Heny Sison. She's very friendly and has a very bubbly personality. We instantly clicked.

After a few minutes, our teacher arrived and introduced herself. She's Chef Vivian Syyap.

By the time we got completed (we were 11 in that class, 8 from baking and 3 from cooking), we started introducing ourselves - name, what we do for a living, why did we sign up for the course and what are our plans in the future.


For the first part of our class, Chef Vivian gave a brief introduction on the course, discussed about attendance and uniform policies, etc. Right before we paused for a break, the "Kitchen Brigade" or the kitchen's organizational chart was also introduced to us.

During lunch, we were constantly talking, Grace and I,  that the girl on my right, Lian thought we were friends. Lian by the way, is also a housewife and a mother of 2.  No baking experience. She and her husband have plans of putting up a business that's why she signed up for the course. I didn't get to talk with my other classmates as I'm not the "first one to approach" type. But hey, I still have 22 more meetings to get to know them.

Our class resumed after 45 minutes and discussed  asic sanitation and learned about food borne illnesses. We also got to familiarize ourselves with basic kitchen equipment. I didn't want to interrupt the class so this was the only I got to take a photo through my phone.

cooking and baking equipment

Chef Vivian and one of my classmates (forgot his name but he's the 50ish dad)

For the last part of our class, we did some conversion exercise.It looked hard at first but if you get to know the basics, you won't have problems converting big amounts.

Looking forward to use a gallon in my baking. Someday I will...

Our next class will be next next Saturday a bit frustrating as I'm dying to work in my chef's jacket. But on the brighter side, at least I would have plenty of time to prepare for my BF's mom's 60th birthday party. I'll be baking some brownies and other bars for the dessert buffet! Hope the guests will like them.

my own chef's kit

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