[arctic dough]

Greetings!

I'm Tommi, a 30+ something geek (games, comics, scifi etc) from a far away land called Finland and I used to work in the video game industry as an environment artist. After many years I just grew tired of the industry and it's ever growing demands, so I decided to retire and do something completely different.  

It took me a long time to figure out what I really wanted to do until one of my friends told me that she's going to be a chef, then something just clicked in my mind. After that everything became clear. I decided that I will apply to a local culinary school and become a pastry chef!

My late father used to cook alot, so I learned to love food and even got the spark to cook from him. Cheers dad!

 
He liked to cook all types of meat and he was mad about steaks etc. So am I but to be honest, desserts have always been closer to my heart. I love to bake pies, simple cakes, puddings etc. Besides desserts,  my latest passion is bread which is a whole lot of fun!

 
Back to the point!

The applying process begins next year, so I have plenty of time to learn the basics and more on my own so that I can show the teachers how serious I am with this.

I have already hoarded most of my mom's old cookbooks and ordered many new ones like The Art of French Baking by Ginette Mathiot and The Bread Baker's Apprentice. I'm thinking of ordering The Professional Pastry Chef too.  

So, um, yeah, that's me I think. Ask away if you have anything else you want to know about me, I'm happy to answer.
I am looking forward to getting to know the community!

Cheers!

 

[nicko]

@Arctic Dough welcome! Tommi glad you signed up and I sincerely hope that the career switch will be a good one for you. There are few industries that I consider tougher than the the kitchen and the gaming industry is one of them. A friend of mine is a game designer like you and worked for Midway. I was blown away by the amount of hours he and his team had to work to get the games to production just after a movie release etc.

Working in the food business is so much more than just a love of cooking so if you have any questions jump in and we are happy to help and guide.

 

[mgm0]

If I was in your shoes, I would ask around for a pastry/bakery that would let me hang around the back annoying everyone with questions. If you hit it off with them try to help out a little. Explain your situation, you would be surprised at how many people will be willing to go out of their way to help out. Mom and pops joints are the best for friendly advice.

This has the added bonus of letting you start your education with some hands on experience and somewhere to go for advice. Get your food safe certification(or equivalent) now if you can(or start reading up for it now). This will help you out a lot later on.

Cheers

 

[flipflopgirl]

If I was in your shoes, I would ask around for a pastry/bakery that would let me hang around the back annoying everyone with questions. If you hit it off with them try to help out a little. Explain your situation, you would be surprised at how many people will be willing to go out of their way to help out. Mom and pops joints are the best for friendly advice.

This has the added bonus of letting you start your education with some hands on experience and somewhere to go for advice. Get your food safe certification(or equivalent) now if you can(or start reading up for it now). This will help you out a lot later on.

Cheers

This is good common sense advice.

For more of this start a thread in the cooking or baking forums....

mimi

 

[arctic dough]

Thank you so much for the warm welcome and for the advice too!