Labour dispute, strike action - and - a time to catch up.

For the last 10 days the University of Vancouver Island has been closed.
The members of three of the unions that are represented on campus have been without a collective agreement for almoust a year.
I am part of CUPE 1858 as an employee in the cafeteria of VIU. I am also a student and therefore a member of VIUSU. My instructors in the Cullinary Arts Program fall into the category of ' Trades, Vocational and Adult Basic Education, which is represented by BCGEU which leaves the instructors of the academic section on campus, which are represented by the VIUFA.

Information about the job action is posted on the VIU website http://www.viu.ca/ as well as on the sites of all the unions.

This last week was also Spring Break for my girls and I have been trying to take each day as it is ( a gift). When I am in school, life at home is very busy and scheduled. It has been a nice break.

Some of the things we did, while being off:

• play dates, play dates, play dates for Sophie
• Pool
• Movie and the Mall for Rachel
• Baking, cooking
• studying: math for Rachel, culinary arts for mom
• dad has to work (sorry)
• friends, friends

 I made Spaetzle (german pasta) this week. It went one day with Schnitzel or breaded tenderized pork cutlets and gravy and the next day it went with Gaisburger Marsch, a soup with broth, spaetzle, potatoes and meat or european wieners.

   We made Cinnabon Buns for a birthday party and Hefezopf, a sweet bread, on Saturday. 

I also had time to give both my girls a pedicure. Sophie did her own nail polish and Rachel did not want any nail polis; but they both enjoyed getting a food massage.



I would call this last week 'little blessings in disguise'. Not to mention the extra sleep I got, which felt wonderful.

The latest update on the labour front is as follow:

A tentative agreement for the BCGEU, which includes my instructors.

No agreement for the VIUFA, no further scheduled talks and therefore continued strike action for this coming week.

I'll take one day at a time.



Pear Excellence Culinary Student Competition

About a week into my course at the Culinary Institute a flyer was posted at our locker room doors regarding a student competition; something to do with pears.

Still adjusting to this new life as a student and hardly seeing the light as it was, I gave this flyer no attention.
A few days later a senior student from the program came into the food lab to use some extra time to practice her recipe for the competition she was about to enter.

We got talking a bit and at the end of the day I went home to have a look at the web site.

                                       http://www.usapears.org/

'Show us your flair with the pear' was  the caption.

The competition was for a recipe of your own making that had to include fresh Anjou or Bosc pears.

Image via Wikipedia

Needless to say, it got me thinking.

I have not cooked or baked with a lot of pears.

Looking through a few recipes, I had to see how I could incooperate pears and change things up a bit.

I remembered the cakes or 'Torten' my dad used to make.

He was a baker (retired now) in Germany. We had our own bakery and I remember that I was watching him often.

Well dad made Black Forest Torte, Chocolate Torte, Blueberry (Heidelbeer) Torte, Strawberry Torte,...

you name it, he made it.

The basic structure was always the same.

So I wrote out my own recipe for a Pear Torte.

My sponge cake had some cocoa and ground hazelnuts. My pears were poached in a light syrup with a local pear spirit and I was going to layer and cover the cake with whipped cream.

My own kitchen became a food lab. Time was of the essence, since I only had 4 days to perfect my recipe, make it, photograph it and send it in.

I`m not sure why I was looking for more work and the extra challenge. I`m sure my family was wondering the same thing.

But at the end I was able to send in a recipe and some pictures.

I named it: POIRE WILLIAMS TORTE

                                 

Tomorrow I am starting my first rotation in the main kitchen. Breakfast and Meat Cutting. We start at 6 am (and we better be there 15 min early!).