About

Thanks for dropping by….

The shorter story is

I am a caring, fun-filled, spontaneous, and sincere person with a great zest for life.

I would describe myself as a fun loving, extrovert person who has a large circle of friends.

Some adjectives which people use for me: Happy, Open, Understanding, Adventure loving person. I love to explore new places, understand new cultures, try new stuff, and am constantly looking to reinvent myself.
Anything F-o-o-d, I’m Game….{Pun Intended}

~~~ The experience of going to pastry school at Le Cordon Bleu, London for a year has changed my world and perspective in a way even I could never have imagined. ~~~

For those of you who want the details….

My blog evolved from being called The Variable to Crazy Over desserts….
This is the journey…..
I can divide my adult life into two distinct phases. The first phase started nine years ago when, after passing out at the top of my class from a premier B-school, I took a risk and joined an e-commerce start-up. In those nine years, I have seen the start-up, Naukri.com, grow into one of the largest e-commerce groups in India. Those nine years have been tough but I enjoyed every moment of it. I saw before my eyes how a shared vision, creative thinking, hard work and team-spirit can do wonders to any enterprise. The stint with Naukri has given me confidence and self-esteem. After working with an organization that helps people find a good job on naukri.com, a good house on 99acres.com or a good restaurant on zomato.com. I am now looking forward to what I can call the second phase of my professional life – a career devoted to bringing smiles on people’s faces, by serving them the most delightful desserts, cakes pastries and breads.

Baking has been a sure shot and long-standing stress buster for me as my hectic work schedule hardly left me time to pursue any other hobbies or interests. Of course, the activity had its own share of pain and tears when a perfectly rising cake would suddenly collapse due to an unexpected power outage. Oh, the grief! However, all such pain and grief would instantly evaporate when hordes of hungry adults and children would pounce on the desserts I had made, bliss writ all over their faces. Each baking session was an experience, each preparation had a story to tell and that is what inspired me to start my own blog aptly called “Crazy Over Desserts”. A personal milestone was achieved in 2 years when I wrote my 200th blogpost. You’ll find lots of my friends have written to share their experiences….

My heart wanted to make cakes and pastries. It gives me the same emotional highs (and lows) as my early days in Naukri and fills me with energy. I have stress-tested myself, baking in large quantities to serve over 300 people, toiling for days at stretch and have lived to tell the tale joyfully. If any recipe I have tried did not work, it has kept me awake at night. I have baked stuff and consigned them to the dustbin a dozen times till I have got them right. I love experimenting, am eager to learn and I do not give up easily. The Daring Baker’s community was always and inspiration and insight into how the world of home cooks was looking at baking.

I wanted to move beyond the world of a home baker and take it up professionally, that would call for training. LCB, after all my research and talking to the alumni, was the obvious place for me to unlearn all that needed unlearning and learn all that would make me a great pastry chef.

The time I spent in London and travelling Europe was an experience which has changed the way I look at a lot of things…
Since I haven’t spent a long time in the industry professionally, hence I love meeting people who have and hearing their stories is a delight…. So much to learn is such little time.

In this journey from 'The Variable' to 'Crazy Over Desserts', I’ve made lots of foodie friends along the way, way too many to mention all of them on this page, the journey wouldn’t have been what it has been without them…. {{Hugs}}

Mein Chalta raha aur karvan banta gaya…. Yes I’m filmy n crazy too… love the movies :)

Have always had an angel on my shoulder….  I want to bring a smile on all everyone’s faces, one dessert at a time….

Cheers,
Nachiketa

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