I must appoligise for the latenest of this update about the Auckland Regional Culinary Fare for this year, Ive had a bit on since the comps, spent alot of time in bed feeling a bit depressed, followed by Surgery and a Funeral, a Family Reunion annnnd the odd shift at work....and hanging out with a mate and their little girl who is just sooooo freaking ADORABLE!! And Ive just be purely couching out....I havent forgotten I have been saying must update...must update...!! And in all honesty Ive been licking my wounds a little bit and trying to recover from my ego being somewhat given a massive punch in the face...OW!!!
Given I have gotten the official photos from Restaurant Association and have copies from my class I did I can actually put some pics up. So the pics in my picasa album are a collection of both ones I have taken and ones from R.A.
So this was my second year competing and after my fantasic win of GOLD last year for a first time entering I was determined to make it a double gold year.........sadly it didnt turn out that way, or at least it should have but I had a big barrier to over come. Im going to be brutally honest in this blog entry because after all it is MY blog, and though I am well aware that when people google "Auckland Regional Culinary Fare 2010" my blog will be up in the first page of result.....therefore bringing in alot of competitors, judges and other industry people, BUT I have no shame in voicing my opinion or my feelings....and I think it should be heard...
Given that Swine Flu wasnt on the cards this year the event was held over it normal sedule....only thing was that from what I had read on where I was competing which was to be Four Seasons, it was now in Piko....and I do alot of my training for the comps in Four Seasons and my table is always set to cater for their chairs in that restaurant, Piko has much lower and wider plastic chairs and they are nasty....they work for the decor of that restaurant just not for me and my designs let alone my chair covers per say.
I only JUST made it in to Uni in time for my class, my mum woke me up early enough to allow me time to get ready and having depression I struggle to wake up in the mornings somedays especially lately since I have had a minor relapse. I left home at a time that would have gotten me into the city with ample time remaining to get things like my hair and stuff sorted..........however half way there I randomly asked my mum if we had my competitors badge......which we didnt....big arguments in the car and a made dash slightly going over the speed limit back home to get it and another made dash into the city - thank god there was little to no traffic on the motorway and thankfully I managed to get a park outside Uni.....it was the one prayer I said to my son on the way in "Get Mummy a carpark Gummi" - I should have prayed again to him and asked him to get mummy a Gold Medal but I trusted in him enough on his 3rd Anniversary to be there watching over me.....clearly he was off playing with the dog come the crunch time..!!
Anyway managed to get into Uni with 15mins to spear I think it was, got my box down from upstair minus a few issues with the lift not going to the level I needed to go to and having to use the stairs to get up there....got my hair done - OK I should have taken a bit more time and care doing that but I was cutting it fine here.....but I have cut things fine time wise at work and never had a problem with my hair and on those occasions at work Ive forgotten PRODUCT and I have fly aways.....and in my defence it was raining slightly....humidity ISNT your hair's best friend when it comes to the rain...! My hair goes poofy with water...
Secondly, I was doing this without eating...I had literally rolled out of bed and got ready and left home....there was no food for me until after I finished, and I was dizzy....and have been battling for MONTHS issues with not being able to stand on my feet for too long without collapsing or getting light headed.....and if you talk to my old boss at GPK you will find out about the big fright I gave him one day..! AND to add to that Aunty Flo and Uncle Tom decided to pay an early visit it appeared during the comps little to my knowledge...
ANYWAY.....getting back on track...I felt I was confident enough to excute my table design in the time given, I was well within time during my training session with at least 15-20mins to spare for finishing touches....but knowing well that that never is the case come the big day...I have packed and unpacked that box many times to know I can get it done in the 5min period given, however phaor that 5mins came and went so fast! I think it was about 30mins when I was half way completed, I was onto my napkins and all I had left to do what my centre piece and chairs and side station to set. I wasnt feeling great during it all, as I said I was fighting with my body that wanted to say "hello that floor looks really pretty and its alot colder down there than it is standing up here at this angle, say follow me and find out......you know you want too" - like a little devil sitting in your head talking to you....and the litle angel is like WOULD YOU SOD OFF!!!!?? I felt a bit more better and happier when I looked up and out the window and saw my co worker watching....I was then able to muster up the strength to carry on and do him proud....and alot of other people. About that time the photographer was in and I knew that was my ultimate moment to really shine...I breath off the photographer they have in, I worked really well with him last year when he was taking photos.
Towards the end, in those final moments with all the fine details that get put in and touched up was when the judges asked a few questions, while my "favourite" judge grilled my on my theme, the other judges purely asked to see my Menu.....compared to last year where the judges asked more questions about what my theme was and where I drew my inspiration from....there wasnt an overly large amount of that this year....not until the end when the public and judges and my lecturers came into view it all....thats when I had the questions asked....but most of all it was this high focus on all my hand produced things....
I felt confident with the feedback and the comments from everyone that I was surely to get Gold in it, with only two other competitors I had this feeling I had done somewhat better than them...however after finishing and going for lunch and sitting in the car waiting to go to prize giving this big part of me felt like I was going to only get Silver....with a slight possibility of getting a Bronze.....remembering last year how I got told that Less is More and knowing well my table has ALOT of detail on it perhaps just a litle bit more than what I had last year....I was right when I checked the results to find Silver....and for some reason I cried....because I knew I was worthy of gold.....and I thought how could I possibly get such a low mark and I started to go through the list of what knocked me back....
It turns out it wasnt so much my table it was ME....I was the reason....that in itself made me lose confidence, I felt fat and ugly....not a good thing to feel when your recovering from an eating disorder...I learnt what was wrong, things like my hair wasnt slick back enough....my shoes.....my tray handling...safety issuses with god knows what......confidence that I looked very confused like I didnt know what I was doing...please! Come on I designed that table I thought up every single aspec of that table and I laid it out more than 10 times over the past two months at least...I knew that table like it was my own child! The irony behind was that nothing had changed to what I did last year in terms of my set up, how I handled my tray, I carry much larger trays than that at work with up to FOUR plates of food.....sometimes I can have a 10 pax table setting on that tray....
My table was GOLD....everything was gold but because ONE person doesnt like me, and was clearly not happy that I just so happened to beat not one but TWO of their students last year - while she played favourtism on her own student - to go to the degrees of trying to throw me off and sabatage me in Nationals but standing by my side station rocking on the barrier and rocking my side station and talking really loudly non stop for an hour right in front of me.....when hello your student got disqualified mark for finishing far to early...! (Check the video out on YouTube if you want to see these things) - but it was clear to me when I was informed that this one Judge was going to judging that my chances of getting gold were out the window.....not only that was the one to debate the Cheif Judge's choice...! I have just one thing to say - in this industry you must learn to put your personal feelings aside, you leave them at the door and you put your make up on and you perform you act and lines to the script...you dont bring your ownself into things, because Hospitality is in a way much like that of Acting. And at the end of it all you clean yourself off you take the makeup off and the costume and you go back to your life....you can hate me and not like me....but you do not base your juding on personal feelings when it comes to Culinary Competitions....that is unfair judgement...!
I would like to thank my mum, my friends, my lecturers and the members of the pubic and the judges, you all know who you are for your support, the training, your encouraging words, your advice and opinions, and for all the positive feedback and comments you have given to me.....and I WILL get GOLD for Nationals.....if its the last thing I do...! Actually it is the last thing I will be doing, I wont be entering next year, as this is my final year at University.....
I stayed at a place called Kings, and it was awesome, the food is so good, its like being at home...and the staff are so friendly, and they look out for you.....going over and beyond expectation, its like a little family and your warmly welcomed into it. I just wish I could have stayed longer..! One day I will go back again, save my money up...
I had for my lunch/dinner Chunky Winter Vegetable Soup with Garlic Bread....it was so good...! Dont know why people were saying it was too healthy.....such rubbish...! It was so good that I didnt need to add any salt and pepper to it....then later on I had Lemon Creme Brulee with Coconut Cookie and Blueberry Compot, I love my Brulee....its the second best dessert next to Chocolate Mousse...ok third if you also bring Tiramasu in.....Ive yet to come across a killer Tiramasu.....! 
However since returning to Auckland I have been sick as a dog, my eyes are all itchy and watery.....my nose is runny but not enough that I have to blow it.....and Ive been sneezing like nothing...! Ive been feeling really tired and minorly depressed. The allergies started kicking in when I actually left Auckland....not long after I left we had a heat pump installed...so I came home to that running...Im partly blaming it....how I feel, I feel like this at work when I have been in The Great Room for too long with the air con on.... 
