I am blogging in the hope of building up a collection of recipes and baking ideas and as a way of recording my time at pastry college.
I had been looking for a pastry course for quite some time which would allow me to work and study at the same time. After several years of suffering with IBS (or so I thought, but that's another story) my plans were completed derailed when I was diagnosed with fructose malabsoprtion. After eliminating diary, wheat and onions and a whole host of other vegetables from my diet I quickly began to see an improvement in my symptoms and after reintroducing a variety of foods I can now handle diary but wheat and onions are off the menu. Getting used to the change in diet took several months but the benefits far outweighed any of the times I craved crusty bread or anything fructose filled.
Why did I decide to study a pastry course when I can't actually eat wheat?
I have questioned my decision on several occasions but the most simple answer is that there are no wheat free pastry chef courses and I figured that I can use the skills from the course and apply the techniques and methods to wheat free baking. Whilst there will be some recipes on this blog that may contain wheat I am aiming to publish recipes which are suitable for people with a variety of dietary restrictions.
Where are you from originally?
I moved to Australia from the North-East of England in June 2006 to take a year out to backpack and travel. The initial year out slowly turned into six years out when I met my
What is a Sweetgum?
See the picture at the top of this page - they are sweetgums. A Sweetgum is a type of Australian Eucalypt tree and they have beautiful husks which fall and scatter on the ground. I walk past several of these trees on a morning on my way to work hence the australian themed name for my blog.
Put the kettle on, make yourself comfortable and follow me on my pastry adventure...
