Goldilocks & the Three Bears...The Pastry Version

Most of us who grew up in the U.S. are quite familiar with the tale of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears."  I can't remember what age I was when I first heard the story, but I'm sure my parents shared the tale with me as a way to teach me not to wander away.   You're probably wondering what does this have to do with my externship in Holland.  To say that I think about it nearly every day would seem peculiar, but being surrounded by Dutch conversations all day long gives me a lot of time to swim around in my own thoughts.  

So what do I think of while everyone is speaking a language that I find impossible to understand?  

I often find myself reflecting on the negative feedback the chefs have given me about my work. I know there are several aspects where I  have excelled but I always dwell on the two things I always seem to struggle with:  piping & consistency. For example, each morning I pipe swiss creme onto almond-like cakes.  In school, making small portions made it seem fairly easy to stay consistent.  However, after piping a hundred or so little portions my inconsistency is quite evident.  So this is the foundation for my version of the story.  It's Goldilocks & the Three Bears...Pastry Style:

Zwartlokje en de Drie Beren

Once upon a time Zwartlokje was a pastry student who wandered each morning into the beautiful village of Heemestede.  Just before the sun rises, she biked 4.5 miles past the sand dunes and around the round-about and often dodged deer on her way to the local bakery.   

Upon arriving, what she failed to realize was that she was not in any ordinary bakery.  The atmosphere was light hearted, and the team of patissiers were exceptionally talented, but the drie beren were not just any Chefs.   Their eye for attention to detail was exquisite and the speed at which they all worked seemed super human.   They were patient, but persistent that everything was to be perfect. 

Each morning she pulled out items to prepare.  All of them possessed difficult names to pronounce such as zwitserse room, gezoete slagroom, groene spuitzak, aardbei, and boschvruten slofs.     Now the groene spuitzak was the bain of her existence.  She had used it before, but never in a capacity like this.  Knowing that consistent piping was not her forte she set out to do the best she could.  Every morning she lined up the rondjes and the slofs so that they can be piped with zwitserse room.   She did this every morning for nearly two hours straight.

During the first weeks at the bakery, she was approached by one of the beren.  "This one has too much." So she would pipe less and then the next beren would approach and say  "This one has too little."  The game seemed endless.  She wondered if she'd ever hear one of the beren say,  "This one is just right."   When given the chance to pipe rosettes, she thought, "I've done this before and even had a compliment or two from my previous teachers. I got this..."  Yet, the moment her rosettes hit the sweet treat the drie beren were back again saying, "This one is too flat,"  or "That one is too tall" and "This one is just not right".  

With tears welling up on the inside, she wondered, "What am I doing here?  How is it that I've gotten through school and I'm just now learning that my rosettes are terrible?"  Zwartlokje worried that if everything had to be perfect every time how would she ever get to that point.  How would she ever meet the drie beren's expectations.  She feared that some of the undecipherable conversations were about her...

Zwartlokje remained determined to make her rondjes and slofs to look just like the drie beren.  After work, she stayed late to practice her rosettes in hopes hers would be "just right."  That coveted phrase was spoken rarely during the first month.  However, when it was uttered, she soaked it in and remained persistent.  

Every night on her way home she cycled in the wind and rain, through the village, around the round-about, and passed the sand dunes.  Lost deep within her thoughts she knew that with only 7 months of school she was far behind everyone else in the bakery.  They had been in this line of work since they were 15 or 16 years old.  That meant she was at least 5-10 years behind them; however, that still didn't comfort her.  She wanted to be just like them...right now. 

Each night after talking to her loved ones and reflecting on her day, she ate her dinner, sat in her cushy chair and read, and then crawled in her comfy bed.  She smiled knowing that her little place was "just right" for her.  When she closed her eyes at night she continued to dream of the day that she would be just like the drie beren. ZZZzzzzzz

In the real fairy tale, Goldilocks ran way from the three bears.  However; in this tale, Zwartlokje returned to the village each day more and more determined than the previous day. So the lesson learned is that today things may not be just right, but with practice, patience, and by believing that it's possible one day things will be "just right."  

Dutch words:  prounouciation is in parenthesis (at least thats how I think it should sound)

Zwartlokje (svart-i-lowk-ye) = I made this up, but Zwarte means black.  I might act like I've got gold locks, but I wanted my main character to have black hair like me. :0)
drie (dree)= three
beren (ber-reh) = bears
zwitserse room (swi-ser rhooom) = swiss creme (sweet whipped cream & pastry cream combined)
gezoete slagroom (hgeh-zsweet slah-rhoom) = sweetened whipped cream
groene spuitzak (hgeh-rone spowt-zahk) = green pastry bag
aardbei (arrrr-bye) = strawberry
rondje (rownd- jun) = small round almond cookie-like cake
boschvruten slofs  (bosch-vruteh slofs) = fresh berry on an oval shaped almond cookie-like cake