So, what do I do with my son during the painfully long school holiday? My pocket is not exactly fit for expensive holidays, but I don’t feel like keeping the boy at home, moaning and groaning out of boredom.

So I let him tag along with me to Chefmanship Academy media briefing. The boy is used to be horrified and agitated during press conference and stuff, but I guess all these exposure is doing him good. Unlike the previous years, he is much calmer and despite of the confined space, he did not have a meltdown. Sure, after a short while he feel hard to concentrate and gets bored, but that is nothing really serious in comparison of a full blown sensory overload meltdown. To be honest, I’m quite glad with his changes. Not all autistic children could tolerate this, even with routine practice. So I guess…I’m on the right track after all, regardless of people’s opinion.

Neway, let’s get back to Chefmanship Academy.Chefmanship Academy (CA) is a first-of-its-kind initiative in Malaysia by a food service provider which covers over 100 topics, combining real world insights with industry research to offer hands-on learning experiences.The Chefmanship Academy (CA) programme has scaled new heights in Malaysia despite just being launched about four months ago with a solid kickoff after Unilever Food Solutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding with one of the country’s leading municipal authorities, the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA).

With the current issues of food poisoning, diarrhoea and even leptospirosis (rat urine contamination) resulting in lives being lost, CA cares about Malaysian consumers. From an initial 400 food operators that were first engaged last July, UFS Malaysia has reached out and touched a further 800 who packed the MBSA auditorium in November to find out how they can do things differently and positively with CA. The 1,200 food operators are just starters as UFS Malaysia ramps up its interaction to collaborate closely with key Government authorities and to uphold the well being of operators while focusing on hygiene for all food operators nationwide.

The word is spreading and a further CA in December is expected to involve a further 1,000 food operators in the thriving city of Shah Alam. The activities will continue even further next year when MBSA will hold more CA sessions especially before major festivities.They also benefited from seeing first hand for themselves, demonstrations and even hand-on experience in applying Knorr products into dishes.

Today, “eating out” trend has been increasingly popular among Malaysians with the increase of their busy lifestyle. Therefore, food hygiene is vital and now it is the responsibility of the food service industry as a whole to work together to raise this awareness on the prominence of food hygiene. Convenience or profit must not be allowed to compromise on this hygiene as UFS Malaysia’s mission is to give back to the community and this reflects Unilever’s global Sustainable Living Plan through which we want to improve health, well-being and hygiene habits in Malaysia.

After the media briefing on Chefmanship Academi and introductions to key Unilever products, we’re given a kitchen tour. Just look at the kitchen! Would love to have one like this at home. It would be a dream come true!

Managed to get a glimpse of the Chef in action during the kitchen tour.

Another Chef caught me playing paparazzi in the kitchen, so he decided to play model a lil bit for me. 😛 I see someone have potential to be a Masterchef contestant here.

Spotted food being prepared for lunch.

After the tour, it’s time for cooking demo session. Here’s Chef Mohd Hadzrin, briefing us on how to make bergedil/fried potato balls before he let us loose on the kitchen to make our own.

Ingredients that is usually needed for bergedil if you’re to prepare em from scratch; boiled potatoes.

But why would you want to prepare from scratch if you could use a shortcut? I’m all for shortcuts. Here’s introducing Knorr Instant Mashed Potato Flakes. Guaranteed to make your life easier of you wanna make bergedils.

Time for action. Ingredients needed to make bergedil: Two eggs, mashed potato powder, minced chicken, fried shallots, Knorr Pasti Sedap Powder, chopped chives and some hot water.

My boy, getting ready for action.

The boy dumping it all in. Easy right? It’s actually an idiot-proof recipe. Even my boy can do it on his own.

Shaping the bergedil into balls.

Bergedil, ready for frying

Deep-frying the bergedil

End product by my boy. Looks good eh? It was yummy too. So proud of him. 🙂 All these products are so easy and convenient to use that even my autistic son could effortlessly make a meal out of em.

Food prepared by chefs and media alike. A plate of my son’s bergedil made it to the table for the food tasting session. The boy was so proud and happy about it.

There are plenty of food prepared by the Chef by using assorted Knorr products. Otak-otak is one of them.

Salted egg fried chicken. Trust me. There was no actual salted eggs were involved in this. I was told that mashed potato flakes were used instead to imitate the taste of salted eggs. Hah! Could have fooled me if I was not told. It tasted exactly like the real deal!

Minced Chicken bergedil by chef. But having cooked his own bergedils, my boy prefer to eat his own. 🙂

Durian balls. Not a fan, but my boy had two of these. So I guess it was pretty good that it earned my son’s approval.

So, who says you can’t have quality time with your kids while working? Lol. I kinda love being a freelance. It certainly gives me the flexibility to have quality time with my boy while being at work. 🙂

Cleffairy: Special thanks to Ms. Angeline Mah for all the encouraging and supportive words. You know what I’m talking about. :D  I really appreciate it. Darn, nearly made me cry in public. 🙂