Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) recently partnered Asian Food Channel (AFC) to produce an original reality television series, “The Big Break”. The original production by AFC features 12 underprivileged youths from across Asia, competing to realise their dreams of becoming a chef.
Rachel and I were invited to catch the media preview of Episode 9 of The Big Break where the youths enter the Italian round. They were required to knead, assemble and bake their own pizzas.
Before we watch the episode, we attended a cooking class with AFC’s Chef Wendy Ong to prepare two italian dishes – pizza and cannoli.
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong At AFC Studio in Orchard Central](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8231/8384083984_e9ea2e4047_z.jpg)
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong Meet AFC's Chef Wendy Ong!](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8361/8384080200_54f4151c13_z.jpg)
The last time Rachel and I attended a cooking class together was in Bangkok at the Helping Hands Thai Cooking School. We had a great time then and found the class with Chef Wendy Ong just as fun and interesting.
The chef was very patient as a teacher and went through each step slowly in details. You know the class is a success when even a cooking novice like me was able to follow her instructions and make some great tasting italian food!
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong Ingredient for the first dish we are preparing - a personalised pizza each](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8217/8384081256_7705cb1981_z.jpg)
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong Chef Wendy teaching us how to stretch the dough and how to tell if it's ready](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8081/8384080770_2b366d1e62_z.jpg)
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong The attentive class](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8498/8384080872_4b5577df3b_z.jpg)
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong Rachel examining the texture of the finished dough](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8509/8384081074_62da1f6e14_z.jpg)
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong The ball of dough is to be left overnight to raise - here is the before and after on the left and right respectively](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8049/8382997043_752407a8fe_z.jpg)
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong Chef Wendy trimming the dough into individual servings](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8495/8384081350_051e3aaec9_z.jpg)
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong Rachel decorating her pizza](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8365/8382997403_99fb28cd09_z.jpg)
While Rachel is adapt at cooking, I seldom enter the kitchen back home. You can tell the difference in our skills level by the pizzas we created:
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong My deformed and ugly (but delicious) pizza creation](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8096/8382999587_534040bc6e_z.jpg)
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong Rachel's beautiful pizza creation](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8185/8382999705_be5ac27aa3_z.jpg)
Making cannoli:
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong Rolling the dough](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8228/8382997779_8562e1d223_z.jpg)
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong Cutting out the desired circles](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8328/8384081922_313ed12465_z.jpg)
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong Wrapping the dough around a metal tube for frying](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8092/8382998007_4b03231840_z.jpg)
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong Using a tong to transfer the cannoli into a pot of boiling oil](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8219/8382998127_09fe46d70c_z.jpg)
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong Frying!](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8074/8384082246_62e04de1e4_z.jpg)
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong Extracting the completed cannoli](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8094/8382998465_ee2a37c158_z.jpg)
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong Empty cannoli for us to fill up](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8237/8384082956_3146b3ce62_z.jpg)
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong Chef Wendy preparing the filling for the cannoli](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8509/8384082866_72223c4ee4_z.jpg)
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong Rachel filling a cannoli](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8502/8384083052_13be7ef0c6_z.jpg)
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong Close-up of the filled up cannoli](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8472/8384083168_9a3b6895aa_z.jpg)
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong Tada! Two cannoli each for Rachel and I](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8330/8382999245_7e88f7ef1d_z.jpg)
Once we are done preparing our own italian dishes, we sat down together with a group of other bloggers to enjoy episode 9 of The Big Break. The experience was priceless – watching the contestants fumble over their pizza creations just as we had went through a similar process, but at a leisurely pace!
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong Self-made lunch is served!](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8504/8382999801_7495f3e391_z.jpg)
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong Me with my creation and another blogger, Melissa crying in the background](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8376/8382999901_e1d473b100_z.jpg)
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong Corn tarts prepared with Del Monte corns](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8508/8382999347_f7479aa940_z.jpg)
![Cooking Class with Asian Food Channel's Chef Wendy Ong Scones to share](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8216/8382999471_5899757d9a_z.jpg)
For more information on The Big Break, visit their official website. The site will provide the latest information about the contestants as well as summaries and highlights from each episode. The Big Break, the series airs exclusively on Starhub Channel 435. 🙂