As executive pastry chef at The Westin Beijing, Financial Street, Kevin Curry devotes his days to the creation of chocolate wonderment.

Home
6:15a.m. Phone goes off for wake up call. I don’t recognize the alarm tone because it's my third phone in two months.
6:45 Prepare my famous chocolate, banana and peanut butter hotcakes for myself and my daughter. My wife doesn't like banana and peanut butter. I'm a pastry dude: gotta get my morning sweet-fix.
7:30 Send the little one to catch the school bus and realize I put her on the wrong bus. This one’s going to the Great Wall.
7:50 Ride my mountain bike to work. Pass my man Mao at the Forbidden City. Count how many locals stare at the sweet, tall, white, bald man on a very large bicycle.
Westin Hotel
8:15 Change into my "whites," a.k.a chef uniform. Make sure shoes are spot on and pray to the almighty Buddha I didn’t lose my Westin pin. I’m infamous for losing tiny stuff: phones, electronic devices and small children.
8:30 Check out a busy, busy breakfast in Senses All Day Dining Restaurant. Snag some fruit.
8:35 Do a croissant and danish quality check at Treats Deli. Just making sure the flakiness is there.
8:40 Enjoy a cup of green tea and a rocky road danish while booting up my PC.
8:45 Check freezers, chillers and pastry storerooms for stock levels. Submit orders to my dear Swiss chef.
9:30 Receive countless text messages from chef.
9:45 Submit daily market list for fresh fruit, chocolate, flour, nuts, sugar and other pastry ingredients.
9:55 Plug iPod into kitchen stereo and make all my guys listen to "Grand Master Flash" and "The Sugar Hill Gang."
10:00 Help prepare and double check desserts and breads for a busy day at the hotel. Remind my associates to clean up their stations and keep clean when they work. I turn the music up.
10:45 Set up Senses buffet desserts. Swing by Prego to sample a few pieces of the Italian chef's duck ravioli: yum!
11:00 Second quality check at Treats Deli for our freshly baked breads, cake orders and homemade artisan chocolates. Snag another chocolate softy (an American style cookie).
11:30 Check work email. Receive countless calls and requests from restaurant managers, chefs, suppliers, associates and my wife.
1:00 p.m. Refill lunch buffet at Senses and chat with the Westin F&B director.
1:20 Brainstorm new dessert ideas, chocolate showpieces, recipes, menus and in-room dining amenities.
2:30 Time for daily chef briefing. Realize I completely forgot to eat lunch!
3:00 Grab a quick bite of extra dark chocolate (66 or 72 percent) and fresh fruit.
3:05 Daily briefing with my associates where we have a quick demonstration on piping chocolate onto a cake to write "Happy Birthday.”
4:00 Meet with suppliers, purchasing agents and guests.
4:30 Return to crafting pastries and artisan chocolates such as "peanut butter and jelly," "key lime pie" and "cookies and cream."
5:00 Set up dinner buffet in Senses and prepare desserts for banqueting functions.
6:00 Respond to more emails and more requests.
6:30 Work on some new pastry and chocolate recipes, such as "fluffer-nutter," "orange creamsicle" and "Shirley Temple." Head to the kitchen to try them out.
7:30 Refill desserts on Senses dinner buffet.
8:00 Prepare my daily store order for the next day.
8:30 Back to brainstorming and creating pastries and have another chocolate, or two, or three … okay. six.
10:10 Last piece of chocolate for the day. Who needs coffee when you can eat chocolate all day?
10:30 Ride my mountain bike back home while rapping out loud to Eminem. More stares.
11:00 Welcomed home by wife. Kiss my sleeping daughter on the forehead.
11:30 Have a late dinner and fall asleep with a fork in my hand, a plate in my lap and food in my mouth.