Cabbage Cake

Got more orders from colleagues for Cabbage Cake this week. More but not sufficient, as one cake needs at least 3 persons to share (1/3 of the cake each), and there are altogether 4 of them. An auntie decided to take two loaves, so that leaves an extra one loaf. Thank God, I managed to get someone who wants it in the end.

I actually baked this cake twice this week. The first batch was baked on my 2nd sleepless night, i.e. last Tuesday as a gift for my boss who was visiting from Kuching. I got him to bring back two loaves, one for himself and another for a colleague in the Kuching office (i hope he had passed it to her!) while the third came as a treat to my colleagues here in KK. The second one was baked last night to be sold to three beautiful women. I was supposed to bake the third together with the second, but I discovered I ran out of pineapples, and they were just enough to bake one cake, so decided to postpone the other order to next Monday.

Here are some poses of the 1st batch Cabbage Cake:

The greenish purple thingy is the red cabbage. This cake is topped with cream cheese which enhances the soury-sweety orginal taste of the cake.

Decorated with some croquant

I packed each of the equally divided loaves in individual plastic containers.

One cake can be shared by 3 people, which i sell at Rm15 for loaf.

Like its name, Top TEN

Enough of tarts and cakes for the time being, let me now share about one of my favourite kopitiams in KK. This shop is none other than No. 10 in Lintas. Coincidentally, it is Mr Manager’s favourite noodle place as well, as he claimed the stall in the shop serves the best ‘shui jiao mian’ in town, which I also agree. Not only that, the stall in the shop is also famous for fish head noodles (yu tou mi fen) and other fish associate soup based or gan lao noodles.

M's favourite Shui Jiao Gan Lao Mian

Big Shui Jiao

Of course as usual, my favourites are not the noodles. It is their scrumptious buns that attract me. When i was working in my previous job, dad and mom would bring me there for tea (yum char) almost every late afternoon after work. We would hang around, chit chat, and enjoy the buns.

When it is first opened, the shop used to be very famous for its atypical bo lou bao. Why I call it ‘not typical’ is traced back to its top crust, which unlike others, does not fall off after every bite. The buns are normally served fresh and hot from the oven. I guess this is because the demand is often there; people buy them once they are out from the kitchen. Sometimes i wonder why this bun is termed as bo lou when it has no pineapple in it at all. Even the filling is butter milk. Yum..A great indulgement to those who fancy rich buttery taste.

Bo lou bao used to be my old time favourite but has now come to past. I used to brag about this superlicious bun to my Peninsular and overseas friends. Whenever they come, i would bring them there, and they would ta pao a box back home. I talked so much about this old time favourite of mine that whenever they see or eat a bo lou bao, they would remember me and then later on tell me about it.

Today, my cup of tea has switched to the shop's 2nd best (some people claimed it is the first), the baked char sao bao. Although it is not as good as the one in Lido, i believe this bun has been a hit to the outsiders as well. Particularly to those who are meat eater and who despise buns with sweet fillings such as tao sa, butter milk etc.

I think the price has been marked up from RM1.30 previously to Rm1.40 today.
The inside: Big chunks of 'char sao'

The shop is also famous for its other buns. My auntie claimed that the lao po bing there is very nice, and some people even remarked that the dumplings there are the best! Different people has different view on this, but for me, i would prefer the char sao bao.

Sandra's B'day Cake

Hehe, i'm so excited, although i didn't sleep the whole night again for the second time this week (Mr Manager is not going to be happy to hear this!). I managed to upload all the pictures that i had specially taken to pose on my blog, and will therefore publish as many posts as i can today. Before this post was my tartlets of love, of which half of them were made together with this birthday cake, most for Sandra and extras for family and friends. As i have described earlier on, the below cake is Nutella Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake, covered with cream cheese and chocolate nutella (Ferrero's chocolate spread) and decorated with blue, purple, yellow and white flowers and Cadbury Chocolate Hazelnuts (very last minute deco).

I hope she likes the cake, although I had initially promised her a different cake altogether and despite that this cake is perhaps twice more fattening packed with extra extra calories. I felt a bit guilty after she told me that one of her resolutions made on her birthday was to lose weight and reshape, because it seemed like I have caused her to stumble and fail this attempt on her first day of resolution! Really bad of me, added more chocolates somemore…. :-P

More Tartlets of Love

Here they are, these are my revised version of tartlets of love. Specially made for people whom I love, adore and respect. The first one is for Sandra, on her 24th birthday. Wanted to do Blessed 24th Birthday Sandra initially, but there wasn’t any container which could fit 25 tartlets representing the 25 alphabets, so decided to cut short to Happy 24 San.

My 30 completed shortcrust pastries, just before they entered the oven.

Hope the alphabets on the tartlets are clear and God bless u my friend!

And the second one is dedicated to none other than my dear Mr Manager…like the first, they are combination of six different flavours, which are blueberry almond, kiwi cheese, chocolate hazelnut cheese, chocolate almond, coconut and apple cheese.

J loves M always!! :-)

Last but least, the rest are for my beloved family, friends and colleagues whom I sincerely (from the depths of my heart) want to express my gratitude, love and care to, and really hope that these tartlets would warm your hearts so that through them, you may also feel the love of God touching you again.

More than 50 tartlets of LOVE for everyone.....

Ms Forgetful forgets the photos again

I woke up late today, not too late, but late enough to get ready for work. Woke up when I heard my dad starting his car engine at 7.10am, and then I realized it is a working day today. Hehe, that’s why they said, when you lose a night sleep you need 7 days to replenish. Although I slept in the noon and as early as 9 sth last night, I still feel very restless and tired today. Not to mention the look of my scary face now.

I forgot to upload the photos due to my sleepiness yesterday, will try to do so tonight. I have so many pictures to show; there are some which I took in mine and Mr Manager’s fave kopitiam. And the pictures of the kids in PK last Saturday also, I’m gonna miss the little princesses, and princes. Especially little Cherry who likes to kiss me and then stops to ask if I have showered! And little Stephanie who always comes around to say Wo Ai Ni, and presents her cutest smile :-), not forgetting also little Stancia who likes to jump onto my lap in the middle of the lesson to marvel at my watch. Little Lucas hasn’t been coming for the past weeks; this little boy may look very ‘guai’ and quiet, but mind you, don’t judge from the look because he can be very ‘hyper’ and crazy once he’s used to you. Naughty or good, hyper or quiet, i love all of you very much!

Just a while ago, an auntie was distributing some S'wak layered cakes in the office to everyone, and i got two slices! I felt really ashamed with my own kek lapis after looking at these famous ones. Not only are they equally layered, the colours are just right to attract, and they look very moist and tempting too.....Hmm, i've got lots to improve!

Steamed Prune Lapis - RM25

Blessed Birthday, My Dear Friend

Today is my dear friend, Sandra’s 24th birthday. Time really flies, I still remember when we were still kids, I barely knew her at all although we were in the same class from the same primary school. We grew closer and became good friends during our secondary years, from the start of the first year to the final year and until today. When I look back again, I can clearly see how God has blessed me with this friend, my playmate and youth-hood buddy who had throughout the 11 years, encouraged me in both good and bad times, who shared my secrets in silent, who helped in times of trouble, who rebuked me with love when I’m not doing the right thing and who accepted me as who I really am. And we even almost have the same height! You see, I’m a very snobbish girl…I don’t know how to communicate with people around and I don’t know how to tolerate with other people because I’m a princess at home. I’m the type who want things her own way, and who thinks her own opinions are much better than others. I seldom look at others and sometimes I hurt them without realising and unintentionally. I’m not the kind who knows how to express my love or concern. Cool is the word. Like ice. Arrogant is second. Well, that’s me. Sandra on the other hand is a girl with great patience, charming innocence and who always has a heart-warming smile on her face wherever she goes. She’s one who considers more for others than herself, who would contribute her best to help and who has immense humility.

Because of my behaviour, we had a big fight when we were in our final secondary year. It started with a small argument, and because the both of us were so afraid to lose out to the other party, we graduated from the school without talking to each other. Thank God we managed to reconcile during the pre-Uni years, and maintain our friendship until today.

Yup, that’s my friend. Today God reminded me again of how blessed I am. Sandra will be one of them whom I’ll never forget regardless of where I am in this world. :-)

To mark this occasion, I baked her some goodies early this morning; Nutella Hazelnut Chocolate Cheesecake as the birthday cake, and some tarts which were more than enough to share with others. Coz the cake was kinda last minute (it took three hours to bake in the oven), I had to decorate it in the easiest and fastest mode, just before I ran up to get ready for work. Therefore the cake wasn’t as good as I had initially planned. I covered it with cream cheese and chocolate, with some colourful flowers on top and Cadbury hazelnut balls at the bottom (Wanted to use Ferrero Rocher but couldn’t find them in small boxes in Giant, Servay, Lintas nor Tong Hing).

I promised to bake her an avocado cheesecake initially, however unfortunately, avocado is not in season at present, and I couldn’t find it anywhere..so Mr Manager suggested that I do this cake instead, as he claimed that it is one of my nicest.

I will pose some photos tomorrow!

Last but not least, i want to wish my dear old friend, a Blessed 24th Birthday, and may God continue to bless you abundantly that you may prosper in everything you do. May God' favour be upon you that you may find favour with men and women, and may the fruits of the Holy Spirit prevail in your life that you may be a light that shines for God.

1.3 Million House

Let me present to you the RM 1.3 million house. I found these pics in my folder as I was clearing up my files; took them a long time ago (think last year) during a site visit with one of my colleagues who was handling the monitoring program for the construction. These houses which look like little chalets are located somewhere near the Nexus Karambunai Resort fronting the sea, so you can guess why it is worth RM 1.3 million. My colleague told me that all of them have been sold out already, mostly by rich foreigners who come and go every once or twice in a year for holiday. Maintenance and cleaning is carried out by the developers so the owners only need to pay the annual fee and so forth.

Couldn't give any descriptions for the pics, coz i couldn't remember anymore. Conclusion: it is a holiday villa, affordable by RICH people only.

Morning Rush

Tried to wake up earlier this morning to bake some good tarts, however I accidentally switched off the alarm and ended waking up at 5.35am, leaving me just enough time to bake five coconut tarts and five mini cheese tartlets before the clock stroked 7am. I intended to make egg and blueberry tarts at the first place but I couldn’t find my recipe book (it is missing and I forgot the measurements!!) and wasted about 10 minutes searching for it. That left me only an hour to finish everything. Decided to then bake coconut tarts because they’re my mom’s favourites (which I believe the same also goes with Mr Manager) and also because I need to finish up all the desiccated coconut. The cheese tartlets came into play when I found the leftover cream cheese batter from previous order in the fridge. Had to rush to iron my shirt and take my shower, so left them in the oven for a while to find out the coconut tarts had turn browner than the usual colour! Thank God they aren’t burnt or hangus though..

Departed from home at 7.45am to reach office 10 minutes later than the clock-in time, due to the traffic jam and also because I turned into the shop at the corner after the junction into my office to buy my bao. Hmm….the traffic jam on the highway has been pretty bad this week which I wonder why…and everywhere seems to be jam all the time including the shortcut I took this morning! Is this something to do with the fasting month and upcoming festival?

Made a new resolution, am going to go around with a camera to capture all good foods and pastries around the globe. I find it an enjoyment to read other people’s blog, especially those with big nice pictures and snapshots of food. For this reason, I’m going to turn my blog into one of those!! To start off with, I am going to take over Mr Manager’s video aka snapshot camera.. :-P. This shall then prevent him from taking surprise videos and candid snaps etc etc...

I’m sitting down here with nothing much to do, my reports are completed, and nearly everything is done. Just a few brush up to do, and after that I will pack things and clear the cupboard. To be honest, I feel like I’m wasting my time here. As I sit here, I miss the times when I used to be so occupied and busy, wishing that time hasn’t gone by so quickly coz deadlines are coming and stuff, or scratched my head here and there to find a solution to a technical problem. I think people were afraid to disturb me because I often looked very intense and cool, especially when fronting my monitor. The different me now am very free and keep walking here and there to chat around. Oh boy, I just love being busy.. :-S

Before I forget, the reports weren’t delivered yesterday, coz the client called last minute to cancel. :-( (and it was during MY LUNCH BREAK). I was kinda pissed off, but what to do? Client always has to come first. The reason I was pissed off was not because I felt used or my efforts have been wasted etc etc, but more of like on behalf of my colleagues who had worked over time just to finish laminating those covers, and compiling them into the 4 volumes of hard copies!! Imagine them working so hard to meet the ‘supposed-to-be’ deadline, and there were 240 reports altogether! I gave the client a hard scolding (though I shouldn’t) and I think my boss was a bit pissed off with the way I responded when he told me ‘we have to delay it’. Hehe…typical me. Anyway, I couldn’t be bothered already; I have done what I could to ensure everything is finished as much as possible before I leave.

My Report is Finally Out!

Finally....the reports are going out today today today!!!! Am so excited to see the results of my own hardwork and months of effort going out to the relevant agencies. Although i'm not the one signing it, i know every bits and pieces of the report content by heart, and how much i've worked hard to make them into the report it is today. My appreciation goes to those who printed and compiled them in hardcopies, those who assisted to deliver and those who contributed in a way or another. Not forgetting also the dear d.oe officer who assisted generously. I know a great incentive is coming next month, and i believe each of you will get a portion of what you deserved. As for me, i know my reward is in Heaven. Haha. Know what, i will miss working with all of you, a lot! I know sometimes i can be very demanding or lose my temper when things don't go accordingly, careless by making some silly mistakes at times, ignorant and very forgetful most of the time but i guess that's why we need each other and work in a team. Please do forgive me if i've ever offended you in a way (which i really don't mean to), or hurt you or sometimes when my cakes are too 'yucky' or 'awful' that choked you hard.

Have you ever heard of the Pencil Parable? I learnt of it last Sunday in a teachers' training and found it really meaningful. The story goes like this:

The Pencil Maker took the pencil aside, just before putting him into the box. "There are 5 things you need to know," he told the pencil, "Before I send you out into the world. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best pencil you can be."

"One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in Someone's hand."

"Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but you'll need it to become a better pencil."

"Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make."

"Four: The most important part of you will always be what's inside."

"And Five: On every surface you are used on, you must leave your mark. No matter what the condition, you must continue to write."

The pencil understood and promised to remember, and went into the box with purpose in its heart.

Now replacing the place of the pencil with you. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best person you can be.

One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in God's hand. And allow other human beings to access you for the many gifts you possess.

Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, by going through various problems in life, but you'll need it to become a stronger person.

Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.

Four: The most important part of you will always be what's on the inside.

And Five: On every surface you walk through, you must leave your mark. No matter what the situation, you must continue to do your duties.

Allow this parable on the pencil to encourage you to know that you are a special person and only you can fulfill the purpose to which you were born to accomplish.Never allow yourself to get discouraged and think that your life is insignificant and cannot make a change.

Isn't this parable real and eloquent? Especially point number 4, you will always be what is inside you. I believe this is very true. When i look at my life and stuff, i just hope that i'll be the great pencil one day and as i finish my race, God will look at me and say, "Well Done, my loyal and faithful servant!" To achieve this, i need a lot of sharpening.....really A LOT.

Mid Autumn Day

Yesterday was Mid Autumn Day, also known as the Moon Festival and Mr Manager’s b’day according to the Chinese Calender, the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. When he was born, the moon was full and beautiful, just like last night, so his parents decided to name him ‘yue’ which means moon and ever since then, he was called ‘yue liang’ at home. When I first heard of that, I thought it was a joke and he turned so red that I couldn’t stop laughing. I found it funny not because of the name, but thought that really suits his round chubby face a lot (apart from his cute reaction). Also it reminded me of the cow of who thinks the moon is made of cheese because it’s round and yellow…just like his face! :-P After that he got a bit sensitive and I wasn’t allowed to even mention or call him by that name. His reason, I’m not his parents and i bully him too much!

Every Chinese (including the overseas) observe this festival as an important day to come together and reunite as a family. And, in some countries like China, it is a legal holiday (nice huh..). Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Nevertheless the most important thing is for Chinese family members and friends to gather together to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon and eat moon cakes. The little ones or couples would carry brightly lit lanterns and walk under the moonlight.

Mooncakes or yue bing are Chinese pastries traditionally eaten only during this festival . Typical mooncakes are round pastries, measuring about 10 cm in diameter and 4-5 cm thick. A thick filling is usually made from lotus seed paste is surrounded by a relatively thin (2-3 mm) crust and may contain yolks from salted duck eggs in its center to symbolize the full moon. The saltiness of the yolk balances well with the sweet filling in the mooncake. For this reason, mooncakes are rich, heavy, and dense compared with most Western cakes and pastries. They are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by Chinese tea.

Today, moon cakes filling have varied from just simple lotus to tiramisu etc. etc. It was obvious that mooncakes could be filled with pretty much anything that could be made into paste. In the recent years, an explosion of new flavours appeared and spanned the range from cream cheese to weird stuff like chicken floss, or duck flavour (eeww...but very nice).

This year i got to try many new moon cakes (hehehe....). Among all, i still love the ones with red date paste and winter melon filling. Hmm, so yummy that i'd actually ate the whole piece myself!! Haven't got the passion to make mooncakes so far...simply because, i need to explore more, try more new recipes and ideas, before making one that is the most excellent.

Below are the mooncakes i received this year from Mr Manager's parents.......

One word: Exquisite

There were 12 mooncakes inside of 3 different kinds

I couldn't tell the flavours, but i do know one of them is coffee.

The second box which had the red date filling mooncake i love!

Disappointment

Two things happened today that pissed me off. Not sure if i've ever gotten so angry before for the previous nearly two years in this company, but today, i was really disappointed at how things are. Of course, i had some dissatisfactions but they dissolved because of my respect to my boss, whom i think is perhaps the nicest among all i have seen.

Back to the topic of what happened today, i found out that everyone's annual leave is deducted because they went for the company's annual trip. Basically, i would not have minded so much, if No.1: They informed us earlier and properly prior to getting our confirmation, No.2: They booked us on a Thursday flight, which wasn't our choice/suggestion/request, so basically we were sort of 'forced' to go on Thursday because it was already planned without asking or seeking for our opinions, No.3: Nobody informed us even until today, they just gave out the order to the Admin people to deduct the leaves! (The reason why i knew this was because the HR has miscalculated my remaining leaves and had to email me to inform of my last day meaning the rest of my colleagues are not aware of this at all!!), and last but not least, No 4: Such action of not informing shows that there is no RESPECT to us.

As for the second thing that happened, think it's inappropriate if i further elaborate here. Just that, a company can only achieve hundred percent success if it manages its resources well, i.e. its valuable employees who are the key assets of the company.

Nevertheless, i sincerely wishes the company higher achievements, successful undertaking and a long lasting success.

Faithful Eater

Do you know where to find the best bao in town? It’s Chakitiam, the shop in Damai that is often filled with customers due to its superlicious-deficious delici-oous zhu rou bao. I like the char sao bao more, although most would disagree with me. Well I do admit that the zhu rou bao is really good, just that it’s not my cup of tea so, I would always prefer char sao over zhu rou. After all, they are still pork….

No 10 in Lintas is my another favourite shop for baked char sao bao. I used to go crazy for its bo lou bao when I was younger during the uni days but after a while, I got sick of it, being fully aware that the fat content is very high due to the extra butter on top and the filling. Part of growing up, I guess…..you tend to change, and dislike what you used to fancy a lot, or less fancy something that you used to crave like crazy last time. Wonder how long would it take before I grow tired of char sao bao. Have been eating it everyday for the past almost 3 years now and am still enjoying every bite of it. Mom always says it’s easy to predict my menu; when it comes to breakfast, it’s either bao or porridge; and my choice of dish for dinner? Sweet and sour fish..

Yeah, I believe so. I find it hard to get rid or not choosing something which I really like. Stubborn I guess, or hard headed. The thing is I know there’s so much nice food out there and believe me, when comes to good places to eat, I’m well informed of famous coffee shops/restaurants and would know what this or that place is famous for, but sadly, I don’t really fancy them apart from my ‘routine’ menu. Well, that is me. The faithful eater.

And u know what, another thing about me is that I don’t like baking or making or cooking stuff I like to eat. There are still some exceptional cases like, blueberry muffins which I love eating and baking, my own kek lapis and fruit cake which I also love…simply because, there’s none in KK that I find good! I can’t fly to S’wak every week just to buy kek lapis, can I? Again, I’m not saying my products are very good, just that they happened to suit my taste bud because there are no good ones in KK or rather the choices are limited hence less competition.

Perhaps this is the reason I shrunk in size ever since I came back. UK used to be my fantasy land with lotsa nice desserts and pastries. Custard donuts, white chocolate magnum ice creams, chocolate chip soft cookies, mullerice, Cornish pastries, apple crumble, etc etc…..well you name it.....so you can imagine how big i was once a upon a time................CAN YOU?

P/S: I dislike this comp very much!

More Blueberry Lapissss

Here are more captures of the Blueberry Cheese Lapis which I have not posted. Found them in my picture folder this morning, thought I should show more of this recently popularized cake (ai sei..hehe).

Reason for Living

You know this is very true, the way you live reveals your real reason for living. Actions really do speak louder than words. Just sit back,take a look at your own life and evaluate where your energies are being spent. I was thinking pretty hard on my own life lately; and guess what, i no longer know the real reason for my living. I go to work at 7.30am everyday, reach home at 5.30pm, rest and that's it. End of the day. Sometimes i do bake, because it's the only thing i thought would bring up the best of me (which does but not completely) but other than that, what is my real reason for living?

I screwed things up when everything was supposed to be 'perfect' and easy, i made my own life harder because i wasn't strong enough to take up some 'responsibilities' which i should be, worst of all, i caused everyone to feel miserable and 'hurt' because of my own self-centeredness. Am i living up to the girl God wants me to be, or where is my reason once upon a time?

I was clearing up a bit of my stuff last night, and I came across some scribbled resolutions which I have set in the beginning of this year. When I saw these, I was really disappointed with myself, honestly speaking, because these resolutions were written merely without the commitment and perseverance that I should be putting in to work and achieve the results that I was hopping for. I committed mistakes over and over. Questions just filled my thoughts: what am I afraid of? Whose expectations am I living up to? Is this how God really want me to be or feel or suffer?
MR Manager is right, no point to regret, coz what has passed is now the past, and what is more important is the road ahead…We got to stand up and change for the better, to improve the situation and travel the journey. Like it or not, God has already sent his one and only Son into the world to die and take away all your sins. The same mistakes shouldn’t be committed over and over, because such act is like taking Jesus for granted. Just lay everything before the cross, and trust that God still loves you as much as He always does because Jesus came for all your sins.
I’m challenging myself right now, to take up the stand, and my dreams to achieve my reason for living. I will never lose God, because every second, and every minute, He’s right there. I will soar above the storm because He’s my guide. I will be joyful despite of whatever circumstances there are because I know HE has everything under His control. The joy of the Lord is my strength, my birth logo and the interpretation of my name.
To everyone out there, I sincerely apologise if I have directly or indirectly and intentionally or unintentionally hurt you in a way or another. I pray that God bless each of you abundantly.

My Jehovah Jireh!

Received many encouraging but not so ‘sweet’ remarks from people today. They said they’ll miss my cakes and tarts greatly; because each taste always gives them a kind of ‘feeling’ or sensation that couldn’t be described (should be xing-fu-ness?). No outside cakes can ever substitute that kind of taste, according to them. Hmm…think it’s because in every cake/pastry I do, I always make sure my main ingredients:‘ love’, ‘prayers’, ‘blessings’ and ‘joy’ are mixed in along with the butter, sugar, eggs or flour. I find this remark every encouraging because it proves of God’s blessings to me (and subsequently to the others), and that my skill has improved over the last 3 years! However, not so 'sweet', coz they’re not missing me for ‘me’ but my cakes.. :-(
Mr Manager said he’ll eat more of them in the future, because other people miss them…wonder how he finds the link between that, however, if you ask me, I don’t think that’s a good idea for someone who’s trying to lose weight, don’t u agree? Hmm...no worries, i'll bake more healthy cakes like cabbage then.

Speaking of cabbage, just received an order for the cake from my ex junior aka assistant who made the order on behalf of her new colleagues. Apparently, she has been promoting my cakes to them, which i felt soooo 'malu', coz it's my client's office! However, when i think of it carefully again, i felt that God is really marvellous (MY JEHOVAH JIREH), because i have been thinking of baking of this cake very lately (using some left over cabbages) for Mr Manager to try and now someone is paying for it! Am only selling about a quarter of the cake for RM15, just enough to buy 250g of butter, and 250g of cheese! Isn't God just awesome?

Rich Fruit Cake

Time flies huh? It's another new week again, and Mr Manager is coming down soon! Have been trying to tidy up room, decide which stuff to keep, bring over or give away and pack up some clothings over the weekend (I don't only bake :-P). Another thing I’ve doing during the weekend was preparing these dried fruits and soaking them in rich Barcardi rum which I got my dear friend to help me purchase from Labuan for only RM23!

This 1 litre Bacardi Rum costs only RM23!

Look at how much i've used just to soak the below dried fruits!

Am going to soak these for about a week

YUP, i've said it. I'll be leaving them for a week before turning them into my own masterpiece..hehe, rich and dark!

Just want to share another important lesson i've learnt: What you will be tomorrow depends on the choices you make today. Simple, but not easy. Life is always filled with many choices and options. Sometimes i do wonder how my life might have been different had i not made that one small choice once upon a time. "What-ifs" have dubious merit - we can always second guess ourselves, BUT we cannot underestimate the impact of our choices. One choice can produce lifelong consequences, for good or bad. Ya...so think carefully before you make that one small choice! For good or bad...you decide. Another thing i've learnt is, when you have made that one small choice, always learn to be thankful and appreciative, because God never puts you in the wrong place to serve Him and God's timing is always perfect - even in death.

Last but not least, like this fruit cake which i'm about to bake, will you be willing to be soaked in the rum like the fruits so that they turn out rich? Will you be willing to allow God and the Holy Spirit to fill you and enrich your life with blessings so that you can experience the true richness of life and be a blessing to other people?

Fruity Rainbow Colour Cheese Cake

I hereby present my fourth kek lapis, the Fruity Rainbow Colour Cheese Cake! Made this yesterday afternoon and this time, i have to admit that the colour is a bit too 'drastic'. No one in the family dares to eat it, not to mention my ownself..hehe. Guess i overtook people's recommendations this time?

If you notice carefully, the green layers contain raisins soaked with Barcardi rum, the pink has san chars or haw flakes, the sky blue has blueberry linings and the orginal colour (bottom layers),apricots.

I adapted this recipe from the Y3K Malaysian Layered Cakes. As you can judge from the below picture which I snapped from the book itself, my cake differs a lot! Nevertheless, it’s still comforting to know that my colleagues are looking more into the taste rather than the look, because to them, the presentation is easier to be ‘mended’ than the taste! And as long as it tastes good, everything comes as ‘2nd class’.

Obviously...more practices for me before I can feature this product!

Snapped this photo from the recipe book.

Along with the above cake, i also managed to bake the Blueberry Cheese Lapis order yesterday afternoon. Like I mentioned earlier on, each of these costs RM16, so altogether the whole cake costs RM32. The cake is a bit small huh?

God is Amazing!

I’m back! We finished much earlier than scheduled, and came back to the office after lunch at about 2.30pm. Great trip! Just found out that Sam isn’t just a cooperative colleague who meets deadlines and whom I don’t have to worry about work quality etc etc (unlike other ‘professional’ consultants), he’s very supportive; he understands my situation very well, and gives me lotsa insights about Aus. Even offered some contacts in Aus just in case I couldn’t settle well, which is very unlikely the case. When it’s God’s plan, everything just falls into place, you need not worry about anything at all…contacts just keep coming, people are excited for you (although some do scrutinize you), etc. etc… God is amazing!!

More Lapis

Here goes..as i have promised yesterday.

The Blueberry Cheese Lapis was best voted among the three, and i have received an order already! Well, just yesterday before lunch, when my colleague approached me to ask how much i charge for this cake. Told her the whole cake (of about 10" x 6") will worth RM32 (which is pretty cheap for kek lapis huh?) and she should share with someone as she probably can't eat that much (kek lapis is very fattening one you know). She confirmed just right after lunch and the deal was done. The only problem is, she demands it the next day (which is today) because she's craving already!!..I ended up apologizing saying that i couldn't afford to lose my sleep, as baking a kek lapis will take at least 4 hours, and if she really wants, she would have to wait till next Monday. And guess what, she agreed...although she said her saliva would have dried up by then! Hehe..I'm really happy that people are craving for my cakes, although they do look kinda doggy!! :-)

This Fruity Lapis didn't look very good either, just like the Blueberry Cheese Lapis. Reason: I ran out of piping bags, and so, had to use plastic bags that couldn't pipe properly. Will learn from mistake and carelessness..As for the Blueberry Cheese Lapis, it was because i piped the wrong direction (and also cut wrongly), and the blueberries were too big to be sucked out through the small hole!

Just in case you are wondering what the fruit linings are, they are kiwi filling (green), blueberry filling (purple), mango filling (yellow), apple filling (blue, very doggy) and strawberry filling (red).

And last but not least, a comment from my dear friend:

Oh ya, ur cake yesterday, u said ‘really bad presentation’..i was expecting something buruk..but, it is not buruk at all..
It’s nice la..beautiful..onli the greenish blue colour(I think it’s the one with the fruit lining) was a bit too bright..and I think not sweet enuf la(for the fruit lining)..i dunno if u purposely reduce the sugar la..but, ngam for ur dad lo, kan? =)
Comparing the blueberry and the fruit lining ones, I think the blueberry one is softer. And my brother commented, he prefers your first kek lapis..

Really appreciate that, thanks! :-)

I'll be leaving in a short while for my trip to Tenom again...Probably the last trip, i don't know. Will drop by the P&P mill to collect something.

Time is the Essence

It’ll be my 2nd anniversary by the time I leave. Phew, time really flies..i remember when I just started on the 2nd October 2006, I was introduced by an ex colleague who’s no longer here today, supervised by a supervisor who quitted on my 8th month, and heard laughter of those who have long since been gone. Everything here is so different now. As I ponder on my seat looking and starring at those who pass by my desk every now and then, I begin to realize that there’s actually nothing left for me to be ‘ke shi’ of, or ‘bu shi de’. New faces are everywhere, new desk arrangements, new compartments, new etc etc… The only thing that will be my regret is leaving my good boss. I hope God will bless me with another one like him, or even better in the future. It has been a tough decision, I have to admit, but nothing is more important than achieving your own dreams or longings for a long long time. I have been considering this for three years already, and it’s time to make a move. I trust that God will bless me with a better employer, like how He had been doing for the past three years; my first boss was a great teacher to me, yet always seeking for my opinions so that with our combined ideas, we could achieve the most perfect solution. My current one is an opportunity giver, also a great teacher who has given me lotsa opportunities to discover and maximize my potentials in my working aspects; who trusts me with great confidence, and who is not afraid to encourage me with good compliments anytime. It’s very rare that bosses praise their staff for whatever they’ve done, u know…and a simple ‘well done’ or ‘great job’ is powerful enough to motivate one to climb higher and that’s my boss..:-).

For the remaining month, I’ll be making use of the days to bless those who still remain, and those who are fresh to this environment. There are so many things to do, not only today’s unfinished tasks, but tasks that are never ending like spending time with family and good friends.

Back to baking business, as I’ve mentioned in my previous blog, I did do some bakings over the last weekend: kek lapis and some cheese tarts.
This time, it was a different layered cake, with no colouring at all: The Blueberry Cheese Lapis. My dad liked it so much that he brought some for his friends to try, which is very unlikely of him. One colleague likes it too, and gave me the following compliment:
This time your cake is nice especially the blueberry. Even better than the Sarawak kek lapis hehehe…next time I order from you lah the blue berry pny.

Just in case you’re wondering what he meant by especially…there was another layered cake I baked, which is Fruity Lapis. The presentation of the cake was disappointing, and comments received so far have indicated that this cake was not as good as the previous two.

The cheese tarts were made for an auntie who is displaying and selling them in her shop these few days. Fifteen of them altogether, three kiwi, four apple mango, four blueberry, and four cookies and cream.
I will pose the photos tomorrow morning before I leave for my field trip. Will be spending the night there and back on Friday.

My experience of faithful and fearful feet

Had a restful but hard and meaningful 3-day holiday. Conclusion is, the world is the other way round now, my Mr PA has been promoted and I’m now his Ms PA. For this, i shall from now on refer him as my Mr Manager. However, do be reminded that in baking, he is still my PA...i'm always the manager of my division..:-) Hehe...

Have a lot to do this week. Everything has to go in order as time is running out. (Must start moving hard).....

Yeah, I’ve said it, time is running out for my old life. Time to change, time for improvement, and time for the better. Therefore, to start with, I’m going to put aside the ‘baking’ topic for now and discuss some real issues here (although I did do some bakings over the weekend which I’m going to tell later).

Last Saturday, I felt a tremendous fear in my heart. I always had this fear, but this time the fear was so bad that I nearly and almost backed out from entering my new life. I don’t know how to describe it; but it felt awful…to the point where life seemed so meaningless and helpless. Because of this, I was requested to think carefully of what I really want.
Just right after our routine phone call, I laid restlessly on my bed, starring right up into the ceiling and the revolving fan. In my mind, I was questioning God really hard, begging Him to reveal to me my own heart. Then I saw them; the images and memories that I so well cherish all these years. As these memories still played in my mind with the BIG question of what God?!?!, I started to open my bible. IT was then God opened my shut eyes…the first verse just popped out like this: 1 Corinthians 17:2 – Whatever you have in mind, do it for God is with you always.

Isn't God amazing? Although i fail him times and times again, He's still as faithful as ever. And more miraculously, the next morning, the message was about prayer of faith..Mark 11: 22-24, i.e. when you pray for your own needs, know in faith that God has answered you(although it may be in His own ways) and do not doubt at all.

Yeah, my experience of faithful and fearful feet. It is really doggy to know we've been teaching this message to the children for the past months and yet myself finds it really difficult to put into actions. My life has been like Peter..who sank in the water because he began to doubt when he saw the waves (Matthew 14: i don't remember the verse :-P). And Jesus was just right in front of him!

I learnt a really great lesson during the weekend..and God is sooo real! Amen!!

Before i conclude, I just want to take this opportunity to express a few messages from my heart to my dear mommy and daddy who have been and always very dear to me:

Regardless of what decision i've made and about to make, i want to let you both know that you play a very important role in my heart, even ever since young. In whatever i do, i always need to seek for your blessings and approvals, the approvals that i not only hear but see from your heart. This time, if i do disappoint you in a way (which i hope i don't), i really want to ask for your forgiveness.....and my love for you will never fade, always in my heart, you're the most amazing parents ever. I will care for you as God has taught me to care; i maybe far but my heart is always near; i thank God everyday for our flaws and strengths, because only in our weaknesses that we prove our love for one another, and with our strength we encourage each other.