A New Milestone and New Chapter

The year 2015 is a time of big change and new milestone for me, both on a personal and work level. The latter also brought changes to what I have been doing on this blog, which I had not done any posting for the last 1.5 years!

A year ago, I gave myself a shot at doing a university degree, enrolling myself into varsity at the age of 42. It was a much deliberated, time consuming decision making and preparation process. In my younger days, I didn't pursue one as I couldn't afford it financially and my very limited academic ability has put a hold for me. But due to a career bottleneck, I decided it was worth the effort, and money to try. Well, to cut the story short, I quit the course 7 months later, in addition to quitting my job!

Through the whole compelling episode, what has been buried deep in my heart came to light, baking and sharing this skill and knowledge is still what I love doing best. The though of embarking this passion as a full time career has been a tug of war game  for me over the last 5 years, to go or not to go for it. I am glad I have taken the courage to finally embark on this, a new milestone and a new chapter.

For those of you who are not aware, I started Little Bake Shop back in 2009 while still during my culinary training. It is now officially known as Little Bakes & Crafts. After 6 months of preparations and working through countless nights (while sleeping in the days!), I am proud to have launched my website. I am very thankful and blessed to have understanding and supportive family members. And friends who have helped and given much encouragement, in one way or another. From here on, a whole lot more efforts will be needed to ensure my success. 加油!

Little Bakes & Crafts web launch

Birthday Cake for Myself

I had always make it a point to bake a birthday cake for each and every family member every year but never once for myself. Today, or rather yesterday, since it is now passed midnight, I decided to make an exception.

It was an extravagant tofu cheesecake, with the use of fresh berries and Chambord raspberry liqueur. Both of these two ingredients are my personal favourite, including the tofu cheesecake. What made it extra special or personalised was the liqueur. Almost 3 years back, while I was searching for different types of fruit liqueur to experiment on cakes, I found out raspberry was available and upon chancing a  picture of Chambord, I was immediately captivated by it's bottle design. Since then, I started my quest to find it at different wine and duty free shops. Whenever friends or family had a chance to travel, I would request them to help me check it out but to no avail. I finally found it at Phuket airport last year and you can never imagine how happy I was when I bought it. However, I found it too precious to open the bottle all this while, until now.

Special birthday cake for me to share with my family

My precious Chambord Raspberry Liqueur

I simply serve the cake as a after dinner dessert, no birthday song and lighting of candle as I had planned. It was not my birthday date and since I am used to bringing cake for dessert, I doubt my family suspected my intention. I was happy though, watching them enjoying the cake silently and myself, I had two servings with my elder brother. The fact that he initially rejected my offering after knowing it was a tofu cheesecake but had two servings after trying a mouthful would attest to how good the cake was!

A Very Special Thank You Received

 The day before National Day, I finally got to visit an ex-colleague, K and her family at their colonial terrace house at Portsdown,  a remote area near Commonwealth and Queenstown district. It is an old neighbourhood where you would get train running behind your backyard, which I had missed waving to bypass trains since the visit is way after the train line had closed.

I brought them a tofu cheesecake with mixed berries compote and we had it for tea. They really enjoyed it and had second helpings, leaving two slices to enjoy the next day. It was a charming afternoon at the nostalgic old house, all the more nicer with the very friendly and hospitable hosts. K's french husband, P, shared with me many nice information and little stories related to baking, cooking, travelling and all the other good things that one can do in the French countryside, with it's abundance fresh quality produce and wonderful scenery.

K and P also showed me the numerous home made stories books which they had created for their daughter when she was younger. Daddy wrote the stories while Mummy did the illustrations. I love all the imaginative stories and the charming water colour illustrations that went with them. What is really special is that the character, Shushana is an Asian girl and the drawings were all drawn in Asian context. They even gave me a set of four story books which got published some years back. They have a blog http://draw4children.blogspot.com/ which shares their inspirations on what motivated them to create these stories books and the books may also be bought through their mail order.

All this while, their daughter, Gaia, was drawing at our table side. When I tried to take a look, she hurriedly covered it up. I thought she was just being shy and left her alone.

The set of lovely story books I received, which was written and illustrated by the couple.

As evening came, K invited me for dinner and also offered to show me how to bake her quick baguette, which was very much enjoyed by her family and has become a staple at their meals. As we set down for dinner at the table, I noticed that Gaia has tucked a piece of folded paper under my napkins. As I picked it up, I realised it was the piece of drawing which she was working on earlier and she had made it into a card for me. As I went through her drawings, my heart felt a touch of warmth and I was deeply moved by this almost 12 years old (she turns 12 by this month end) way of showing her appreciation for the cake I made for her family.

The sequence of drawings on Gaia's Thank You card. I never expected such a heart warming gesture from a child and I was also greatly impressed by her drawing skills and had specially ask her to autograph the card. I also got to know I have been affectionately nicknamed 'Magde-lin' because of the madeleines I baked for them earlier on.

Thank you Gaia! Your little gesture is a great source of encouragement for me to continue working and improve my baking. Thank you too for letting mummy know that you would love a raspberry cake for your upcoming birthday instead of a chocolate one, it is definitely coming your way soon!