A New Journey Begins....

Good morning peeps! Sorry for the very long silence...I have been very busy in the office and of course in the kitchen. My growing up kids also are demanding more attention....thank god for hubs who does the kids ferrying to extra classes and the laundry still! I take care of the kitchen and cleaning of the house. Even then, hubs organised my baking stuffs last weekend!

I have been trying new recipes, however, have not had the time to put them here. And, since I will be my own boss from 1.7.2013, I have rolled out a few new projects to keep me busy when I don't have a full time employment and to refill my pockets, haha..

....so, I have started a series of baking classes at several baking studios such as at the Dessert Table, KelasKek.com and Sugarflours.....all classes are on Saturdays till the end of May. I will rest in June to plan and prepare for orders in July since Ramadhan is starting on 7.7.2013 and classes will continue in September after Eidul Fitri, inshaallah!

...from the classes that I conducted so far, I have had fun sharing what I know and meeting new beautiful people. They came from everywhere, near and afar (Terennganu, Seremban and Brunei) and my youngest student was Mariam who's only 15...she knew what she wanted to do after her formal education and I salute her for this! So, here's the schedule for the upcoming classes:

11.5.2013 - Sweet and savoury Tarts and crumbles - Kelaskek.com, Puchong

18.5.2013 - Rainbow Cake, Red Velvet Cake, Macarons - The Dessert Table, Mutiara Damansara

19.5.2013 - Premium Choccolate Cakes - The Dessert Table, Mutiara Damansara

25.5.2013 - Rainbow Cake, Red Velvet Cake, Macarons - Sugarflours, Bangi

....and I have started using my dslr again after I fell in love with the candidness of my smarphone camera, hehe....and I hope to oblige more cake orders after this....have a brilliant polling week ahead peeps!

xoxo yani thekitchenguradian

Khob Kun Ka! Spring Gala Class With Handi Mulyana

"Khob Kun Ka" or thank you was one word that I thought was not over used in Bangkok. I just came back from my sugar flower class last night with the magnificient cake artist Handi Mulyana. ...and the experience was well worth more than the THB38,500 that I have paid! I joined my sugarpaste teacher Anissa in this class, yeay!

Our class was from Friday 5.4.2013 until Sunday 7.4.2013. We were joined by wonderful ladies from Chiang Mai and Bangkok and a mother daughter team from Singapore. The cake studio Sweet Obsession and her owner Pam were lovely hosts...with free flow of brewed coffee throughout the day and delicious vegetarian and seafood lunches...I couldn't ask for more! To top all this, we had super delicious desserts brought by the pretty ladies...my, the Thai bakers are super talented and very artistic! I felt so small and I have so much to catch up!

Handi taught us 3 different focal flowers and we had to also do fillers and buds. We learnt different techniques to color, dust and cover the four tier cake dummies. I rolled and knead 4 kgs of fondant....I didn't think I could do that! And, we didn't use a ruler to measure the fondant....how awesome!

....and what I thought was the most precious thing that I learnt was to think and become an entrepeneur! Generally, the Thais are either having their own family businesses or they work with the government.....so, when I came to work this morning I felt kind of awkward that I have a boss....I know I would do better when I'm my own business person, soon! My last day at full time employment will be sometime 30.6.2013!

...the time away had also given me time to ponder on the next moves....there are many! But one thing for sure , I will come up with my own very first module of fondant and sugarpaste, soon!

We didn't do much shopping except that we went to the Chinatown in Bangkok...I realised that most things are sold on wholesale basis there and they were cheap! We went to Platinum Mall, but I didn't quite fancy it there.

We didn't have a chance to go on a tuk tuk, as time was really short!

...and short of calling the press, how we brought the cake home created havoc at the Suvarnabumi airport...but, yes, we brought our cakes home!

Overall, the whole journey was a memorable experience for me....Handi will only come back to Bangkok next year, and he hoped to meet us all again next year. ....I have begun planning another sort of this trip to Sydney to learn from another sugar artist...but now I have to work hard for a return of investment and start saving up for the next trip, for after this I will be my own boss having my own cake business, woo hoo!