Once upon a time...

No, this is NOT the starting line for a fairy tale story. More like me looking back in wonder. Of the days I used to bake and sell my cookies, little muffins and low sugar fruit cakes. And then even longer back in time, I used to cook and sell my sambal pastes. Not so much for the profit of it, but more to practice and hone in my chilli pastes perfection.

And ever since I started Kitchen Capers forum, I slowly stop hiding my recipes. I started to share more. And when I started teaching culinary, I stopped hiding it altogether. Now all my recipes can be found everywhere. Namely in my own KC forum, sometimes you will find it at C2C.Net, an American all CHEFs website and forum, or the occasional food blogger's pages, at MCDC(Malaysian Cake Decorator's Community) and even at the Human Flower Project website.

The next step was to get some of these PRINTED because not everyone is on a computer. Call me old-school whatever, I still like to refer to instructions on paper, printed media..not the Internet. I know its much easier to search for it.

The good thing to report is Wiltshire Australia has ask for my permission to print my recipes onto a recipe card. And these will be distributed with their bake ware products. And its sold worldwide, or at least to the Western world. In Asia, Wiltshire Singapore will do likewise and distribute their Bake ware products to Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia..

I have kept really busy and literally on my toes. So if you go to Kitchen Capers website and don't see any major movement in my classes, its because I have been stretched really thinly lately.

By October, our classes at Robinsons will be uploaded at KC website and linked to Robinson's website too. In due time, I will be getting more baking instructors to teach with me at Robinsons. I cannot run the classes alone as I have to run my shop too. But when you see the classes offered by KC, it will have a variety for you to choose..from simple cooking to complex traditional cuisines to baking for beginners to beyond.

I hope to engage an enrichment school to run baking classes for little Tots from 3 years to older kids at 12 years old. I just wanted to make this appeal to all who have been loyally supporting me all these years, be it in my classes or my forum and my shop too.

on the lighter side...here's some old photos of the stuff I use to bake and sell. These recipes and its secrets will be taught when I teach at Robinsons. See you...

Jade lion (Gummy candy)



Home made Cheese Foccacia


Chocolate Mint Cookies..the secret ingredient is the Polo Mint used in this recipe



Beef Noodles...NOTE: Teaching this in November 2010 at Robinsons..My late grand dad heirloom recipe.

Lord, I Give you my Heart

I wake up every day at around 7:30am. Breakfast is just a cup of hot coffee with cream, sugar. And I sat down to start my day at home. Reading emails, surfing the NET, research, etc.

Often enough, I spend 15 minutes in total isolation, quietness and this is the time I spent with Him. With God. I will tell Him of what I wanted to do, and I would ask Him to help me through each day. And I would tell Him about my friends. Those who needed help in small ways or big. And I would also tell Him about my family, my mom, my dad, my sister, my aunt or my uncle or my cousins who lived faraway from me. To bless them and to keep them safe. And when I ask Him to keep them safe, He often makes me cry, to shed tears. And these are not tears of sadness..but tears to touch my heart and rest my soul that knowing that He is watching over them, every moment of their lives.

And lastly, I would tell Him my troubles. All the things I feared and in ending, I ask only for one thing for myself :

His undying Love and Strength that keeps me going. To do the things I do each day. To keep smiling even a storms blocks my path.

And with that, I ended my quiet time with God. I felt re-charged with full battery life. Ready to conquer the day's struggles. And when the night comes, I rested again.

The next day, my day starts at 7:30am. A cup of coffee and 15 minutes with Him. And I say to Him

"Thank You, Father..for answering my prayers again. Thank you for each day you have given me. The joys it brings, the sadness sometimes..but you never fail me to show me that out of sadness, I get peace and joy in ways I cannot comprehend sometimes. And each day You teach me what I must do and how I can learn from it.

In Jesus' Name I pray, AMEN!"

My dad was the person who first showed me what is quiet time really meant. I would sometimes wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom..and in the corner of the living room, I would see a shadowy figure, knees on the floor, hands clutched together, head bowed...in prayer.

This happened years ago when I was still a teenager. He would sleep early every night around 8pm and wakes up at around 3am. And he would spend his first wakeful minutes with God. In silence, in prayers and I remembered at that time we have a small Pomeranian named Jimmy. Jimmy would sit by him and when my dad had finish his prayers, he would lift up his hands in the air to praise God..

and little Jimmy would sit up straight, wagging his tail vigorously...

And everyday without fail, my dad would spend his early hours with God. Then he would go back to bed for a short nap. By 5am, he is fully awake and starts his day.

As the years past, I remember his posture, this moment in time. And my dad always tell me,

"Quiet time means your time with God. With Him alone, no disturbances from outside, no Radio playing in the background, no phone rings...All He wants is 15 minutes of your time. Is that so hard to do? He gives you 1440 minutes a day, all He wants is your 15 minutes. No matter how busy you are, the things you have to do each day, can you set aside just 15 minutes out of your 1440 minutes for Him?"

and my dad continues to say :

"In 15 minutes, He gives you the strength for day, hope for tomorrow and the world at your feet. So you can carry on and be blessed by it all. And in turn, you can bless others because He blesses you each day..."


My dad continues to inspire me this way. And though I don't live with him anymore, my mom says he still wakes up at 4am and still have his quiet time. Now that he has fully retired from church as a English/Mandarin translator for the publications department, he spend more time reading the Bible in 2 languages and is learning Hebrew so that he can read the Bible in Hebrew too.

AMEN!

May this post inspire you to continue your daily walk with God and your quiet time with Him.

Eat and be Happy

Yesterday was Singapore's National Day, 45 years of independence. 45 years of blood and tears, sweat and toil, where our Leaders help to build and shape the nation to what it is today. And what better way to celebrate this day than to spend it with loved ones.

Benny and I decided to close our store earlier at 7pm. While I stayed at home the whole day to prepare a feast with my parents, sis and my brother in law, Benny worked at the store till 6 plus and closed to come home for dinner.

I had the whole day to myself, so I decided to make a few desserts that the family loved. First of all is Huat Kueh, the traditional rice flour steamed cakes which my mom loved to eat but never found the time to make.



It was made with the Bai Mi Jiu Liang or White Rice Wine residule. And it took another 8 hours to ferment. I had it steamed at 5pm. Just in time for dinner.

I realised that I didn't have those tiny tea cups anymore so had to use mini cupcake liners for it. Turn out to be such a pretty bunch. But later removed the liners ...




Next is Gui Ling Grass Jelly dessert..this is fail proof. From a packet of pre mix which I sell in my store. A hit with all at home. We had this with Maple syrup instead of honey. It was really good. Especially after dinner..smooth, silky and cold.



And lastly, something my mom also liked..the sago pearls in rich gula melaka syrup. I didn't make a lot. Just enough for tasting. Its only after I made it, I found out I didn't have coconut cream. The shops near my home are closed. So I use pandan sago pearls for the flavour and added more gula melaka instead.




We had Steamboat and Teppanyaki for dinner. Everything was prepared at home. For the steamboat soup, we had Herbal Chicken soup on one side and Curry chicken gravy on the other side.

Teppanyaki was just BBQ of chicken wings, shabu-shabu Beef, sausages, prawns, squids, etc.








our dog, Jing Jing had to be locked up in the balcony because my mom is slow in movement. And Jing Jing is very hyper. After dinner around 8 plus..had to show you my cuckoo clock :




side track..this is our third Cuckoo Clock. We loved this kind of clocks..because it serves not just to keep time but be a part of the home and furnishing.

Jing Jing getting a rub behind her ears when we cleared the table and no traces of food tidbits for her..that will do, she will probably say..no food, but a good rub!





After that, I just plonked in bed and watched re-runs on DVD. Melody and I watched Oliver! the Musical.

Another door opens...

I will be offering all of my classes at Robinsons(Centrepoint Shopping Centre at Orchard Road) by November 2010. So my classes at home will ceased by end October 2010.

When you visit Robinsons at Centrepoint sometime end of the year, you will notice that Kitchen Capers logo on the glass panel at the Baking Studio at Level 5..houseware department.

Kitchen Capers will be hosting culinary classes there. Almost every day. Personally, there is no change of my current teaching schedule. Instead of running these classes at home, I now do it at Centrepoint. At least now, my students cannot tell me I am very far away or there is no bus or MRT to my place.

I will teach on Saturdays and Sundays there. Together with me will be 3 other home chefs. Each of them will specialise in a particular subject which they do best.

Meng Choo will teach once a month at Robinsons. She will impart her sugar craft skills to the students. You can see her work via her blog

Halimah, a fellow KC forum member will also be teaching at Robinsons. She will cover Vegan Baking(no eggs, no butter) and also Healthy lifestyle cooking.

Sandy Goh will be teaching baking and also sugarcraft on cakes, cookies.

For me, I will teach baking, and cooking(mostly Asian cuisine). And the occasional Fondant figurines modelling too. I am planning to run a series of noodles making and bread making classes at Robinsons in the near future.

Here's how equipped the baking studio is :





This, to me, is another door open for me. I have always wanted a place of my own to teach culinary. Although the Wiltshire baking studio is owned by Robinsons, I was given the chance to run my courses there and to broadcast about my store at the same time.

All of us have set aside our time to plan our classes from November 2010 till January 2011. We will still planning more for the months ahead.

The classes will be Full Hands-on. Maximum intake per class is 8 persons. Minimum to start is 4 persons. Every student will be getting a goody bag when they come for class. There will be free flow of freshly brewed tea or coffee for all students.

The whole purpose was to teach, to impart our skills to everyone and yet have a comfortable and cozy environment almost like home.

Stay tuned for further updates via the main Kitchen Capers website this October.

This is yet another milestone for Kitchen Capers..especially when she just celebrated her 6th year in WWW. Each year, a new door opens for her to grow.

Thanks to all who have supported her in the forum, in the shop and in all my classes since 2004.

God Bless You!

Here Kitty , Kitty(Hello Kitty Fans)

I am doing this for a friend who has collected a bedroom full of Hello Kitty stuff. I don't even know what is the term or word to use for this.

I have reserved a shelf space at my KC store at Kallang Bahru to display her 'toys' for sale. These are stuff she collected since young with that dream that one day when she marries someone, has a home of her own, she would use it. But when the day finally came, she couldn't find the heart to open it and use it. For years she kept it as collector's items. Over time, she collected so much that now all of it sits stacked up in boxes in one bedroom.

With much 'pain' she says, she has to part with it to make space for baby or family planning.

Since I am doing her a favour, I cannot give her a full rack space for this, except a shelf space. These are sold while stocks lasts. Each week, she will bring down different things she feels she can let it go from her private collection. All the items are authentic Hello Kitty stuff.

Sorry, I cannot quote prices here as I don't intend to keep an inventory for this. Whatever sales i collected from this will be returned to her.

The sale starts today ..here is a group shot of what she brought down. I have ask her to only bring things related to kitchen or bake ware. No toys, no handbags, no watches.

Despite this, she still didn't have the heart to sell some of the items..she took home 3 waste paper baskets yesterday. And gave me the excuse that "oh, these I can use for my baby's room!"

Waiting and watching...

Lyrics of the christian hymn : Lifetime Loving You(Translated from the Chinese singing)

So precious, my Jesus,
how sweet and pure is Your love.
You have drawn me deeper in love with You,
my joy is filled loving You.
With all my love, i will worship You.
With all my life, glorify Your name.
i give my life, never turn away.
i will love You all my days.

Benny has been working round the clock. Not just for the company he is working with, but also trying to find time with me. As much as I wanted him to be by my side, I had to allow him the rest he needed running around so many places in a day.

For the last couple of days, I work alone in the shop. I closed the shop myself. And went home alone. And he is at work still. And he would ring me from work and check if I was safely home. And would ask me about my day at the shop. Waiting and watching over me from afar.

On Saturday(17 July 2010), our girls helped out at the store. He has to return to work so he fetched me to the store at 7pm. After we closed the store, I took the girls for a buffet dinner. Right into our main course, he rang me to say :

"I am in a Road Accident. I knocked down a motorcyclist. He's going to the hospital and I am to go to the Police station to make a report"

My heart sank! And I ask if he was okay. He said he was okay. Then he hung up.

I told the girls..and we were all worried for him.
Then I sms him and ask "Is the guy badly injured? Are you ok?"

He replied "I am ok. No Blood, the guy is conscious. I think should be fine".

In unison, my girls and I send him an sms saying this :

"Everything will be okay. I love you!"

When he came back on Saturday, he looked tired and a bit disillusioned. He came and ask me for a hug. Which I gladly gave him because he needed it. And he tells me he was worried and tired and didn't had his dinner. So I missed a couple of minutes watching "Bones" on Channel 5 and cook Kway Teow soup for him.

The next day, the girls went to church, and I got up early again and cook a wholesome warm lunch for him. After lunch he went back to bed. I went to the shop alone and again close the shop alone again.

When I came home, he has left the house already..to work. And as always, I stay up late watching re-runs on DVD so I can be kept awake to wait for him.

He came home at around 12:40am. And I had brewed some tonic for him. He lovingly ask me about my day at the shop. If I had met any difficult customers or had any problems. Its a point I learnt over time never to question him about his work. He feels frustrated talking about work at home. He just want to go home, unwind and nothing about work from the office.

I told him I prayed for his safety and God will keep him safe. Which He did. Almost all the accidents he got into, Benny often comes home a bit shaken at first..and not a single scratch or mark on his body. And the folks he accidentally hit, were also safe and sound..maybe a bit shaken from the initial shock 'treatment'. No injuries of any kind.

For the Lord, our God is merciful, His grace endures forever. For as long as we live on earth, we shall give Praise to His name. Because it is Him and only Him that sees us through each day of our lives. And He alone decides who, when and how of things should happen.

I prayed everyday for them (Benny, my girls) for their safety outside, where I cannot see them or watch over them in a distance. That only God can. And everyday, every moment, God assures me again and again and answers my prayers daily.

AMEN!

Read my past post on how my prayers were answered every day..an accident at home that would have made me a widow, but our God loves us all...

http://tasteoftime.blogspot.com/2008/08/as-i-lay-me-down-to-sleep.html