Delectable...

Two weekends ago while on a jalan-jalan carik pasal excursion with B and the kids, I chanced upon this yet to be opened store.


I immediately clapped my hands and shouted gleefully. Terkejut badak B and the kids. Yes, I was THAT excited!

Imagine being a follower of the said owner's blog for a couple of years and reading her accomplishments and salivating and marveling over her magic touch on each and every cakes that she has designed and now to see that her dreams coming true right here, at The Gardens, is best put as simply AMAZING!!

Congratulations Su Yin! You've done it! Brilliantly, I might add.

Oh boy... I can hardly wait!!

Chicken Ala Carte

Something for us to ponder...

Please click here http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1081/Chicken-a-la-Carte

Enjoy...

How Would You Feel?

In my line of business *chewahhh*, I've come across plentiful of characters. The majority are simply wonderful kind souls, a handful are errr... choosy and hard to please and there's one that's downright awful.

Okay la... I wouldn't call that person awful. Maybe that person is having a bad day but hey... don't we all?

For simplicity sake, I'm going to call this person Dr. A.

Dr. A is a friend's sister. She called me up to book a cake for her daughter's birthday well in advance. Come the week when the cake is due, I got to know that we'll be out of town for the weekend and rightfully so, I called Dr. A to let her know that can I please deliver the cake on Friday evening instead of Saturday afternoon seeing that I won't be around. She wasn't too please nor happy about it but she finally relented without first saying "There's nothing I can do about it, can I?". I apologized profusely but all I got was a disgruntled 'huh'. Okay... whateverrr...

Come Thursday night, I baked Dr. A's cake. Prior to that, I had a full week of baking, so much so, by this time, my energy level was so low that the only thing that kept me going was my strong will that I hope wouldn't break down on me. Mengantuk and penat punya pasal (it was 2 in the morning), I forgot that Dr. A wanted her butter cake to be pink. Yes, I didn't add pink coloring to the batter. Only when it was half-way baked in the oven did I remember. Ya Allah! Takkan nak keluarkan tang tu jugak kan.

The next day, just before delivering the finished cake to Dr. A's MIL's house, I texted her to apologize for my blunder in forgetting to color the cake pink but mind you, the whole cake was well covered in pink icing just as instructed.

Me: Salam Dr. A, I accidentally forgot to tint the butter cake pink. So I'll reduce the price to RM 75. Sorry for the mistake.

She replied a few minutes later.
Dr. A: I am utterly disappointed! Double blow!!!

Me: Sorry, my bad.

Then again, she texted.
Dr. A: I am gonna b truthful. No more orders fr me n won't recommend others.

I was stunned. I was driving during this time but my mind was racing elsewhere. Nak nangis pun ye. Nak ketawa pun ye. Apalah minah ni pikir agaknye. But I've set my mind. I decided to just give the cake FOC. Yeah! You heard my right. FOC! I've always held strongly that customers are always right, even when they are proven dead wrong. Aku malas nak ambik duit dari customer yang tak puas hati kan.

When I reached Dr. A's MIL's house, I only asked for RM 25, which was the delivery charge. Her MIL was stunned. I said the cake was FOC.

So she gave me RM 25 but not without insisting that I take the whole lot. I flatly declined. Takde hati dah nak ambik duit orang yang marah kat kita, kan?! The MIL asked why was the cake FOC. I just said that I made a mistake of not coloring the cake pink and by so, did not adhere to the customer's request.

"Mana yang tak pink nye? Makcik tengok penuh je satu kek ni kaler pink!"

"Dalam dia tu makcik. Tak pink"

"Laaa... dalam je. Karang dah potong and makan, tak sedar pun.."

Yes, thank God the MIL was sane but I insisted.

"At least, ambik la harga cost kek ye. Susah2 buat".

Well, since she was dead serious and I didn't want to hurt the wonderful lady's heart, I took the cost price of the cake.

As I was driving home, Dr. A called twice. Ceiittt... jangan harap aku nak jawab your calls kay.

A text message came in.

Dr. A: Salam. Now it is my turn to apologise. I was told the cake looks great. Silap faham sikit, thought the icing wasn't pink. You should've taken d whole amt. Anyway thx and halalkan. I am someone who can't take so many blows. A thousand apologies again for any words.

A penny for my thoughts?

1. Lain kali, baca la betul2 text message tu. Jangan la terus jump to conclusion and nak meletup je.

2. Apa.. ingat ko sorang je boleh blow? Orang lain tak boleh blow??

3. I forgive you but I will never forget. For a doctor who has been trained to be thorough, patient and careful, you sure contradict yourself. Words have been exchanged and you can't take it back. It hurts as hell! I will never take any orders from you, ever!

From now on, mana-mana customers yang buat palat ngan aku, will be blacklisted and banned from BakingWithPassion. Apa... ingat customers je ke boleh blacklist and ban kedai and products. Aku pun boleh la...

Dahhh... I'm cool now.

The cake in question. Not pink enough?

Hammer Away...

It was a dreadful day, yesterday. Zareef locked me out of my bedroom in his attempt to change clothes after getting back from school. Of all the days and of all the things that he does, he has never locked my bedroom door while changing but yesterday was one of the days and one of the things that he did out of the norm.


What made me even more fcuking furious and mad was the fact that ALL, yes ALL spare keys were in my bedroom placed safely in drawers courtesy of B. Apa motif dia alihkan the spare keys which I previously placed in the dvd drawer in our tv room pun aku tak tau. But he sure does know now :P.

Anyways, I tried several methods to open the door. First was just jiggling the door in every way that I know. Didn't work. Next I tried the credit card and driver's license method of slipping it in between like the picture above. Sampai bengkok2 card and license aku kerjakan. Tak jalan jugak.


By this time, I was angry and frustrated, which was well reflected in my FB status. Minutes after, help came in various form of advises and recommendations. Thank you my dear friends! You guys are total gems!!

Ana suggested trying to cut a strip of plastic from a plastic drinking bottle like the picture above. I emptied a 1.5L of mineral bottle and cut off the top and bottom, leaving me with a cylindrical shape. Then, cut it lengthwise into a large piece of plastic strip like the pic above. Since the plastic strip was bendy and flexible, it could go through all the way in between but it wasn't strong enough to go through the latch.


My last resort.... taking a hammer to the knob. By this time, I was at wit's end. I could have called the locksmith like a friend suggested by I was too pissed and feeling slightly scroogey (ada ke this word?) to fork out even RM 50 seeing that it was B's fault of keeping the keys in the bedroom.


And so, I swung the hammer with all my might, venting away my anger and frustration all at several blows. Within two minutes, I got it done. According to Tun, it's a job well done seeing that I did a clean break hehehhe... I found it to be very therapeutic, swinging a hammer to a locked door, that is :)


B got an earful from me and he's footing the bill for the repair and sooo much more.

Lessons learnt: 1) Dengarla cakap bini ye
2) Never ever put your spare keys behind a lockable door
3) Have a hammer in the house
4) Keep a locksmith's number on your fridge

Sekian, terima kasih.

I Know It's Stale But How Did Your Earth Hour Go?

From what I read and saw on the news, most of the iconic buildings in the city center where switched off in the spirit of Earth Hour. I applaud the effort put in to vote for Earth.

I was in PD at that time waiting for dinner at one of the restaurants while patiently explaining to Zareef what Earth Hour is really all about, its importance, its effect on Earth, what can we do to help Earth etc.

Zareef was excited at the prospect of eating in the dark accompanied by candles. Come 8.30 pm, business went on as usual with the lights ON! I was disappointed that NONE of the restaurateurs participated in Earth Hour. How ignorant can they be?!

After chomping up dinner which wasn't that nice, we cruised through PD town only to find that all lights were ON save for a few dark rooms which I presumed voted for Earth. It was lights galore in PD town. Upon arriving at Avillion, I was even more disappointed to see them so brightly lit. For a 5* resort, they should have been the major participant given that they are the more environment conscious compared to others (this is what I gather from the leaflets I read in the room).

I even asked the supervisor on duty at the reception desk as to why aren't they switching off non-essential lights during Earth Hour? His response, "Nanti takut guests marah". Pfftttt.... that is a lame excuse given that the management had distributed flyers regarding switching off room lights during Earth Hour. I'm pretty sure, guests wouldn't even mind one bit. In fact, they would have cheered on and join in. Sheeesshhh...

So yes, Earth Hour in PD was a total failure. Next year, I'll make sure to stay home during this occasion. I might even invite close friends for candlelight dinner just to make it more meaningful :) . Wanna join?