50

What do you think you'd be doing when you turn 50?

I know I'd be dancing! At gym! at home? At the grocery store! ...and I'll would imagine having children i'm terribly proud of and making a hobby out of nagging them to the ground! *laughs*
I would still be doing cakes; but they'd be out of this world! stuff you can't imagine cake could be! They'd be super duper awesome and have crazy coolness written all over them! My kids would think "PWOoaRGHH! LOOK at what MOM made!" My hubby then would shrug it off and say "Yeap; another beautiful masterpiece... nothing beats your delicious lasagne at dinner tonight though" I'd then tilt the newspaper away from his under his nose to give him an eskimo kiss! *teehee

I dream lots... it's never a bad thing. It gives me direction; it shows me my ultimate goals and the many precious memories I hope to achieve in my future.
The near future are my life hurdles... the distant future are the beautiful triumphant days which make difficult times worth all effort.

It's my job to make it NOT feel like a job.

Do you ever wonder what goes through my mind when i make cakes?
Sometimes till wee hours in the night..what am I thinking about? How do I stay awake? Haha well.. mom always has this sarcastic idea of propping my eyelids up with a pair of matchsticks! sounds painful! hahaha but always an option mom; "Noted with thanks".

Everyone's favourite question for me after a long absence to my store is; "So how's work?"
Facepaint and extra colourful clothing doesn't seem to hide the fact that I am in desperate need of a break. I always respond with an enthusiastic chirp "Great! I'm busy but it's good!"
Then..the question that comes after usually would be; "So you do all the cakes yourself still?" haha; well NO! of course not! I'm an exceptionally dedicated worker; but i'm not monster-workaholic-superwoman! haha I've got a team of happy cake elves who help me bring everything together. In order to realise more and more of my cake creations and ideas, I've been working with them to carry through our daily and weekly masterpieces. With them learning to do more and more each day; I've got time to free more of my energy to bring fun additions to our Delectable brand and make more Designer projects each week! It's just amazing to see how much we now can handle in comparison to months before. I'm so proud of us. From 1-2 projects; i can now cover 3-4! I was shocked to see how much quicker and better I work myself personally as well. I guess it all comes with loads of practice and getting more acquainted to working with delicate sugar in our climate.

These couple of weeks of cakes had me tangled in knots. I've been working till late most nights; focused on coming up with better concepts and making sugar pieces for hand moulded cake decorations. There was so much to do; to paint; to sculpt, cover.. stack.. *phew* I would often wake up wayy past 10am! My elves get to work at 7; and they get things done and pull my weight where they can for our daily items to get on shelves on time. It's nice to understand that they've gotta work twice as hard and quick when i've got my attention focused on our weekend designer cakes.

Hiring good people really is a task and a half. Most of them come to us with an ulterior motif. And honestly; i'm cool with it! I just need them to me honest and upfront about it. I understand very clearly from being in this business and speaking to those who've been around for decades... it isn't the recipe that places you above the crowd; it is a very very important secret and factor to the success of any F+B outlet; but it isn't the only one that can guarantee success.
Though what we do in the store and production is pretty repetitive and frustrating at peak periods; I as 'Boss elf' always try my very best to show the girls it isn't work that feels like the WORK we're used to. I've got days myself where i find my brain pep-talking my tired arms and fingers to remember to be creative and to see the job as a fun task i've always enjoyed.
Giving pep-talks has never been my kinda thing; i'm such a straight forward person; none of my sulking, heartbroken girlfriends came to me for comforting hugs; haha i'd make them cry even more with the honest truth! But since i've learnt to work with others as a team; and they look to me as superior figure; it's quiet amazing how the little things i often forgot to mention made a difference in their day. I'm still not a master at this; haha but i'm working on being better. By first practicing on myself! :P

Disciplining and inspiring someone is a walk in the park compared to carrying out things you tell yourself! Oh damn.. I sometimes feel so corny making positive mental images to create happy places for my brain to bask in! hahaha but it helps! Seriously! Butterflies; cute little bunnies and fluffy clouds! No kidding! hehe
Anyone out there got any more for me? What's keeps your choo choo chugging through those tough times?

A Cypher?

The years I've spent with my Jo and his crowd has opened my eyes to a whole new underground world of hip hop, gained me much interest in it's music and definitely improved my action photography. hehe!
We come across them all across the globe; dancing on the street, practicing off mall window reflections and even in movies, commercials and music video clips of sorts! We take notice of them for their amazing talents and ability to do these crazy stunts... but not often have we stopped to wonder; but ... why? why is he doing that? where did that come from?

I used to go "COOoooLLL!" and think nothing about it after; but spending time around them made me realize.... Hey! All this is more than just crazy stunts! It's hard work, determination, perseverance and understanding of it's history. Hours and hours of practice, days and months of training to achieve new moves and techniques. It means more to them because they know it just isn't 'some-dance'.

Just like any other form of respectable art form, there are techniques, there are classifications, there are clean lines, styles, creativity and integrity in movement but of course... it took me awhile to comprehend their language as to what was "fresh" or "tight"... ???
Yea.. they pretty much spoke a language I'd vaguely understand or recognize.
I always understood a "gangster" to be a bad person who ran around in groups of other bad people. But apparently how wrong was i??? Here, to be "gangster" was a good thing!... ? It meant that he/she was "dope" or "down with it"... yeap; I didn't know what to think of that either.*laughs*

For years, I stuck out like a sore thumb....i didn't dance, i didn't understand, but I felt pleasantly welcomed into a community much like me in their day to day. University students, working professionals, teachers, chefs, accountants, scientists... wow.. you can always expect them to be more than the 'gangters' they call themselves haha! I see breakdance to them as a means of representing themselves, showcasing their talent, to inspire and be inspired, to have a creative outlet or to express their emotions and thoughts. It's a cool thing to have in your life!
I find it highly commendable; for them to spend time doing what they love and continuously pushing themselves to be stronger, fitter and better for the next time they throwdown in a cypher. ... kay; I was speaking in my awkward bboy-talk *LOL*

What's Cypher? I did the classic thing. I wiki-ed this. And yea; it probably explains it better than i ever can. ;)

Informally b-boying began with the cypher, the name given to a circle of breakers (and casual onlookers) who take turns dancing in the center. There are no judges, concrete rules, or restrictions in the cypher, only unspoken traditions. Although participants usually freestyle (improvise) within a cypher, battling does take place. This was the origin of b-boy battles and it is often more confrontational and personal. Cypher dancing is more prevalent in communities with an emphasis on what is regarded as authentic and traditional hip-hop culture. Battling "in the cypher" is also a method of settling differences between individual dancers or crews. (LINK)

I've watched many cyphers since and it remains my favourite part of going to bboy battles and competitions. I like to think of it as an opportunity for breakers to show their passion for the music and dance. I wish I had photos of some cyphers and not just battles to post; but it often gets too crowded and the energy from everyone around makes it complicated to snap pictures. :(

Just out of curiosity i decided to the very first cake I did of bboys in 2007.

I had a good laugh and I can now pick out all the mistakes I had made with this cake and how they could have so easily been solved! Oh silly me! haha at that point; i remember making a mental note to never attempt figurines of awkward positions ever again. I take that back now. Bring on the next one! Any Malaysian bboy's out there who need a cake?! *grin*

Spring is here!

The buds are blossoming into lolly trees here at Delectable!
Taking it one step further from fresh air and green grass; we've got the air filled with tempting delicious scents of candy and sugary treats!
Our window is adorned with all things whimsical, pastel shades of blinking fairy lights and beautiful new cakes on shelf for viewing! My favourite monkey-friend; Jon calls it "Alice in Candyland" teehee*

Su's recently got her hands tied churning out cakes by the truckload! Wish to write more when i have a moment to clean this stickyness off my hands.

xoxo!

Little boys are made of...?

some say frogs, snails and puppy dog tails;
in this era; i would say ipods, PSPs and Nintendo Wii's!

Times have certainly changed; toys now are expected to speak; spin; respond and light up on command! Haha same with expectations for birthday cakes to be more and more spectacular each party! It's definitely a challenge I appreciate; it makes us cake decorators push ourselves to be inventive. I remember the time when I was a happy kid with helium balloons on my birthday! Now decorations and trimmings gotta light up! Make noises! have names printed and personalized with logos! WOW! talk about impressive!

Little girls are easier by far! haha I just have to have em cakes looking cute, cuddly, pink and princess-like! I can have blue and greens on a pretty cake for a girl; but i've got colour limitations for the boys. Ahh... the "no pinks, no pastels, no butterflies of bunnies, no flowers, no red hearts" rules... haha it's harder to work around; i love my little red hearts! :( bah

I've got somethings going on the past couple of weeks and have been hopelessly up to my knees in work. Waddling out of this pile gradually but will try my best to keep updates as frequent as possible.

xoxo world!

Just missed the end of CNY 2010

Our plane landed early this morning after a good week+ away from home. During the flight; my family and I lost a fair number of hours (earth's rotation yada-evilness) and safely returned a day shy from Chap Goh Meh!

It was a good chance for me to have a small breather; i'll fill everyone in with the details of where i've been travelling about the past year when i get around to organizing the heap of photographs i've taken.
I'm definitely going to miss the festivities in the next months or so.. well; up to when bunnies and egg hunting begins in easter! The girls have stripped clean our shop of all shades of red and gold this evening and it does leave me a little sad to fold away our bright yellow lanterns which gave the store a cheery oriental twist.


I hope everyone had a good rest and a chance to catch up with family bonding time this Chinese New Year. So who had a mandarin orange toss at the rivers last weekend? hehe any luck yet?!