Our Dinner

If u have been following our personal blog, you would know by now that we have gotten ourselves a live-in helper at home. She has been very helpful ever since, that I managed to fix dinner for the family for almost every night. Tercapai satu new year resolutions aku. That is, to cook more for the family. Instead of spending money outside on crappy food.

In fact, I think I kinda have a 'system' now. For dinner that is. Like, upon reaching home, I will go into kitchen to tell my maid to cook rice. At the same time, asking her what kind of 'meat' that she defrosted that day. This way, I passed 1 stress to her. That is, to think whether to cook chicken/beef/fish etc. Heh.

Once I find out what's the meat, I will go online searching for recipes. My favorite site has to be this one:

Once I find the recipe, I will then asked my maid to take out and wash whatever is necessary. Once that is done, I will continue on cutting and cooking our meal for that night. Once all done and cooked, I will let the maid to serve the food while we went for prayer. Lepas solat, baru makan. This way, sempat la sejuk sikit food tu. Tak la melecur lidah makan.

On and off, I will tell the maid to clean up the fridge. Basically, to wipe the whole fridge and throw away food yang dah basi etc. Since she can write, I also told her to come up with a grocery list after she went through the things in our cupboards/pantry/fridge. Then, we pick a day to go to the wet market. Which will normally be over the weekend. Buy whatever is needed and head home. The trip normally take less than an hour. Unlike before, when we have no list, no maid and totally no idea what to cook either. This way, we not only save time but also money. Takde la beli benda merapu raban kan.

Once back, I will let the maid to clean the meat and keep them away in a meal's proportion. Senang later, when we want to defrost and cook them for future dinners.

So far, the system is working well for us. Like I said, I have been cooking almost every night. Zara enjoys her food more now. I guess she too, get tired of outside food. En. Suami apa lagi. He's been my biggest fan, I'd say. Or, I may be delusioning??

So, want to know what we had in all those nights??

Tunggu...

Izzy Bakery on Facebook

Exam is over. Am back in business. So, the first thing I did was to make sure Izzy Bakery's page is up on FB.

I've created it for sometime already. But could never get around to really update and upload any pictures of our previous creations. Guess today is FINALLY the day, we actually get around it.

This way, I can track how many cakes/cupcakes/brownies/cookies etc that we have baked so far. Ada sense of achievement di situ.

And today, I just realized that we have 25 followers to date. Not a BIG number. But seriously, when I put up the apps there, it did not even occur to me that there will be followers pun. Heh. So, this FB page should also allow us to interact with our existing and future customers on a more personal basis. Who knows, we could actually exchange comments/ideas or be friends in real life? Haha. Ambitious tu.

Apa pun, I hope you guys would "LIKE" us and enjoy THE gallery of OUR sweet creations!

An Early Birthday Present

A very very long time ago, I have bought an early birthday present for myself. Which is why, I was not bothered about buying another birthday present for myself last September.

Just before Raya, I received the news that this present of mine is already making its own way to my house. Or my mom's house to be exact. I can't believe it is finally here. Especially since I bought it long, long before it is being published.

Oh, I can't wait. Wonder what it is??

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Yay!!!

Utusan Dari Kami di Izzy Bakery...

SELAMAT HARI RAYA

MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN

DARI KAMI DI IZZY BAKERY

Nanti lepas Raya kami update hasil bulan Puasa kay.

Updates di Bulan Ramadhan

We're so touched. Many people were asking why we're not taking orders during this Ramadhan. Many others insisted for orders anyway. Some, we can't just reject so we had to accept them anyway. Some were very understanding, once we explained.

Truthfully, tangan ni pun dah gatal nak berbaking. But decision has been made. And we should stick to it. Buat decision pun, setelah ditimbang baik buruk of the current situations. Situations lah sangat...

But most of you who have been following us, would know that we are a part time baker; we go to office during the day and bake at night, after our beloved daughter go to sleep. So a break in Ramadhan would allow us to reorganize our life, in a way. Deciding on who supposed to be in charge of what, our daughter's schedule/daily activities and so on. Tak masuk lagi bab yang takde helper. My friends squeal when finding out that my husband bakes too!

And don't get me started with the many long overdue posts. Which we have FINALLY succeeded in updating them all as of last night. The dates are jumbled up, but hey, at least they are there! Untuk kenangan...and portfolio for customers to look at.

Plus, we need to restructure the business a bit. Looking for a new bigger oven, maybe a chiller as well as updating our 'accounting' records. Or introduce new products, perhaps?? We are also looking into converting our store as a storage area. So we need time to scout around for best affordable options. That itself requires a day trip to IKEA.

On personal wise, I am in dire need for a new handbag. Been thinking about it for so long now. But hardly made effort to go scout. Only weekend baru ni, we got a chance to survey around. Which I finally found THE one. Ini jek took up the whole 2-day weekend. Tak masuk lagi nak survey barang2 lain yang nak dibeli.

But most importantly, this is actually my 1st year going to terawih after Ms. Kecik was born. Bukan tak pernah pegi sebelum ni, tapi inconsistent. This year, I tried to go as often as I can. With her in tow. So far so good. Tu tak masuk lagi plans for berbuka puasa dengan family & kawan2x. Masa bila pulak la nak bake kan?!!

On another note, we're so happy that the cheese tarts promotion is going very2x well. Thanks to MommyLyna who made the effort to promote it in her blog. THANKS TO YOU TOO for being so supportive with our business. Rezeki bulan Ramadhan...

Alhamdulillah. Harap-harap bertambah-tambah lagi in the future. Boleh la buat promotion lagi, akan datang....Insyallah.

Ramadhan al-Mubarak

The Weekend Activity

This was what we did last weekend. The first weekend at home, after a 4-day training in Lumut. A bonding time between me and Ms. Kecik, while En. Abah was having his own 'me' time.

It was actually a recipe for gingerbread man cookies which Ms. Kecik saw from one of my many kid's baking book. But we altered 'em a bit since I don't already have the gingerbread man cookie cutter. This was from IKEA instead. I also put the adunan in freezer for a little bit so they are less sticky while am pressing the cutters in.

The recipe called for cinnamon powder but I don't have them in stock. Luckily I have rempah kek lapis in hand, so use them instead. This was the cookies before going into the oven, in a variety of shapes suka-hati-mak-nenek jek.

They are so easy, it did not even take half an hour to bake. If I was not mistaken, they just need to be baked for like 1o minutes, perhaps? Or less. Tu pun ada iras-iras nak hangus dah.

Verdict? No frills baking and sedap. Especially for tea time. We had to bake 3 rounds as my tiny oven can't fit 'em all in one go. Ms. Kecik could not wait for the 2nd round to finish baking, the 1st batch dah abis.

Guess that tell 'em all, eh? Think we'll be baking 'em as sugar cookies for Ms. Kecik's party pack as well.

Macam menarik jek...We'll see.

We're BACK for August!!

WE'RE BACK!!!

Do check out again for more updates...

Ada more than 10 past orders kot.

You won't regret.

Temporarily Closed...

Dear all,

Please be informed that Izzy B. will be closed from 21st June to 2nd July 2010.

Business will resume as usual starting 5th July 2010.

Please do not hesitate to email us at izzybakery@gmail.com for orders.

Regards,

Izzy B.

Upcoming Orders

By now, both me and hubby are kind of getting into the groove of the bakery business dy. We have 3 days before I leave outstation, and 5 orders to complete. Which is a good thing, aight?

Things are definitely getting easier. And more interesting. With new things/design for us to bake/try.

So far, the upcoming orders are consisted of:

• 1 world cup themed brownies for birthday
• 20 small packed brownies to be given away as birthday gifts
• 2 medium trays of brownies
• More than 100s small&medium cupcakes for baby showers.

Really looking forward to do and deliver them all. Seeing those happy faces when they saw our creation. We hope-lah!

Insyallah...

Birthday Razin

We were making the Red&White cuppies when I received a call from my beloved cousin, Kak Ani. It was her youngest son, Razin's birthday and she wanted me to whip up something for the night. Coincidently, UmiTok had invited everybody for a 'meeting'.

As it was already 4pm, we decided that we do not have time to do anything fancy. So, brownies it is. Sedap pun sedap, and surely will be hit! Without fail.


Razin cutting the 'cake'. Ms. Kecik overlooking the whole event. Haruslah jadi pelakon utama kan.


Razin & Mommy @ birthday celebration.

UmiTok being a grandmother, offered for another round of candles blowing session for THE ONE AND ONLY GRAND DAUGHTER, Ms. Kecik. Luckily, a guest brought a cake to the 'meeting', so ada lah kek lain yg nak jadi mangsa. Takkan nak steal limelight tiup brownies jugak kan.

Ada brownies, harus lah ada ice cream kan. Which I have told my brother earlier, to get a tub. Some like it plain...like me, some prefer 'em with ice cream. THAT, MamaYa serving for everybody. Beside her, is Ms. Kecik THE ASSISTANT. Or, more like busy serving ice cream for ownself.

A Simple Breakfast @ Home Sweet Home

Our morning started early last Saturday as we had to bake for Nazimah's cupcakes. Ms. Kecik was restless as both me and hubby were busy with something else other than her.

So, we decided to take a break from 'work' and entertained her instead. I whipped up very simple dishes. Chicken soup Campbell the easiest. On the side is French bread sapu with butter and sprinkled with pepper+thyme, dibakar.

Ms. Kecik has been much of a help. In the kitchen that is. Setakat angkat pinggan mangkuk from kitchen to makan table, is no big deal.

Fyi, we normally eat at her pink 'schmall' table during weekends. Especialy breakfast. This is when everybody get to enjoy food without rushing to some other places.

That's her huggin all the barang that she carried. Mangkuk tu semua dia susun for everybody.

En. Abah normally gets to sit on stool kecik cos he's the minority. Ladies are ruling in this house, so ladies get to sit atas kerusi ada sandar belakang. Oh, and her service also comes with free sprinkle of pepper into each mangkuk before pouring soup. Siap in the middle of makan, she checked out whether anyone nak tambah pepper lagi ke tak.

Tak sejuk perut aku mengandung tu?? Harap-harap berkekalan la rajin gitu...

Ms. Kecik in Action!

I have not been baking. For as long as am not updating the blog. Almost. Ada jek orders yang tak update lagi.

So u can imagine how happy Ms. Kecik was. When one fine night, I finally told her that we would be baking. After a trip to Jusco, after she went to toilet and tukar baju tido. Tell u, she did ALL that without much hassle. Siap ikat rambut segala. Which normally is a battle under normal circumstances.

It was the day after Teacher's Day. I thought of doing something nice. Just to celebrate. Last year, cikgu taught her origami and she made shark for me. Ke whale. So, this year ingat nak return the gesture. By making brownies. Heh.

HER @ WORK

The recipe called for flour+baking soda+apa.ntah.x.igt to be mixed outside of mixer first. So, I normally measure everything first and let her pour them into the white besen. Which later, she will kacau dengan hand beater.

'Posing' for ABAH.

Tell u, she's growing up real fast. Refused to be an assistant no more. Insisting on using the mixer, pecahkan telur herself. God knows how many times she insisted. Telling us dia BIG GIRL, that she wanted to do this and that. Pening kepala otak aku. Worrying about takut dia terslip from the stool, kitchen sepah etc etc.

In the end, all went very well. The morning after, she woke me up saying, "Jom kita tengok bownies, Mommy".

Petang tu when I fetched her from school, cikgu kata am efficient. They are planning to have a celebration sometimes next week. Kali ni nak cupcakes pulak. Looks like Ms. Kecik will have another round of baking...

We're BACK!!

Hey, I can't believe the last time I posted was March!! That was like.....AGES AGO?!! No wonder so many people have been asking. And I was like...leh baru jek 'semalam' tak update. Heh. How time flies...

Truthfully, I have been slacking off. Been concentrating mostly on office work. PKMC classes. Exam. Tido. Office work lagi. TV. Office work. Surfing. And office work lagi sampai la ni. Makan.

Ada 2 prior orders which I have yet to update. Sebabnya, tak jumpa camera sekejap. But now dah jumpa balik, no excuse. And after the exam in April, I had 3 orders which bila sampai waktu-nya were cancelled/postponed to later date. Then after that, I was busy preparing for some sponsorship sambil2x volunteering for that same event.

And now dah start masuk gear balik.

This weekend jek, I have 4 orders to do. All are pending execution jek cos ideas semua dah brain-stormed and finalised as of yesterday. So, semalam I went to buy new tools for this one project, which I started last night. Happy jek dapat try design baru...for me la. Org lain dah lama pandai kot.

Next weekend, I have 1 order lagi. And the weekend after that, I have 2 VERY IMPORTANT orders. Both are for wedding/engagement. Both are very intricate and detailed.

So, am calling for extra hands.

Good thing I have a brother who studied cookery dulu. Boleh jugak minta tolong sikit banyak. Only need to be trained. Tengok lah macam mana nanti...

New LABELS~

Huh, we finally did it!

Such a SIMPLE task. Tapi yg paling simple tu la yang normally being put aside and ignored. Until today. We finally decided that we just had to do it. ONCE AND FOR ALL!

And there you go. Now it's should be easier for you lovelies to navigate around our Kedai. In case you are too busy to navigate around the WHOLE Kedai, you can just click any of the labels of your choice, on the LEFT HAND SIDE tu.

Say for example, you want to order cupcakes but too busy too browse all pages here, you can just CLICK on the CUPCAKES label. And all the cupcakes related posts that we ever did before would appear.

Senang kan?

We suggest you give it a try. Tak order lagi pun takpe, go drrooooolllll......and let me know if you have other suggestions/comments as well.

Miss Us??

Okay....so, where do I start?? Huh!

First and foremost, if you haven't realized, the blog was in a mess for a very-very long time! We hired a professional to do the job but unfortunately, we were put on a waiting list till God knows when. While waiting for our turn to come, we decided to try and challenge ourselves a little bit and create our own blog header yang kat atas tu. Nice eh? Not bad at all, we'd say.

So, we decided to revamp our blog here and there. We chose a plain white background to give way to higher quality future blog posts and of course, for better quality snapshots of our cupcakes. We are also upgrading our packaging from the normal white cake box to a see through white box that comes with an insert to hold your cupcakes. So, bye-bye to spills and hello, classy! Uh, and with the new packaging, we are now introducing cupcakes packages in multiples of 12 or 25 pieces. So, it is now very-very easy for you to decide how many cupcakes you want to order. Senang kan?

Uh, and thanks to the ever so supportive customers, recently, we received 4 orders in one day. We booked them all in the calendar so, you can see how busy our kitchen going to be. With that, we are hoping for many-many more posts to come. So, do come back to check 'em out!

Before and After Photo Story

My journey into baking has been so much fun. I am learning a ton about baking and cake decorating that I could care less previously. I go through my previous entries and it’s been very obvious, since starting Izzy B. in 2008, how much my baking has improved. Considering the fact that I hardly cook before, and what is more to bake a cake! I have not only improved in my cupcakes design, but also improvement in the cake itself. It is not easy ok, to control the temperature of your oven so that the cake did not turn out burnt. Now, baking is much more enjoyable as I get to experiment with many different colours or even, play with gumpaste to make flowers. Am so proud of myself!

So, I thought it would be fun to post a photo from the past, when I first started Izzy B. Then compare it to a photo of latest creation so to see the progress.

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Before

This is cute. I use vibrant colours so they look 'fun'. But they are too bright to my liking. It was an order by ever-so-supportive friend of mine, Fazdlee. Notice, I use colourful sprinkles? That is actually a short cut to making the cupcakes looks pretty and yummy at the same time! Notice, I only posted 1 picture in this entry to showcase my cupcakes.

After

Now I make sure I take photos of my creations from every angle possible.

Another thing I do now is to have more options in the decorations. Notice, I used fondant and gumpaste flowers in this design. Aren't they pretty?

Look at the packaging as well. This was packed in a premium gold-coloured box as a hantaran.

Cantik kan? Even I drool on my cupcake pictures ALL THE TIME. I used to eat A LOT of cupcakes back then, when I first starting. I still do but lately, I improvised them into cake balls. Surprisingly, they are such a hit as well!

So, what's your story?

Come on over and share.

Back in THE Kitchen...

Hello all,

It has been long since I post anything here. Truthfully, I have not been baking for as long as it seems. Life was hectic. First, with the passing of my beloved grandmother. Then, with the assignment in Jakarta for 3 weeks.

Had a blast in Jakarta and Bandung, no doubt. With all the shoppings and stuff. It was good to be off from baking once in a while. I was like 'this' close to closing down the business but drama aside, I am now back in the kitchen. Dah beli KitchenAid, takkan tak nak baking lak kan.

Prior to the Jakarta trip, I had so many order requests which are mostly still pending till now. Sekarang dah masuk office balik, think I will try to conquer 'em all week by week. Fortunately, these are people whom are dearly to me, who know me well enough, yang paham bahasa when am busy, or not.

Insyallah, tomorrow I will be posting my latest work which I am very mcuh excited about...

Stay tuned!

Izzy B. is BACK IN BUSINESS!!

Hi All,

Exam is FINALLY over. AND....

We are taking orders AGAIN!!!

Wishing you all Eid Mubarak!

Public Annoucement #1

Please be informed that Izzy B. will be closed effective immediately until December 2008. Business will resume as usual beginning next year.

Ms. Baker need to concerntrate on her CFA Exam in early December.

Harap maklum.