Why eat?

A note to remind myself:

Because it keeps me alive and smiling.

Battle against bad carbs begin in the AM!
Change that pout to a grin Su. It's time to get that healthy eating regime started all over again.
When buttons fly in the middle of a game of badminton; it's pretty obvious those extra pounds have GOT to go!
There's no way i'm opting for elastics in pants instead! LOL
... Su's all about food and eating; but most importantly, she's into eating the RIGHT things and staying healthy of course!
Let's hope she remembers that. *fingers crossed* hehehe

Hat's off to all those who inspire us.

Could I really be the true Jack of all trades; citizen of neither-land... constantly yearning for the grass over neighbouring fences?
An eyepatch over me and parrot over my shoulder; I'd probably pass off easily as an adventurer armed with my personal ship crew!
Yes yes... I'm lucky; very much blessed with all the incredible opportunities and guidance I've received from far and wide. But more than often, the general public chooses to conveniently forget opportunity without action or dedication does remain irrelevant. They waltz into the store thinking I've hired a couple of little gremlins to bang out cakes by the millions and have just been sitting on my royal butt accepting all that glamorous attention. Friends and family who have followed me through my mere 6 months of development have seen my sequence of mental and physical deterioration! *laughs* It isn't as though no one has offered help or have given me all I've needed to start off Delectable. The number of kind gestures of goodwill I've received are countless!
It's great!! I should be satisfied no?
I should just say hey! The shop is awesome~
.... but no... Su Yin doesn't stop; she keeps reaching for more and more... not out of greed; but purely for the satisfaction of knowing she can.
Occasionally I find funny little ways to inspire myself to keep pushing forward; most of the time it is the people around me and the stories I hear about others just like me.
Here's just another little something; her melody and lyrics transported me to an 'untouchable' pedestal! well...just in my mind I suppose. *giggle*



Makes me want to run up a meadow singing at the top of my lungs ala - Sound of Music!

I wasn't a fan of Hannah Montana; but I guess I am now?..

Launch me!

Delectable has taken off for about a month now; but the celebrations have just begun!If you hadn't received an invite in the mail; please please don't be disappointed! Fret not fellow bloggers and blog readers, I hadn't much space to work with in front of my shop and was told to go easy on the invitees but I'm planning more get-togethers with Delectable goodies up for grabs. I'll never forget or disregard those who have been there for me and shown their support. From lurkers to followers and fans of our Delectable treats; I love you all very much! and yes; we shall feast, drink and be merry soon enough! I've just got to get myself a little more organized with the timing and space soon.

On the 12th of June 2009, Delectable celebrated it's arrival into the world of art and pastry with a bang! Lots of fun; lots of laughter, gallons of quality chocolate and endless wines poured throughout the floor of invited guests. Why of course; we had cupcakes; our seven sins of chocolates, cookies, handmade chocolate truffles and all that sort on shelf for sale as well! What I did have specially done were the savoury foods! I had composed from savoury shortbread cookies with some of my favourite combos such as eggs and paprika, salmon and dill, rosemary and olives!
Making food for about 200 people was indeed challenging! I didn't have enough to last the entire event :(
I made all I 'thought' was necessary, but I guess I underestimated by a mile~
Ahh.. I felt incredibly sorry for those who were stuck in traffic and arrived late to find the goodies completely wiped out.
I have a tendency to over estimate most of the time; I guess for once I was too cautious .


With my hands tied speaking to guests and preparing food+product, I hadn't had a chance to reach for the SLR with my chocolate covered paws! Lucky Su had many back up photographer-helpers all hyped and ready to snap happy faces and delicious food that evening!I was forced to scratch off the "Chocolate Fountain" idea at the last minute because there wasn't enough time and the chocolate was a mess to prepare! In true 'SU' style; I smeared little blobs of mess on my dress. Pretty upsetting considering how I didn't have time to run home and change; I hoped over to GAP and pulled a yellow long cardigan off the rack instead! Funny how I'm always in some sort of *#$! hole at the last minute everytime! Haha I can't be facing a handful of media cameras with patches of brown chocolate all over! *laughs*
MY AMAZING team of staff were all matchingly dressed in Delectable colours; pretty dresses and a fancy tie for our Enrique! They all looked exceptional good for our big day!
The number of people who came by specially to help was surprising! I was overwhelmed by how helpful onlookers became as they saw me crashing in with a million things left pending moments before guests arrived. Kazar , Jay, John, Ian, Sharmini, Nigel, Benjamin, Wog, Ivy, Des thanks heaps for jumping in randomly with helping hands. Carrying boxes; moving tables; lugging food; assembling easels, pouring wine, taking photos.. truly appreciate it XOXOXO :)
I can't even begin to describe how grateful I am for the help I've gotten from family; sis, dad, mom. My incredibly efficient team behind our production, Pat leong, Aunty Kheng, Jami and Kuanyu piew yee. Not forgetting the aunts who have helped spread the word; run errands and cut flowers! *laughs* thanks to aunty Vivien for voluntarily spending the weekend making bows.
OH Delectable wouldn't be the same without such dedication from each and every person on the team. Su was working herself out of the mind; but now with a system in place and a larger set of little darlings; I'm much better now! I'm still a little stressed out about constantly needing to train new staff but I guess that's inevitable. My nicky, yaya and ame had their last day today.. *tear*...but shall save sad stories for another time.

I Had ALOT of fun :) Lots and lots of great things came from my brief encounters with everyone! I'm just very happy our products has been very well accepted! Delectable yummies!! *grin* Thanks EVERYONE for coming!!! Appreciate the follow up as well ;)




We will be working on organizing many more parties and Delectable get togethers for bloggers and blog readers in the near future, I want to meet everyone eventually! I'm so excited!!
Thanks everyone for coming and sharing supportive comments and encouraging feedback! It completely made all that hard work preparing for the day worthwhile! Everyone was happy and thrilled to be fed desserts! AHh the joy!!! I do apologize though if I don't have photographs of everyone up; I just havn't gotten all of them from a couple of photographers just yet >.<

LoVe;
Su

Creating precious memories with Cake.

I remember my very first full wedding cake just a couple of months ago. I was under an incredible amount of pressure to cover a 4 tier full cake; something I never imagined to be as difficult as it was. Working alone and being the only one around who knew what needed to be done was probably another reason for all that pressure. I wish I had my dreadful 4 hours on camera; it would have been good for laughs!
The bride was very pleased with the end result and the towering cake was made the centerpiece at the wedding. A proud moment indeed. I've now very much improved since; as wedding cakes are more a weekly agenda for Su and her crew.This towering cake was done for Teck and Kim who are the sweetest couple from the States!(*edit) ;)
Both outspoken and friendly; I was excited to meet them way before the wedding. They are so much fun to be around and I can imagine their wedding to be one hell of a party too! Kim is possibly the most organized bride I've ever met. She had the folder; the details, all picture clippings in tact and well versed with her cake lingo; impressive! haha I loved her ideas for the cake and they wanted it themed with the French Fleur d lis. Ribbon cake pulls and details from her actual wedding dress was incorporated into the patterns of each layer. It was very much a cake reflective of the bride and groom.
More than a handful of weddings cakes later; I'm still making mistakes and booboo's attempting to transport them; I've even stupidly repeated those mistakes on occasion :(

I've got a 5 tier cake waiting to be delivered to a wedding in a couple of hours. I really should run.
No ... wait;
mental note: Never RUN with cake. NEVER

What's in fashion today?

It's really cool to be one of the chosen few supplying exclusive goodies to designer retail brands and their events. Delectable has definitely made an impression on those who enjoy the finer things in life; it's good to know delicious Delectable goodies are in fashion too! *giggle*
Recreating fabrics and accessories is a challenge I'm faced with almost every month. Girls love cutting into their favourite handbags made with their favourite cake flavours.
The Oohh-ahh responses really are magnified at parties with crowds of young ladies. Most of them don’t believe it’s cake! I try my best to match not only patterns; cuts or just merely the shape; but the size as well. I attempt to make replica’s with cake, enhanced with just a couple of personalized alterations to create a meaningful impact.
On occasion; ladies would waltz into our studio with their favourite bags and shoes; requesting for replicas! HahaA very glamorous and fun Nisa happened to spot our cake studio at The Gardens Mall; the very first week we opened. After just merely a short discussion; we came up with many cool ideas and colours for her birthday party theme in a months time. They had already a venue in mind; all was missing was the CAKE! Well; who better to bump into than Su *wink *Roses; blacks; silvers and deep pinks was going to be my colours to play around with. She came with her favourite baby pink Chanel that afternoon; and so we decided to make that the centerpiece!
Inside?
Well; beautiful Nisa loves white chocolate and passionfruit; YUM! a perfect combination of tart and rich creamy chocolate, I was determined to stack and layer a Chanel bag made from this heavenly match for her.
I didn't exactly know what I was getting myself into when I said; "Yum!! I can have that done!"
:(
.... Passionfruit is apparently very commonly found in Malaysia.*edit* haha.
Well; I see them fresh occasionally whilst in season from colder climates; but this particular season when it was important for me to have them; there were none in sight! - I ran about the entire Midvalley City that weekend; there were NONE! I asked each fruit stall and made calls to all my suppliers; no one could just give me A passionfruit for the next day.
It was incredibly stressful trying to come up with a recipe for the passion fruit buttercream I was unwavering attempting to achieve. Jam or juice wasn’t going to cut it either. I finally settled for a tiny portion of fruit puree; desperate and a day away from Nisa’s birthday bash, I looked to friends at Gelatissimo for help. Known for authentic fruit gelati and sorts; I knew it’d probably be my best bet! It worked like a charm; DeliCIOUSness!
I love making new friends.

A taste of Glitz

2 months ago; if you were to tell me I'd be having my schedule filled with exclusive events to attend or magazine photoshoots to be on time for; I'd probably choke with laughter.
Funny how I'm still tickled about it in disbelief! Doesn't exactly make me feel regal or any more important than before, rather just more appreciative of the recognition I've been getting from the local media and retail industry. It's nice to finally see what happens to my products when they get to fancy launch parties! Haha

I've just recently made a good friend who owns several F+B outlets, he agrees; it isn't difficult to make friends with an abundant supply of candies, pastries or ice-cream in your shop!
I'm just incredibly happy with the number of returning customers requesting for more Delectable goodies! They can't get enough! Beautiful ladies watching their weight can't help but to blame me for showing them the good stuff worth kicking that diet for; *evil* yes resistance is futile! hehe
Speaking about beautiful people; it's probably my most favourite thing about attending fancy parties. *giggle* It's nice to finally get to meet the who's and whos; shake their hands and allow them to tell me their success stories. Exciting stuff! haha; a little starstruck to be amongst famous people I recognize.
It's surreal how much exposure Delectable has gotten since we opened our doors at The Garden's mall a month back. Things have picked up real well and I've been getting offers and invitations of all sorts! I had to tell a lady last week; that I'm not quite ready to set up a franchise in London just yet; *laughs* I'm struggling to take it in one step at a time, my natural style is more of the 'pounce' on it type. Control and Balance are my 2 new bestfriends.

Oh YES! I've got crazy news!!!!
I've been nominated for the Blue chili award by KLUE magazine and have made it to the top 10! I was thrilled and incredibly excited! CLICK
The photoshoot for the magazine and video interview was done last weekend at KLCC; our prize was that we got to keep the pair of jeans we received from sponsors and tshirts as well. They were tight on me. I'm a fatty. *sob* Malaysia doesn't like big behinds! Haha it's a fairly obvious signal for Su's healthy eating regime to begin yet again when her hips won't squeeze into the largest size available!
I have no clue who was my nominator; but am really glad to be acknowledged for my hard work with Delectable. I wasn't certain what to expect; and hadn't had much time to spend reading up before I headed to the interview session. I don't think I did as well as I had hoped; but *shrug* I made do with what time I had last weekend. Can't wait to see the pictures on the magazine! *jumps around*

Just us Kids!

Those who've came by to check us out have probably seen a couple of these friendly faces.
Who can resist having a chat or two with such a pleasant bunch of enthusiastic kids. Well of course; when the boss has her eyes permanently glued to the laptop and hands frantic in search of drawn inspirations; someone has to keep our continuous stream of cake + chocolate lovers happy and entertained.
I've got an amazing team; and I love bragging about my luck finding them! *giggle*
If you havn't gotten them chatting about themselves yet; let me; as "Boss" help fill you in with the gossip and who's-who.

Nicole: My dear; my little girl~

Little and small but armed with a commanding voice. She's my Delectable champ!

• Turn's 18 today!
• A talented photographer and a nikon lover just like Boss. She's a big pint of adorable!
  
• Helps Boss with photography in the shop when I'm too tired. Does all that yucky editing and watermarking website work I detest. *grin*
  
• Often seen as favourited by- Boss. Not only just because she's incredibly cute; but because she's brilliant and does lots of homework when told to.
• Multi super tasker. If she can't do it; she finds out how without a whimper.
  You know when she's had enough if she yells out "Wait; Little girl has only two hands!" It's hard to not keep pushing things at her; it's such a convenient way to get things done right! *laughs* Yes I bully her a little; but I love her so.
• She loves chocolate; and I bet if I didn't have one eye on her at all times; she'd be cleaning out the chocolate desserts and pots all by herself

I'm going to miss her so much when she goes off to college. I wish she'd agree to let me home school her. Her smiles in the morning make everything seem brighter.


Enrique: The Boy.
The ONLY boy and Boy is he lucky! Spoilt he is; by the boss and us girls in the shop of course.

• A born charmer with natural gift of gab. Ladies adore crowding around him as he goes on about cakes and how delicious the ginger one is.
  
• Accounting fresh grad with lots of potential.
  
• Incredibly professional, efficient, fun, uplifting and barely ever on time to work; that's when he gets my 'cross' face as he waltz in the door decked out in the hottest new fashions and hairdo's. He makes it up to me by working longer hours and grabbing dinner with boss after hours.
  
• Wears a tie to work. Looking dashingly handsome in matching shoes no doubt.
• Occasionally decides to shock boss with a 'casual' get up to work; designer-type-'casual' of course.

He's our pretty badboy with expensive taste.
I'm sure some are tickled by how we signs off emails as 'Delectable Enrique'. Cheeky cheeky
Tidbit from su: Contrary to popular believe; our boy loves girls *grin*


Amelia: She's our bubbly angel
Energetic and often found prancing about the store in skips! She's just too happy always!
She's not been with us long; but with much practice and ridiculous 2 cents from the boy and boss; she's finally seen the light and taken a new personal persona in our shop.
Naturally shy and smiley; our Ame is sometimes found at a loss for words in the midst of a difficult Q+A with a customer. She then turns around and looks at me desperately with a big furrowed brow.
I love her innocence and ability to smile through everything.
I remember having an incredibly difficult day at work; I guess she could tell from my stress level, that I wasn't into having chit chat... as we ran our errands just the two of us; she randomly belts out looking away; "It's going to be okay".
Ame's great to have working busy shifts; quick as a fox; is incredibly helpful and yeap; a brilliant photographer herself!
She's into macro photography just like me; but funny thing about Ame; she takes photos of lizards. *shiver*


Azalia: What's not to love!
She's beautiful; giggly and has an infectious laugh!
Just like me; azalia's from Ipoh, we do share a common pool of friends from different school s but as years went past; we never did keep in contact much. Not until we were reunited in Sydney (UNSW) where we both studied different subjects.
She lived 2 blocks away from our place and remember making her a birthday cake and some occasional laksa. Haha I had to make excuses for her to come over and hang out >.<
How good is she!? Her work is outstanding!
Pretty obvious why she decided to quit her accounting job at one of the Big5's to freelance this talent of hers: Photography and moment capturing.
I sometimes get taught a thing or two when she decides to toy with my Nikon at work. She's known for sending out the young boys blushing; without having a clue how she's charmed them into smiles.

My girls prance about in frocks of their choice; often floral for Ame and Azalia; tailored and vintage for my hip baby; Nicole. I try to get them dressed in yellow or white; but occasionally they pull out a green or a pink on crazy-colour Mondays. A daily dress code for all of us makes it fun. It's nice to see Enrique dig out his closet to join in the fun as well.
I'm finding it amusing to know that there are 2 common things between those who work for Delectable. Accounting + Photography. *shrug*

Su's been interviewing again; and she's found a couple more faces just recently! Will have them exposed very soon.

*Elinor has left us to move on with chasing her dreams, I wish her luck and love :)

Gritting my teeth

It gets more and more difficult trying to stay strong when you see the rest of them succumbing to the easy way out. I completely understand how I'm not the only one in the world pursuing my dreams; I am not alone, and from the responses I've been getting in my mailbox; I know for a fact there are so many of us out there searching for inspirational others.
I could make a list about a 100 things I dislike about myself; I could make a list of 10 habits I should work on changing every day, but I can't seem to make a substantial list of reasons to give myself a pat on the back.
Everyday I'm faced struggling with this issue of differentiating Su Yin; from Delectable. I should be responsible for what Delectable is and does; but I really have to stop taking each Delectable failure as a personal failure which I beat myself up about each night. No doubt; occasionally things go wrong, people make mistakes; but I as the person behind it all; should take it as the responsibility of an entity as a whole, instead of convince myself what an idiot I was to not have done THIs or THat! That's ridiculous! I've always taken full responsibility for my actions; but when it's the actions of more than just me; of people working for me; working with me; against me, I can't control all of that; I must let go. I can't change the world by worrying about every little mess-up; I can't build my experiences with Delectable by being petty over the littlest details which upset me.


My blog helps a lot with boosting me forward to do things I must; to have people cheer me on; believe in me; it's something I'm incredibly grateful for. This complicates things a little for Su. I don't want to be the one to burst anyone's bubble or be a disappointment in the end. I'm trying to do all I can, and all I know.. I never go to sleep each night without thinking to myself; what if it isn't enough? What if I'm too ahead of myself? What if people think of my career as a joke?
Silly huh? I've always been a confident and brave person; but even the strongest of us have our moments. I have not been performing the way I had intended; I wished there was a 'mental'-gym I could sign up for to train myself to health again.
I've not had peanut butter in months. Could this maybe be the reason? Have I not taken a moment to indulge in my fav things?
*grin*

A breather. A Turning point at pause. A step forward with each new breath taken.

Time for a short mental reflection.


It's only been 2 full weeks; and yes! the shop is off to a great start.
The response for our cakes and cookies have been very encouraging as well!
I can't thank my fellow bloggers and friends who have written such nice things about Delectable and our yummy desserts!
Well no doubt; in my line of work there will always be moments where people decide to have a go at my confidence or credibility, and being the idiot that I am; I would spend the next 2 hours questioning myself. *slaps forehead* I need to stop worrying; it's holding me back.

Remember the ol comparison of 'theory and application'?
Where I am now is a classic example of where it's gone all wrong.

Sleeping 3 hours a day; leaving behind all this things I've loved and forgetting to take pride in my creations... all of that I had NOT intended; ... but it's where my stubborn self has led me.
I've forgotten how to smile; and that creates less room everyday for inspiration and passion in my heart. But THAT is what I treasure most about my silly self; and that is what Delectable has been built on.
I can't exactly put my finger on the moment I made a decisive note to myself that: THIS has GOT to change. This; meaning how my life is now evolving from a fun enjoyable one to a stressful and unforgiving experience; as well as how my goals and dreams for my Delectable will not be achievable at this rate and sequence.
I've strayed from 'plan A; B; C to D E F..and finally to Plan "Taking-it-as-it-comes"! I've got to get my head straight; pull my $*&! together and continue down the right path.
I can't help to admit that I had been distracted from loads of cakes to do; daily shelf items at the store and basically trying to be everyone and everything I felt Delectable needed. I know better than to run myself into the wall like this; and it's about time I acted so.
I'm burnt out; I wont deny... I brought it upon myself without much thought or intention; but there's no use in whining about it. I'm just glad it had only been a week before I snapped out of it.
It might have been the couple of beers with my cousins or the big laughs falling over spins at my attempts to salsa, maybe it was that quiet glass of wine I snuck from the chiller or my quick power nap I rewarded myself with this afternoon. I can't tell what it was. Maybe it was all of it. Maybe it was that comforting smile from Nicole, a big hug from Alan or that hilariously nasty dance from my 'Rico' in the middle of my shop! Haha Whatever it was; after a fun night spent skipping about my Delectable store; I'm all hyped up again to take on new challenges. I'm not tired anymore. I know what I want. I'm stubborn like that *wink* :P

Su's found her "Mojo" back guys!
It's not like I've lost it completely; it just got a little dim from those thousands of cupcakes I had to bake for hungry cake lovers in the Mall! hehe
I promise; the blogging will return, I will be seen out dancing, I will be playing badminton regularly, I will eat 3 meals a day, I will put make up on, and I will wear shoes to match! I WANT to feel alive again! YAY!
Once again; I've seen the light. Only by experience will you ever learn the importance of balance and how it can affect every aspect and outlook on your life.

No doubt; at this point, our retail outlet looks great; functions systematically, is fun, delicious, inspiring and uplifting.
However, give me a little more time; I'm ready to take it to another level. Not only will it be all it is now, Delectable will be impeccable, consistent, professional and a reflection of Su's passion for her creations!

It went right through *WAH*

Su single handedly managed her weekend of orders and shelf products like a champ.
Literally.
Long serrated knife in right; knife in cake;Knife through cake; knife through left! *BLOOD*
That was basically what disabled my entire left palm saturday morning. I had 3 little cakes and 60 cupcakes to deliver by 7.
Mini Cakes and cupcakes for the morning weekend traffic at our Delectable outlet were waiting to be covered and decorated. But how?!My handy pair of sugar crafting 'machines' were reduced to one. My first thought was "CRAP! I don't have a band-aid big enough!" Haha I eventually made do with 4 band-aids.Lucky me; it was an incredibly sharp knife! The wound should heal within a day; it's pretty alright now, just the pulsing in my hand that annoys me every time I pick something heavy up. Making lime curd and liquids for my cakes is a real killer for me too!
It's a good excuse to work on more paper work and writing; attend my weekend Salsa lessons for a change! Sleep maybe? HahaI'm feeling a little helpless today; I've finally decided to slow it down a little. Allow the wound to close; working with a glove really is nasty when I'm in a hurry to complete my weekend projects.
*sigh* I need to learn to work calm and collected.
I guess haste was what got me into this in the first place!
I can almost hear Chef James in my head going: "I told you so Su Yin!"
Any offers to volunteer their perfectly good left hands tonight? *grin*