Voices from within

24Jul/090

Project Mille Crepe – Step 3 of N

8:40PM - Returned home from a 2-hour badminton training.
9:15PM - Showered and finished dinner.
9:40PM - Finished chatting with mom. Decided that I should start preparing the crepes batter so I could proceed with making the pastry cream and assemble the cake tomorrow.

Mixing
10:00PM - Started mixing the eggs, flour, sugar and salt

Mixing
10:10PM - Done mixing by hand

10:20PM - Interrupted by the "nightly call" as I was preparing the pan to cook the butter. Paused for 10 minutes to entertain the caller.

Heating up the milk
10:30PM - Done cooking the butter and started to heat up the milk

Almost there
10:40PM - Almost there... Browned butter and hot milk being poured into the mixture

Crepes batter - done!
10:55PM - Ready to be refrigerated overnight. Crepes batter - done!

Filed under: Eating Out No Comments
23Jul/090

The Preparation

  • New pair of working shoes, one that’s very, very comfortable - lots of walking to do there.
  • A backpack - for the explorer me.
  • New haircut? - it's time for the monthly hairdo exercise.
  • Get a room.
  • Singapore dollars - room rental + deposit, food, travelling.
  • Complete Project Mille Crepe.
  • A webcam - so I can see the CHAs: Ma cha, Bit cha, Ling cha and Kong cha.

Hmm... what else?

Filed under: Singapore No Comments
22Jul/090

Project Mille Crepe – Step 2 of N

Ingredients shopping.

Butter, all-purpose flour, cream and milk
Butter, all-purpose flour, cream and milk

I hope I bought the correct items (haha).
This task was completed today but was overdue. The initial plan was to finish shopping yesterday and begin my first experiment. However, as soon as I got home from Jusco, I was too tired to do anything. I was supposed to prepare the crepes batter today but it was all good since I will not have time to proceed with making the vanilla pastry cream and assemble the cake tomorrow - badminton training arghhhh!

Here's a rough idea on the course of making the cake:-

  • Prepare the crepes batter (day 1 - refrigerate overnight)
  • Prepare the vanilla pastry cream (day 2)
  • Assemble the cake (day 2)
Filed under: Eating Out No Comments
21Jul/091

Project Mille Crepe – Step 1 of N

It's a month away from Aug 18th and I am already thinking hard what sort of surprise should I give. After all, it is the first time that I will be celebrating this special day with him. A shirt? A tie? A card? Ughh... I am always stuck at choosing gifts for people. I finally decided that I want to do something simple. Make something edible for him :p
We were chatting online about food (it started with durians, yuck!) two days ago. I realized I had an opportunity to casually ask what does he like to eat most. The outcome of the interview was... Korean food. No, no, this is definitely impossible for me. Next comes, "remember the layer cake I bought for you from Malacca?".

Aha! That's it.

I googled immediately for the recipe. cheese layer cake, rum and raisin layer cake, rum and raisin cheese layer cake. None of the results returned looked like the one I ate! I cannot remember the shop's name at all. How would I know which is the right recipe, having no baking experience at all? I talked to my dear friend, Ying Ying, whose mom is good at making desserts. Hmm.. nothing.

I brought this up to Hiew Ming (another dear friend-cum-ex-colleague), knowing she's quite fond of good food and therefore, she might just know something. She immediately showed me a blog that has the bakery in Malacca published in one of their posts. Yay! The shop's name is Nadeje Patisserie. It is actually quite famous for the said "layer cake". The "layer cake" is called Mille Crepe. Hiew Ming mentioned that Food Foundry sells Mille Crepe too. From there, she suggested that we should go have another slice of Mille Crepe before I begin my quest in making one myself.

Pasta Carbonara
Pasta Carbonara

Mille Crepe - Vanilla
Mille Crepe - Vanilla

Mille Crepe - Vanilla
Mille Crepe - Vanilla

Mille Crepe - Vanilla
Almost done...

Hiew Ming. Thank you for your time and effort!
This is Hiew Ming. Thank you for your time and effort!

Step 1 - complete!

Filed under: Eating Out 1 Comment
15Jul/091

The Decision

Just less than two months ago, I made the decision to bring forward my career to a foreign country, Singapore. I first had this thought almost the same time last year but it was never executed, blame it to insufficient self-motivation.

After the decision comes the blessing.

I knew I had to get mom's blessing before putting anything into execution.
It was not easy. She was all hyper when we talked about the good sides of working there but when I relayed The Decision to her, there seemed to be more disadvantages than advantages now.
For a start, Mom thought I wasn't serious. I had to constantly bring up the topic, use several nights to persuade and assure her that it wasn't a decision made overnight at all.
Once I got a nod from her, I went to job sites and browsed the directories right away.
I knew from the beginning that it will not be easy to leave an impression and be selected for an interview because of my residency status and my availability period.
I tried really hard each night and finally, calls were coming in! There were a few phone interviews but only one really caught my interest.

Believe it or not, from my first job to my second job, it was the personalities and values of both managers that aided in my decision in accepting the job offers. I have some weird instincts every time I attend an interview. I would know from the moment the interviewer started speaking.

Isaac had this father's value in him. He gives good motivation to you. He was the one who made me realised that I could make it big, that I should learn to make decisions for the company regardless of my role and importance to the company (I was just few months old) and that the only rule of thumb here for a good decision is one that benefits the company.

EngLai also left the same impression to me. I never knew why I was hired because I felt I did badly during the interview. It was after 6 and I was so tired after work that day. I was all nervous and I took quite long to answer certain questions thrown to me.
To top it up, I never had working experience in the skill sets that they required but he trusted me in my very first assignment.
He said to me that he was taking a gamble and he was lucky to find himself a winner.

So there goes my instincts, being put at test again. I could feel the person interviewing me on the phone. He has given me that same kind of impression that both my previous managers had. I knew right away that this is it! I was invited for a second interview at Ulu Kelang, Ampang. My meeting with Steven confirmed my instincts. After a strings of discussions, I accepted their offer and I am required to report to work on Aug-17th!

That marks the end of The Decision and here comes, The Preparation!

Filed under: Work 1 Comment