It's getting colder

"Don't trust what you see out the window".  Pete was referring to the weather, of course.  The last couple of days, the mornings start off grey and dark but by the afternoon, the skies would clear and turn brilliant blue.  So lovely.  If it was summer, you know that it would be a warm day.  But autumn is upon us and that means temperatures are falling.  So even though it looks nice and bright outside, the temperature could be below 10C.

These days, temperatures range between 7 to 12C.  The main concern for me now is planning what to wear when we have to head outdoors.  Some times, mornings could be very cold and windy but would be warmer as the day progresses.  Hence, if I were to wear clothes that are too warm, I could be sweating later that day.  I guess I have to layer well - not too many thick layers but not too thin that I would get cold.  I really have to get that balance right.  

I try to look at what others are wearing to figure out what I should wear.  But I find there are lots of variations.  Some people are already wearing thick down jackets and woollen hats but at the same time, I find some people layering with just a thin jacket.  And of course, there would always be that one guy who would be walking around in a pair of shorts. 

I find that I can handle the cold better now.  Maybe it's all the extra layer of fat that I've developed since I got here.  Or maybe it's Pete's influence.  I don't really need such thick clothes to keep me warm.  It was only just a couple of days ago I ditched my capris and started wearing long pants when I am outdoors.  If my clothes are too warm, I would feel comfortable when outdoors but when I'm indoors, I immediately start sweating.  That's not good so I really have to plan well.

I also have to start using the moisturiser all over the body, especially the hands and feet.  The air is dry and there's no sweat to keep my skin moist.  That's the part I don't really enjoy.  It takes up time to apply the creams but if I don't do that, I know my skin will suffer.  It gets tight and feel itchy.  So I really can't skip that.

But that aside, I do enjoy the cold weather. It feels good to be in nice, warm clothes and feel the chilly air on your face.  It freshens up my face, clears my head and makes me alert.  And nothing beats the feeling of going indoors and warm up with a nice cup of tea or hot chocolate. I'd have a nice mug of Milo, but my stash is all gone.  Sigh.  

Fork & Spoon

I have been cooking lots of Asian dishes at home and I have paired them with rice most of the time.  When it comes to serving the food, Pete knows to bring a fork for him and a spoon for me, or sometimes I even forgo the spoon and eat rice the Malay way - with my fingers.  I am used to eating rice with spoons.  That's how it is back home.  We usually eat rice dishes with a fork and a spoon, pushing the rice with the back of the fork into the spoon.  The spoon is used to scoop everything up neatly into our mouths.

But here people use a knife and fork to eat, even when rice is served.  When I am invited to other people's houses for a meal, I notice that the table would be laid with a fork on the left of the plate and a knife on the right.  And it's interesting to see how they would eat the bits of rice, whatever they could push with their knife onto the fork.  When we invite people over, I would make sure I lay the table with fork, knife and spoon.  But I notice that I am the only one using the fork and spoon to eat the rice.

I guess the difference is that back home, rice is the main component of the meal.  The other dishes that are served with it, whether it's chicken, beef or seafood, are accompaniments. Here, rice is usually the side dish.  Hence the difference in the cutlery used.  And it's not only in the homes that the fork and knife combo is the norm.  When we went to an Asian buffet restaurant where dishes like chicken curry are served, again the spoons are missing. 

It looks like I have to get used to eating rice with a fork but at home, I am still going to use the spoon or even better, my fingers.  That way, I can enjoy my rice dishes fully. 

A taste of the competition

Things are moving very slowly with regards to the business. We are waiting and waiting for other people to reply or to get back to us before we can start so for now, we are focusing on other parts of the business. 

I have been trying out our new dough mixer and testing out recipes.  Since the equipment and baking pans are new, I need to try them out so see exactly how much batter I would need for each pan.  I don't want to have either too little nor too much batter and this is the best time to experiment so that I can get all recipes sorted.  It is important to do that for the cake batters since baking calls for exact measurements.  I want the baking to go well from the moment we start so that I don't have too many things to worry about.  It would be my first time at cooking many dishes in bulk so I would definitely be stressed out at first.

I have also been cooking dishes and baking cakes so that I could take photos of them.  The photos would go into our website, menus and flyers so I end up making more to have on standby so that I could take the perfect shot.  Because of that, we sometimes have lots of food left over.  Luckily we didn't have to eat everything ourselves. I have been giving them away to Pete's family or my friend who lives in the next block.  That's a win-win since we get feedback from them and also we don't have to waste any food.

Another task that we have been doing is a bit more fun - food testing.  But not our own food.  We have been trying some Asian food that are available here.  We have tried mainly Chinese and Thai food since those are a bit similar to ours.  So far, though, I haven't been impressed by their flavours.  Growing up in a place where street food is cheap, good and varied, I have tasted many different, delicious flavours and I think the Asian food here is sadly not up to scratch.  The sauces I have tried tasted like they either came out of a bottle or there were many ingredients missing resulting in insipid flavours.

Whenever I tasted the food, I would compare it with what I've experienced or with my own food.  I do think mine is more flavourful but I don't know if this would give me an edge over my competition.  What if our customers are more used to the bland flavours and are put off by my strong tasting foods?  I certainly don't want them to reject my food because they can't handle the spices or the new flavours they have never experienced.  Should I tone down the spices to cater to more palates or do I stick to the traditional flavours that I grew up with?

It's the same with cakes.  Most of the cakes here are very heavily laden with cream.  The cakes have only two thin layers of sponge and then filled and covered with whipped cream.  The cakes I am used to are more varied and much better looking.  I have been spoilt by world famous bakeries that have opened in Singapore and I thoroughly enjoyed the French and Japanese baked goods.  I can't make similarly exquisite desserts but the cakes that I can bake and love to eat are very different from those that are found here.  Cakes such as the humble butter cake, moist chocolate cake with ganache frosting, red velvet cake and lemon pound cake are not easily found here.

But with the cakes, I am going to stick to the recipes I know and love.  I am going to give our customers new choices.  If they want the usual cream cakes, I'm sure they can find those easily. But if they want something new, hopefully they will buy them from us.  What we need to do is to market our products well, maybe give out samples so they know what we have to offer.  And that's our challenge for now.  

A month on

It's been a little over a month since the two kitties joined our little family and what a joyful month it has been.  They came to us tiny and timid that very first day, not wanting to even get near us.  Every time we approach, they would run away.  They didn't even want to eat much that day.  But luckily, they quickly learnt to trust us and just the next day, they were following us around the house and even let us pet them.  

We have seen how they have quickly grown in a month - they are now double their size.  Their appetites have grown and they have learnt to jump higher and higher.  We are able to keep them off most of the higher surfaces such as the kitchen cabinets and the bookshelves but I think they would be able to get up there pretty soon.  Most of the time, though, they are not too disruptive.

Don't think they are not rambunctious though. They love running from one end of the apartment to another when they play catch, climbing up all our chairs, messing up my kitchen mat and stealing paper napkins during the night to play with them and strew them all over the kitchen floor.  They also love attacking each other and messing the other up.  Their favourite game, apart from playing catch is biting the other's tail.  They really enjoy stalking each other and aiming for the tail.  That game is made more fun when they are both in the bath tub.  That tub is like a playground to them.  I think they just love the cool, slippery, curved surface.  They love to slide about.

Since they got here, we have been truly entertained by their playfulness.  We really love watching them play with each other.  We think we have made the right decision to get both kittens since they would have each other for company.  But they are both very different.  Nymeria is really a girly kitty.  She loves to cuddle up to us and wants lots of attention.  She lets us carry her more than we are able to with Jon Snow.  Nymeria also has the softest and gentlest mews.  Sometimes you can't even hear her even though you can see her opening her mouth.  

Jon Snow is very boyish, very brash and independent.  He knows what he wants and will do anything to get it.  He is the one to wake us up (at 5 in the morning without fail) when he has decided that we have had enough sleep and that we should feed him.  He is also bigger than Nymeria since he eats more.  

The one thing they are very similar in is that they are very clever.  They know instantly how to use the litter boxes and where they are located.  They have learnt the signal I use when it's time for food.  It's a pity though, that they have yet to learn the meaning of the word "no" or even the Swedish "nej".  I mean, we use that word most often on them and yet they never get it whenever we shoo them off the dining and coffee tables and our desks.  We have to do that countless of times a day and they still go where they are not supposed to.  

But no matter how many times we have had to carry them off the tables or had our bodies covered in scratches ( we're like scratching posts to them ) we can never find the heart to be mad at them.  They are really sweet cats, especially when they make it clear that they enjoy being around us.  Even now, as I write this, we are both in bed and they are either playing at our feet or climbing all over us.  When I'm in the kitchen cooking or cleaning, they would play in the kitchen or simply sit near my feet and looking up at me.  When I leave the kitchen and sit on the sofa, they would be on either side of me.  They even want to follow me into the toilet!  They also like to follow Pete too.  When he takes naps in the afternoon, I would sometimes find Jon Snow draped over his leg, fast asleep while Nymeria naps on his chest.  Makes me go "awwww".    

In just one month, they have well and truly captured our hearts in a way we hadn't expect.  We have to do more cleaning now - clearing their litter boxes, vacuuming, mopping and wiping - but that's a small price to pay for making such a huge impact to our lives.  We {heart} our kitties.

 

Ups and downs

I'm sorry for not writing much these days.  I didn't expect things to be quite as tough.  When we decided to embark on this new career, we didn't know what to expect.  We are both very new at this.  Although I have had many thoughts about making cooking a career, I didn't expect to go through with it.

But we are now in the thick of things.  Every day, we have things to discuss, people to meet, stuff to check  out, things to do...our to-do list keeps getting longer.  And, since the time we acted on our dream until now, we have had gone through countless ups and downs.  The downs are whenever we got rejected for something, or finding out something costs more than we expected or that we needed to fulfill some rules or regulations about something - they are very strict here about food so there are lots of rules we have to adhere to.

The ups are when something goes our way, or finding bargains, or helpful people or when we received good feedback about our food. It has been months since we started this journey and the ups and downs have really tested our faith, patience and hope.  But it's great that we both support each other very well.  We both have very different opinions some times and that sometimes make our discussions quite heated and unpleasant but by keeping calm and being objective, we get through and are able to move on.  

For now, we are not physically tired since we have not opened for business yet, but the ups and downs can take a toll on us mentally.  When that happens, I just feel like lying in bed at night, cuddle up to Pete and hope things will get better the next day.  I didn't know starting your own business can be so tough.  But we will keep calm and carry on.  

There are fun days, such as shopping for kitchen equipment, photo shoot of our food and recipe testing so we are enjoying the process overall.  Also, I have quit school.  I am supposed to take my national test for course D in a few months but I have missed many lessons since I needed to attend meetings and such.  I couldn't log in the hours in school so it's better to just quit and study on my own.  Pete and I speak more and more Swedish now - not as much as we should, I feel - so I'm improving a little.  I hope to be more fluent when we open for business so I can speak Swedish to our customers. 

Hmm...I guess since I have more time now that I'm not going to school, I should write more here.  I will try, ok.  So watch this space :)