Pulau Lankayan ~ April 2012

"HOME, SWEET, HOME"

What desktop wallpapers are made of...

No, I haven't taken up residence at Pulau Lankayan since you last visited my blog. The place just feels like home whenever I come back to this place~ the mere sight of the green island really makes me forget about the civilized world.

The last time I was here my photos were not that fabulous as it was raining and not super sunny. This time around not only was the water so clear you could see right down to the bottom, there was also a new restaurant on the island. **The last time I was here it was under construction

The new majestic restaurant has replaced the smaller older one that was nestled among the trees. Now the common area for guests (where meals are served, books are kept and drinks are served) sits out in the sea creating a little haven on those days you just want to chill outside of your chalet but not on the beach. With a 360 degrees viewing deck I think this new restaurant has all your desktop wallpaper changes covered for the entire year!

I don't cry. I celebrate...My 30th Bday!!

"THIRTY, FLIRTY AND THRIVING!"

This quote is from one of my favorite movies "13 Going on 30" starring Jennifer Garner as the adult girl who, at 13, wished she was 30. For a lot women the age of 30 signals some sort of "scary" age where (apparently) we're supposed to have achieved all our dreams by then and so by our birthdays we panic because, well, we have not. We haven't written that novel, we haven't gotten married, we haven't gotten on BRW's top 30 under 30 etc etc...

I don't dwell on my personal life too much in this blog but I felt like this occasion was little special and thought I'd share a little. Years and years ago I was designing and sewing bags from home and selling them at the Sydney local markets. I always thought I would end up with a bag label but little did I know my heart lied in the kitchen, specifically, the oven. My will to sew waned when I started working full-time but my creative passion never died. I was always itching to be creative but thought that was the end: I won't be doing anything creative in my life anymore. Little did I know my years of frequent cupcake baking would flourish into a business. I just thought every girl loved baking so I never took any notice of my weird urge to play with batter but I held back a lot of the times because it was a waste of money/there's no one to eat it/any other excuse you can think of to deny yourself from doing something fun.

I don't cry. I learn...from Kelvin Chua of Vinism Sugar Art

ROYAL ICING PIPE DREAMS

Confession: Piping scares me. Even when I watch Buddy on Cake Boss do the drop points my heart skips a beat. Dangling royal icing mid-air? Is that even possible in the real world?

But that’s exactly what I did a few weeks ago J It’s been a while since I did a cake course of any kind the last one being my magical time at Faye Cahill’s studio in Sydney. When Sugarart announced that Kelvin Chua of Vinism Sugar Art was coming to KK to teach his amazing piping skills I thought this was a great opportunity to face my fears.

Whoever thinks the world of cake decorating is a bunch of old ladies sitting around in pretty aprons sipping tea and squeezing bags of sugar and butter is completely and utterly wrong. Armed with piping tips, razor-sharp blades and whole lot of sugar, cake decorating is about bringing imagination to life (and tummies). Sometimes I look at my cake deco tool box and can't decide whether it resembles something belonging to an artist or a ninja. Cake decorating is not only back breaking but is somewhat like an emotional roller coaster ride (minus the nausea) which is sometimes the best part of it all.  The piping class was a physically-challenging and emotional day! All worth it, of course ;)