JOURNEY INTO THE UNKNOWN

PART 2: WILL CURIOSITY KILL THE CAT?

Salam and hi,

So sorry I didn't update this blog last night. Was caught up in a few conversations with clients. So here I am early in the morning, writing down my thoughts.

I had a few friends congratulating me over last few days. Why? Well.. they seemed to think that TDT is on the verge of success... hmmm..I never thought of that. I always thought that TDT is not there yet. Maybe I should change my views... maybe I should start measuring incremental success. But in any case, all praise should go to Almighty Allah, Alhamdulillah...

Azman hard at work. I believe he's got what it takes to make it in this industry.

Maybe this thing has everything to do with that quote 'where you are today depended on what you did 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 years ago or maybe even less than that'. You believe that? I do. So maybe where TDT is today was based on what I did a few months back.. or years ago.. hmmm   I should reflect on that...

And so, I did the unthinkable. Dr. Azizan Osman was promoting Richworks' next seminar titled 'Intensif Jutawan Industri' which to me sounds like another scam, don't you think so? I mean here I am, already at the FREE seminar, and throughout the seminar he gave us free tips on this and that and a few free books. Did those gifts convince me? Nope. I was sure this is just like any other MLM scam. LOL!

So when he gave info on the next seminar, like you, I was dead sceptical. I was like here's the catch laaa kannn. I quietly told myself "don't let yourself be fooled. He's just selling ideas which you might get from reading books"... yeahhhhh.... let them all be fooled but not me. I'm the clever one right? Ahaksss!

But then, OMG! MasyaAllah he gave discounts! Huge discounts! And you can just pay a minimum deposit..alalalalala... why laa.....

Not thinking anymore. I was motivated solely by discounts.So, hesitantly I signed up. Sigh... You know how much it would cost me? RM4999.00 This great UNKNOWN would cost me RM4,999.00 I don't have that kind of money. I'm dead broke! I mean I don't have that much to spare..it could well be another boring seminar, right?

And...... OMG! Hubby would flip! But...I didn't have to confirmed yet... I could just let it slip.... hahahaha... see.. I'm clever :) but I was curious.... I need to know for sure if it's going to worth at least RM100. Kannnnn.... I mean RM4,999.00 is a lot of money right..it's a 2 way ticket to London for 1 person kannnnn.... isyyy! I would love to have that ticket in my hands now....

Come Monday, I decided to test some, well..3 or 4 of Dr Azizans free tips which I had read in that small red book.

And..... I couldn't believe it! OMG! It worked! Alhamdulillah! It really worked! I put up some classes schedule and made announcement through FB wall and Page that Monday night, classes for the next 3 months - October through December 2012... And.... okay seriously.. this never happened to me okay.. it was booked solid! Melimpah even that I have to reject so many hopeful future students of mine...

 OMG!!! For the next 2 days, I didn't even have time to shower or go to TDT coz my phone was ringing off the hook through calls, smses, whatsapp, emails and FB msg... OMG!!!! Suddenly my bank account was flowing in with cash... and I'm happy :-) because now I can tell Hubby about this RM4,999.00 course and.... I can pay for it.. :-) LOL!!! Alhamdulillah again and again...

But of course, there were arrangements I made with him so that when I come back and talk to him about everything that I learned..I was already paid..hahahahaha... kaannnn...

But I'm sure by now you're half asleep reading this right... so I'm gonna stop here. I mean I could be the only one reading this... right?

If you did read this .. please help let me know by dropping me emails at mutiaradesserttable@gmail.com and tell me what you think.. okay.. And If I don't get any by the end of today then I know I was just rambling to myself, which would mean I syok sendiri LOL!...

P/s: I'm going to share some of this tips in one of my class dated 26th Jan 2013.... Only if you want them.

TDT class calendar has already been updated, please go to the Calendar page to check the schedule.

Love,
Farida Ismail
013- 355 4399

December Class Updates :

2nd Dec - Bread making with Mamazieza Azizah Hassan - FULL

6th Dec - All things Chocolate  (RM290) where you'll be making a Bar of Crunchy Chocolate, A moist Chocolate Cake (Delicious!)  and also Marbled Creamcheese Brownie (easy peasy)

12-13th Dec - Royal Icing Class RM650 where you'll learn to make Royal Icing decorations easily with our tips and techniques. Fee RM650 will be for the last time. People have been telling me it's too cheap. So 4 more places available. Book now. You won't get this price next year. Don't say I didn't warn you.

17-18th Dec - Shabby Chic Inspired Cake Design Class - FULL

29th Dec - Kelas Kek Komersial with Chef Amer - FULL

30th Dec - Kelas Desserts & French Pastry - 2 more seats, which I expect would be taken up by next few days.

2-4th Jan - Booked for private class in Sugar Flowers

5th Jan - Basic Baking Series - How to make delicious CUPCAKES (RM290) the easy way - OPENED for registration

8th Jan - Basic Baking Series (Basic Cakes - RM350) - OPENED for registrations.
Failproof ways to make delicious and moist Lemon Butter cake, Sponge Cake and Chocolate Cake using recipes from Chef Fatima Ghani, an international standard Chef currently residing in Melbourne.

More to come..don't worry.. I'll update you in a few days.. I have an interesting Class for those who are looking into sharing your Skills with others... best!

SMS me your inquiries to 013-355 4399. I'll be waiting...

Chef Amer's Class in October, register early!

ANNOUNCEMENT : THE DATE FOR THIS CLASS HAS BEEN CHANGED FROM 13TH OCT TO THE 14TH OCT. PLEASE BE INFORMED.

Chef Amer, Chef Fatima Ghani and whole lotta stuff!

Salam and hi,

 Chef Amer was at The Dessert Table last week for a private class on Commercial Cookies on the 10th April. Yup! Cookies people. Ramadhan is coming soon followed by Eid ul Fitr or Hari Raya Aidil Fitri. So cookie making business women are busy looking for new hit recipes to use for this coming festive season. I uploaded some photos from our recent class.  As usual the class was a havoc!

Looking intently at our notes. Chef told us we should draw the cookie shapes on the top side of our recipe note. hahahaha... because nobody did and were soon asking him, Chef, bentuk ni biskut apa? LOL! Dah kena leter...

Choco Oaties, addictive! A definite hit with kids and adults alike!

Haippp!! Hot from the oven... MasyaAllah..if only you could smell the delicious aroma from TDT..

Chef's assistant yg sangat rajin tuh..

Can't remember the name but absolutely delicious

Hahahaha...lost somewhere in those commotion..so taking a breather on the mixer..

Hot from the oven

Tandanya sedap coz kids don't lie...

Next month, on 5-6th May, I've invited Chef Amer again to be with us. This time for basic class in Cake Baking & Cake Decorating 5-6 May. Details are provided in the poster below. Make sure you don't miss this class as it's gonna be loaded with delicious cakes and fun stuff. And Chef Amer is so NOT stingy with tips and lessons learnt. Call me soon as you read this  coz places are limited.  

AND my mentor Chef Fatimah Ghani from Melbourne is going to drop by TDT on her way to London. And she's offering to do a 2-Day Intensive workshop with us..wohohohohoho! Definitely worth your money people!! Sign -up if you know what's good for you. She is one of the very few people I turn to for advise..And she gave me loads of good advise ok. I won't be doing what I'm doing now without encouragement from her.. So if you're looking for an advise on directions in your baking life, talk to her (Chef, don't marah me if your phone rang off the hook after this heheh).

Chef Fatimah was Malaysia's first cake decorator and was already doing sugarpaste decorating when others were still dablling in buttercream in the 80s and I was still wiping runny nose heheh...She appeared in several TV shows and magazine during those days. She also won several awards in Cake Decorating on the International scene, mainly in Australia, UK and Malaysia. I knew her when I went for Basic Cake Deco course at Taylor's College few years back and was soon begging her for private class. After 3 months of non-stop calls and emails, she relented :-) and so my serious journey into baking & decorating began. After that she left Taylors College and went to join her kids in Melbourne and taught pastries and cakes at a local Uni there. Late last year, December I think, she was summoned by the King of Swaziland to His Royal Palace to teach the Chefs there how to make delicious cakes and pastries, fit for a King (no pun intended).

Call me soon as you see this too! To good a chance to be missed. 013-3554399 today!

Chef Fatima's competition entry

Also, our Food Styling & Food Photography Class on the 28th April, we still have some seats left. Please do not let this wonderful class go by. Make the right decisions and come to all our wonderful class. Call me now, 013-355 4399.

Till I see you again, be good.

Love,
Farida Ismail

Introducing New Desserts from The Dessert Table

Salam and hi,

We had some time off from classes before they all start again next week, so we, Miedah and I, thought we'd better churn out some new recipes to offer our affluent clients :-)

And we're so glad we did...the results are awesome! And taste is even more awesome! And we had a field day dabbling in Food Styling and Food Photography.

So, introducing our new desserts ORANGE POPPYSEED & CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE AND GOOEY CHOCOLATE STACKS...my oh my..talk about over indulgence...

Plus I found some imported Madagascar Vanillas to try.. one of them is the Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Paste..awesomeness! I'm going to stick to this vanilla or the other two for all our products insyaAllah..

Totally awesome vanilla paste.

Our new delicious Orange Poppyseed & Chocolate Fudge Cake...available for orders.

Hoping to improve in food styling & food photography

A slice of freshness, which went straight into our mouths..and the caramelized orange made it even better!

Our brand new Gooey Chocolate Stack. Available through our Dessert Series Class.

Through The Dessert Table brand, we aspire to provide our affluent clients with superior high quality products, be it Cakes, Desserts, Pastries..both through our classes or through our Orders. 

We like Valrhona or Barry Cacao or Callebaut Chocolate and we like butter and not margerine. We use chocolates and cocoa powder that have 50% cocoa and above. No compund for us and our clients. We like Farmhouse milk and won't use anything less. And what we like, we want to let our clients have them too..

So if you find that our cakes, desserts or pastries are a bit on the premium price side, it's because we use premium ingredients in all our products, whether in our classes or in the orders we receive. We don't ever want to compromise on the quality of our products so rest assured, you will always get the best from us.

So, if you want to tantalize your taste buds with something absolutely delicious, come to our class or order from us, and find out for yourselves....

Tomorrow, it's White Chocolate & Raspberry Cheesecake...oolalala....

Love,

Farida Ismail

Fondant for Beginner

Salam and Hi,

MasyaAllah, what a month! Alhamdulillah March 2012 had been a very busy month. I hope and pray that April will be even more. 

On Monday we had a private Dessert Series Class where we baked Fudgy Brownies and Pavlova with Ms Ling. I forgot to snap any pix coz after class we conitnued with prep work for next day class. 

And the final class we had for March was the Basic Fondant Class for Beginners. We had Ms Ling (again :), thanks!), Pn Nina and Ms Winnie Leong, towkey D'Clay and the class was havoc! OMG! 

Plenty of laughter and teasing throughout the class and the results are like below: All of them went for different designs...havoc!

Anyways, through this basic class, we take you through the basic of baking a good butter cake and delicious icing. Everyone left the class with more knowledge on each ingredients involved in baking a good and delicious butter cake. When I first learnt the basics with Chef Fatima, she walked me through each ingredients and how they react to treatments and to one another. So I felt it's important also for those who attends my class to know the same thing.

Through this class, beginners will also learnt how to manipulate fondants to cover cakes and to make simple decorations.

Ms Ling's Fondant Cake

Winnie of d'Clay's Fondant Cake

Nina's Fondant Cake

I hope they had enjoyed the class and will continue baking. Good luck to all of you!

Next 2 weeks Class updates:


5th April - Dessert Series (RM540 private class, RM450 group class)
 ** Fudgy Brownies, Passionate Chocolate Cake (NEW!!) and Blackforest Cake.

Our new Dessert Cake - The Decadence Passionate Chocolate Cake. Don't miss this Class!!

7th April - Delicious Cupcakes (RM450 private class, RM450 group class)
** Red Velvet Cupcakes, Luscious Lemon Cupcakes and Moist Chocolate Cupcakes - gorgeous for any parties! Don't miss it! Send to us you daughters and their cousins or best friends and we'll teach them how to make this delicious cuppies. No worries for you next time you have any gatherings.

perfectly baked.

And for the 2nd week of April 2012


9th April - BASIC BAKING SERIES (RM540 private class, RM450 group class)
** Orange & poppy seed butter cake, Sponge Cake & Classic New York Cheesecake.


10th April - COMMERCIAL COOKIES WITH THE FAMOUS CHOCOLATIER CHEF AMER
(RM320 PERPERSON)
Dont miss this class! We won't have it again till next year! And we want only 10 pax for this class. So register Today! 013-3554399


11 & 12 April - Basic Sugar Flower Class (RM380 perperson)
You'll learn how to make gorgeous roses and filler flowers and foliage and of course, we'll guide you on the basic arrangement of a bouquet. Call today 013-3554399.

Basic Sugar flower Class

I can smell the spring.. :-). I'm looking forward to another adventure in spring :-).

Till then! Take care!

Love,
Farida Ismail
the_dessert_table@hotmail.com
013-3554399

Roti Naik Johor, Cupcakes, Pavlovas and Whole lotta Cakes.

The Date is 21st - 23rd March, not the above, sorry human err.

CLASS UPDATES


21st-23rd March - Royal Icing Class
24th March - Basic Cupcakes Bake & Decorate
26th March - Dessert Series  - Pavlova and Fudgy Brownies
27th MArch - Basic Fondant Class - Bake and Decorate
31st March - Food Styling & Food Photography with Pak Uda Ali



Salam and hi,

I've a bit quiet because a lot of things were going on and I just couldn't find the time to sit quietly and blog. Balik rumah dah letih plus nak mengadap hal rumahtangga lagi.. so jadinya berminggu2 la tak meng'update'. Tapi hari ni rasa bertenaga dan nak tutup sebelah mata je kat kain yang menimbun tu..:)

Hari ni saya minta si Miedah buat roti so, dia pun without looking at the recipe terus membancuh roti naik, speciality orang2 Johor.. fuhhh! makan panas2 straight from the oven, memang cun!

Absolutely delicious Roti Naik Johor made by Miedah, my assistant today

Berat badan yang agak bertambah ni adalah disebabkan nak mengajar si Miedah yang baru mula kerja dalam 2 minggu tu untuk membuat kek and alhamdulillah, terang hati budak ni. Sekali dua dah pandai, so minggu lepas berjenis2 kek jugak la kita buat termasuklah hari Sabtu tu kita mencuba resepi coklat moist kek yg sangat mengancam.. dagu memang dah dua ni.

We made these coz we itchy itchy want to eat some cakes..

And semalam, tanpa si Miedah, sebab dia ada kelas kat Uitm, we had a Basic Baking Class with a pair of twins, Diana and Nadia. Muka diorang memang sama sebijik, tapi saya simpanlah gambar dia untuk kegunaan sendiri sahaja. Hasilnya memang sedap because apart from teaching them the proper techniques in cake baking and making icing, we used the best ingredients only, throughout all our classes.

Moist chocolate cakes 

Pavlova..yummss.

Buttercake

Basic Baking Class - Butter Cakes, Chocolate Moist and Pavlovas by twin sisters Nadia and Diana

Last 2 Saturdays was really hectic coz we had quite a few orders to fulfill, all to be picked up on Friday and Saturday.

Birthday cupcakes ordered by Fadzril

Hantaran cupcakes ordered by Kak Sal, whom I met during Hajj 2010, for her niece.  Credit to Liza of Rollypops for making the cute couple. We didn't have the time to do it.

Tengah sibuk2 nak buat order tu, sempat lagi mengajar private class untuk adik Atiqah yg sedang tunggu keputusan SPM. Good luck Dik.

Class with adik Atiqah

Pretty decorations by Adik Atiqah

Trend baru agaknya di kalangan anak muda, Blueberry Tarts with creamcheese filling, di'order' oleh Julia untuk adiknya yang bernikah pada hari Jumaat lepas. Congrats!

Mini blueberry tarts ordered by Pn Julia for her sister's wedding.

And Ms Anitha ordered a bunch of mini desserts for her son's first birthday. We made about 60 of each, mini Oreo Cheesecake (which we forgot to snap, duhh!), baby eclairs and mini pavlovas. Thanks Anitha!

Mini pavlovas. We made a mix of berries and passionfruit pavs for her.

Remnance of baby eclairs ordered by a client.

Kalau nak order anything at all yang related to birthdays or weddings and engagement, or even for your corporate events, please feel free to call/sms your enquiries to us @ 013-355 4399 or email us your requirements to the_dessert_table@hotmail.com. We will revert to you soonest possible.

In the meantime, you guys take care!

Love, 

Farida Ismail

The Dessert Table

Untuk happy2, kita enjoy photo Zaim and cousin kat beach during sunset. Shots using Canon EF lens 100mm.

Dalam hati, seperti dalam tempayan ini, ada bunga bunga...

 Zaim, a silhouette in the sunset

Zaim and cousin dia

Fun!


I miss taking photo shots of things other than cakes. And punyalah ralit nak ambik gambar biawak, the cap of my 35mm lens jatuh tergolek dalam air kolam yang penuh dengan talapia and African Keli yg besar budak...adeiii!

March 2012 Schedule

COMMERCIAL CAKES AND SUGARFLOWERS

Assalamualaikum and hi,

Alhamdulillah, all praise be to the AlMighty Allah Azzawajalla. It had definitely been a busy weekend indeed.

The Dessert Table had pleasure to host the awesome 'Commercial Cakes Workshop' on Saturday 18th Feb. Many thanks to Chef Amer for being so sporting and fun while delivering the class, his 2 assistants who tireless prepared and cleaned up throughout the class and to all the lovely participants, from all walks of life and ages. Some were even from out of town like Ipoh, Jerantut, Melaka, all came in droves seeking improvements in their existing recipe fortes. Well, we sure learnt a lot from Chef Amer, he has vast and deep knowledge in preparing cakes and chocolate, being THE Master Chocolatier in Malaysia. Great pleasure of mine to host this workshop, alhamdulillah.

Well. aptly named Commercial Cakes Workshop, we learnt all the techniques and know-how on how to make the cakes and make it commercially viable for the bakers to sell them cheap. I'm not gonna divulge too much, those who want to know will have to sign up for his next class with us... :-)

Enjoy some of the photos...

Intro session.

Dark pitted Cherry...yummmssss

Masing-masing khusyuk sambil tersenyum dengar penerangan Chef yang sangat lawaknya.

Finishing touches

Glazing the Boston Cheesecake

  

Nope, we're not fighting..heheh..tengah memarut chocolate. When Chef Amer did it, he just needed the table and his lutut, but we..heheh...sangatlah loratnya...

Chef, bila disuruh smile..sambil memukul telur...heheh..

Tadaaaa..... dah siap! Bab posing memang semua champin!

Our Chilled Oreo Cheesecake

Blackforest cheesecake. Don't mind me, am experimenting with food styling.

Blackforest Cake

Chocolate perfection. Insyaallah will upload the cut version when I get around to cutting it. So sayaang one....

Boston Cheesecake

Then on Sunday and Monday, I continued on with a Sugarflowers class with my cousin Syakella, Mimie from Melting Bites Penang and Julia, an IT Lecturer from Malacca.

Masyallah..Mimi closed shop for 2 days to come for this class and Julia, travel back and forth to Malacca for 2 days coz she has a baby and Sya had to leave her cute 1 1/2 year old Aira too. What an effort they put in to come to my class, and the results, wonderful! Beautiful sugar flowers, all handcrafted from scratch. I even threw in arrangement coz they were all so nice and so eager to learn. Thank you all for coming.

Mimi, jangan tunggu lama2, confirmkan plan kita tu cepat sikit ya...:-).   

Mimi's , nice work! Very meticulous work. Beautiful color  as well. 

I showed her how to make a simple bouquet arrangement.

Pretty.

Sya's simple but nice arrangement. She made this while catching a cold. Poor thing.

Julia's arrangement. Despite the soksek soksek, she managed to make enough flowers for me to show her  how to make the simple arrangement. Good Job Jue.

These babies are mine which I did throughout the class with them...

Pull blossoms, delicately pretty! Also mine, heheh...

So, I'm like a happy bunny having finished all the classes...alhamdulillah. To top it of I got to go attend a lecture by Mufti Ismail Musa Menk from Zimbabwe last night, having all these while listened to CDs and watching his DVDs while making flowers. We got to pray Maghrib and Isya with him as our Imam, alhamdulilah...all Praise by to The Almighty Allah, for granting my du'as. I've always wanted to attend his lecture...

I'm planning for more classes with Chef Amer, most of them will be during weekdays because he is fully booked on weekends till end of the year. Tu diaaa...

Due to overwhelming response, we are going to hold another Food Styling and Photography Session with Chef Ali, most probably in early April. I have 4 people lining up to join in the class, so if you're interested, please register early with me. We are only taking on 10 pax so that everyone is comfortable, so late inquiries and registration, next class!

Next line up of classes will include :

1. Raya cookies Demo with Pn Rozita Kader of Ita's Delight.

2. Cakes & Cake Decoration with Chef Amer - this class will be a private class of 4-5 participants. Almost full.

3. French Desserts with Chef Amer - also almost full.

4. Sugarflower Class 1 (2 days) - Roses, pull blossoms and foliage - suitable for beginners. Taking only 3 pax. RM350/person.

5. Sugarflowers Class 2 (3 days)  - Peony, foliage and butterfly - intermediate. Prerequisite - Sugar Flower Class 1. Only 3 pax.  RM450/person

6. Delicious Brownies - Fudgy and Cakey type.

7. Berry pavlova and Red Velvet Cake.

Excited? Call me at 013-355 4399 or email me (the_dessert_table@hotmail.com) the list of classes you want to join in. Dates of classes will be updated soon.

In the mean time, enjoy the rest of the week!

Love,
Farida Ismail