Billy is sweet

15 September 2010

Billy wrote me an email informing me to take a day off baking as he would bring in some cakes and treats for his belated birthday in support of my campaign. A very thoughtful thing to do... for someone who really appreciates bake-free days :P

We still managed to raise $33.65 from only asking a nominal $1 donation. Natalie bought some cakes on behalf of the office for a meeting in the boardroom to help with consumption.



Happy belated birthday and Thank you Billy Byrne!

Spring Rolls Galore!

forgot to take a photo before all the snatching began!

It's not quite spring yet, but today it was spring rolls galore! The weather was gloomy, the aroma that spread across the office at 10.30am lured my hungry co-workers out of their seats and into the kitchen... there were 47 46 spring rolls of various fillings (I had to try one myself!) beef, pork, veges and custard apple! and yes they were gooooooooooood... and GONE in less than 10 minutes!!! best day of sales speed wise :)

These spring rolls were given to us to try out by a family friend who owns a spring roll factory so it's commercial grade handmade yumminess!!

got rave reviews on these custard apple spring rolls! 

I went downstairs this morning and mum had already finished the massive fry-up, said I should take these to work (I think she's saying I shouldn't eat these all by myself at home.. it's time to start dieting for bridesmaiding in a few months time argh!!!!!)

Anyway, how nice of a "surprise" as I didn't plan on taking anything to work today. I think everyone loved it, especially surprised by the sweet option - Custard Apple spring rolls!!!!!! unfortunately I only tried the vege one... so after work today I harassed mum about getting some more spring rolls :)))))))))

Level 3 people descended naturally, willing to take the walk, totally worth it I thought. Many people missed out on the spring roll mad rush... but maybe there'll be another chance another day...

luke modelling for a good cause :D

It's muffin day again tomorrow, better get back into the kitchen and fire up the oven!!!!!! thinking about trialling out a few new flavours :)

Although still exhausted from the weekend (of baking), I'm determined to get through this week with .... whatever that is left of my will power!

By the way, I have set up a new tab on top, it's an invite to the sugar4water picnic event, some funness! Please help me tell your friends and family and share the love <3

Day 28 - [Guest Baker] Elise the Superstar!

raspberry and coconut white chocolate mud cake!

It's Ekka public holiday today, and I took a REAL day off as prescribed by Elise - the girl I met only once at a friend's wedding!

A month ago, after finding out about my campaign she already generously donated US$44 towards sugar4water but that wasn't the end of it! I received another email from her shortly after about her wanting to bake her own birthday cake for her family and donate another $50 towards my campaign so I could have a day off - HOW NICE IS THAT?!

Seriously, how nice is that?!!!!!! 

I nearly forgot about it until Monday morning when I got her email which cheered me up immensely with delicious photos attached of her birthday picnic!! Here's a cut-and-paste of her email:

Hey Amy!

How are you? Hope you had a great weekend.

I made cake for my picnic as promised…. Photos are attached.

The cake is an adaptation of a few women weekly recipes… it is a Raspberry and Coconut White Chocolate Mud Cake. It was yummy and as you can see, people at the picnic gave it a pretty good go!!

Am yet to add my donation from this to your blog links, but I will do today or tomorrow. Also got some extra contributions from picnic attendees. And my Mum wants to order a cake when she is down in a few weeks! We are all big fans of your project.

Don’t forget to take your day off!

Ciao

Elise

Elise the superstar  :D!

I just came back from my day off on the coast, came online to update Day 26 and added up my latest numbers.... Elise helped me raise another US$82 from her birthday picnic with extra donation money from picnic attendees!!!!!

I am so proud to have a fan base at her household!

So after some adding up with all the money I've recorded - OMFG! the goal... THE GOAL that seemed impossible 6 weeks ago has been reached already!!!!!!!!!!!!! (even with today's shitty exchange rate!!!! taking into account bank fees. I added in the ingredient donations people had given me so I could get to the US$5000 on OANDA). And I have 50 more days until my campaign deadline!!!!!!!!!!! I considered going for a second well, but decided not to be greedy I've decided to keep on raising funds to go towards a second well with Well Wishers. But it's definitely time to get fit... I think after one month of cake eating, I see double chin.....amongst other things like breakouts all over my face from lack of sleep and stress... That said, I am going to continue with the baking theme and still hope the people who wanted to host events and high-teas etc are still excited about the campaign, we never know how much we can potentially raise by the end of September!! not to mention the other mission of spreading the word about the cause! I think I'll need to do an official post with this big milestone. OMG! OMG! OMG!

I'm lost for words..... 

Let's look at a couple more pretty cake photos from the picnic shall we?.....

half eaten cakes by happy picnic-ers mmmmm

pretty cross section of the layered cake - looks real yum!

Thank you so much Elise for doing what you did (original idea!) and campaign promoting for me (I didn't even have to do anything!).

I'm able to write about Day 28 even before the day coz Day 28 tomorrow is DAY OFF DAY :)

So, soon when the currency rate gets back up a little, I'll be uploading the rest of the AU$ donations onto my campaign page.... exciting!!!

Day 22 - [Guest Baker] Apple Pie & Chicken Vege Pasties

Kay's homemade apple pie

Two days in a row of volunteer bakers at work! I've been able to rekindle my relationship with my warm bed. Thank you ladies!


Kay seemed more organised than me in regards to planning ahead and baking in advance on the weekends... I was worried everyone is sick of cakes everyday already and sent Kay an email yesterday asking if she could make something chocolate or savoury to spark some interest if she hasn't already made the apple pie.


She came in this morning with WARM apple pie and WARM Chicken vege & corn pasties made and baked in the morning!!!!!! I think she is suspiciously as obsessed as I am... ofcourse for quality control reasons I had to test taste both baked goods and it was oh so satisfying! :D!!! 

cross section thru the pie, yum served with dollop cream

I also took some savoury pasties upstairs as suggested by Kay and they all disappeared this time with corresponding donations in the jar!!! Well done and thank you level three! (Maybe I will make the effort to bring things up every now and then!).

forgot to arrange them pretty

Kay has help me raise a whooping $74.20! I didn't have to drop the price either... (not sure who took the seven remaining pasties on level 1 after 4pm... but I think generally the honesty system has improved since my last angry outburst!)... The only complaint I have today was to the person who donated a 5 English pence coin! Although that is worth more than 5 cents, it's useless to me. Please don't give me foreign currencies, thank you!)

chicken, vege and corn filling 

A little stressed out with baking tonight and tomorrow night for Jess's office - 54 muffin orders!... I didn't get home till late and just slammed together some spinach tarts for tomorrow's SAVOURY WEDNESDAY! I actually wanted to make some curry puffs, but testing out muffins were more of a priority tonight.. looking forward to getting through the week!

Day 21 - [Guest Baker] Pineapple Upside Down Cake + Lotsa Birds!

Elisa gave me a day off baking today, I think I could get used to this! Here's her serving up the pineapple upside down cake in the kitchen.


I was quite surprised at Elisa's offer to bake as I don't really know her, she lives on level 3 with the QCH team... nevertheless, I take on any help people offer in exchange of sleep!


Thank you Elisa for making my Monday extra nice :)


I think the office has been spoiled for the past month with CAKE! everyday. Are people having withdrawal symptoms yet?! I'm shaking a little myself...

The sun was very glare-y today, had to adjust the red colour balance a little.


Meanwhile, you're probably wondering what happened to the charcoal cake right?! The birds ate it!!!!! the non-charcoaled bits anyway (they're not that dumb). After work mum was telling me we seem to have attracted five species of birds to our backyard, all she can hear is happy chirping, an orchestra of them - no more afternoon naps! 


They truly look and sound like they have moved into the big mango tree... and the magpies are about to NEST in it...singing love songs to each other now that spring is approaching. I'm definitely regretting putting out the cake scraps (I have a bird phobia!), they're probably thinking how convenient, a shady tree and daily feeds! 

a bird enjoying the cinnamon apples

Worst thing is, they're not even scared of us when we walk near!!!! I have to stop destroying the eco-system... so please colleagues reading this, help eat cake so there's no left-overs!!!!!!!!


I took this photo on the weekend from far away, you see, the shell of the charcoal cake is left un-pecked.


I'm still feeling exhausted somehow, super glad tomorrow I got another helper!

Day 19 - [Guest Bakers] Heidi & Gina!

29 July 2010

Heidi putting together fancy little sausage rolls

I think "niceness" is contagious :) 
I managed to score another day off because Heidi volunteered to bake for me today! She had a bit of performance anxiety last week when she mentioned helping me out... apparently it's stressful to cater for people when you're charging for the food! Seriously, I didn't know what she was worried about coz her stuff is gooood. 

Bitten homemade sausage roll mmmmm

When I went to check on her in the kitchen, she was busily putting together little homemade sausage rolls with individual tomato sauce "backpacks" wrapped in folded pink napkin - yes cute! She was aiming for the kid's birthday party theme.

Mountain of backpackers!

Heidi also made mini zucchini/bacon/cheese quiches. She said she didn't finish until 1am last night!.... indeed, things take longer to make than you'd think... 


  THANK YOU SO MUCH for helping out!!    

mini quiches

Gina & Heidi awesome duo!

Today's morning tea was in conjunction with Gina's birthday. She made mini cupcakes! As much as I am sick of cake, I still couldn't help myself and had one. Together, the girls were able to raise $64.90 from spare change donations!! That's better than a standard Birthday Cake day!

Blurred posers

  HAPPY BIRTHDAY GINA!  

I've also received another colleague's volunteer offer for next Monday, it's great now that more people want to get involved hands on! Mark mentioned there seems to be a female rivalry happening in the office with all the baking lol - but all for a good cause!!!!

Ksenja with cupcake

P/S I have no control over these photos floating about, wish it was easier to edit... *pulls hair out*

Day 13 - [Guest Baker] Teriyaki Skewers

21 July 2010

Teriyaki Chicken & Beef Skewers

Day 11 - [Guest Baker] Fruit Tarts & Blackforest Cake

19 July 2010

The weekend was again one day too short, but I had a colleague volunteer to bake for me for today just so I can have a bake-free day... awwwwww~~~ So I managed to SLEEP A LOT over the weekend. I even slept in on saturday and missed a breakfast I was suppose to attend, oops!

The only thing I baked over the weekend was a short notice Pavlova order. Next time I need to start baking earlier to let the meringue cool naturally... and also mental note: don't expect a decorated pavlova to stay in shape during a 45 minutes drive. Luckily Frank was very accepting of my effort despite the pavlova looking like a splatter of fruit and cream (too fugly for photos)...I was thinking on the drive there that I might have to give a discount to the inferior thing... but he ended up paying me an extra $10 towards my ingredients and gave me plenty of encouragement to continue what I'm doing. Awwwww~ again :) 

Blackforest Cake & Fruit Tarts

Anyway, this morning I was able to get to work leisurely without carrying anything extra, rest those biceps! I arrived at my desk to find a cake caddie with a post-it note on it. The colleague who wished to stay anonymous made Blackforest Cake from Master Chef's recipes as well as mini Fruit tarts. Thanks so much YE!

I took the liberty to sprinkle icing sugar over everything. The one thing I did learn from my brief time at Jocelyn's was - EVERYTHING looks more delicious with some dusting :D!

Amount raised today was $44

Choc ganache & cream layers with cherries...

I did a count before everyone got into it, there were 24 pieces selling at $2.70 each... the return should be higher but I understand a few people are "paying-in-advance"... so I'm still trusting everyone with the honesty system. Just have to expect an unpredictable daily return from now on I guess...

Meanwhile, I'm looking into expanding my territory... a "Muffin Day" is on the agenda soon as a couple of friends have offered to help me out at their offices :D!

Also, Yvonne generously gave me $100 last night when I dropped by for a catch-up. She said she'd shave her head for $1000 donation towards my campaign! Brave. I'd only go blonde... but perhaps we should stick to the baking theme?!!  

I hope the support I've been receiving doesn't slow down too fast now that I'm 2/5 there... I was really really really glad I could inspire my neighbour to help out so generously and possibly get more than one well built! And it's so great to know that I'm not only surrounded by cake lovers, but people who genuinely love doing nice things for others :)

To finish off.
Model of the day - Ksenja getting her piece of cake