Sunday, 8th August 2010 is a very special day for me. Nope, it isn't National Day Eve (Singapore's National Day falls on the 9th of August, marking our anniversary of independance). It is the day I met up with like-minded bloggers from all walks of life holding a passion for the culinary arts, be it baking or cooking.
The meeting took place at Edith's lovely and spacious home. It was really kind of her to welcome us with an open heart, considering that some of us are meeting her for the first time in person. All along, I got to know about these fellow bloggers through their blogs. Through reading their blog posts and exchanging comments, I learnt about little tidbits regarding their family, profession and other interesting details about their daily life. However, that was only the blogging persona. It is hard to imagine the looks of the talents behind these food blogs.
Among the fellow bloggers, I got to know Youfei and Pei-Lin the earliest. Back then, I was still a noob at baking and blogging and that was before I went on my year-long hiatus (I'm still noobish in some aspects, for instance bread making, lol). Slowly, I discovered more lovely blogs on the bloggosphere by other creative food directors whom I met at Edith's place for the very first time.
Fellow talented bloggers and creative directors at the meetup:
Pei-Lin from Dodol & Mochi
Jane from Passionate about Baking
Grace from Kitchen Corner
Edith from Precious Moments
Josephine from Sugar and Everything Nice
Bee Bee from Honey Bee Sweets
Aimei from Baking Cottage
Youfei from Loving Baking
Jess from Bakericious
Shirley from Kokken 69
Yan Ee from Sweeter Side of Life
The entire meetup lasted for 6 whooping hours! At 12 noon, the bloggers started flowing in. When everyone arrived, it was time for a sumptuous buffet spread of home prepared food seasoned with lots of effort and spiced with tender loving care. I could swear that the buffet spread is one of the best that I have eaten in my entire life. Sorry to the five-star hotels and reknowned restaurants. Most of them would not even come close to the standard of food served at the meetup. I was grinning from ear to ear and could hear my mind exclaiming with delight when I helped myself to the food.
Snap! Snap! Photo-taking time... Typical of us food bloggers, lol. First thing we did was dish out our cameras to take pictures. No pictures, no blogging...
Edith's open concept kitchen. Buffet time!
Mee Rebus prepared by Shirley. Thick and flavourful gravy.
Bandung drink prepared by Edith. Great beverage to go along with all the mouth-watering food.
Bakewell tarts prepared by Grace. Soft-cakey yet crumbly.
Sandwiches prepared by Yan Ee with nice eggy filling which I enjoyed.
Sweet and savoury porkfloss seaweed swiss rolls. I never had such swiss rolls. Really special. Kind of reminds me of sushi.
Wonderful pork and beef burgers prepared by Grace. The buns were homemade too. Nice and soft. This burger beats all the fast food burgers hands down anytime!
Chicken curry prepared by Josephine. I like the thick consistency of the gravvy. Not overly spicy. Sedap =]
Wholemeal cookies by Yan Ee. Full of nutty goodness.
Chocolate truffles by me..
Chocolate cookies with fleur de sel. I like the sandy crumbly texture of the cookies. Very different from the chocolate cookies I had so far.
Lavendar and plain shortbread cookies by Aimei. Cute packaging obtained from Daiso.
Olive oil spiced assorted nuts by Jane. I liked the aroma of herbs and spices here, fragrant but not overwhelming. Each blogger was given a tub to bring home.
Durian tarts by Pei-Lin. My favourite flavour of all time. I took back some tarts for my friends to try the next day. Everyone unanimously replied it was really good!
We forgot to take group pictures after eating and chatting. Jess helping herself to the mee rebus and Edith busy snapping away..
The lovely ladies: Josphine, Jess, Bee Bee, Edith (concealed) Aimei and Yan Ee (concealed)
I missed out some pictures on the food. Bee Bee brought along Mang Guang Kueh (Similar to Soon Kueh). The skin was soft and chewy, not hard and dry even though it was cold.
Some of my friends who knew that I going to the meetup jokingly asked if I could bring them along for a good feasting. They would have been in for a superb treat had they attended the meetup with me, lol.
Oh man, I am the one that concealed Edith! Lol! You make us sound like sone VIPs, heehee, food directors. Got to agree it is one fine buffet spread. Glad I made it there and got to know everyone. Thanks for the delicious truffles!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for posting up this for me to remember everyone. I've bad memories, so this page has to be saved in my favorites for remember you all. Really nice to see you in person, at least there is a boy who are able chat with my hubby beside Edith's hubby. Hope can meet up with you again.
ReplyDeleteZY, it is really nice meeting you and you are such a gentle caring guy, your future bride is so lucky to ve u as husband, caring, gentle and wat's more, can bake so well, cannot ask for more. You still remember to snap us in, most of us just busy snapping the food lol. Hope we will be able to meet up again :).
ReplyDeletePei Lin, look carefully at my pix, you can find my double chin easily, if not u wil think I lie to you hee hee hee....
Glad you enjoyed yourself. Keep in touch.
ReplyDeleteZY, glad to have you, the rare 'thorn', among the roses... hahaha...
ReplyDeleteHi Bakertan,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Jess. You're such a nice guy who can bake so well. Continue to live your dreams. And don't forget to do more book reviews so that we can buy more books! Heehee...
Thanks for all your sharing, and your lovely truffles. In fact, I love all three flavours! ;)
Glad you enjoyed yourself!!!
ReplyDeleteHave been reading the gathering posts, full of envy! All the good food & great company! I want to join in the fun next time :)
ReplyDeleteHi Bee Bee,
ReplyDeleteYou ladies are indeed distinguished and inspirational bloggers and whom I hold in high regards.
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Hi Grace,
It was nice chatting with your husband.Didn't have the chance to chat with you though. Hope to see you two again soon =]
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Hi Jess,
I feel paiseh being praised. ya, hope to meet everyone again soon.
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Hi Edith,
Yeah man. Look forward to having even more fun the next time =]
Hi Shirley,
ReplyDeleteIts my honour to meet you ladies =]. I have much to learn from everyone.
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Hi Jane,
You have been really encouraging. I feel that there is a whole lot of room for improvement. I want to be 'batter', haha.
I certainly look foward to the day when I achieve my dreams. Actually I do browse alot of books. But I dont know if I should do a review after only trying one recipe or two. I will try to review more books in future.
Out of the 3 flavours, I actually liked rum and raisins the most. Its one of my top ice cream flavours =]
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Hi Wendy,
Ya it was so fun! If there is a chance, we can probably meet up one day.
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Hi Jessie,
I am sure we will be glad to have you there on the next gathering =]. Certainly great to have another like minder blogger join in the fun.
I have been reading all the gathering posts too. You are the only one who managed to snap photos of some of the bloggers. Very rare to have a guy who loves to bake and blog. I can feel that you are a very nice guy. Keep baking ok! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the referring to us as "food directors!" I had never thought of that! LOL! What an honor! *Blush* You're also one food director what ... specializing in layer cakes and truffles ... Haha!
ReplyDeleteYea, still remember the remark Jo made on the spot ... only food bloggers do such thing ... Luckily we weren't meeting up at restaurant. LOL!
You actually gave a review for almost every dish served there!!?? LOL! Good to have you there to report about everything, man! Haha!
I recommend you getting the "Paris Sweets." I bet you'll love it. Shouldn't be as costly as other cookbooks. So far, it's my most utilized book. LOL! Recipes featured are good and interesting! You can loan it from the Library first, right, upon deciding on whether to purchase it or not? However, it doesn't come with pic. LOL! A bit dry lar ... Remember the choc tarts I told you about that day when we were talking about handling choc, the recipe I used is from that book. The recipe for sables Korova (what you called choc cookies) is from the book, too. You like Pierre Herme?
Your friends like my durian tarts ar!!?? Serious! I was grinning from ear to ear when I read about it! *Blushing* Maybe you can make them for CNY next year?
See, you've been discovered! I feel like a talent scout now. Haha! So hor, please don't stop if this is what you love doing! I'll always support you! Too bad lar, that day I got a bit worn out toward the end of the gathering. I told my friends that same evening when I saw them, "妳們是玩累的而我是講話講累的!" Too much distraction also. Haha! I can be quiet if I want. Sorry for not being able to talk more with you! Gambateh! Lemme know if you're coming to KL, will bring you around to try out local specialties.
P.S. Wei, you have half a chin only lor, not even single. Then, what am I!? Triple chin!!?? Admit it lar, both ZY and I agree that you're one gorgeous working mom who bakes so well!
Hi ZY, it was nice meeting up with you and I am totally amazed at your blog and the creations you have come up with. I loved your choc truffles ... simply oozing with delicious "pick-me-up".
ReplyDeleteHi small small baker,
ReplyDeleteNice to have you dropping by =]. I feel so paiseh being complimented. Thanks! Yup, I will surely keep on baking. You too ya!
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Hey Pei-Lin,
I am not a food director yet. Wait till I get a DSLR one day (probably will take ages). I dont think I will specialize in truffles, probably more on layered cakes.
I think I heard of both books, more on the latter. Pierre Herme is a very famous book by Dorie right? Will take note of them. Most likely I will borrow from the library, but probably not now since I still have many books waiting to be utilized.
Hmm, its hard to get good durians these days. And I am not confident at handling them. Probably wil stick to pineapple tarts. Its safer.
Thanks for the recognition and encouragement =]. If I ever do publish a book you will be on top of my acknowlegement list. I feel honoured if you say that you are a talent scout, haha. Never considered myself as a talent though. I only know that I am more talented in baking compared to my friends, thats all, haha. The conversation we had was great! I look forward to that again...Maybe alot of energy was expended to digest all the good food hence you felt tired towards the end. Yup, I will look for you for sure when I go to KL.
Your chin isn't too bad lar. I did'nt really notice it.
Hi Jo,
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by =] It was nice meeting you too! I love your curry~ Can probably have the whole bowl to myself if there was'nt so much food around. Look forward to meeting you again =]
cheers
Yes, you're! You can bake, and later, can cook! (Still waiting for your Klang bak kut teh ... lalala ...) Wei, snapping shots with DSLR doesn't make you pro lor! I dunno how you define "food director." But tell you what, it's the person behind the lens that matters. You CAN take splendid shots with P&S. I'm not by any means saying I'm good, at least I'm happy with even shots I took with my old Nikon P&S, which is still with me btw. Editing is a must for me! Here are some of my old photos taken with my P&S:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/ocbcb/3575731314/in/set-72157612526791181/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocbcb/3471800529/in/set-72157612526791181/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocbcb/3601570048/in/set-72157612526791181/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocbcb/3544217061/in/set-72157612526791181/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocbcb/3806337103/in/set-72157612526791181/
(OK, ignore my layer cake there. It's nothing compared to yours. Haha!)
Yup, Greenspan collaborated with Herme for two books. Been wanting to get those, but boy, the price tags are sure too heavy for me as of now! "Paris Sweets" is a compilation of great recipes contributed by renowned Paris patisseries and boulangeries. I'm very sure you'll love it! The bakes are very unique! That's why it's one of my most utilized cookbooks! (It's my first anyway. Haha! That's why ...)
Well, it's still OK for me to get good durians in KL, esp. those from Pahang. (D-24 and 貓山王, but a bit pricey. Maybe not for you guys. LOL!) What do you mean by not good at handling them? The vendors can help you out with "dissecting" the fruit what. It's quite some work to handle pineapples, too. You noticed?
Er ... I brought a rounder and fuller belly from SG to KL. What does that say? Haha!
No lar, I was referring to Ms. Beautiful Jess lar ... LOL! I have chin, more than hers, and my face is rounder. =P
Hey Pei-Lin,
ReplyDeleteI am a junior food director for now probably, haha. My P&S camera has limited function, and its a Sony camera - reputable brand name,nice looking but not as good for shooting. The best function is probably the macro and super macro. I do simple editing too, cos the lighting in my place is atrocious even during the day.
Your raspberry chiffon cake is good man! You're being too modest..
Try ordering books online. Its a lot cheaper. www.betterworldbooks.com. I will be concentrating more on cakes and layer cakes and the moment, cupcakes too and maybe swiss rolls. Probably wont be getting the book anytime soon. Maybe I can borrow it from the library. And besides, I have too many books waiting to be used.
I will probably use durians only for special occasions. Its not easy to find durian recipes that will interest me enough to want to use the fruit. So far I have only come across a chilled durian cheesecake in yan ee's blog and I happen to have the book. Its called durian dream cheesecake. Sounds tempting!
Thats the point of coming down to SG. If you have lost weight, its means you have'nt enjoyed yourself to the fullest, haha.