The day I met my Swiss neighbour

Mama, are you tired? let me give you a hug. Her hug is the tight, squidgy, comforting and massage like hug, it would make me feel better ( a bit ) after the waist hug.

mama nantuk ke ( are you sleepy?) ,she asked again,

after seeing me nodding off at my work table, with all the 'naked 'cakes on the table. I was supposed to deco one square chocolate cake for a nine year old girl, one square carrot walnut cake for someone's mother, two chocolate cake, one 8 inches and another 10 inch round cakes for a bride and her groom , the three MCBs need not be decorated and the six brownies had been sliced and packed with a lot of help from my friend and her daughters and my kids too. thank you Kak tuni, Awin and Baby, Tsara and AMeer too!

Earlier, while they helped with the 200 golden yellow ribbons, put the 200 slices of brownies in the small square casing, glued the ribbons on the cover , I baked the cakes, and when they left, I could hardly open my eyes, How was I going to decorate all those cakes? the first pick up was at 9 am the following day and my body and brain just refused to function properly!

this MCB plus another one were cut into 56 pieces and she came at 9 sharp! while I was out getting a few things from the cake shop , not realising that this particular Saturday, 4th June was a public holiday. I waited infront of the shop when it still did not open even my watch had showed it was past 9.00 am, so I went back sinc emy customer was already at my house for her two MCBs. thank you Faridah, sorry to keep you waiting.



i went out again, and saw that the shop was still closed, no sign of the sales assistant either. It was after 9.30 am, and then my phone rang, a friend called me up to order a carrot walnut cake for this coming Fathers Day made me realise that the shop was probably closed because of the public holiday! OMG! sillyl me! but I still need to get a few things urgently!!!!


Wait a minute, I saw the shop owner's daughter getting into the shop through the side door, I quickly got out of my car and knocked on the door, and fortunately , the kind Mr Yaw, let me in and let me get all the things needed, phew! if not, that purple and white two tier cake would not be complete.

now, where was I? okay, I was feeling sleepy and tired, and Batriyia was keeping me company, trying to keep me awake so that I could complete my cake decorating, seeing that her hug was not working as I was almost asleep, sitting down and still had not started on the deco, she decided to make me a mug of " keep me awake drink " .

this seven year old, was trying to make me a glass of Nescafe susu!! i told her before that whenever I was feeling very sleepy, I would make myself a glass of Nescafe and so she decided to make one for me.


"Mama, how much coffee powder to put in?

"just one small teaspoon would do" I said, and she scooped one into the mug

" How about the milk?

with eyes half open, I told her to put in as much as she thought was right ( after all, there's only about a teaspoon or more of the condensed milk left in the can) and does a seven year old girl know how much is right? sillyl me! but silly or not, she made me a perfect mug of Nescafe susu
, not too sweet, not too strong, just ......nice.....how sweet and thoughtful of her, thank you Batrisyia.



With that mug of Nescafe, i started rolling and kneading purple colour into the fondant and started covering the two chocolate cakes, whilst my coffe maker had fallen asleep on the two chairs next to me. aww...kesian anak mama, penat dia tolong mama hari ni, packaging the 200 brownies, sambil main2 dgn anak my neighbour , and making the coffee for me and sill want to keep me company .

It's almost morning, decided to freshen up, did my morning prayer, although I was still feeling sleepy and tired but I couldn't stop just yet, two more cakes needed to be decorated.

the next pick up time was at 11 am, after purchasing the much needed things for my cake, I continued decorating the two tiered purple and white cake for the pick up time was at 12 noon, same time as those two Disney Princess and carrot cake. a few minutes before 11 am, took two coloured ribbons and wrapped around this box of MCB for my neighbour who would give this to their neighbour who's having an engagement celebration that afternoon. a little bit about my neighbour, who lives just behind my house . so to speak( the rows of houses in the same taman )
He called the previous day, with a very thick European English accent, not the Manglish ( Malaysian english )or Singlish ( Singaporean English )accent or any other accent, he sound so foreign, like a foreigner, tourist kind of accent., but not the British or American English either.

Do you have a bakery? he said, and I replied that I baked from home.

I am your neighbour, my wife and I , we lived just behind your house, and we needed something, a cake, maybe, .... for an engagement party, I got your number from a friend in Kodiang and I know that you have a bamboo tree in front of your house.....the conversation went on something like that.

I did told him that I was a bit tight for tomorrow but still, I invited them over , perhaps I could come up with something and so they came. I didn't know that we have a Swiss couple as our neighbour, they were invited for an engagement ceremony by their neighobur and they were not too sure as to what to bring over for such an occasion. Since my husband was home, I called him down and introduced him to our neighbour and we both suggested something simple, not too elaborate as a 'buah tangan' we call it in Malay as a gift , we don't normallly go empty handed when we go visiting our friends or relatives, I think , back in their country, they would probably be bringing a bottle of wine or champagne for a dinner, or something....so I suggested a box of marble cheese brownies would do, not heavily decorated cakes or cupcakes, just plain and simple decoration MCB in a box with a simple ribbon would do, as a good gesture for the invitation. they agreed, the Swiss couple, Mr and Mrs Muller ( Ferrina is her name ) as a matter of fact, they were thinking of the same when they browsed through my cake albums and saw the MCBs photos.
When I heard the name Muller , the first thing that came to mind was the Muller yogurt that we like to eat when we were in Ilford, which we bought from Sainsbury's.I also thought he was from Germany with the name "Muller", Mrs Muller, Ferrina told us that her name was similar brand to a cheese back in their country, so, a perfect couple, yogurt and cheese. Mind you , I am not saying this behind their back, this came out during our conversation. Such lovely couple, we shared so much during that brief Friday afternoon visit, from names, countries, travelling, to food and photography.
But I had to leave them with my husband because I still had some unfinished decorating and packaging to do for the purple and white wedding. Thank you Mr and Mrs Muller.




nine inches square chocolate cake with ganache and edible images of disney Princess for a nine yar old Alia Aisyah and

a nine inch square carrot walnut cake with cream cheese frosting for Yani and May's mother. Thank you ladies for this order

right after they left, I decided to take a short nap before the dreaded task of cleaning up! No order for the following day so it would give me some time to loosen up my muscles a bit and to do some cleaning and house keeping, piles and piles of laundry to be done, to be ironed, etcetera...

Final pick up for the day was at almost seven pm. 200 slices of brownies in square casing decorated with golden yellow ribbons. Thank you Ma'am Rosnani.

It had been a very tight and tiring week for me, almost a non stop baking and decorating right from May 25th to June 4th. But it is something that I enjoy doing, tired I may be, yes, but, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do....