Shipped in from UK

Owh Mai Gawd! This is going to be the best birthday EVER (Well so far in my life.. The last few weren't very great. They were just ordinary and I hate ordinary, you know that right?)!
I am feeling so hyperjumpingofthewallscan'twipethatgrinoffmyface right now!!

Anyway... It started out like this.
A pretty packed and planned day from 11-4 PM..
But I had that it-was-going-to-be-a-good-day feeling from the start since the things planned were food, library, more food and COLLECTING SOME MYSTERIOUS PRESENT FROM ICCA!

Did I mention I LOVE libraries? Well the one we go to at least.
Since I have something to look for in every floor makes it even funner!
I would take the lift up to the top floor and walk down floor by floor until I reach ground level.

Goes like this: DVDs-Red spotted books (I hate them since you can't borrow em'! They have the 'advance' cakey books up there. Like Margaret Braun's Cake Walk and Colette Peter's Wedding Cakes to dream on etc.)-Other cakey books and cook books-Polymer clay books-Paint books (Acrylic, Oil, Water color. I got Van Gogh's biography and art works today, it was brand new!)-Craft project books-Fiction (Got the whole Percy Jackson series today just to try it out.).  
Okay! That's about it! By the time I meet up with the 'rest' (You know the usual people... Mommy and the boys) I would be carrying a VERY tall/high (Same thing right?) stack of books that are about to topple.

Then... I would go home (To ICCA today.) with my mind filled with ideas for my next project!
And that's why I love libraries!

For some reason we parked at Sunway Giza (Remember THAT place?! I went there 3 days in a row from dawn to dusk for the ICCA cake competition!) and walked over to the ICCA building...

To me S. Giza is a place filled with memories from the cake competition rather than just a shopping mall...
The cake competition was one of the GREATEST highlights of my life in that 12 years living quite well boring-ly? It was probably the BEST 3 days in my life, I had never been THAT happy before, ever.
It pretty much turned my world upside down after that!
The memories of the competition came flowing back flowing back... It made me... SMILE LIKE THE SUN FALL OUT OF BED SING LIKE A BIRD DIZZY IN MY HEAD SPIN LIKE A RECORD CRAZY ON A SUNDAY NIGHT....!

When we entered ICCA we were greeted and taken upstairs to collect my 'present'.
They thought my mom was Karen, yeesh. Never seen a 13 year old cake decorator before?! Owh... Maybe not...?

We were greeted by another staff that made the same mistake again...

AND THEN..!!

I SAW THIS HUGE PRETTY BOX BEING PRESENTED TO ME! Faints*
I screamed my heart out.. Inside. It was pretty had to control that scream. (I had a feeling that if I did that staff would look at me funny so.. Yeah?)

And man... That was one HEAVY box!
For a split second I thought I was going to own a brand new Kitchen aid mixer and I was praying that they would give me a purple colored one... (If you didn't know... I am PURPLE crazy! Which is a bit on the sad side because purple fondant fades into a really UGLY blue if it is exposed to light.. Sob!)
Then I remembered being told that it was a Squire's Kitchenish gift.. Poof went that thought/dream*

I sneaked a peak before we left the building...
It was filled with EVERYTHING!
It was CRAZY!

We had pies and pastries in S. Giza and I got the chance to have a look at every single item that was inside that hat box...
Christmas came WAY early this year! It felt so amazing...

 Above: Can't believe I actually got a hand written note! Sob..! Tissue please?

 Above: See that 7KG thing up there? 

Below: My mountain of SK's paste! I just ran out of gum paste yesterday, they must have read my mind on what I needed most! 

 Above: My eyes nearly popped out when I saw the price tag! That's one expensive bottle/container thingy of edible glue! I wonder when I will ever use it...!

Below: PME Tips! Which includes a #000 tip!! I guess they expect me to do some SERIOUS royal icing string work for the next cake competition or something!   

 Above: I was expecting 7 bottles of paint and paint brushes like the SK's diploma.. I opened it last since I pretty much 'knew' what was inside. My jaw dropped (Again!)*
Below: I have been eying this book for quite some time ever since I first saw it in Kinokuniya KLCC!
To me she seems to explain the technique better than Alan Dunn but her flowers aren't as advance...
Oh well! Glad I finally got it!   

Can't wait to use my new toys!!!

THANK YOU Squire's Kitchen and ICCA!!!!

~K

15/12/10

What a boooorrringggg title... I got the I-cannot-name-the-post disease again!

Today is/was one of those lazy afternoon days! I LOVE those days!
I woke up at noon so there is nothing much to say about my morning unless you want to know what I was dreaming about! Even I don't remember what I am dreaming about so you may need a dream reader machine... Ok! I was getting a bit carried away with that 'dream' chit chat!

I spent my afternoon doing research on a Xmas eve birthday cake!
I really wanted to make this cake PERFECT because.. well.. it is for one of my favorite 'persons'!
And that she loves Tiger lilies and I have always WANTED to make gum paste lilies!
And now I have the chance to make it so I have to give it my BESTEST shot!
So I just spent maybe an hour or two google-ing and looking through my Alan Dunn Sugar Craft Flower Arranging and Pattern book by Tricia Guild (I got this one from the Big Bad Wolf book sale for RM20! And it is SO awesomeee!)!
Tricia Guild Pattern: Using Pattern to Create Sophisticated, Show-stopping Interiors
Alan Dunn's Sugarcraft Flower Arranging

Went to our Petaling Jaya community library after finishing of my cake research (Did I ever tell you how much I LOVE doing it?!)...
To do some more! Haha!

The library is like a home to me! I wished I had a library like THAT at home though...!
I visit EVERY floor of it and actually KNOW what and where everything is!
Yeah, I do visit and explore it THAT much!

As usual after getting the books I need (I am SO greedy! I take almost all the books on that particular subject!) on all 3 floors of the library, it would be a pile of books that I need to go at least 2 rounds to carry them all to my private conner away from the rest of the people... 
Peace and quiet...

I had a look at LOTS of polymer clay sculpturing and 'real-life' flower arranging books today (Like I always do! But more, MUCH more this time!) and try to put them into my cake decorating ideas!
Found many interesting techniques that I am pretty sure have NEVER been taught in the sugar art schools today!
It was like finding treasure!
That people have not touched since... *Looks at the date of when the last person borrowed it
1989! Gasps*

I pretty sure it is because of all the research and books that I have read that I picked up cake decorating rather quickly!

Now that I think about it... I used (At a first glance of me lots of people my age still do.) to be called the nerd-y or geek-y one because I just LOVE books (I would never get anywhere without them!) and maybe just plain act like so.
I learnt how to ignore (At one time I actually did STOP reading just because of THAT! How SILLY of me..) those comments about me and just be... ME!
So now I can say HAHA (I am getting evil, Aren't I?) to you horrible people (That are stuck doing things that are 'cool' but NOT get anywhere in life.) and just get on with being me, myself, I, Karen Leong Jian Yi.

Now... To get my new batch of caking books! (If you are reading this, a BIG HUGE THANK YOU to you Auntie Julie for lugging them all the way from U.S to Malaysia!)  

~K