Das Booty

I've never been one to take up issues online but a few experiences in the last month has made me froth at the mouth and have my inner "cattiness" rear up.  So lets start at the beginning

My Cha Cha Chili Sauce™

As most of you are aware I am a huge advocate of homemade products especially since it's a great way to supplement your income , hey it's does come in handy with our economic downturn.  I was added to a page by a friend which I  have mentioned in one of my past blogs,  the page is called "jobs for caring mums etc etc (it's a very long title!)  Anyway watching the members on the page grow to almost 50,000 members was astonishing but at the same time the down side was your posts for your products would get lost with the hundreds of posts on the page, a perfect example was my trying to find the organic home made soya sauce I saw on the page.  After scrolling down for more than half an hour my eyes blurred up and I still couldn't find it.

So I thought to my self (and that's a dangerous thing!) there must be a more organised way to help the homemade community.  (notice I'm not limiting it to just mothers)  Being a producer and creating shows I thought why not come up with a channel especially geared towards the homemade market and hey lets call it "HOMEMADE IN MALAYSIA"  can't go wrong there can you?

So I spoke to a film director friend of mine and said will you do this for peanuts as it's to help the community,  my friend say "yeah, it's worth while and everyone benefits", so I roped in a few more creative folk, after all it was to help the community.

My lovely faerie from OXOLOCO.COM helped design the logo

The mechanics were simple, we would shoot a 10 to 15 second video of the homemakers product with a standardised format, upload it to the YouTube Channel and the homemade producers could use the youtube links to market their product and showcase it in a professional manner.  I wasn't going to charge them the professional video fees, which lets face it,  would be out of their budgets.  I then wrote in to the Malaysian crowdfunding site  MYSTARTR.COM and applied for crowd funding for some equipment required.

What a joke, after two e mails that came two weeks apart (so in all it took them a month ) the "project coordinator"  from Mystartr still did not understand this simplistic concept and the final Kibosh was when she wrote  "what do you need the funds for ?" AFTER I had uploaded images of equipment for a DIY studio in the last e mail, so she could see WHAT THE FUNDING WAS FOR!!!! And (yes there's a wee bit more) then Mystartr sent me a generic letter to say " Your project has been idle for a month,  this project has been cancelled"  Oh the irony!!!!

To cap it off and this is where I truly believe the universe has a lot to say, the folk from the 'Page" that I was trying to help, BOOTED me off their page!! ha ha ha ha , I couldn't believe it !  Why you ask?  Because I wrote in to EcoWorld,  who  had offered the ladies of the 'page', FREE booths at their events.  I received a date and time for the booth as promised, and when I promoted my booth with my products I was accused of promoting the company ..... errrr paranoid much?

FYI

So in the end I threw my hands up and said "I give up!".  If this is the way crowdfunding sites respond to prospective applicants and how pages on FB turn into little dictatorship arenas, I'll just give it a miss thank you and sally forth with my own projects.

Finally on a Happy Note, I'm really pleased to say my friend Claire Sancelot from Zero Waste Kuala Lumpur will be launching her new shop "The Hive Bulk Foods" this weekend, and apart from fantastic organic products will be also carrying my homemade ginger and chilli sauce on her shelves!  Taa Daa!!

The Hive Bulk Foods and organic wholesale outlet

Just a little Spice bebeh

Let me tell you a little story, no it's not a terribly long one, just a little one, promise...  it's about food, oooo my favourite topic!  Ok ok quick background, I grew up in  and around Hong Kong, as my step dad was a Chef in the hotel industry, and because of this we moved around a lot.  I learned to eat all sorts of strange and wonderful types of food.  So once in a while I get a bit nostalgic and want some of the more exotic stuff that I enjoyed in the Orient, and one of those little mouthwatering morsels are century eggs with pickled ginger,

in case you've not seen it, here's a pic.  Now I know it looks like a 'goth egg!', but it's actually quite delicious.

Also known as preserved egg,

They are made by preserving duck, chicken or quail eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, quicklime and rice hulls for several weeks to several months.

As an hors d'oeuvre, the Cantonese wrap chunks of this egg in pickled ginger

Finding the century eggs here in Kuala Lumpur is easy enough.  Most supermarkets sell them as well as the wet market, but finding the pickled ginger... well that's how this journey begins!  Talk about a needle in a haystack.  I searched most the main stores for pickled ginger, and couldn't find any.  I was really stumped, we use pickled ginger for a lot of our food, well this one in particular : 

Pickled ginger otherwise known as Sushi Gari

Off I went to the Japanese grocers.  They did have some kind of pink ginger pickle but I couldn't read the ingredients (obviously I can't  read and write Japanese! but I can curse, long story,  but that's beside the point!). 

I mentioned this to my girlfriend, well when I say mentioned what I really meant was to grumble and moan about the lack of pickled ginger.  My galpal said, "Daph, most people either buy from a friend or make it at home".  Well talk about a light bulb moment!   I decided to make a batch for myself. 

First, I researched the best type of pickling ingredients and started off with normal ginger root. When you pickle old ginger root its very yellow and is pretty hot! yawsaahh, old ginger root, ...fail.  Next, I wanted a crunch but a light delicate ginger heat, so I  tried fresh young root ginger, it turned out pink!

Fresh younger ginger from the markets

Then I tested it on my friends and family, hey that's what they're for!,  and the feedback was good, so much so that my little Faerie Lisa suggested I retail it along with my signature chilli sauce I make which includes these ingredients :

Fire Engine Red Chillies

Garlic bursting with flavour

Taking my own advise, I've started a small home business retailing these  home made condiments, yes I've got a label too thanks to OXOLOCO. It was an exciting process, including sourcing all the materials!

Many thanks to OXOLOCO for designing my label.

I've now rolled out my first batch of both and taking orders! Both condiments contain no colouring or preservatives, the ginger naturally turns blush pink in the pickling marinade.  You can pop your orders on e mail,  that's, daphnenasir@gmail.com or pm me on Facebook!

My ©Cha Cha Chili Sauce ready to be labelled

©Tickled Pink Ginger anyone? 

I can't wait for my labels to be ready, they're in print as we speak.  It feels very satisfying because whatever the outcome, this venture fulfills two things, a creative outlet that allows me to utilise my home again as a workspace, and to make good quality products that everyone can enjoy.

Cheers and have a lovely week ahead!