Soba Noodle Salad

Heya Peeps, been busy working on my vids as well as the gift box shop on FB , you can have a peep at it herehttps://www.facebook.com/Truly-Gifted-105624802145227 Hope you enjoy my youtube video, it's an ongoing passion, and a journey I hope you will come onboard for! have a lovely week ahead Dx

Four walls and a window

One would have thought right, as the average common sensical person would, that I would have started blogging ages ago, right when the lockdown or self isolating started.  Where was my brain? Probably in twitter land getting myself worked up about the virus.

I had actually gone to Adelaide visiting my bff Miz P and going to the Fringe Festival there.  A first for me, flying since 2017 and the fringe. 

One of the tents at the Fringe that had some great shows

 It was during the last week that the seriousness of everything hit, I flew back after that to the Sunny Coast as I was concerned that they would shut borders down , (in fact they did 2 weeks after I returned.. phew) Just wanted to be with my kids.  A few days later, I asked myself why.. .. no really... ok ok WHY?

and I find selfies of my kids on my phone???

So there have been more "Zoom" parties and more online gaming
me:  "oi... keep it down" ( live music blaring from one room)
kids" "what ma...I'm in the middle of a game". (the other one doesn't respond)
me". I know, keep it down though, you're so loud!"
kids :" huh?.. wait I can't hear you, hold on.... *shouting to online players*  (live music still playing)
me : " I know you can't hear me,  turn the volume down!!!!
Kids: "gimmie 5 mins and I'll talk to you"
me: ".. what EVER".... *goes to watch Rupaul's drag race*. (noise cancelling headphones.. I love you)

I've gone through a load of seasons of some really banal crap on Netflix, I will never get that 1 hour and 50 mins back.  I've read countless e books, I think I need to go test my eyes... does cross eyed count for reading glasses? I've tended to me little backyard garden (am still having a battle with the ants and the grasshoppers) Grew my first pumpkin, and now have ordered more seeds to see how far I can go!

Talking about pumpkins, check this out.

can you see the strain in the wrists!

PUMPKIN CURRY... YUMZZZZ

Pretty proud of this. So I decided to start my videos again, as more people were leaving messages , this one is about making vegan curry with pumpkin. 

Leaving you with the link, drop me a line ,  always respond.  Have a great week ahead.
DX

Look at me ma, I'm meditating!

Maroochydore Bushland Park

I was invited recently to a Meditation Retreat.  It was a whole day event.  I was really looking forward to it, as I had never been to one before and had no idea what to expect. The only hope was that "please please don't say we can't talk for the entire day!"  That would really be a challenge for me! 

It turned out to be an awesome day, it was a small group but I must say Chad Foreman  from  The Way of Meditation , who ran this meditation retreat was so good.  He clearly explained what and why and how and answered all the questions gently and believe me there were a lot of questions!  There were varying levels from beginners to seasoned meditation practitioners . Some had their own paraphernalia and others like me just rocked in with a water bottle and a coffee in hand! (I am always prepared!)  But when you get down to the basics, all you need is to "be there." (know what I mean)

Meditation Hall looking out to the rainforest

I have really come a long way in terms of meditation. I practice almost everyday.  I also try to attend a monthly group my SIL runs. I chat about different types of meditation with various friends who also have their favourites (I feel it also deepens our connection).  It's been an enlightening journey.

A few years back there would have been little possibility of me participating in such an event.   I would have fidgeted, fretted, wondered about my phone calls and messages, my thoughts would have been all over the place and I probably would have been internally grumbling about a numb bum!  I would have been self conscious, I would have wondered what others thought of me,  I would be judgmental in my perception of the others there.  I had left the house changing my blouse at the last minute as it was so hot and realised there was a small hole in it, the now Dx just looked at it and went "oh well", the Dx before would have panicked, run back, rummaged around for another blouse, probably making herself late, then feeling rushed and ... well you can see how that goes.

But perspectives change, after having cancer, after re shifting my priorities in life, it set me on a path to truly find myself, who I am now, what I'm really about. In the beginning it was a bit of self blame as to why I had cancer, what caused it, what was I doing in my life that brought me to such a devastating full stop.   I surprisingly found that I wanted to be more spiritual, that meditation had become easier for me, that being in tune with my inner self was no hardship.  I'm calmer, my anxiety has gone from a  10 to a subdued 2.  I'm hoping to bring that further down as well. 

I was asked to do a series of photos with my family fo the Hand, Heart , Pocket foundation who contributed a huge ammount of money to Bloomhill. 

I do not poo pooh (that is an actual word, it is!) practitioners of different spiritual healing.  I've actually embraced them, and experienced them for myself.  I understand the high stress I was living in was a huge factor in getting the dis-ease. I absolutely thank my psychologist for helping me with that.    Though my diet was not particularly bad (no no mcd's once a week was OK.. right.. LOL) I am more aware of what I'm putting into my body.  During cancer my body just reacted so badly to meat so now days I have a more pescatarian diet, however as my daughter is a Vegan, I've had to really push my creative cooking boundaries to incorporate meals that we can all eat and are nutritious and delicious. 

Vegetarian Food Spread

The one thing no one tells you about or discusses with you after having Cancer is "then what?" How do you get on with your life.  How do you alleviate your fears of every single lump, bump, ache that it's not the dreaded cancer reemerging?  How do you normalise your everyday living, what is normal now?  A lot of of survivors take a while to be able to physically get back to some level of fitness, the average length I think is two years.   To make friends again or to help your friends understand who you are now without too much damage to your relationships.    The answer is one day at a time,  to treat yourself with love and kindness, to understand your limitations.  For example I broke down in tears that I couldn't finish the final heat on the dragon boat races, my lungs and heart just couldn't cope and I could feel it.  In the beginning I was really upset with myself and my body which I felt had let me down but then I realised, hey a year ago I was lying in a hospital bed, bald, with tubes going in and out of my arms and back, hardly able to walk up  the stairs and now I'm upset because I couldn't complete the 3rd race of a 500 m sprint in a dragon boat?  My body is what brought me through all this, it has nourished me, it has kept me alive, it has held me up.  I am so grateful for what it has endured and how it continues to function.

more than a year after Cancer

I've also learned to love me.  And so I gave myself a gift.  I bought myself a road bike.  I don't push too hard, I slowly increase my time and distance and when I feel I can't and don't want to ride, I honour it and do a session of yoga instead.  That is life, it has a series of choices, all of them to make you live it to your full capacity.  (Just don't 'ask Annie how many times I've asked her to lend me her bike pump!!)

 I try to live every day in the present,  sometimes I forget, I start stressing about the usual thing, bills, medical,.. things! then I have to gather myself, do a small meditation of "Gladitude",   https://youtu.be/8dcxLHXyuAU  or call my daughter or chat with my son.  I pick myself up and start again.  You can too.

Secret Weapon

Hello Hello!  It's long overdue that I post some rambly type of thoughts and updates of sorts.  Where shall I start eh, ok well quickly run through the production side as everyone I know keeps asking me what I'm doing now, apart from making my condiments.

 I'm partnering up with my radio buddy and former COO of Capital FM, Kudsia Kahar,  to do a chat show!  Ding! ding! ding!, if anything the warning bells should begin as both of us are loud and proud! We'll be shooting a short pilot this week, sometime, for clients to better understand what the content of our show is about.  I don't usually shoot pilots for any of my productions, but we feel this time it requires one.  We're targeting next year to begin production and broadcasting and that's all I'm going to say for now on that show!!!

Then when we were newbies on radio

Now after all those years!

So leaving the production work aside, we all know that Christmas is around the corner! One of my besties from school, Annie does a countdown as early as possible, the groans begin in July or August when she does her "jingle jingle " post with the countdown! (as of today it's 32 days!)

This year my good pal Riz and I will be baking and selling Christmas cookies.  Hey, not just any ol Christmas cookie but special recipes from my step dad, who just happens to be a pastry chef extraordinaire and after years of being in HK, is now training up-and-coming chefs in the Philippines.

My step dad Peter with his students 

 I must say, that when I first started baking or cooking anything, my mother and step dad were really good about trying my errr  attempts (I will not tell you about the rolling of eyes and barf faces I got from my brothers!).  The first one being a simple butter cake when I was 11.  One day when they had gone out  for dinner, I decided that I'd surprise them with dessert when they got home.  Now little did I know when the recipe calls for colouring that means perhaps a few drops NOT a cap full!!! cut a long story short when they got home and I presented my cake (which was a bit brown.. ok ok slightly burnt on top... and bottom) , they gamely cut a few slices and kept a very straight face when they saw how red the inside was and only years later told me how they waited until I went to bed and fell about laughing.   I smile now at the thought because later on as I progressed through my F&B courses in school, it was my step dad who showed me all the little tricks and ways to make food taste and look so much better.

My stepdad just started testing his first batch, hope I can do the same!!!!!

Today I've just received his recipes for the cookies we used to eat as kids in Switzerland during the festive season and I can't wait to try them out.  I'll be posting the pic once they look perfect and will be taking orders in the next week or so.  If they are anywhere as good as Peter's, you will all be in for a real treat!

Call me the Mad Hatter

Whichever club I spinned in, Ron was always supportive (@ Duddels in HKG)

"Hey Ron, great to see you " I say to one of my oldest and best friends as I fling my arms around him for a big hug.  "I gotta go to the loo" I add hastily, "Huh?" he says.  "I gotta go to the loo...now!.., I was waiting till you came out of the gates as I didn't want to miss your arrival! "  We were at the air port, I had come to pick him up.. with a full bladder.. of course.  I had invited him to attend my eldest son's wedding, who else would be my right hand man.  I mean  I've known him from when I was 19, Ron was my best man at my wedding, he was the first to know when I was pregnant, who was my roomie when things got tough, and my rock who whisked the kids and myself away for a month when my husband died and is certainly considered a family member. (I won't tell you all terrible things I did to him that included nail polish and toothpicks....)

We catch up in the car on the drive back from the airport,  it's been 3 years since we've seen each other, so much to say, in one hour.  Of course I intersperse my sentences with colourful adjectives to the drivers who are cutting me up on the high way, he cracks up and says " Daphne, you have to chill out", huh  that's rich coming from Mr potty mouth number one when "HE" drives in Hong Kong or Thailand.!

Our last vaccy in Phuket with Sue whom he introduced to me when I lived in BKK 

My youngest son Ayden is at home, waiting eagerly for Ron, they have a bro/dude relationship, which is good, they can commence with the secret "guy talk" as I have to then jet off to sort out yet another chore before the wedding.  When I get home, my daughter eventually arrives from school, gives Ron hugs and a load of sass (while he chuckles, amused as his little Lani is now all gown up) ... what can I say, she's 17 and is flexing her muscles.  It proves to be a hilarious evening, Ayden who's got a whole head full of light brown tight curly hair has had it cut for the wedding , I looked at him  and said to Ron  " Bobby Brown, ain't no body humpin around, he's got a flat top!"  .. which triggers off a youtube playback of our old songs!  Everything came out from  mc hammer, sugarhill gang, George clinton, bobby brown's my perogative, cameo to  Whitney Huston , the kids gave up somewhere around SNAP when Ron and I were singing loudly to "I got the Power" !  

We had two more days to D day, dresses had arrived (yes yes, I buy my dresses online nowadays, no time or inclination to swim around the mall with thousands of folk) but the kids needed dress shoes. Ok for the average Malaysian it's not a problem, but I have a 16 year old kid who was hitting 6F 1 with size 11 feet and a daughter who also had problems getting shoes her size.   Thankfully we managed to find some decent shoes and shirts within the allotted time (hey we were on a tight schedule) , then it was dash straight to Lisa's house who had to exchange some stuff with me for the wedding trays called "Dulang", that she had created, then back home.   I was already exhausted, but I am woman,  so I rolled on.

The "Dulang" that included the traditional gift of "tepak sireh" arranged by www.oxoloco.com )

The Wedding Reception Day arrives, and pandemonium breaks out,  Ron and I pick up the 350 jars of pickled ginger I made for my sons door gifts  from my sister in law's house, who had been kind enough to help me make them and also to keep them refrigerated ( had no more space in mine!).  We then zoomed to pick up the stressed out groom, then straight to the wedding venue to pass them the door gifts and also double check seating arrangements.

 I told Ron it was time for tea once we were done, he looked at me like I was mad, he said " we'll be going to the wedding in a few hours"  I said " believe me, by the time they start the dinner you'll be fainting of hunger, eat now, live later."  Once every one had eaten, I jetted off to the beauty centre, just my luck all the hairdressers were busy, at least my nails were done, then back home to turn on the curling iron whilst I got ready, err excuse me, whilst the ENTIRE family got ready, shouts of "have you got any perfume I can borrow", "mooommmmmmm where is my tie",  "Moooommm are you done yet?", "does this go with the dress?". "where is my speech??" .. and in between the crazy there are texts and calls coming in from everyone.  An asinine text has me hitting the roof,  Ron starts  bundling me into the car before I have a full blown 'daphasode'! "comon Daphne, it's go time, SMILE SMILE SMILE "

Kids said FREESTYLE IT MUM! 

I must say it was a surreal moment seeing my son and his bride enter the venue, watching them as a unit go around and talk to guests.  My lovely daughter took over the baton and did a speech, it was succinct, to the point and full of love.  My brothers and their wives rallied around me, "well he's now hers Daph, ...wait till you become a grandma" ..(luckily they were holding me because for some strange reason I was choking )

My Son Christopher and his bride Irena

I look at my son,  flashes of memories, Chris as a baby, his happy little face when he used to wake up, first time he took a french fry from me and sucked on it as he had no teeth,  the first time he laid his head on my chest and stared into my eyes, the little Halloween costumes I sewed for him, his teenage mutant ninja turtle collection, his love for lego, his drawings, his singing, begging me to go see Linkin Park, playing spaceman in the school play to the sounds of David Bowie's Major Tom,  skateboarding with his buddies, his first girlfriend, his first heartbreak, leaving for the UK and now getting married.   The circle of life.  Powerful stuff.

I'm driving Ron back to the airport, this time he's using adjectives  which may I say are a RAINBOW in colour compared to mine, at the drivers that are all over the road, I laugh and say "now you understand!".    As the saying goes, you can't choose your relatives but you can certainly choose your friends, and I'm blessed to be surrounded with so many who love and support me.   Cheers to the bride and groom and their blessed future together.

Change of Plan

In a jam again waiting to go to de Hoss Pee Tal

It's funny how sometimes life drops many little surprises into your lap.  Some good, some bad and some you kinda of scratch your head at.  So many cliches come to mind, "life never goes as you planned it"  " it's Murphy's law" "karma is a bitch"  and on it goes.

One thing I do know is that you should always be able to move laterally when a plan you've made doesn't come together due to extenuating circumstances.  I admit, I'm a stickler for plans.   I like knowing  exact dates, times, places, so much so that yeah I'm a bit of a control freak (well if you time every line for every frame that you've storyboarded for your own TV show.... ) however one of my life lessons is to learn to readjust fast ( I'm not good at that, I tend to grind a bit first before going into first gear) and go with the flow. (bobbing along on a lilo as the stream meanders to who knows where comes to mind) And that's exactly what I had to do with the Exhibition we had planned for the 13th May.

For some reason I decided to call Lisa early two days before the Scandelabra Showcase we were hosting.   Knowing artists the way I do, I knew there was some form of panic going on, the hint being we had only been communicating via e mail and texts.  She picked up the call and all I heard was a very bunged up, muffled " I'll call you back, I'm at the clinic , I can't breathe".  Yoikes!!  panic mode , and we're on Def con 3.  Eventually she texts me to say she's been admitted to hospital, hooked on to the oxygen machine and is undergoing tests.  Now here's the clincher, she's asking me if I'm OK as we text each other.  Errr hello, I'm fine, not in hospital, not hooked up to a machine,  stop asking about me, what can I do for you Darth Vader (is what she claims she sounds like at the moment)

Ms Darth Von Vader-ham

As diplomatically as I can, I ask her what she'd like to do regarding the exhibition, it's a bit sketchy because her results haven't come in.  She has a lung infection  compounded on top of her asthma and allergies and it's unclear how long she's going to be in the hospital , let alone convalesce for.  So we agree to push the Exhibition back another two weeks. I set another date on the event invitation and sent out apologies to the invitees.

In production we call it contingency dates, in real life you call it sods law.   I do recall when my husband had just passed away, a  "former" friend who had given me a ticket to a show/dinner, decided that as I was grieving,  I'd not be going, naturally.    She wanted the ticket back (to give to someone else....), but didn't have the balls to ask for it,  so she sent another friend to get the ticket back.  I call it bad taste, other people would call it practical.   There are some things you let go when another person is in a world of pain, loss, illness, hospitalisation, etc   and uh tact does come into play big time.

Anyway, Lisa's finally out of hospital, but not out of the woods yet.    I'm not sure how's she's going to be in a weeks time, so I will be ready to change dates in case she's still unwell.  Yeah, I think I'm finally learning to move from plan a to plan b without too much internal grumbling and swearing.  All I can say is in the bigger scheme of things what's more important, a friends health or her work?  I've figured it out, have you.

Friends, where would you be without them x

Thank you again for reading my blog and subscribing, I appreciate it so much , have a gorgeous week ahead and if you feel like dropping me a line it's daphnenasir@gmail.com
Toodles!

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! 

Speedy Gonzales

My daughter Leilani stays calm in traffic by taking selfies!

Yet another day goes by,  and yet again I'm gesticulating in traffic, or swearing at the person who just cut me up/tail-gated me/ didn't indicate, you've been there, you know what I mean (my kids certainly do, they tell me I'm Jekyll and Hyde in the car!).  You get home or to your destination totally frazzled and either grumble about it for a bit or  have to take a few moments to calm down.   I usually wonder to myself "what's the rush?"  Will being two cars ahead get you to your destination faster?  Are you that late that you have to drive like a maniac?

Idiot driver on wrong side of the road trying to muscle in with school KIDS onboard!

There's traffic even in Marseille, but at least the view's great!

But then this attitude is not only  relegated to when ones drives, it's with everything you do in life. For example, when I started my first TV show, man I was pushing and pushing and knocking on the doors of everyone and everything.  I had to get the show out, it was do or die, now or never, what if TOMORROW never comes!!! I pushed so hard I got my sponsor on board within a month, and just like that, even after signing the contracts they pulled out!... just as we were going into pre production. Fast forward two years from that after a really bad bout of depression, a couple of very shitty jobs and 3 lawsuits, I thought well this is it isn't it, I can't go any further down.  I remember  venting to my close friends, they said "what's stopping you from doing your show now?" , "we'd love to help you".   It's incredible how faith, luck, timing and some incredible partners can change everything.  5 months to the day they said it, we had "the Art of living show" on Air.  It is all about timing, which brings me to my point.   I rushed around like a blue arsed fly and it all blew up in my face.  You can not see all the outside forces that are influencing those moments, and sometimes when you push too hard, it pushes back.  Plus my sponsors this time round were so supportive and just the best sort you could hope for.  (Yes mum, patience is a virtue )

I've got my second TV show ready, but this time I'm not rushing around, I'm being methodical, taking my time, allowing the natural order of timelines to flow so it can and will be taken up by the right people with the right attitude for the show.  I'm not saying sit back and let it all fall into your lap, ha ha ha , it that was true, I'm sure we'd all be sitting at home watching the idiot box and waiting for the phone to ring!  I'm saying it's just like fishing, you have to put all your lines in the water, be patient and when you get a bite, reel it in patiently or it will get away if you rush the process.  (Who would have thought I'd use a fishing metaphor, thank you to Xtreme Fishing!)

My wonderful friend Reza who let us use his Shop

Here's another example, (err not a fishing one ok)  I've known Lisa for years, we've met irregularly at best,  but last year everything clicked between us, friendship wise, work wise, creatively(the timing was right).   We've been slowly building towards working on several creative projects together, and individually.  One of them is for her exhibition of up cycled lamps.  I must admit I was pushing for her to have her exhibition sooner, I felt it would be beneficial to get it out faster, get the word out and push her a  little harder.  We worked out the timelines and got to looking for exhibition spaces.  But you see, yet again the timing wasn't right, pieces were delayed,  the space we agreed on wasn't what she really wanted in the end.  So leaving all that aside, I carried on with some of my other ventures and whilst having a couple of hours to kill I decided to visit an ol friend who owned a shop in one of the prime locations of the 'golden triangle' in Kuala lumpur.  As we chatted over lunch together I told him about what I was doing and how were were looking for space for the exhibition and needed sponsors as well, and just like that, he offered his place... timing yet again is everything.

She was taking pictures of the place but the cat insisted on posing!

My Celadon pot that will be used for Lisa's work!

I brought Lisa for a visit the following week and she absolutely loved it!  It was perfect for her.  This time we did delay the timing for the exhibition further into the next month where she felt most comfortable and what suited the owner of the shop as well.   Yet again here is an example of not rushing, of taking the time to plan and organise, of fate, of luck.   Now that we've got the dates locked down for Friday 13th of May! (great date)  we'll create a FB page to extend an invitation to you to come see these beautiful upcycled lamps that Lisa has called "Scandelabra" .  Stay tuned for more info on that

 I guess as we get older as well,  one begins to wonder why?  Why are we rushing around?  Is the world really going to come crashing down on our shoulders if we slowed down?  Why are you working at break neck speed setting aside what you really want to do, and sometimes all you want to do is earn a decent living doing what you enjoy and spending time with the ones you love.  We've lost the ability to "stop and smell the roses.   So what I say to you is this, take a deep breath, slow that pace down a tad and look up... what do you see?

I see you !

Plotting away!

March , I believe is going to be an interesting month for me ... it's when all the plotting and planning comes to life. Where presentations are made and possible sponsors are met.  It's not only for my next show that I've conceptualised but also for an exhibition that I'll be helping my friend with.

Prepping for the next project

It's all quite exciting , through the months of posting about what to do whilst looking for work/sponsorship we've been slowly putting together some projects and it's all coming together.  Through inspiring each other, my friends and I have supported each other and forged alliances that will last the test of time.  This as also one of the main reasons I said to find your tribe,  they provide important feedback and encouragement. 

Can't wait for the exhibition to happen!

So this month we're sourcing different types of spaces to exhibit a modern take on functional upcyled lamps that one of my dear friend has designed.(location location location!!!)   The upcycled lamps are absolutely to die for, crafted with so much loving creativity,  and for those lucky few who've been privy to seeing them before the exhibition,  just a few weeks more to wait! (they've  all wanted to purchase them outright! ) 

Not only have we started the ball rolling on that side of events, I've also been perfecting a product of mine which I hope to launch soon online.  We're now in the middle of figuring out a name for it and getting some inspiration for the labels.  Oh yes, how you brand and position your product is very important.   I have an idea which I'll let you know about soon which will give home made products a boost (big smile) 

I love mason jars don't you?

Apart from that we've been also sourcing the raw materials, we'd like to keep it "made in Malaysia" as much as possible,  as well  as keeping it organic and eco friendly too!  It's  as much fun testing and creating the product as it is to come to this final step, so a road trip should be on the books soon. (research research research!) Note to self bring the camera!!!

decisions decisions!

In the mean time we're busying ourselves with all the mechanics that go into an event and good thing too as the waiting for responses back from possible sponsors for my new show would have been nail bitingly hard to do without other work to distract me!  They say sometimes you have to do something totally out of your comfort zone to get where you need to go, I couldn't agree more and the way I view it? It's a magical mystery tour lets see how the adventure goes! 

Bring on the Power Tools!

Do you guys remember Tim the Tool man Taylor? arrhh arhhh arhhh arhhh!  Well I'm not going to be talking about those sort of tools!  It's more about the tools that your require for your business or creative project.

Tim Allen was a scream in this sitcom!

I 've been chatting to certain friends who are in the middle of their creative projects, some required more art equipment, some better Internet access, some equipment for their kitchens and for those who are into sports even the garments they wear make a difference.
For me as a producer, obviously I love to see what we're creating in detail, so HD cameras and the latest in editing software are naturally on the tool list.  So how do you go about getting the tools of your trade ?  Is it via word of mouth?  The latest trending tech?  The most expensive brand? Tried and tested?
Well I think it's a little of all that plus doing some research.  For me it's going on the net and doing a comparison of the top 10 in the relevant category.  With so many users on the market it's a lot easier to garner information, feedback on the product and ratings so we can draft our wish list and then break it down to our top 3.
I also speak to professionals who use these products and give them the choices  I've put on my list and ask them for their opinions.  A lot of the time they will ask what the budget is, what you will be using the product for, how long you expect it to last, is it for a hobby or for professional work, so many variables which  conclusively boil down to your personal preference.

My trusty Minolta, it's still in good nick! heh museum piece soon :-)

Take for example and don't laugh please, the first camera bought for me was from by elder brother Mel,  it was a Minolta, you want to talk about brand loyalty, I'll put my hands up now because that camera worked perfectly for decades.. yes and if I could find film today I'm sure it would still work!
However if I was to purchase a DSLR camera my preference would be a Cannon, and that is because of how it handles for me.  Same with knives I have a preference for German knives, because I like the shape of their blades, the weight and grip of their handle while other cooks will swear by Korin which are Japanese. These Knives are expensive running into the hundreds, however you certainly don't need one of these knives to cook a great meal.

The Knives the Pro's use

The Knives Daph uses!

The point I'm getting at is the most expensive the tool is not necessarily the best tool to get for you, performance,  quality and durability is what you need to look at and hey sometimes that $50 slicer one bought works just as great as the $350 mandoline slicer  that the professionals use.
Mind you there are some things that you just can't compromise on.. like a really good cup of coffee!
You have a great week and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Dx