敏娣過日子 Mindi's Diary

好友 Terri 除了常常充滿智慧的用冷笑話開示我們之外, 也是位很有創意的藝術家, 大前天向我訂了一個鍋燒烏龍麵的生日蛋糕給她的女兒 Alison 14 歲生日. 哇! 好有意思喔! 鍋燒烏龍麵! 聽說是因為 Alison 很喜歡吃麵, 常吃辛巴樂的海鮮鍋燒麵. 隔天我就去辛巴樂叫了一份來拍照吃吃看!

My dear friend, Terri, is always full of creative and surprising ideas, besides her wise fables. LOL This time, she got me very excited about the cake she ordered for her daughter, Alison's 14th birthday. She asked for a nabeyaki udon cake because noodle soup is Alison's favorite food. Wow! How interesting is that! Since Alison always orders the nabeyaki udon from a Taiwanese snack restaurant, Sing Ba Leh, in Arcadia, California, I went there the next day, and ordered Alison's favorite dish-seafood nabeyaki udon. 

Frances 在 Facebook 裡 post 了照片和評語:

Frances posted photos and comments on Facebook, and she lets me include them in here:

診所的牙科助理 Fiona 訂了一個芋頭戚風生日蛋糕慶祝她婆婆的 76 歲生日. 她說看我想怎麼裝飾都好. 我想長輩應該比較喜歡吉祥如意的祝福吧! 就做一個 "松鶴延年" 的祝福囉! Fiona 說公公婆婆都很喜歡, 蛋糕好吃而且長壽鶴做得很有意義! 老人家喜歡就好, 也是 Fiona 的一番孝心哪! 我也很喜歡,尤其是在 "松鶴延年" 底下的那兩朵如意, 很可愛!

Our senior dental assistant, Fiona, who has been working for Joshua's office for more than 10 years ordered a cake for her mother-in-law's 76th birthday. She wanted the chiffon cake with taro root mousse filling. I'd like to decorate it a little differently than the usual roses with shell border birthday cake, and I wanted it to express the love and best wishes from Fiona, so I decided to make it with a Chinese birthday wish theme.

我真的不是針對中國什麼, 但是他們的電影名字的翻譯真的很搞笑, 好嗎? "怪誕城之夜"! 真是有夠怪蛋的! 是找誰在替他們翻電影名字啊? (英文原名：The Nightmare Before Christmas * 中文译名： 圣诞夜惊魂- 怪诞城之夜（大陆） 圣诞夜惊魂（台湾） 圣诞夜惊魂（香港）)

My sister's co-worker, Marisela, is a big fan of the 1993 movie "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas", and she asked Min-Ling if I could make a cake in the movie theme for her after she saw and tasted the cake I made for the baby shower last time. I really didn't think why I can't, so I took the order, and made her the cake with Jack, the stick figure star of the movie, on it.

我的摯友, Sheila, 問我能不能為她老公, Sam Wu, 的公司聖誕晚會做五個蛋糕. 我怎能不做呢? Sam 是南加州聖蓋博谷地區理想地產公司的負責人, 他們公司在本地已經成立超過三十年, 極具盛名及信譽, 在 Sam 的領導之下業務更是蒸蒸日上. 以前他們是在 Monterey Park, 幾年前搬到現址: 625 E. Main St., Alhambra, CA, (626)289-8888 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (626)289-8888      end_of_the_skype_highlighting, 在我還沒和 Sheila 成為好友之前就已經麻煩過理想地產公司幫家裡處理房產管理事宜了呢.

My best friend, Sheila, asked if I could make cakes for the Christmas party of the company, IDEAL PROPERTIES (理想地產), of her husband, Sam Wu. This is a realty/property management company that has been long established in San Gabriel Valley. I remember seeing their signs even before I was married, and their office used to be in Montery Park, but has now moved to a more convenient location in Alhambra, at 625 E Main Street, (626)-289-8888 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (626)-289-8888      end_of_the_skype_highlighting. I have used their services for my family's real property needs even before Sheila and I became good friends! I was very glad to have this opportunity to serve them in return by making them the party cakes. Sam, the big boss of the company, wanted to try different flavors of my cakes, and wanted to have them spelled out IDEAL for decorations. (Well, I actually "failed" on the decoration challenge this time, sigh...) Yes, all cake orders are challenges to me! Can I do this? Can I meet the needs of my clients? Well, if I had more time... I could have made it the way Sam wanted it. Anyway, sorry, Sam and Sheila! Next year! I have already got ideas on a perfect cake for the occasion.

這是我接到位於 San Pedro, California 的 Crowne Plaza L. A. Harbor Hotel 的第一個 300 人大蛋糕的訂單! 好開心但也立刻好緊張! 300 人耶! 我好像都還沒做給 30 人吃過呢! 不過既然有這機會就盡量爭取才能多練習啊!

This is the first event cake order I received from the Crowne Plaza L. A. Harbor Hotel in San Pedro, California. The event is about a non-profit organization, New Beginnings Mai Am, whose ministry involves sponsoring an orphanage in Vietnam, as well as sending out medical volunteers to the same rural area. The organization was going to have a fundraising event at the Crowne Plaza L. A. Harbor Hotel on December 11, 2010, and the hotel GM, Mr. David Lai, introduced me to meet the President/Director of the organization, Dr. Mike Lehoang, for a chance to present my new cake career. Since this is a fundraiser, and it's for the orphans, I then volunteered to make a cake for this event, but Dr. Lehoang was just so kind and was generous enough to purchase the cake from someone who doesn't seem very much a real baker like me.

這是為畫家 Michael 陳小明老師做的巧克力草莓慕斯夾心的生日蛋糕. Michael 老師的畫室在加州 Arcadia 市, 我常誇他對小朋友和家長都超有耐心的. 他個人也真是一位非常有實力的畫家呢! 我自己很喜歡在他的畫室做畫, 因為我不喜歡讓老師操刀修改圖畫, 但是很喜歡 Michael 老師明確的指點, 然後自行修改, 總覺得這樣對我進步比較大. 如果朋友們自己或是有小朋友喜愛美術想學畫, 可以盡自打電話給 Michael (626)446-7822 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (626)446-7822      end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

This is another chocolcate cake with strawberry mousse filling, and it is for my art teacher, Michael Chen, who's art institute is located in Arcadia, California. I always complement him on how patient he is with the students and parents. I enjoy painting at his studio as he does not "touch up" on my painting; rather, he comes around and critique on what he sees not satisfactory. This teaching method really works for me; it helps me see my blind spots, and it is usually the whole painting! Hahaha... If any of you were interested in learning to paint or draw, just give Michael a call at (626)446-7822 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (626)446-7822      end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

敏玲訂了好久的小公主 Baby Shower 蛋糕時間終於到了! 這是我第一次做完全翻糖裝飾的蛋糕. 搞了好一陣子才克服了困難, 保持住蛋糕的美味和可愛的裝飾.  這是個巧克力蛋糕體加草莓慕斯夾心餡口味的蛋糕. 近來似乎這個口味還頗受歡迎的, 幾乎都變成我的 signature cake 了呢! 嘻嘻, 真不好意思!

Finally had the baby shower cake made! It's a chocolate cake with strawberry mousse filling and fondant covered decorations.

真不可思議, 這星期接到四張蛋糕訂單耶! 其實很早前我妹敏玲就已經要我幫她做藥房同事的 baby shower cake, 那是第一張訂單, 我妹永遠都是最支持我的, 謝謝, 敏玲!

Ha.. I've received four cake orders last week! Thank you, friends and family, for you love and support! So happy!