Breakfast at Tiffany's

"Moon River, wider than a mile, I'm crossing you in style someday."

Who of us knows this song? I won't say "remember" because none of those of my generation are truly old enough to remember the movie except as a classic starring Audrey Hepburn and William Holden. But the title of that movie, filmed outside the original Tiffany & Co store in New York, was "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

Barbara Lim, the store director of Tiffany in Malaysia, visited us about a month and a bit ago and engaged us to make the sweets and a few savouries for their launch of their new Stars range of jewellery. The brief was to come up with desserts and savouries which were coherent with their theme.

After a bit of discussion we came up with the following menu;

Savouries;
Smoked Salmon on Melba Stars with Pickled Onion Aioli - Cold smoked salmon rolled and seated on Melba toast, topped with a little Pickled Onion Aioli, which offsets the rich smokiness of the salmon, garnished with Dill.
Beef Bacon and eggs - Quails' eggs baked in a shortcrust pastry shell topped with a roasted tomato sauce and liberally sprinkled with crunchy beef bacon bits. What is breakfast without bacon and eggs?

Sweets;

Profiteroles dipped in white chocolate and drizzled with Robin's Egg blue fondant
Tiffany Stars - English shortbread poured with Robin's Egg blue fondant
Tiffany Chocolate Cupcakes - Decorated with a star motif and inverse embossed with Tiffany & Co
Strawberries dipped in chocolate
Tiffany parcels - Brownies covered in fondant in Robin's Egg Blue
Blueberry crepes - Crepes rolled with blueberry mousse and topped with a dollop of blueberry filling

If you haven't guessed by now, Tiffany's corporate colours is Robin's Egg Blue.

Its always a privilege to work for an internationally renowned brand. And we are truly grateful to Barbara for giving us the opportunity.

There were quite a few photographers around and with me carrying my D70, people must have been wondering why I wasn't taking any photographs of them. The turnout was very good and I believe Barbara was very pleased with everything.

There was a free flow of champagne from 930am and the coffee machines were making some fabulous coffee. Allan and I had a lot of fun chit chatting with people but also watching people enjoy our little tidbits. There were some who popped them in their mouths and you could see them visibly going into little paroxysms of pleasure. The ladies (mostly ladies in the turnout) who found out that we had made some of the food in the store itself were chiding us about how naughty we were and how their expanding waistlines were going to be on our heads.

If at all, the payback for being in this business is the fact that people enjoy what you do. And when you see it, it makes it all worthwhile. Flavour in baking is everything. And that comes from making use of ingredients wisely. It was also a good opportunity to spread the word about Just Heavenly Pleasures in Plaza Damansara. And Barbara realised this so she introduced us to a few of her friends. Which, again, was so sweet of her. We are truly blessed to have clients like her.

Just Heavenly Pleasures in Epicure, a week on of Serving Pleasure

Creme Caramel

Petite Trifle

Sticky Butterscotch - warmth of caramelised sugar tempered with savoury butter and then whipped with cream to top this dessert which is warmed before eating - it will come to you all melted into the pudding :-)

Triple Espresso Brownie

Death By Chocolate

The Partners involved in Just Heavenly Pleasures - Siew Yong of Croppes fame and Allan and myself

We saw these rectangular display chillers for the first time in Australia and we knew that when we opened our little place, we wanted that look. It's modern contemporary and above all functional. A rectangular cube has more space in it than one of those old curved fascia jobbies.

Our jams, chutneys, and flower display including the cookies which are all home made

Butter Buttercup

Moist Banana Cheese

Sometimes when you embark on a course of action, you feel like, "wow, this is so right" and somehow you know you should have started at this time and not earlier?

Well, Allan and I are feeling that right now.

Pleasures has been open for a week now and the response has been very encouraging, to say the least.

I remember a very dear friend of ours mentioning something which has lain dormant in my mind until now. He's had tremendous experience in bringing in and operating chains in this country. Delifrance, Coffee Bean, Pizza Hut. Yeah. That sort of experience. Anyway, he basically told us that being in retail, you very quickly find out what works and what doesn't. What sells and what doesn't. And it's being borne out as we speak. There are certain items which are flying off the shelf. And there are some which have pulled up a sofa and the remote and decided to make a home in the display chiller. Hmmm. Am going to evacuate THOSE soon. Will substitute with something else.

There are so many new ideas I'd love to try. And the idea of bringing something fresh and exciting to market is, well, fresh and exciting.

Our new flogger (food blogger) friends have been tremendously supportive. I must admit to some nervousness when they start talking about planning a get together to try out ALL the cakes and desserts. But (deep breath) I have faith in what we do and believe that we do make a good product. It's not always for everyone because the flavours are quite a mix. Those more used to cream cakes layered with fruit and sponge may not like everything we do but I'm confident that there is something for everyone.

As I mentioned, our new flogger friends have been really very sweet and generous. Wmw, Lyrical Lemongrass, Jackson have all tried our cakes. Wmw and Lyrical Lemongrass have also written reviews of what they've tried and I am truly touched. It's a baker's dream to have people enjoy what they do and it is tough at times to listen to comments which are not necessarily so effusive. However, we have learnt over the years to solicit THOSE comments rather than bask in praise or rest on our laurels. It's always nice to hear great things being said about what you do. But it truly is the more critical comments which move your business and creativity forward. They make you. You can't be all things to everyone but every angle must be considered.

In any case, the pictures in this post represent a good cross section of what we do. We also make 9" and 6" whole cakes for those who wish to pick up a cake on the spur of the moment.

And for those wishing to have a seat and order an item from us you can sit at Chef & Brew to enjoy it as well. But here are the procedures for that;

1. You will need to come to us. Chef and Brew have been very kind in allowing us access to their restaurant. But in order not to tax their staff unduly (which is fair) we ask that you come to our counter and order from us directly. You get to view ALL the cakes and you get a full explanation as well as recommendations.
2. You need to order something from them as well. A cup of good coffee or a drink. Please don't take advantage and order just water. ;-)
3. We will then get them to bring the order to you. :-) Enjoy!

I will be adding more photos later.

Just Heavenly Pleasures in G1.05 and 1.06, Epicure, 1 Jalan Medan Setia 1, Damansara

Where to begin, where to begin?

Friday, 11 May 2007 marks the next step in a journey begun 6 and a half years ago in 2001. With some seed capital, Allan and I decided, with the help of our families, and more importantly, by God's Grace, to start a business Designing Dreams and Serving Pleasure.

Coming from families who have always enjoyed good company and good food, we decided to make Just Heavenly an honest to goodness Malaysian company that served foodstuff that would make people purr with pleasure. Hence, Serving Pleasure. We don't claim to be experts about every facet of food, but where desserts are concerned we feel we have created a range which comes up to the mark. We basically put on the menu what we (meaning us and our families) enjoy eating.

More than that, we've tried to package it in a way that extends that pleasure into an experience. From the way we answer our phone calls, to greeting guests at our place in Bangsar, to the decorative packaging that allows a customer to give our food items as gifts, to the design of the cakes themselves. After all, we "eat with our eyes first."

I would be the first to admit that we don't always come up to the ideal we've set up above but all of us at Just Heavenly believe that the process of growth is as important as the result of that journey. Meaning, that if we make mistakes we apologise and make amends, we encourage all our customers to talk to us to tell what they would like so that we can then tweak what we do to please them. We also know that we can't be all things to everyone so we do our best in what we have chosen to focus on. We believe that is the key to ensuring that our customers are happy.

Just Heavenly Pleasures was created primarily to make it more convenient for people to pick up desserts and for us to begin showcasing individual cakes and desserts. Smaller servings, smaller cakes. If you're having a dinner party, or you want a gift with a Just Heavenly interpretation, or just because your taste buds feel like dancing a tango, in all likelihood will find your questions answered at Just Heavenly Pleasures.

Friday is the beginning of our trial run which we are planning to run for a week before we do a soft opening. The entire range of planned products for Just Heavenly Pleasures will not be on display yet on Friday but we hope you'll bear with us. We ask for your understanding because we need to ensure that the logistics are working as we would like them to.

Here are some pictures of the shop as it stands. This picture was taken on Monday.