Tony's 65th Birthday

It was my manager's birthday few days ago and I surprised him with the best birthday cake of his life!  :P Well, I think so anyway hehe

Few weeks before his birthday, he asked me if I can make a cake for work. He knows I bake a lot, but he didn't know I don't do normal cakes. lol

So I said ok to him and basically told him I will make something nice :)

I went home brainstorming and googled for ideas. I know I'm going to do something with birds and bird watching because it is one of Tony's hobby. He would go anywhere with his lovely wife for a weekend getaway of bird watching.

After sketching and googling, this is what I came up with :)

 

 I have to admit that this is actually my second try in decorating this cake. I wasn't happy with the color that I put together for the first one, so I had to redo it again. :) I'm very happy with the outcome, thank god I change my mind haha

 The base cake is a Lime and White Chocolate cake with White Chocolate Buttercream and the fat tree with Tony in it is a Red Velvet cake.

Do you like the cheeky bird on top of Tony's Binocular? :D

My workmates were all impressed with  my cake decoration skill and asked me how long it takes to decorate. Honestly, it took me 8+ hours to decorate this cake, not including the time for the first decoration. If I ask my cousin to do a 8 hours cake decorations with me, I think she will run away. Sounds crazy isn't it? The time just passed so quickly when I'm doing this. But I really enjoy it! 

I made up 2 Australian Birds using fondant and play a little game with Tony. 

I pointed at the blue bird and the black bird and asked him to guess what bird it is, and he looked at the blue bird and pretty much in 5 seconds he said it's a Fairy Wren! I couldn't believe how fast he can recognize the bird! Especially it's fondant bird!  Impressive! 

He couldn't guess the black one as he hasn't seen it before. 

Here is it, the Splended Fairy Wren

and the black bird is Tawny Grassbird.

Cute birds isn't it :D

Tony whipped up his camera and started taking photo of the cake! He totally loves it!

He didn't want to eat the top tier (Tree cake and Tony with binocular), he brought it home and kept it. :) 

Happy Birthday Tony! Better eat the cake now before it goes stale :P

Frances's Big Three Oh!

Another 30th this year! :D

..and the birthday girl is Frances!


Recently she's into Tin Tin!
The Adventures of Tin Tin is a series of comic albums created by Belgian artist Remi Georges (1907–1983), who wrote under the pen name of Hergé. The series is one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century, with translations published in more than 50 languages and more than 200 million copies of the books sold to date.

I thought, since she likes Tin Tin, why not surprise her with a Tin Tin cake?! :D


To be honest, I have never read Tin Tin books before so I have no idea what is all about! So I asked Joe and googled it to hopefully get some ideas for the cake.


This is the outcome of it :)

 So what do you think? 

Maybe for the professional cake decorators out there will think that I'm not there yet but hey~ this is my 4th time making decorated cakes, I think I did quite well hehe

I have Tin Tin sitting on the suitcases and holding a gift box, Snowy getting excited, an old ship and an old flying plane on the side of the cake.

Effort is totally worth it! To see Frances looked at the cake with excitement and the contented smile is just what I wanted.

After blowing the candle, we didn't want to cut up the cake! haha but after a few minutes of thinking to eat or not.. we decided to cut small pieces of it and trying not to ruin the looks of it!

After that Joe, Frances and I went to one of our favourite restaurant in Perth, which is Balthazar in the city. The food never fails. Excellent wine list and friendly service. 

This is what we had yesterday.

Top left: Pork Crackle, fennel seed, piccalilli

Top right: Freshly shucked oysters. lime, coriander, chilli

Bottom left: Bresola, persimmon, ricotta, balsamic

Bottom right: mushroom, goats cheese, farro, truffle

 Entree is just superb. Pork crackles has nice textures, nicely salted. Oysters was fresh and delicious. Bresola was excellent! I love the saltiness of Bresola with the sweetness of persimmons. Wow.. just packed full of flavour and surprises me.

Top left: Palate cleanser : lemon sorbet

Top right: Pork, jamon, black pudding, scallops, cherry mustard

Bottom left: Duck breast, zuchini, tamarillo, buckwheat, pickled beans and dill

Bottom right: Beef fillet, mushroom, smoked potato, creme fraiche

I have tried all meat and they were all wonderfully cooked! moist, tender, juicy, flavoursome. 

Wow.. impeccable. I had the Duck Breast and what I really love is actually the spinach at the bottoom! It soaked up the juice of the duck breast and the spinach just so soft and juicy and the taste is just awesome!! Love it!

As for Dessert, Joe and I had the Date pudding, caramel popcorn ice cream. Delicious! 

The only down side, the popcorns keep sticking onto my teeth!

and Frances had the Salted caramel with a brightly lit candle. :) 

Have a wonderful 30th Frances! Good luck in everything! :D

I got CHEATED BIG TIME

I am very very very angry and felt stupid that I got cheated by a China website that sells Mont Blanc Pens. Why am I sooooooooo stupid purchase it from them??? 

First thing first, I should clarify that I didn't know it's a site from China. For some reason I can't tell, normally I can lol.

So, me and my workmates thought of getting a nice pen for our manager's 65th birthday. We did a few research and stuff and I, watashi, wo, saya, Jo Serwey found this site and they only sell Mont Blanc pens. The site is call http://www.smoothmontblanc.com/

They have all the Mont Blancs for less than $100! (original price is around 400 bucks)

So i thought may be it's a old design and nobody buy it anymore, I didn't think much about it. Ask my workmates, and they said it looks good. Especially the website says 100% AUTHENTIC ITEM!

Damn it. I picked it up this morning from the post office. Saw the package with Chinese wordings on it.. I was thinking.. oh gosh.. (you know what I'm thinking that time) 

To confirm, I opened the box and immediately know that it's a imitation.  

Mont Blanc uses cheap cotton for their packaging? NO WAY!

 Mont Blanc Printed crookedly? NO WAY!!

Mont Blanc spelled instruments with a space?? NO WAY!

Fail in designing a proper box? NO WAY!!

DIRTY STICKY thing on the box? NO WAY!!!

Whats worst is this!!! When I twist the pen, it made some squeeeky sound! WTF!

NOT FUNNY!!! 

The nightmare is I have to go on live chat with a person named ANGELA for 2 freaking hours. 

They basically forcing me to keep that pen and said refund me 15aud.

I said I don't want that imition pen, i want them to refund me today. They said I have to send the pen back to them first then only they will do the refund. 

OK, I know they won't refund me if i send the pen back. Secondly, they finally admit that it is a High Quality Imitaion. 

Err.. so where is my 100% Authentic pen?!!?

I have tried my very best (2 freaking hours) basically forcing them in every way that I can to get some money back today. because I know if i send it back, I won't get my money back and i will have no pen, and no money. 

If you are interested, you can read our 2 hours conversation on how I speak to them. ANGRY, GENTLE, PITY, STERN, CAPS & no caps. I think I have split personality after talking to them. and my english gotten worse just typing to them. damn it.

Please wait for a site operator to respond.
You are now chatting with 'angela'
angela: Welcome to our livechat,What can I do for you todays ?
serwey: hi
angela: hello
serwey: i just got the pen
serwey: thank you very much
angela: Thanks
angela: It is my pleasure
serwey: but i was wondering if your pen is a Authentic Mont Blanc?
angela: All our products are bought directly from the supplier.We can guarantee the quality.
serwey: I think you got cheated
serwey: the pen is fake
angela: We just didn't get the authorization of this product.This is actually why we provide such low price compared to the official price.But we can guarantee all our products are of high quality.
serwey: not only that, the pen is not smooth. twisting has problem and the box look quite bad
serwey: u there?
angela: Could you send some pictures to our mailbox to show your problem ?
serwey: it's the pen and probably need a video of it instead of photo
angela: Video is ok
serwey: i would like a refund
angela: When we received your video ,we will do our best to help you
serwey: but i m not happy with the product
serwey: i would like a refund
serwey: i just got it this morning and felt really dissapointed
angela: Please send a video to show your problem firstly
angela: Please understand
serwey: but i am not going to give this as a gift
serwey: i can still send you the video but i don't want the pen
serwey: please refund and please understand
angela: Only when we get your video we can see your problem ,plz understand
serwey: this is what you have on your RETURN PAGE. Returns ★ If within 7 days of receipt of your goods you wish to return them for a refund, please contact our customer service representative via live chat or e-mail. Goods will only be accepted for a return if they are in the original condition.
serwey: please give me your email
angela: bestmontblancpen@yahoo.com
angela: Hope your understanding
serwey: i am sending you the video, i want a refund no matter what
serwey: thanks for your understanding
angela: When we get ,we will give you answer
serwey: this is not the way to do business
serwey: your website says within 7 days we can get a refund
angela: But we need to confirm your problem
serwey: yes i am videoing it
angela: Did you send it to our mailbox ?
serwey: i am going to. give me a few minutes
angela: ok
serwey: i have sent you the email
angela: OK,we will check it ,please wait patiently
serwey: please check your inbox in a few minutes
serwey: it should have gone through now
angela: It is downloading
serwey: thanks
angela: plz wait
angela: We have see it clearly
serwey: ok thaks
serwey: thanks*
serwey: please resolve this
angela: Because our products are high imitation ,but the quality is good
angela: We hope you can keep it
serwey: please refund today because i need to get another present
serwey: it is very important for me to get the present
serwey: please understand my situation. I can't give this
serwey: i can't give this as a gift
angela: If you can keep it ,we will refund A$15 to you
serwey: no, i want full refund
angela: If you want a full refund ,you should send it back to us
serwey: sorry i really cant. i have not enough money to get another present
serwey: i will send it back to you
serwey: because i won't use it and it's not mine
serwey: but i want a refund today
serwey: please!!
angela: When we receive your back item ,we can do refund to you
serwey: how do i know if you will give me a refund?
serwey: you have cheated me and gave me a imitation pen..
serwey: and your website says it's 100% AUTHENTIC ITEM
angela: When we received your back item ,we will do refund to you and you will receive a refund letter
serwey: Sorry, I cannot trust your company.
serwey: please do a refund now
serwey: I will post the imitation pen back to you today.
serwey: i need to get a gift today as well because of your imitation pen.
angela: Sorry ,only when we get your back item ,we can refund to you
angela: Please understand
serwey: PLEASE UNDERSTAND. YOU HAVE NOT GAVE ME A REAL THING.
serwey: HOW CAN I TRUST YOU
serwey: PLEASE REFUND TODAY
serwey: I DON'T CARE
serwey: I NEED TO SEE THE MONEY IN MY ACCOUNT TODAY
serwey: I DON'T WANT YOU IMITATION PEN!
angela: Sorry that ,we can't do that
serwey: OK. PLEASE REFUND AT LEAST 70AUD TODAY
serwey: THEN AFTER YOU GET YOUR PEN, YOU CAN DO A FULL REFUND TO ME
serwey: DON'T TELL ME YOU CANT DO IT
serwey: YOU MUST DO IT
serwey: A REFUND
angela: I am sorry to tell you only when we receive your back item and we can do a full refund to you
serwey: NO. I NEED THE REFUND TODAY
serwey: I CANNOT TRUST YOU. YOU WILL GET THE PEN AND DISSAPEAT
serwey: DISSAPEAR
serwey: REFUND
angela: sorry that
serwey: YOU ARE MAKING MY LIFE SO DIFFICULT
angela: If you can keep it ,we can do some refund to you as a reparation
serwey: WHAT DO YOU MEAN
serwey: I JUST WANT A REFUND. I DON'T WANT THAT PEN!
angela: If that ,you just send it back to us ,when we receive it we will do refund to you
serwey: NO. YOU DO THE REFUND AND I WILL SEND IT BACK TO YOU
angela: We can't do that
serwey: PLEASE REFUND ME AT LEAST 60% OF THE PRICE TODAY
angela: It is much high to us
serwey: I DONT UNDERSTAND
serwey: serwey: PLEASE REFUND ME AT LEAST 60% OF THE PRICE TODAY
angela: How about we refund A$25 to you ,and you keep it
serwey: NO
serwey: 25 I CANT GET ANYTHING
serwey: 60%
angela: It is too much to us
serwey: WHAT DO YOU MEAN? YOU WILL GET BACK THEN PEN ANYWAY
serwey: 60% NOW THEN, AFTER YOU GET THE PEN, REFUND ME 40% BACK
angela: How about we refund A$ 30 to you
serwey: NO.
serwey: THIS IS NOT RIGHT
serwey: AT LEAST 60%
angela: A$35 is the highest ,if not ,you just send it back to us
serwey: U WILL GET THE PEN BACK. YOU GIVE ME 60% NOW, THEN 40% LATER
angela: Sorry ,it is not ok
serwey: no.
angela: Plz understand
serwey: i cant. im sorr
serwey: sorry
serwey: 50% refund please
angela: If we do refund ,it not include the shipping fee
serwey: yes i know
serwey: i am willing to pay the shipping. i just need to money now to get another present
serwey: please understand
angela: But i hope you can understand ,if we do refund to you ,you will receive it in 2-3week
serwey: what?!!?1
serwey: are you going to SHIP the money!?!?!
serwey: ANGELA!!!!! PLEASEEEEE!!!
serwey: DONT CHEAT ME!
serwey: I AM HONESTLY BADLY NEED THE MONEY
serwey: TODAY!
serwey: PLEASE RESOLVE IT TODAY
angela: The refund is need time ,plz understand
serwey: PLEASE TRY YOUR BEST
serwey: 50AUD AND DO IT TODAY
serwey: PLEASE
angela: When we do the refund, it takes time for the money to be transferred from one bank to  another overseas. By the way,the efficiency of the banks will directly affact the refunding time,
serwey: SO YOU ARE REFUNDING 50AUD TODAY?
serwey: I CAN UNDERSTAND THE BANK TRANFERING TIME. BUT IF YOU CAN CONFIRM YOU ARE REFUNDING IT TODAY
serwey: ME AND MY FRIENDS SHARED MONEY TO PAY FOR THIS PEN. I NEED TO LET THEM KNOW.
serwey: HELLO??
angela: You means you keep it and we refund 50AUD  to you ?
serwey: NO NO...
angela: What is your means ?
serwey: REFUND 50AUD NOW. TODAY I WILL SEND THE PEN BACK TO YOU. AFTER YOU RECEIVE IT, YOU CAN REFUND THE OTHER 50% BACK TO ME.
angela: That is not ok
serwey: WHY NOT?
serwey: you get your pen back
serwey: and i get a full refund
serwey: your website said i can get refund
serwey: FULL REFUND
angela: When we receive your back item ,we will do a full refund to you
serwey: you are difficult
serwey: so if we keep the pen, u will refund 50aud??!!?!?!
serwey: DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I SAID JUST NOW?
angela: If you keep it we can refund 40aud to you
serwey: WHAT!?!?!?!
serwey: SERIOUSLY. I DONT WANT YOUR PEN. BUT IMITATION PEN FOR 60AUD? YOU MUST BE JOKING.
serwey: FIRST YOU LIED IN THE WEBSITE.
serwey: SECONDLY YOU BARGAINING WITH ME?
angela: Though our products are high imitation but quality is good
serwey: PLEASE REFUND ME 50AUD TODAY
serwey: 50 AUD TODAY.
angela: 50 AUD is much high
serwey: IT'S IMITATION!!!!!
serwey: 50AUD IS 313 CNY
serwey: ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
serwey: I AM NOT AUSTRALIAN
serwey: SO I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE UP TO
serwey: I AM POOR AND I NEED TO GET THE MONEY
serwey: BECAUSE YOU CHEAT ME
serwey: SO PLEAST. 50AUD
serwey: PLEASE
serwey: HELLO?
angela: plz wait a moment
serwey: I am waiting..
serwey: u there?
angela: yes
serwey: so.. have you resolve the problem?
angela: We consider it but 50AUD is so high
serwey: im sorry. but you have lied to me. you said its 100% authentic pen.
serwey: so 50aud is the limit. i didn't ask you to pay me 70 or 80aud
angela: We just didn't get the authorization of this product.This is actually why we provide such low price compared to the official price.But we can guarantee all our products are of high quality.
serwey: but it's FAKE
serwey: you know what is FAKE?
serwey: do i need to beg you again?
serwey: i really really need the money
angela: But if we do refund to you now ,you still receive it now
serwey: the problem is. you gave me something that i don't want
serwey: and you are forcing me to keep it
serwey: it doesn't make sense isn't it?
angela: Ok ,if you can keep it ,we will refund 50AUD to you ,is it ok ?
serwey: yes. i think i don't have a choice right
angela: Ok ,now we do refund to you
serwey: so deal?
serwey: thank you
serwey: i wil let my friends know now as they have to go and get another present.
angela: Yes ,you will receive a refund letter
serwey: ok thank you
angela: Sorry bring trouble to you
serwey: please check with your supplier next time. don't send imitations to clients again and said in the website its real.
serwey: thank you for giving me the refund
serwey: i have no choice
angela: OK
angela: In order to improve you  more qualified service points in the chat ,you can mark score for us  after you click the close botton on the upper right corner in this chat window.thanks!
angela: Have a nice day !

WHY DO I HAVE TO GO THROUGH THIS SHIT???  I hope I can get my money back although it's just 50dollars rather than no money no pen or 15aud with that freaking pen.

Lesson learned? Nah..  I will still buy things online :P

Have a wonderful Wednesday guys!!!

Mother's Day Cupcake for sale

Hi All!!

Mother's Day is around the corner! Have you get anything for your beloved Mom yet? 

Can't think of anything? How about a box of sweet treats for her? :D

A box of freshly baked and beautifully decorated cupcakes will definitely make her smile!

Strawberry Swirl Buttercake topped with cute lil pink hippos!

*Heart* Mum!

and

SUPERMUM!

6 different designs!

How nice to have these cupcakes together as Morning Tea, afternoon snack or as dessert after dinner!

If you are interested in getting some for your dearest mom, I'm taking orders now, 7th May until 11th May 2012 Friday 6pm.

Choose from a box of 6 or just 2!

Brown Box (6 cupcakes) $25

White Box (2 cupcakes) $9

Email me to order!!!

jo.myweyoflife@gmail.com

Brown Box (6) $25
White Box (2) $9

Pick Up:
Belmont, Perth
Delivery within Perth Metropolitan $5 extra.

When:
Saturday 12th May and Sunday 13th May

Last day of order : Friday 11th May 2012 6pm

Hope to hear from you soon! :D


Please LIKE my facebook page !
Or you can follow me on Instagram @myweyoflife

TEFAL EASY PRESSING STEAM GENERATOR

Nuffnang was having a Product Talk Bonanza this month and one of the product was Tefal Easy Pressing Steam Generator.

 

I've always wanted to get one but because I don't really iron my clothes :P 

So I don't have much reason to get one + the iron at home is still working fine. 

Well, Nuffnang must have read my mind, by having the Product Talk, I have the opportunity to try one of these baby :D

To have a proper test out, I set up the ironing board, have my NEW Tefal Easy Pressing Steam Generator, old iron and a really crumpled shirt from Joe.

 

You won't believe this, as I was carrying the old iron out, the water from the iron just dripping everywhere! I think the iron is not happy with the new sexy Tefal.

Okay, this shirt is the one that I'm testing on. 

I'm going to iron right side with my old iron and left side with Tefal.

 

My iron has the steam function too.

The ironing was alright, going up and down the shirt 5-6 times to get the part of the shirt look straight. 

 

Testing the Tefal on the left side. 

Turbo steam! Gliding on the shirt 2-3 times and pretty much done in a few second! 0_0

Let's see the difference of the 2 irons.

 

Can you see it?  Here, a closer look.

It is very obvious isn't it?

and the crease on sleeves and pants are more pronounced/defined than with a regular steam iron

Actually Joe was the first one to try out the new Tefal Steam Iron because he has some working shirts that are super difficult to iron. Joe is very particular with shirt being perfectly straight. Why I know that? It's because of me. Apparently I'm a lousy iron-er! 

Anyway, Joe tried it on a couple of shirts that he knows it's super difficult to iron. He was amazed with the outcome! With the steam, it just glides over the shirt and don't need to put too much effort! It makes ironing feels really easy! The shirt looked new after ironing it using Tefal!

Other than the easy ironing part, the design of it is very very thoughtful. Well designed in terms of safety and conveniences.

Here are some of the thoughtful bits..

Easy ironing, the iron glides over your clothes so you don't need to put too much effort.

Vertical steaming

Large tank of water. 1.8L :D So you don't need to refill so often.

Iron lock so that it doesn't fall over when moved.

Turbo function for a rapid burst of steam.

Multiple steam and heat levels to suit different clothing types

Anti Calc Function, so you can use tap water! Saves you the major hassle of buying distilled water. Calc is collected in the boiler, prolonging the life of the steam generator. It is recommended for people who's tap water is particularly hard (Ie high calc content) use 50% tap and 50% distilled water.

Electrical Cable retractable

Auto shut-off for the forgetful types (ME!)

Quick heat up 2 mins, (ready to use by the time you prepare your ironing board and first garment)

 

Wire can be tucked away 

"EasyCord system" manages the iron cord better so it doesn't get in the way of ironing or drag on your clothes.

Not like the old iron that I have. 

Auto clean functionality

Made in France

Even Frances had a go with it too with her difficult-to-iron skirt.

She was really happy to see her skirt is finally crinkle-less! 

She's totally loving it! ^_^

She said it was gliding on the skirt and didn't have to press it while ironing! Easy! :D

I'm glad that there were Joe and Frances testing it out with me! Love to hear different opinions!

There's a few things that you need to take note for this product though..

For example, it is better not to iron while everybody is sleeping.. because the steam can be quite loud especially if you use the TURBO button :P It will go PHHHHHSSSSSSSSTTTT

It is a bit bulky and a little heavy but it is expected.

Instruction manual could be more detail and of course, be careful with the steam. 

Tefal Easy Pressing Steam Generator is worth getting if you iron clothes very often and for busy people. Definitely saves ironing time especially you don't have to iron the same spot over and over again and there's noneed to spray your clothes with water before ironing!

It makes ironing more fun!

If you are getting it, it is recommended to get a mesh ironing board too, otherwise the steam will gush out sideways and potentially onto your hand. 

Have fun ironing! :D