Live. Life. Work. Play: Unboxing My Russian Dolls.

The last couple of days I've been thinking about baking my signature cookies for awhile. Let me tell about a brief story about it. When I was a kid I always like my late aunt's Biskut Sarang Semut (Ants Nest Cookies). I watched her doing it. Me and my cousin just sit around and looked at every steps of the making and we just love the smell. It made us starving. Oh yes, she baked it during Ramadhan (fasting month). How cruel was that.

Seeing I spent too much time in my aunt's house, which is just next door! My mum asked her the recipes and she was glad to passed her secret recipe. Now the recipe is very, I mean VERY well-kept. Safe guarded by me. As far I could remember, this has been a-must cookies during Eid Mubarak ever since. My favorite cookies and it should be on the table!

Then when I was in high school, I baked that cookies myself and one day I thought why not baked it and sale it at school. So I did. I remember two of my early customers were Azlina and Azrillaa and these girls hooked to my Sarang Semut ever since even until now. Azlina told me she was craving for my cookies when she was in Scotland and Azrillaa wanted me to bake the cookies for wedding but at that time I was working as PRO. Extremely busy and got no time even for myself.

Back then I think "corporate world" was for me. But now it all changed. I started to realise, I had set of skills and gift but I wasted it. OK maybe the recipe wasn't really well-kept. I did gave it to some people at one stage. Gave it to my birth mum. She tried to made it but the taste is no way near as good as mine even though she used the same ingredient. Also I gave to a friend of mine, again the taste were very hermm. My point is, it takes certain hands to do that cookies. I think. Must be.

So now I was thinking, if I have the gift to make that cookies why didn't I do something about it. Like commercializing it for instance. I talked this to Hannah and she said my face was brighten as I was talking about that idea. Perhaps it's the calling. Then, since then I'm so pumped up to start bake again.

Today after I finished work, I went straight to Foodtown to get the ingredient. I got the flours, sugar, secret ingredient, had to get butter instead of margerine because the one is here they were either salted or the soft ones. That won't do good to my cookies, aren't they?

Then I remember I don't have the measuring cup at home. The one in Foodtown cost like $12 and it was absolutely basic and tasteless. I remember I used to found one cool measuring that look like Russian dolls at Living&Giving. Perfect. That shop only like few minutes walk from Foodtown and I'll be walking in the same direction by the way.

I went to the shop with heavy shopping on my hands and headed straight to the last place I saw that Russian dolls cum measuring cup. Looked around and it's not there. Saw the steel measuring cup that looked like the ones in Foodtown except the price is more than double. I asked the sales girl. She made me follow her to the back of the shop and that thing right at the bottom of the shelf. I bet this thing didn't sell well. Good thing they got 30% discount. I just paid $20 from $30.

Come to think again, this is a luxury item for a baking equipment. But I like the design. This will look cute in kitchen when I have a house one day. I definitely will this back to Malaysia. Here's some of the photos I snapped soon as I got home.