Good bye dear friend...

I just found out that one of my overseas friend has passed away...and actually he left 2 years ago. How did I not know about it? Well, obviously I don't know his parents personally although we always chatted about our families. In the past few years, we would chat when we were on facebook at the same time, which is rather difficult as my friend is in New Zealand which is one of the most difficult time zones to coordinate a chat with. We never talked as regularly as we used to like 5-6 years ago but whenever we did finally had the chance to catch up, we were like two old friends catching up from where we left. It was never awkward. Not everyone's facebook feed shows up on mine, and just a few months ago, I thought about him. I wondered what he was doing as it has been a long time since we last chat.

I'm obviously saddened by the news, because I didn't expect to know it through facebook.

It was his birthday today, if he was still around...he would have been 40 years ago.

His birthday reminder pops up, and I sent a Happy Birthday greetings to him. Out of curiosity, I clicked on his profile. Some folks said "I miss you." Something is amiss. I scrolled down further and read his brother's message and found out he left us in 2011. My last chat with him was just 2 months before he left....and it was still in my facebook chat. Everything came back fresh in my mind and I felt very sad.

The last time we chatted, Glen was his usual self. Always positive, cheerful and optimistic. He was one of the earliest person who knew about my passion and dreams and encouraged me to go for it. I will always remember this, that he was there when I was at the down periods in my life, giving me lots of support. He was a great friend and listener. I'm sad that I don't have the chance to say good bye to him, but his spirit will live in my heart. It was an honor and privilege to have him as my friend.

He would want me to do more of what I love everyday, without a moment of regret. He would want me to live a colouful and meaningful life. The last time we chatted, he was very happy and proud of my accomplishments, even though they were nothing grandiose.

Thank you for being such an amazing sweet friend, Glen. I will certainly miss you. I will cherish all our conversations, secrets and dreams we shared. But I will not forget your spirit, and strive to lead a meaningful life.

Lati Doll Food - Black Cherries Cake

I was working on this Lati Doll Food on and off for a while before I left for my holidays. Sometimes a piece of art has its own story, some longer than others, while some have shorter ones. This piece is extremely memorable to me as I was working on it while going through a very stressful period in my life. So, this piece holds a lot of sentimental value and I will always remember this. 

This black cherries cake is modeled after a real cake photo which was requested by my sweet friend Jacqueline. When I first saw it, I thought the real challenge were the black cherries, since it was something I've never done before. The colour of the cherries is tricky, as it's not entirely black, but really a very deep dark purplish red. There isn't an acrylic colour that offers that particular shade, so it means I have to create the shade myself. And when I started working on this cake, I realize there was another challenge - cutting through the cake layers so that it is straight and not crooked...

Working on a 1:12 dollhouse miniature scale and working on a Lati Doll scale still has its own set of different challenges altogether, as I realized. The method that worked so well for the 1:12 dollhouse scale did not work well on a Lati Doll scale. Thus I had to find solutions to solve it.

Along the way, I made mistakes - which meant that I had to re-start all over again. ;)

But to be honest, I was determined to work and find a solution, although I am apologetic to my friend that I took longer than usual to think about it, experiment further and making it as nice as possible.

I am grateful for this challenge though, because not only I found a solution that works, but it increased my knowledge about handling larger size cakes and I think that knowledge is immensely important to me and I am truly grateful for, honestly.

I think that's how I learn - through making mistakes and discovering new ways to do certain things. I also realized that being curious and playful are wonderful, positive and powerful traits to have in this art.

Now that I discovered how to create this in a Lati-scale, I want to re-create this in 1:12 dollhouse scale soon.. The black cherries are calling out to me :)

Black Sesame Bamboo Charcoal Swiss Roll

Most people may be skeptical when they see a black colour swiss roll. When I saw that it was a black sesame flavoured swiss roll, I knew I must give it a try as it reminds me of my favourite childhood hot dessert (black sesame paste).

This tasted absolutely delicious, and probably it helps that the texture of the cake is really good. It's also moist and best of all, it's NOT sweet. There is also very, almost no cream in it. :)

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I'm back from vacation but I am not feeling so well as soon as the humidity and heat greeted me. Therefore I'm still slowly getting back into the swing of things ;) Please bear with me while I slowly wade through my emails.