by hand

Dear Helen

Someone called today asking for a surprise delivery of assorted treats, and texted a thank you note to go along with it. We thought the recipient would appreciate some good old handwritten love— and we were right!

More things to come - a personal note from Z

It is already October 2011 and the quote on my Power Within desk calendar aptly says "Focus your strength and energy into what you do best and approach every challenge with determination". Exactly my thoughts especially in the past few months when I  start to look back at what The Cookie Cat has accomplished for the past two years.


The Cookie Cat's major business is still from orders that we received for custom cookies, cakes, cupcakes, and brownies for celebration of birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, and for corporate gifts and baskets. Some of you would have noticed that I would be busy baking at the shop till late at nights (even on days when the shop is empty!). 


I would therefore like to focus on custom orders and deliver The Cookie Cat's goodies out to clients. I would also be exploring in putting out our goodies at certain places. To strengthen the focus and for more flexibility especially in terms of time, I have decided to operate the baking activities out of The Cookie Cat's home instead of the shop in Subang Jaya. Part of our home is being converted into a working cum baking studio. So The Cookie Cat will be moving out of Casa Tiara before end of this year.


That's the update that I would like to share for now - Z

Just to share an update

Time flies when you enjoy doing what you do. It's been almost two years since I started The Cookie Cat; and the support that we received from all of you was tremendous!! The Cookie Cat family can't ever thank all of you enough :)

During this period, I have been able to assess our strengths and weaknesses and explore the opportunities and potentials. I have some plans in terms of our operations going forward where I would like to focus on baking and supply of our goodies. This is what we enjoy and what we do best and this is where we want to improve and grow.

Next month is already the holy month of Ramadhan. Muslims will be fasting during the period before celebrating Hari Raya Aidilfitri at the end of the month. The Cookie Cat shop operated till 9 pm last year during Ramadhan. However for this year, operating hours at the shop will be from 12 noon till 5 pm. I will be baking more from The Cookie Cat home in Sri Hartamas. For those of you in KL, you can arrange for pick up of your goodies from Sri Hartamas too!

So, that's the end of my update for now :)

Mother's Day Promotions

Mother's Day is just another month away. We will be having some promotions so that you can share our goodies to celebrate that special day with your loved ones. The promotions will be done through The Cookie Cat's page on Facebook. Effective 18 April 2011 until 30 April 2011, for certain updates that we put up on Facebook, the first few persons who make comments to the update will be entitled to buy our goodies at a certain discount. The number of persons, the type of goodies and the amount of discount would be mentioned during the update. With that entitlement, you can e-mail us to confirm your order and date of pick-up.  Last date for pick up of orders will be on Mother's Day i.e. 8 May 2011.

There's always a first time

When I first baked a 3-D cake using this car shaped pan, the whole cake crumbled. I had never thought of the pan again (hmmm, that was almost two years ago) until someone made a last minute order for a car designed cake recently. She didn't ask for a 3-D cake but I thought I'd take the chance with the pan again. Luckily the cake came out good this time!

As this is my first attempt at doing a car, the design is pretty basic. Nevertheless, I'm proud of myself and am definitely going to attempt improvements on the design going forward :) - Z

Today we are a year old! We couldn't have asked for a better first year; new friends, old ones, a cozy shop with hardly any complications, people who've written about us and talked to us, and especially people who've welcomed us into their lives and stomachs. People like you.

So from now till November 21, 2010, we're rewarding you with tea or coffee for only RM1 whenever you decide to drop by and have our cookies, cupcakes, brownies or blondies (all of which have gained quite a reputation in just a year).

And if you've liked us on Facebook, even better! We want you to join our Lucky Draw. It only takes just one comment from you; tell us which you'd like most:

A. a dozen cupcakes (butter/orange/choc)
B. whole pan of EITHER brownies OR blondies (mmm)
C. 15 oversized soft cookies of your choice
D. a home-cooked hot meal set for 2 (see Daily Hot Meals on our Page)

One comment later and you've entered our Lucky Draw! 1 entry per Facebook fan only (but we'll double your chances if you Like the contest) The draw also ends on November 21, 2010, so click your way to our Facebook wall and answer the easiest multiple choice question ever.

PS: While you're there on Facebook, why not dig up any photos you've taken of your Cookie Cat experience (in our shop, at home, or an event) and share them in our Fan Photos section? We're looking for photos to put on our wall, and we'd love it if yours was up there with the rest of them.

new (and possibly better!) directions to The Cookie Cat

We've had to give our fair share of directions over the phone to people trying to find us. Not that we don't like the phone calls, but over the months we feel we could probably give better directions to get here now than before. So here is a NEW visual companion to all those phone calls we've received:

If you use these photos to get here, tell us! We always appreciate feedback (and panicked phone calls).

our spaghetti bolognese

We've had a few people asking us for photos of our hot meals. Here's what we had today (Sunday) at the shop, spaghetti bolognese. The highlight of this hot meal is the really yummy beef sauce; it has just a hint of fire. We figured this demand for photos was just a great excuse as any for us to eat some ourselves...

Finally! A long-time favourite, shot for the first time. 

Thank you to our customers who came in to break fast with us at the cafe today!

How has your Mothers Day been?

We've been baking brownies, icing red velvet cupcakes, and also giving away these sets of treats to the five lucky winners of the BFM SMS contest. They were mostly male winners excited to give the cupcakes and cookies to their mothers, wives, and wives/mothers.

Speaking of wives, mothers, and wives/mothers; families of all kinds trickled into our shop today. We honestly can't remember if there were ever so many children in The Cookie Cat before. It was a lot of fun watching them choose what they wanted to eat! Enjoy the photos and have a great week.

PS: Spot Spongebob!

Thank you Aris Mohlis— one of our BFM contest winners— for The Cookie Cat's very first thank-you card! We've stuck it on our wall, and can't wait to put up more in the future. Have a great week everyone. Our shop closes in an hour. If you get the Monday blues tomorrow, you know where to find us!

- L.

quick updates

• Like the new site design? It's a Mother's Day surprise from me & T, and I'm also working on a complete menu + pricing section coming soon! The main objective of this new design is to showcase larger images, and getting rid of that sempit feeling our old design eventually had. I guess The Cookie Cat is growing up :)
  
  
• Mark your calendars for May 5. The Cookie Cat will be interviewed by our favourite radio station, BFM 89.9 in their Open For Business segment! And by "The Cookie Cat" I mean Queen Z, of course. I might be tagging along too, but not sure yet.
  
  
• We've been brainstorming on several contests and promo ideas for you to have fun with! We'll probably unleash the first one sometime after the BFM interview.

- L.

handbags and daughters

As her daughter loves handbags, a mother ordered this cake for her birthday:)  To any mother, her child will forever be her baby..no matter how old he or she is. This mother has written this quote "Today my little girl celebrates her 23rd birthday....How time flies..still remember holding this tiny little thing when she came into this world bringing us so much joy...holding her hands to her first day at school, shared her achievements with pride, watch with anxiety as she turns into a teenager and now she is a woman raring to go for all that she desires..". Hmmm...my own little big girl will be celebrating her 23rd birthday soon. We all share the same feeling...

Note: The base is a 1.5 kg chocolate cake. The handbags are made out of cupcakes :)

The Cookie Cat will be at the MAP Art Festival!

You coming too?


Thanks to MapKL for inviting us! RSVP here

Man, we haven't set up booths since the days before our shop. Long-time customers will remember our days in Mont Kiara & especially Amcorp Mall (a rather amusing time for us; we were just starting up & had to learn really fast). To those procrastinating about visiting us in Subang Jaya, this crazy weekend off Jalan Duta should be perfect!

The festival & new arts space promises to be exciting (see what's going on here). In fact, we're completely convinced you will need a sugar rush to keep you going through the day, so come find us for cupcakes, brownies, blondies (like brownies, but with peanut butter & white chocolate), & oversized soft cookies— yummy yet affordable as always!

We're still planning which cupcake flavours to stock. So far we're leaning towards:

• classic butter
• classic chocolate
• orange
• red velvet (sour cream icing)
• cappuccino (cream cheese icing)

What do you think? 

Just so you know; our cosy bake shop in Subang Jaya stays open over the weekend as usual.

this week, in the cookie cat kitchen!

(a recap for our day off)

1. We received an order for music-themed cupcakes! It was a fun challenge, and totally worth it. The birthday girl called us up saying that she felt bad giving the cupcakes to her friends to eat, because she thought they were so pretty.

2. We experimented with perfecting our Red Velvet recipe. Now it's a seriously better cupcake than ever before.

3. Our oversized brownies have been around for awhile, but are a hit this week :) So are most of our daily comfort foods, especially the rice dishes. We're happy if you're happy. See you next week!

our Twitter promotion!

Followers of our Twitter account will be pleased to know that they are entitled to our very first set deal of

• a cup of coffee or fresh fruit juice (orange, watermelon, apple)
• a cupcake (butter, chocolate, or orange)
• a chocolate chip chewy cookie

for only RM8! You'll be saving RM2, and all our followers (new or old) can redeem this as many times as they like before the new year rolls in. So follow us if you haven't yet, and if you've been lurking, now's the time to come in and give us your twitter username at the counter!

This offer ends 31st December 2009.

wednesday experiment: potato day

we tried making our own fries on wednesday from scratch, with different herbs / spices. we also tried baked potato with cheese. they tasted good, but we still have a lot to work on before adding it to the menu permanently, if at all.

chewy chocolate chip cookie dough

chewy chocolate chip cookies were a new addition in conjunction with the shop opening, and somehow became a daily hit. they go for RM1.50 each. we need to refill the cookie jar almost every day now, and since the cookies are so big, children have to use both hands to hold one while eating. (they love it)

Thank you everyone!

I had set the opening of The Cookie Cat on 11/11/2009 because of the nice date. Little did I realize the huge effort that I had to put in to get the shop ready by that date..chasing the contractor..chasing the suppliers for on time delivery of furniture and appliances..running around for shelves, plates, cups, bowls etc etc till the eve of opening. All at the expense of thorough menu planning and preparation. Nevertheless, The Cookie Cat had a great first day :) thanks to the support of friends and fans out there...and the walk in customers.

We had learnt so many things in the last 5 days..thanks to the feedback received from all of you. We had also received compliments on the cupcakes...and it's such a great feeling to see some coming back for more of the cupcakes :)

The best was from a lady who called me (with this joy and excitement in her voice) to inform that the butter cupcakes are so yummy! She said that she's never been a fan of cupcakes before because they are only nice to look at but are normally hard and sweet. Well, now The Cookie Cat's cupcakes are her favourite. She came in the next day to buy more :) ..this time she bought the orange and chocolate ones too.

Taking the challenge :)

A friend gave me the challenge of baking Barbie doll designed cake and Car designed cake for his children's birthdays. Knowing that I have never done such cakes before (my big cakes are limited to iced chocolate cakes where I just spread the frosting all over :)), he gave me advanced notice like..two months ago? Celebration is today..but it was only two days ago that I went frantically searching for Barbie and car cake moulds! After one full day and sleeping at 4 am this morning...the above are the results! He was pleased when he came to pick up the cakes just now...but I need to catch up on some sleep now:) Happy Birthday Afiqah and Affiq....

My first miniature cakes...

I have never done miniature cakes before except those during the class that I took quite a while back :) A friend recently requested me to do three as gifts. After doing these for her, I realised how true the saying 'practice makes perfect' is. I took ages to do these 2.5 inches in diameter cakes...

First time doing the writing!

Well, recently there have been requests for me to write HAPPY BIRTHDAY on my cup cakes. Never done this before but I guess there's always a first time...and mine was on July 9. I will improve over time..need to read and practise more on this!