SanTerri Cakes Like No Other

I LOVE cakes but I’m fussy over the choice. Unlike a majority of Malaysians, I do not like my cakes loaded with sugar especially when it’s a creamed cake with an assortment of toppings, which I prefer to finish rather than place aside because they are too sweet to stomach.

If Malaysians are just learning to reduce their intake of sugar in this 21^st Century, I have been practising the less-sugar-is-better discipline way, way before the rest.

When the cupcake trend stormed Malaysia, I did not fall head over heals on them because I did not find one recipe that has the correct amount of sugar in both cake mixture as well as the butter icing.

Carrot Cake With Walnuts to go with Café Mezzo Mezzo.

When you enjoy a piece of cake, you want to savour every bite, every mouthful. If you can take continuous bites off a piece of cake without cringing at the sweetness then you have found the desired cake. I have found mine and not just in one type of cake but many. The place – SanTerri Cottage.

The SanTerri Cottage I frequent is the one in Bangsar Village II in Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur although there are several SanTerri Cottage outlets throughout the Klang Valley.

I have not been to most of them as the one in BVII is very convenient for me whenever my craving for tea-time-with-coffee-and-cake builds up.

SanTerri has a big selection of cakes on top of their other items like sandwiches and pastas. But I go there strictly for its cakes. I’ve tried some of them but have to keep returning to make sure I taste most of them as I’m very sure they will agree with my tastebud. My favourite, which I buy for my yearly birthday celebration is the Opera.

Every year it's the same cake for me - Opera from SanTerri Cottage.

I wouldn’t say a slice of cake is too highly priced here as several other cafes and restaurants adopt almost the same pricing if not higher.

The difference between SanTerri’s cakes and prices is that even IF you were to be charged more than the outlet’s RM6.50 for a piece of Carrot Cake With Walnut for example it would still be worth it because the cakes are delicious.

When I eat cakes I take coffee with them and its regular brew, which I called Flat White, is named Café Mezzo Mezzo, also at RM6.50 for a reasonable sized cup. SanTerri serves Illy coffee.

And do you know that Illy coffee is served in 140 countries in five continents in over 50,000 public venues? According to its official website http://www.illy.com/ more than six million cups of its espresso coffee is served throughout the world every single day.

I may not be a coffee expert but I love coffee and what’s in an Illy coffee for me? A rich coffee that’s full of flavour and a beautiful aroma. Team that with a SanTerri cake and it’s bliss for the rest of the day.

SANTERRI COTTAGE

Bangsar Village II

Upper Ground Floor – K2

Lot 43872.73.74 Bangsar Baru

59100 KUALA LUMPUR

Short Take 9

Text by My Name Is Insanity

Image by Bizior (bizior)

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Text by My Name Is Insanity

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Eco-friendly With Sloggi

Note from The Team: This is the third part of NFM’s post on Sloggi’s Love World 2011 collection. It got a bit delayed due to some unforeseen circumstances. Enjoy it nevertheless.

SLOGGI is a lingerie and undergarment company so what was it doing taking a group of media and several KL bloggers into the Tekala Recreational Forest in Hulu Langat recently?

If you were not there and heard or read about this trip you’d think it strange that Sloggi chose to hire a huge tour coach to bring these people into a jungle for a simple launch. Why didn’t they just host the event at some chic location in the city centre like they always do?

The answer is education! The world needs to be educated on the importance of protecting the environment. And since Sloggi’s Love World 2011 collection is eco-friendly it makes this launch concept very relevant.

The Herbal patch near the entrance of Tekala Recreational Forest.

Evelyn Foo, Triumph’s Head of Brand Management made it very clear that there wasn’t going to be any catwalk to showcase Sloggi’s Love World 2011.

Instead Evelyn talked about how we can help our forest, the environment, Earth by using eco-friendly undergarments. Sloggi’s Love World 2011 collection is made from Sensitive®Fabric, which is manufactured using eco-friendly processes.

Using eco-friendly undergarments however is only part of the learning process in appreciating our forests especially since they play an enormous role in determining our future environment. A short tour of the forest can bring us closer to its habitats, wildlife and eco-systems. The launch at the forest is in collaboration with local environmental NGO, TrEES (Treat Every Environment Special) as well as the State Forestry Department. As a team, they help conserve and protect Taman Warisan Negeri Selangor including the forest park’s habitats, wildlife and eco-systems.

Representatives fromTrEES, Selangor State Forestry Department and Sloggi.

Sloggi Malaysia’s collaboration with TrEES and SFD echoes the efforts made by Sloggi on the global front, where it has teamed up with SensitivEcoSystem® Project to partner with World Land Trust™.

SensitivEcoSystem® Project is the Italian manufacturer of Sensitive®Fabric while World Land Trust™ is a non-profit organisation that protects remote regions between Brazil, Paraguay and North East Argentina. Their aim is to save the threatened rainforest in the Yaboti Biosphere, home to unusual plants and animal species, which are at risk of extinction. With every one meter of sensitive®Fabric used in the Love World Collection, one sq meter of the rainforest in the Yaboti Bisosphere will be saved.

There's still a nice, cool, clean stream in the park.

“We have very few forests left,” Evelyn said. “And so we need to protect them so that the new generation can still enjoy what we have today,” she added.

Evelyn touched a little about Sloggi’s eco-friendly collection, started in 2009 highlighting Sloggi’s every day organic cotton wear. In 2010 Sloggi came out with a collection made from plastic bottles. And in 2011 it included three eco-friendly items out of the four in the collection.

“Our eco collection provides 100% comfort and it is safe on skin,” she said.

A worthy donation for a great cause.

Sloggi also pledged a donation of RM25,000 from profit sales of its Love World collection to TrEES. This fund will be used for the development of a new interactive digital programme that supports activities for youth under TrEES’ Taman Warisan Negeri Selangor (TWNS) environmental protection initiative called Communities for Conservation. The aim of the programme is to ensure TWNS remains protected so it can continue providing information of the park to the future generation who are our effective agents of change.

Perhaps by being in the forest and learning a thing or two about its habitats it will make us realise how every bit of contribution in whatever form can help protect the environment in the long run to benefit the new generations.

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Text by My Name Is Insanity

Image by that_guy_A (that_guy_A)

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Text by My Name Is Insanity

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Life's Little Mysteries

LIFE can spring a lot of surprises. Most times the unexpected happens when you least expects it. I guess that explains why a lot of people, like me, do not like surprises. But when it is a good surprise, it is most welcomed!

Today I bumped into someone I have liaised with so many times before in the past 20 years but have never had the chance to meet in person. It was only when she handed me her cards that I realised my most recent phone conversations with her was about six months ago.

The warmth of a friend is akin to that you enjoy within the comforts of your home.

Image: Breakfast by HAPEKLA (hapekla)

Whenever I bumped into past acquaintances the way I did today, it makes me wonder if the world is actually smaller than we think it is. And how, one way or the other, people we have lost contact with can suddenly spring back into our life.

Just two days ago I met up with a girlfriend who I’ve not seen or communicated regularly with for about two years now. And as we enjoyed glass after glass of hot Barley drink we shared stories of our life that had been put on hold due to either distance or work demands.

But one thing remains consistent with these two friends. None of the warmth they exude in the past is lost, despite the years, which reflects what another close friend of mine often say: a true friend isn’t about constantly being in touch but being able to have a great time whenever we meet once in a blue moon.