Business avenues – Bake Cakes & Confectionery from home

Baking is fast becoming a sought after hobby. For the experts, it is a risk free business with good returns. People looking for early retirement from corporate jobs increasingly choose baking as an alternate career.

Learning skills and tools are an important requirement for any career. For baking, this starts from learning the basics of baking to specialization in cakes and pastries. There are short term, long term and even crash courses for baking.

For beginners, there are short term courses that teach the basics of baking, including cakes, buns, breads and biscuits. For advanced and pro level bakers, there are numerous short term and long term courses specializing in cakes, cup cakes, pastries, etc.

 

Baking is a field where new tools and techniques keep evolving. So, the best institutes have long experience, as well as teach new tools and techniques of baking. Starting with a good beginner course is mandatory. This can be followed by multiple courses covering cakes, and a host of other confectioneries.

Tools required for baking depend on what specialization is opted for.  Cookies require industrial sized ovens to bake large numbers. Cakes require a host of accessories and embellishments for icing and decorations. Cost of baking courses, and materials are on the higher side. But this is one field where returns are guaranteed even during the initial stages.

Party and celebrations are the trend of the day, especially in big cities. If you live in the middle of a city, with access to a social circle that loves to celebrate, baking at home would be a lucrative business opportunity with good returns.

 

For those who enter the baking business as a solo person, planning for a way to deliver baked goods is important. For many bakers, baking is the best part of the job, while delivery remains a nightmare. Delivering baked goods requires handling with utmost care. Outsourcing delivery or hiring outsiders to deliver may not be a safe option. So, plan for the delivery facilities before hand, to ensure customer satisfaction,

Many bakers start by taking up customized orders for cakes and cup cakes. Colleagues, friends and relatives who love to celebrate would be prospective customers at this stage. Once returns start flowing in, you can take up daily orders for bulk baking of cookies or pastries from local hotels / bakeries. A few successful bakers with good time management skills do bulk daily orders, in addition to highly customized (meaning, high priced) cakes and pastries for parties.

 

A good online presence will help baking businesses by leaps and bounds. Online gives the easiest means to reach out to event managers, partying circles, and caterers and hoteliers. The second best means is word-of-mouth. Nothing works as best as a satisfied customer when it comes to marketing.

There are dozens of new bakers coming up every month, but there is space for more and more as the demand is high. A good field by all aspects if your heart is into baking and your brain is sharp in business acumen.

Glitter globe – DIY

Looking for a good craft time activity with your kids? Look no further than the classic glitter globes and snow globes. They are easy to make, and children love playing with them.

Here are the steps for a simple DIY glitter globe…

1. Take a small glass or plastic jar with an air tight lid. Glue a small toy to the inside of the lid. (Free gift toys in kinder joy candies or gems balls).

 

2. Cut aluminium foil or gold colour foil into small thin pieces into the jar. Add small pieces of glittering embroidery threads, fevicryl glitters and gold embroidery sequins.

 

3. Fill the jar with water. After the glue has dried, close the lid (with the pasted toy). Turn the jar upside down and give it a shake to enjoy the glitter globe.

 

My four year old daughter loves making these glitter globes. Every time she walks into the room, she gives it a good shake and watches the gold flakes floating down. Hope your children too like this.

Happy crafting with your kids.

Corner sofa sets

Corner sofa is a popular choice of living room furniture. It consists of separate sofas (sectional sofas) that look like the letter L when arranged together. L shaped sofa attracts attention in a room, and becomes the point of focus. It easily enhances the look and functionality of a room.

To make the right choice of L shaped sofa, it is important to understand the nuances of it.

Loungers vs Sofas: Loungers are designed for sleeping or idling. They lack the traditional back support that sofas have. An L shape sofa with lounger has sofa seats on one side of the L, and lounger on the other.

L shaped sofa with loungers look casual. They make the perfect choice for a cosy living room for a family that likes to idle time away on the sofa.

Balanced vs Extended: Balanced L shaped sofas are of equal length on both sides. A seven seater sofa with 3 seats on either sides, and one center seat is a balanced L. Extended L sofas have more seats on one side of the L shape. Balanced sofas give a formal look to the room.

 

LHS vs RHS: Left Hand Side (LHS) sofa is a L shape sofa with the long side on the left. RHS sofa has long side on the right. 

LHS sofas make the user focus on the right side of the room and vice versa. LHS sofas are the perfect choice for living rooms with  art display or entertainment unit on the right side of the room.

Leather (or PU / faux) vs Fabric: Leather sofas are expensive and require special maintenance. On the other hand, they are long life and give a rich look. Faux leather or PU (Poly urethane) clad sofas try to mimic the look of leather at a lower cost.  But, they are not suitable for long stretches of usage ad they heat up easily.

Fabric sofas are comfortable and friendly for long stretches of usage. They lack the expensive look of leather or faux leather sofas, but give a cottage feel and cosy look. They are easy for handling.

Seating capacity: Traditionally, L shaped sofas come with 3 seater, 5 seater, 7 seater and 8 seater options. Length of the sofa depends on the seating options. Dimension of the sofa also depends on additional ottomans, or display units that come attached with some L shaped sofas.

L shaped sofas can raise the look and functionality of any space, be it a house or office or hotel.With its wide variety and price range, these sofas are appealing in both looks and functionality.

If you have been searching for the perfect furniture for your living room, look no further. It will be worth the time and money to opt for a L shaped sectional sofa.

 

Image source: decoist, wooden street, pepperfry – rio sofa, highwayswest, The English Sofa Company

DIY – Birthday banner

This is a simple and easy to make DIY banner using paper board.

Things needed:

Card board / kraft board / any paper board

Paints / colour paper

Satin ribbon

Adhesive / fevicol

Doing:

1. Cut the paper board into equal sized pieces, with rectangular slits on top.

To make the slits, fold an inch of the paper board at the top. Make two slits on the fold, 1 cm apart. Make a cut, joining the slits to cut away the board between the slits. Open the fold, and you have a small rectangular slit.

2. Paint the sheets with plain water colours / fabric paints. A coloured background with simple shapes painted on top works well.

Or, stick coloured art paper or hand made paper with pretty patterns.

3. Paint alphabets on the coloured boards, one alphabet on every board. Words like HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CELEBRATIONS or the birthday child’s name will look good on the banner.

Alphabets can also be traced on to coloured art paper, and cut out to be stuck on the boards.

4. Take a good quality satin ribbon. Thread it through the slits on the boards. Apply adhesive or fevicol on the boards, and stick the satin ribbon to the boards.

The banner is all set now to be hung or stuck on your wall.

Cook and see – Meenakshi ammal

This is the oldest and most authentic guide to the dishes of Tamil nadu. It is the first published cook book in Tamil. First version of this book was published in 1951 by S Meenakshi Ammal. This book was originally written in Tamil, titled Samaithu paar  meaning cook and see. It is also available in English translation.

Author:

The author was born in a traditional Tamil family in the early 1900s. She started helping with cooking during child hood, as was the norm for girl children in her time. By the age of 8, she was well versed in all traditional recipes. She wrote down her recipes for relatives who went to the USA and other countries after marriage. Her recipes were famous for their authenticity and simplicity. Later on, her recipes were collected and published as a book.

Book:

There are 4 volumes of this book by the same title name. Volume 1 covers the basic everydaydishes like sambar and rasam. The author starts with the basic recipe of sambar, and follows it up with different varieties of sambar. The same style of writing is followed through out.

Volumes 2, 3 and 4 cover festival dishes, sweets, pickles etc. Volume 1 is for beginners, while rest of the volumes are for well experienced cooks.

Meenakshi ammal makes cooking simple. She sticks to the basics. Her measurements are visually indicative like a fistful of coconut, pea sized tamarind, etc.. making it easy for beginners. Her recipes give guaranteed results.

Each recipe takes no more than half a page. She focuses on the basic aspects of every dish, leaving it to the reader to customize recipes according to their taste. A must have for anyone interested in Tamil dishes.

This book is a wonderful reference and glossary covering every possible authentic dish of Tamil nadu. 

 

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