Belated Musings and Updates

This post is very much belated, sorry for the absence! We've been busy here at C&C, and we have just moved some of the furniture around! Do drop by and see what differences you can spot!

Other things we have been busy with include developing some new items that we have introduced on the menu in the past week. Chef Shenn has come up with her interpretation of two of the ultimate comfort foods - a bread and butter pudding and a brownie. C&C's version of the former uses our soft brioche buns to make the classic dessert even richer and more buttery and our brownie has chewy bits of toffee and walnuts in fudgey chocolatey goodness. Sorry no pics yet, as they usually fly off the shelves even before we have time to photograph it so come down and try it for yourselves!

We are also very excited to be styling some dessert tables at upcoming parties, and can't wait to show off the amazing creations once we finish them, so stay tuned! Until then, I leave you with one of my favourite people/places to be inspired by - Food Stylist and Photographer Emilie who styles many lovely amazing cookbooks and the author of the very popular Griottes blog (sorry it's in French!). Do check out her Pinterest boards as well, they are amazing and hopefully will inspire you as much as it does me.

Source: griottes.fr via Griottes ♥ on Pinterest

We are 1 month old!

How time flies! It's a Monday again and it's also our one-month birthday! Carpenter & Cook opened its doors officially one month ago (although we have been slogging far longer than that!) and we are very happy to have served everyone who have come in that time! To celebrate, Shenn made a special pavlova yesterday, an airy light and crisp meringue drizzled with chocolate icing and smothered with whipped cream and if that's not enough, she piled on generous helpings of fresh fruit and mint. Yum. A few lucky who dropped by yesterday got to try it!

In the span of a month, I think we have achieved quite a bit -  numerous blog reviews about us, some good, some not so good (feedback which we definitely take into consideration); and a smattering of print coverage like iWeekly, 8days, Straits Times, mypaper, with more to come. We will be on a Ch U programme come Sept, and we hosted our first wedding couple taking their pre-wedding photos! We have also made lotsa new friends and are glad we are starting to see regular faces :) That's quite a bit!

I leave you with the picture of a lovely birthday party we hosted over the weekend. The pretty cake pops, cupcakes and cookies were made by one of our friends Picnic Sunday Cakes, whom we work with for special events. Her stuff is amazingly pretty and gorgeous, and I promise you, it won't be the last time you will be seeing Picnic Sunday Cakes!

So here's to us turning 1 month with a great big pat on our backs, and to many great months and years ahead!

We Love Mondays!

So what's happening with us these days? Well, Mondays are our official off days i.e. the shop's closed, so we actually have time to blog! This is the start of our weekly Monday posts, which we hope will make the start of your week more interesting.

In the last couple of weeks, we hosted a couple of events at ours. One group had a bridal shower, while the other had a baby shower :) We had the opportunity to decorate the place and make everything look pretty (something we really like!). We made a topiary, laid out all our prettiest vintage wares, made special place cards and even a corsage for the bride-to-be!

We also catered for birthday and made a huge cupcake cake, with lots of smaller cupcakes with pretty butterflies! Don't you just love the bunting topper?

It's been great fun coming up with ideas on how to wow our guests, and we love it when people have fun and leave C&C with a smile on their face :)

We Are Officially Open!!

Yes, we are open! Guess most of you would have been following the flurry of activity on our Facebook page. We have neglected updating this blog in the last few weeks, which have been everything from crazy, busy, tiring to fulfilling, amazing, fun amongst other superlative adjectives. We had our lovely vintage themed opening day event last Saturday where many of our friends and customers dressed up in vintage glory! Our friends from Liberty, who supply our lovely coffee beans, were also in the house to help us out behind the Elektra.

Since we've been open, we have gotten so many nice comments about our food and decor and furniture. Crowd favourites such as our Passionfruit Meringue Tart, Carrot Cake and Lemon Drizzle Cake, and oh not to forget the delicious homemade Passionfruit Marshmallows, have been flying off the shelf. We really can't make them fast enough! As all of our food and packed goods are made, produced and packed right here on-site (by super chef Shenn!), our quantities are limited and we do apologise if you don't get to satisfy your craving. Thank you for being patient with us during this time :)

We still can't get over how much support and love we have received from all our families, friends and customers since we've embarked on this journey. This is only the beginning and we promise we will do our best to bring you great food, interesting furniture and beautiful styling in C&C style!

Our Very First Bake Sale!

We'll be at FMM (near Dempsey) next Saturday for our very first bake sale in aid of their convent rebuilding. Details below in our flyer!! See you guys there :)

We Are Hiring!

Things are coming along at C&C HQ! Renovations are well underway, kitchen almost done and floor tiling works have started this week. Exciting times! We've spent a good part of this week trying out recipes (the kitchen is starting to look like muffins have invaded and are taking over!) and not to mention a fruitful  and fun trip to Food & Hotel Asia to shop for ingredients, equipment, packaging and whatnot. We had so much samples that we didn't even need lunch!

That aside, we are hiring!! We need passionate and hardworking folks to join us in both our front and back-of-house. If you are interested to be part of a fun, creative and dynamic team and a quirky and unique concept, here are the positions available:

1) Baking Assistant (full-time)


Duties

• Assist the head baker in preparing and making daily production items such as cakes, muffins, breads, cookies, etc., as well as completing special orders when required.
• Prepare ingredients and mise-en-place for production
• Pack and label baked goods, and other special orders when required.
• Responsible for cleaning bakery equipment and maintaining kitchen.

Requirements

• Knowledge and prior experience in baking/pastry preferred.
• Enthusiasm and interest in baking/pastry.
• Singaporeans and PR only.
• Able to work morning shifts (0730h- 1530h)

2) Service Staff (full-time/part-time)


Duties

• Responsible for taking food and retail orders and payment from customers.
• Responsible for serving food, and preparing drinks and coffee.
• Provide product information to customers.
• Perform sales role for furniture retail when required.
• Assist in clearing tables and ensuring cleanliness and overall tidiness of store.

Requirements

• Able to multi-task in cafe and furniture retail store environment.
• Possess a pleasant disposition and good communication skills, be polite and approachable.
• Prior experience in food service/retail preferred.
• For part-timers, able to commit minimum of 16 hours a week.
• Singaporeans and PRs only.

3) Kitchen Cleaner (part-time)

Duties

• Maintains cleanliness and tidiness of kitchen through general cleaning, dishwashing and other tasks.
• Performs daily and weekly cleaning and maintenance of equipment.

Requirements

• Able to work night shifts (1900h-2300h)
• Singaporeans and PRs only.

If you are interested in any of the above or know of suitable candidates, please drop us a line at info [at] carpenterandcook.com.

Updates

It's been a busy busy time for us here! Where do we even start from to tell you guys what we've been up to?

After many weeks of planning and designing, we have finally started on our renovations! Look at the scene of destruction below, the hacking has begun and everything is in a mess but this also means that soon we will be looking brand new.

We have been running all around town looking for tiles, changing our minds every time we saw new ones we liked. And just as we thought we got it all down, Murphy struck. The only tile we were sure about, an antique wood-like floor tile, was apparently sold out and we had to start our search again. And I think we did good - we actually found something which we thought would be more special. You'll have to wait to see the finished place, but here's a sneak preview of our tiles. 

The tiles weren't the only things that worked out in our favour. We have been so blessed with people and friends who have helped us out just at the moment when we needed it, like our amazing espresso machine, a vintage Elektra Barlume. The moment we laid our eyes on it, we knew it was meant to be :) Can't wait for it to be put into action!

We also had a very interesting meeting with the people behind The Lorong 24A Shophouse Series, a row of conservation shophouses in Geylang that have been remade into residential boutique apartments, each with a character of their own. There will be a series of art events held there in April to raise awareness of these shophouses before they get rented out to the lucky tenants who eventually get to stay there. There will be more events in May/June as the other units are completed. We might be doing something really special in one of the shophouses, so we are super excited! Plus to top it off, we are getting some vintage grills that were part of the shophouses that we had been searching for. Score!

All in all, it's been a really fruitful month, and Carpenter & Cook is slowly but surely taking shape. We can't thank our friends enough for all the support they have given us so far, THANK YOU!