Comm 1 final paper

           

           Myrna's Cakehouse, a glue that brought us closer and an inspiration to move forward.

            My family,which consists of my parents Rosalio and Myrna Paderog and their two children, is a small and close-knit family. By close-knit, i mean pretty close like the threads or yards in a knitted sock. We are close that is why we are open to each other. We are best friends, a barkada, a group and a team. Specifically a working, cooking, baking team. You see, aside from my parents' wonderful way of parenting , there is a glue  that puts us closer. And that is our experiences in our little business.
            Our business is pretty simple, we bake various foods such as cakes and pastries at home, we pack them then sell them. On most cases though, a customer orders a certain kind of cake and we bake it, pack it, deliver it or they come and get it. The experiences we had because of this business are big factors on the strength of our bond.

              Let me tell you how it all started.Approximately around 11 years ago, my mom had this overwhelming want to study culinary arts because she believed that it would improve her already unbelievably delicious cooking. And , naturally, we supported her even though it would cost us a reasonable amount of money. My dad,who was a college instructor in the University of Cebu at that time, worked twice as hard because he wanted to be able to give what my mom wanted. And so, it began. My mom who used to be a regular housewife became a wife, a mother and a student. It was wonderful to see her happy and satisfied but it was quite difficult to adjust to the fact that her time is now divided between school and family. This experience also made my sister more responsible for whenever my mom is busy baking, my sister would be the one who would take care of me. We also got the chance to taste different kinds of bread, cakes and other pastries such as chocolate jelly rolls, chiffon cakes, cassava cakes, carrot cakes, puddings, and ice cream cakes. My mom's collection of recipes multiplied.

              My mom made some friends named Tito Boy and Tito Ben. Tito Boy was a big guy who turns red either from eating too much spicy food or from laughing too hard. Tito Ben, on the other hand, was a soft-spoken and skinny guy who, despite having only one arm, can be considered as one of the best students in their class. Together, the three of them saved money and bought a big oven to begin a small business at our house at Labangon. My dad helped them in his free time while we, my sister and i, watched at the sidelines as they bake day after day various types of pastries and cakes.  I can vaguely remember the sweet smell of melted chocolate and baked cookies that would reach my nose when we get home. The kitchen was always full and busy just like our telephone where orders were received. Meanwhile, my sister and I team up with our tito's children, who were also around our age,  to help them. We started to do some of the small jobs like packaging or running errands or cleaning afterwards so as to lessen our parent's labor. As a child, it was pretty satisfying since it made me feel like a grown up and made me feel useful.  During Halloween and Christmas holidays, we were tasked to sell cookies around the Executive Village. It was a pretty adventurous task But suddenly, we stopped. We were tricked and forced to move to Maasin. That coldly ended our small business in Cebu.

              By the age of seven, we arrived at Maasin City, a little town found in the western part of southern Leyte. We moved in with our relatives and we tried our best to adjust. My dad still worked in Cebu, though. So he wasn't always around and it was pretty hard since we were not used to his absence. And his trips back and forth cost a lot of money. My mom missed my dad so much that she started the business again although it was pretty risky at that time. Because we were a bit older, my sister and i were assigned to do bigger jobs such as turning on the fire in the oven, making the boxes for cakes, guarding the fire, assisting in making the jelly roll. Honestly, it was a wonderful feeling at first but it got tiring as months passed by since we were always busy almost everyday. But when we thought we couldn't get any busier, it did. My sister and i started selling cookies at school which became my classmates' favorite snacks. The teachers found out about my mom's delicious cakes and soon we were getting orders left and right. I never wondered why people loved our food, I know for a fact that there is a distinct taste in our food that makes it different from others. You see, my mom strongly believes that quality is always better than quantity. That is why she would always use the real ingredients even if it becomes expensive. By 'real' i mean those ingredients that are not alternatives or substitutes or cheap and unreliable. My mom would increase the price or decrease the size but that didn't change the number of costumers we had because the quantity was the same.
            My dad left his work to join us permamently for some reason that my childish mind didn't understand at that time. I tried to look at the bright side. We were complete again. My dad's arrival was timely since we almost couldn't take all the orders. My grandparents' tiny house was always buzzling with costumers. Our kitchen and refrigerator was always full but now with our food but our costumers' orders. I can clearly remember that during December and March we would be very busy since people order a lot of cakes for Christmas, New Year's eve, and graduations. On some occasions we forget to bake a  cake for ourselves! Several times, we would be forced to use our bedroom and aircon to create our own giant refrigerator for the cakes since there is no more room inside the refrigerator. But that just shows how resourceful my family is.
                My father taught my sister techniques on some of the tasks like how to turn on the fire in the oven. and creating boxes for the cakes in a short period of time. But i guess she needed more practice and guidance in the oven part because one time, I saw the fire in the oven catch  my sister's hair and eyebrows when she was lighting the oven. Laughter replaced our concern and worry when we saw her burnt eyebrows which turned brown.
                 My mom, on the other hand, taught me how to break an egg with one hand, and different ways in mixing the cake mixtures.  There were a lot of tricks my mom had in her sleeves to speed our work but  I wouldn't want to reveal it here. It's my family's secret, after all.
                  Soon enough, my sister graduated and i was left in elementary alone, but i continued my task in selling cookies and brownies because it gave me a lot of advantages. I made friends with my costumers who would turn out to become my close friends in high school and I learned to manage money.

             Months and years passed by, our business still remained to be a home-based business. There were times when it stopped for certain circumstances that I cannot state here. There were times when we fought and argued, but regardless of those rough times, we had our good times. Through this we learned a lot about each other, about ourselves and about people's tastes.

             When I reached High school, we sadly stopped our business. My mom had gone to Qatar for work, and so without our 'light' by our side, we stopped. My mom was and still is the mistress of cooking and baking. My classmates still asked for my cookies and brownies, my former teachers still wanted to order but I had to refuse. We had stopped. But when my mom returned and we lost  amount of money because my sister's college tuition is pretty large, we were forced to take initiative. We had to find a way to get money and so it began again.
            When I reached fourth year, we started to make empanada and chocolate fudge brownies. Empanada is one of our most sought-after products at a price of seven pesos each piece. It is basically a pastry made of dough and stuffed with cheese, grounded meat, little potato and carrot cubes, raisins and egg slices. We don't bake our empanada, we deep-fry it in vegetable oil until it is golden brown. All of my classmates loved our empanada because it is "sulit", healthy or nutritious, and of course, delicious. Most of them actually describe it as addicting since they can't get enough of it. Whenever I enter our classroom with  a paper bag, they would all approach me in a hurry, sometimes almost trampling me! They would always hurry because even before the end of the first class, my empanadas would be sold out.  Some of my classmates would even order three or five at once! Everyday, they would be waiting for my empanada, some would even say that they were losing a lot of money from buying my empanada but they just can't help it because the aroma of the empanada is irresistible. Even I cannot help but agree on that because sometimes I, myself, am tempted to take the empanadas for myself.

            Then there were the brownies. We figured that maybe my classmates would want some dessert so we baked chocolate fudge brownies. The first set of brownies I brought to school was actually overcooked, so I was naturally nervous to sell it but it turns out my classmates loved the overcooked version. I tasted it and I knew i could never argue. The top of the brownie was hard and crunchy but the center to bottom was soft, chewy, full of chocolate flavor, and it seemed to melt in my mouth. It was definitely another success!
             Every night, we would stay up and prepare the empanada, and wrap the brownies in fancy wrappping paper for presentation. Every morning, we would wake up early, cook the empanada and wrap it in glassine paper. It was tiring but worth it becasue it got us through our financial problems.


              Now that I ponder on it, food has become an integral part in my life and my family's life. We got through our problems by using our creativity to make a living out of food. Our experiences made a lot of changes in us. My mother learned to be a good leader, a great manager, a better cook and a great salesperson. My father learned how to follow better, to be a great teacher not just in the classroom but also in the kitchen, and to sacrifice. My parents both learned patience and maybe that is why they are great parents. My sister and I learned to stop arguing and work together to finish a job, to be a leader to ourselves , to be good followers, to be a good partner, and to listen.  It has helped in our development as a person, as an individual, as a family member and as a businessperson.

              Through all those times, I basically lost some of social life when I chose to work instead of play but I don't regret it. It has influenced who I am just as much as how my family influenced who I am today. My family means a lot and  that is why I am determined to do my best in my studies so that I may be able to achieve my family's dream of a little fancy bakeshop that is to be called Myrna's Cakehouse.


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