Hello Singapore!
Thank you for such a warm welcome. It has been a wonderful first month and we are thrilled to be here.
As we are new to Singapore, perhaps a little about me and how we came to be here. My name is Debbra and I moved to Singapore in 2012 so our daughter Jordan could go to school here. We travelled extensively in the before times, ie the era before our new friend “Rona” made her appearance. I was often between Singapore, Malaysia (where I run our business, Bisou Bake Shop) or in the UK (where my mother and brother live).
Early 2020 after Chinese New Year, I travelled to the UK to be with Jordan as there were rumblings that this virus might mean closed boarders etc. We thought it best I be there with her. Oh, how naïve we all were back then, we had no idea what was to come.
To cut a long story short I ended up being in London for 10 months before we were able to be reunited with my husband in Singapore. We sat through 2 lockdowns in the UK and 2 weeks hotel quarantine in Singapore in 2020. Was and is so different to anything we have ever experienced.
The Bake with Bisou Baking kits are a direct result of the Covid-19 pandemic. A happy accident, which started with the Lockdown Bake-alongs.
The idea first came during the first lockdown when I was feeling a little guilty for “just staying home” when I knew that there were so many people on the frontlines such as health and transport workers. I thought to myself, what can I do? What part am I to play through this? What am I good at? I figured that I am pretty good at baking, so I thought about what recipes I could share given most people were probably in the same boat as me with very little and minimal baking supplies.
So, I decided to start by baking treats that required just a few ingredients. I would share basic recipes that could be switched up depending on what people had in their cupboards. I considered people who may not have a cake mixer and people who had never baked before. I also knew that some of the bakers would be children, and I really wanted to choose recipes that the children could do on their own, with little or no guidance and minimal stress! Most importantly i wanted to show people that baking can be a happy and calming activity. Goodness knows we all need a little calm and happiness in our lives.
As friends and family were spread around the globe, there was the tricky issue of time zones to consider as well. After much discussion, we decided that after lunch on a Sunday afternoon in the UK would be at night in Asia and early morning in the US. Jordan was to be my camera lady and we did these sessions on IG live. We had yet to get the hang of zoom.
When I mentioned the idea to our Bisou Bake Shop community manager about my plans to do a virtual bake-along, she suggested extending the invitation to our customers. We thought they may want to bake themselves treats given we had made the decision to close our stores in Malaysia throughout the first lockdown.
And so, it began.
Seven weeks of virtual bake-alongs that were so much fun. I chose basic Scones for the first bake along as these only needed 4 ingredients. The second week we decided to do healthy Banana Muffins because we had bananas that needed baking, followed that with carrot cake as we had lots of carrots in our delivered veg box.
We learnt many things over the seven weeks. Firstly, how many people were first time bakers, and secondly that we missed all our friends and family more than anything. Baking live while everyone was piping in with questions and comments was lots of fun and in many ways, we all felt connected and a little closer through such unsettling times.
Best bit for us was seeing all the wonderful photos and successes of those who joined in. I will forever be grateful to everyone who participated and became part of so many memories during such a dark time. Thank you everyone for making it happen and for being part of #bakewithbisou #keepcalmandbake
Following on from the Lockdown Bake Alongs, we created a Cookbook of all the recipes and memories of this special time. The proceeds from the sale of the e-book were all donated to Dignity for Children which is one of my favourite charities to support. The book is still available on our online store in Malaysia and continues to generate donations for Dignity. Please check out their website as they do such amazing work, they believe (as I do) that education, can break the cycle of poverty. www.dignityforchildren.org
And now we come to the bit about the baking kits. As the pandemic carried on and many families were at home all the time. Many children went to school via screens and at many a dining table. Friends of mine who are parents to young children suggested that we create kits that would be simple and easy enough for children to bake with. An activity that would be fun for the whole family. Once again, it was the suggestion of our friends and customers that pushed us to broaden our product line. We created our baking kits Bake with Bisou.
A very steep learning curve for all of us this Pandemic has been. We have adapted and changed the way we do things. We have created new product lines to suit the needs and wants of our customers during these uncertain times. We continue to evolve and bring new ideas to life and to satisfy the changing needs of our customers. Through all of this, we have not only grown and expanded our skills and knowledge base, we have pushed beyond our comfort zones and continue to face new challenges.
I try to keep the faith that out of this pandemic, something good will come. And for many of us, I believe, we are changed. We have grown. We have found strength that perhaps some of us never knew we had.
I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to Singapore for welcoming us. The response so far has been wonderfully warm and encouraging and we are so very excited to be here. We look forward to serving you and becoming part of the community here. Thank you!
