Sweet World of Joan

I will be giving two of these precious cupcakes worth P100 pesos! To honor and celebrate the friendships I forged through the years I am giving away 2 “Limited Edition” cupcakes to my friends and former students when they purchase in my online store www.mylittlebaker.com . I will not be selling these. For my students (past and present), who are dear to me I am giving two Christmas cupcakes for a single purchase worth P300 and above. Just contact me through my phones or email me. So I can validate if you are really my student. I keep lists of them. Hehehe. For my friends, a minimum purchase of P500 and above to avail of the two Christmas Cupcakes. Two cupcakes per person policy will be applied regardless of how many times you order. I am doing this to make sure that you eat the cupcakes personally and not give it away. I'll be taking orders till December 20, 2009 only and might be delivering your orders personally. Hoping to hear for everybody soon!

They say that left-handed persons are known to be good graphics artists. I can say they are because I know a few who are really good. But, wait a minute. I am left-handed! And I can only draw people as sticks till now. It was my frustration since I was a child and considers myself exception to that rule. I don’t consider myself as an “ Art ist ”, maybe because I don’t like the conventional “Art” I do admire paintings but as an ordinary person maybe. Even my horoscope (I am a Pisces) says that I should be in the artistic field. I am starting to believe that I maybe an artist after all. Last Saturday I delivered the baptismal cupcakes that were ordered by a former student of mine. A few days before Saturday, I was already stressed and agonizing inside, doubting myself if I could ever pull off his order of 30 pcs of specialty cupcakes. The situation was not good, I don’t have anyone available to help me assemble and transport the cupcakes. The burden was great for I usual...

I had my hobby turned business since 2000, over the years I expanded my product line and have busy seasons (Christmas and Valentines) and loyal customers. Having a child in 2003 did not change that; I just gained a little assistant. I had Lorenzo with me while making my orders, when he was still small he was in the kitchen with me in his crib(he even manages to get a bite or two of chocolates when I was not looking). There was a time that I had to let him sleep first before I can work for he insists on tasting every product I am making. I never intentionally “taught” or “trained” him to do what I do. Maybe it was the environment he grown up in. Ever since I can remember he would always want to help me. That is why I named my online store after him: http://www.mylittlebaker.com . My family is amazed on how adept he is in handling my equipments and he is familiar with the ingredients that I use. Last Christmas he volunteered to prepare the fruitcake boxes that I use for packaging. This V...

It’s February again, the love month. It is the time to reach out and tell people that they are important and they are loved. I remember when I was in grade school my mother has this gift wrapping paper full of small hearts and I asked her what she is doing with it, she replied that she was cutting the paper into small half-inch sized hearts and come valentines day she gives them to her friends at the office. Mostly, the small hearts are pinned on the clothes to let everybody know that it’s Valentines Day. Since then I also started giving those small paper hearts to friends and family but nowadays I give chocolate roses. Chocolate roses can be considered a 2-in-1 gift this valentine, instead of just giving roses and chocolates separately your can give both. I remember the thrill in receiving a bouquet of roses during Valentines Day but those roses wilt after a day or two, but receiving chocolates gives me an all time high. Chocolates are my passion, even the smell of them makes me happy...

The Christmas season is the peak season for my home based business and it keeps me "very- busy-that-there-is-not-much-sleeping-anymore" kind of busy but what I realized is that in making your business grow, you have to grow with it too. I started with just making chocolate lollipops seven years ago to having a whole product line that can hardly fit a short bond paper. Things can get complicated really quickly especially when you have deliveries scheduled. With all of this happening I have to develop business management skills fast. Supplier sourcing alone takes a lot of time and money. Looking for low price cost on my supplies like nuts, baking supplies and chocolates is done in October. Encountering out-of-stock supplies at this stage is nerve racking. Even remembering where to buy flour that cost the lowest can sometimes be a dilemma specially if that information is not readily available or I can’t remember where I bought it. I have three stores where I buy my supplies and ...

My parents are great cooks, maybe that is why I am so keen on learning to be a great one also. During the Christmas season I make it an effort to prepare something new for the whole family to taste and judge for themselves. Many of my products on my online store MylittleBaker comes from these recipes, they are tried and tested by my tough testers that only the best ones make it. On the picture above there are my work of love, the Tipsy Leche Flan, Minicakes and The Fruitcake. The Tipsy Leche Flan . I love leche flans but I only eat them during special occasions same with a little alcohol drink. So last year I decided to experiment a bit and put this two together and to my delight I was happily tipsy and it also help me control eating leche flan meaning I eat a few spoonful every meal to savor not like eating the whole llanera full. The Minicakes. I love cakes and what better occasion I can share my love for them than on Christmas season? During these times we have many visitors durin...

This is my second year to sell online homemade chocolates and baked goodies thru my website http://www.mylittlebaker.com/ . And the source of my inspiration is my little baker, my son Lorenzo. He is four years old and he really interested in cooking and baking. He really helps while I am baking, he reminds me that I need eggs or flour or other things and just recently he demands to wear an apron too. I was really glad that I have his chef uniform and apron made. I know his interest is cooking is because of the environment and his own interests, as you can see he loves to eat and appreciate it really well. I decided to nurture that interest but I won’t discourage his other interests. He loves books, toy trains, singing and dancing. We buy books at Goodwill when we go out and let him decide what books he wants to read. He has a passion for toy trains, his father offered to buy him one of those remote controlled cars but he just wanted the trains. So we bought one, it’s his eight toy trai...

I am excited to tell everybody that I recently joined the Pinoy moms network . And I would like to share some tidbits about myself. Hello my fellow mommies! My name is Joan Piñon, I am a mommy to Lorenzo, my 4 year old son. My dream is to become a mother since I was a child and having Lorenzo fulfilled that dream after 2 years of waiting. I joined the Pinoy moms network to reach out to mothers like me and to learn more about motherhood from fellow mothers in the network. I catalog my life through my blog Sweet World of Joan. I have been blogging for a year now and now trying to regularly put entries on it. I am a very passionate person that I believe is reflected on my blogs. My life at present is a life filled with planning and decisions to be made, my son just started schooling and I want to be there for him but I have my work too. I am now considering of just being a stay-at-home mommy but I still have to weigh in everything and hopes that this network will give me insights in the d...