I started testing recipes of Gourmet Tuyo in December of 2016 cause there came a time when I felt my  skills and knowledge could do a little sharpening. And of course, finances are not a joy to manage with only one person earning for the family. I, too wanted to help the husband with whatever I can muster. After weeks of testing and several trials, I have found the taste I wanted, and so is the birth of Kali’s Kitchen. We named the business after our first-born,  our precious daughter Kali Santina. Prior to the creation of Gourmet Tuyo, Lay has been baking and selling cookies and banana bread to friends and workmates. We  have been blessed to with a gift from his aunt, A 4-tray gas oven built for business, that we have been using until now.  But the rigors of a full time job is not easy and the responsibilities of getting promoted to a higher position took a lot of time from Lay’s hands that I couldn’t let him continue and make his career suffer. I had to find a way to do it on my own and so I did. With the help of Del, our house help, I started taking orders for baked goods, and perfected Lay’s recipe. I also researched for other products to offer and perfected them before we sell them online. Of course there are mishaps, failures and a lot of tears along the way. But I have learned to shrug them all off and focus on “what I can do”, not what I can’t do.

For a hemiplegic like me, its not easy to move around. Baking that requires kneading with two hands, I do with one. So the strength that a normal person can yield in baking breads will require twice, even thrice as much energy and endurance from me. Standing for longer than 10 minutes make my left knee ache so bad. There are a lot of times when I would knead the dough sitting down on a chair with the dough on a  very large bowl on a chair in front of me. As much as I would like to add cakes to our line up, even if I have found the perfect recipe I cannot for the life of me  hand over an ugly  cake to a customer. I cannot frost a decent cake with one hand, it’s not easy, but I can frost a cupcake! That is one thing I would not be ashamed to say I’ve given up on. I do not give up easily. But I’m also a realist. If I know in my heart and in my head I cannot do something, I’ll accept it and move on.  Here’s a sample of a cake I tried so hard to make  for my daughter’s birthday. Although it tastes good , no one in their right mind would buy something like it. Even if the husband tries to boost my morale saying it has a”rustic” feel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I may have given up on cakes, but I refuse to limit myself. So, I experimented some more and now have expanded our menu to add Ube Cheese Pandesal and Milky Cheesy Buns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prior to this, our best sellers were: Banana Chocolate Walnut Loaf, Fudge Walnut Brownies, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and Caramel Bars. W also, offered for a limited time, Chocolate Crinkles ( i stopped offering them cause it’s not easy to make), Lemon Bars  and Brookies.

I felt the need to write something today, because yesterday I was actually pondering on the thought: Should  I still continue doing this? because honestly, I am not earning as much as you would think I am. And I’m actually getting tired. Body sores all over and terrible headache almost every other day.  I priced our products competitively, I always check the  prevailing market prices before I release our products. But since I only buy the ingredients I need, meaning I don’t stock up due to lack of space I get the  ingredients  at a higher price, as compared to those who buy in bulk, like sacks of flour, they get the flour at a cheaper price. The most I could buy at a time is 10 kilos. Delivery charge for purchasing  my ingredients  and supplies  also eats up most of my profit. It doesn’t help too  that  the paper packaging of  our baked goods can’t  be bought from the same supplier. So  that’s another charge for delivery fee. I know you’re thinking this is something I got myself into, I need to suck it up. Yes, I know that. It’s just that there are times  you would receive comments like: “ang mahal naman ng product mo” without them considering the fact that they are purchasing from a person who’s only half-able. I can explain all day but you would  never get the feeling until you are in my shoes. But I also had a realization before I went to sleep  that as long as there are people who  wants our product  I would find a way to deliver it to them . Rant over.

But  if you want to order please visit our Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/kaliskitchen28/