Crashing In On The Donut Craze!

It's been awhile since I last blogged!

Well, just wanted to add some life and atmosphere here tonight by speaking about the Donut craze! Heh.

You see I was surfing on the nets for Donuts, checking out for different donut trends, shops, recipes, ideas.. And I came across this wonderful colorful Donut photo on Flickr taken by Sílfide



The blend of colors makes me want to munch in on them even more! Don't you feel the same too? Super-dooper-yummy!

Then I even came across an Indie Rock Community on MySpace called Donut Party.

It's really interesting to see that donuts can be mixed with rock n' roll music, and all the hype and passion driven into their local rock scenes and gigs - it's kinda interesting.

You know the kind of rock shows with bands playing and large crowds of people squeezing and enjoying themselves with body slam-dancing?

So you get the double experience of a really sweaty body-slammin' moshpit at a rock show whilst getting the FUN of filling your DONUT fantasies and stuff! Really fascinating, I thought.

So while the craze is still crashing in, I must hurry and run my Donut Academy:

Where YOU will have FUN and meet the HANDS-ON experience of creating YOUR OWN GOURMET DONUTS! :-)

Starting Up a Donut Business!

Hey guys!

I'm glad to be back to share with you some great news, heh. :)

It's been awhile since the last time I mentioned about launching a physical business - the last of which was supposed to be 'BreadFast' - a fast-food healthy sandwich business idea that Victor and I was supposed to be trying to run at my school - Ngee Ann Polytechnic. However, due to capital & financial restrains, certain food hygiene & legal restrictions, and tough competition faced against Campus Deli (Owned by Four Leaves Bakery)

Despite the suggestions from the current entrepreneur-connect manager for us to do some market-testing by first working out a system with the school canteen operator owners to try selling our sandwiches in the canteen for a start, we were unable to come together in conclusion for a good package/marketing plan that would suit the student market population of Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

Basically, we would have lost out to Campus Deli in terms to Economies of Scale in bulk-buying, etc and at the same time if we were to use differentiated marketing and sell Gourmet Healthy sandwiches, we would face difficulties and issues in product pricing, promotion in regards to the related demographics of the student population.

For example, people might like our sandwiches cause they're so damn good but because they cost $3.50-4.50, they probably would not want to eat it every other day but maybe only once-twice a week? That was too much risk for us to handle - the insufficient market share and demand, I thought. Furthermore, selling gourmet sandwiches would mean that it would be rather essential for us to create good brand identity/ a great shop layout which would mean a lot of added capital investment with physical infrastructure, etc!

HERE COMES THE DONUTS!!!!!!!

with courtesy to Stomp.com.sg



But O' sweet bloody genius!

Whoever thought that Sebastian(my other partner) would actually have came up with a totally brilliant new idea! And for that I'm sorry to say but at the moment, I can't share with you right now cause I'm afraid you would steal it from us! Heh ;)

But basically all I can say for now is that we will be coming up with a totally new, unique, funky, viral and distinctively cool concept of selling our DONUTS at Ngee Ann Poly!

We'ld be working alongside Smiling Orchid Bakery Singapore which is one of the largest, and reliable catering & bakery companies in Singapore.

Have you ever seen those crazy 3-4 hour queues at The Donut Factory, located at the basement of Raffles Place, City Hall?

You'ld understand how crazy and viral Donuts are, in Singapore at least, right now. :)

If you have any interesting ideas/comments to share about baking-or starting up a similar baking business or have any further enquiries and questions, do drop me an email at punkninja@gmail.com.

Please go ahead and sign up for the newsletter at the top left-hand corner of my blog as well. Do not worry - I WILL NOT SPAM YOU, and it's TOTALLY NON-OBLIGATORY!

I would really love to keep you updated with the best recipes, stories, baking tips & secrets, happenings, and stuff out there..all for FREE! So go ahead and drop your email in my box today!

CHEERS
Paul

3 Reasons Why You Should Add Fibre into Your Diets!

I did an article for submission recently and it's about the neglected importance of fibre in our diets. It's suited for those with health-related problems, especially towards eating disorders/overeating/diabetes/constipation and etc.

I thought it was a valuable piece of information that I knew about and I thought I could've shared it with you guys :)

Enjoy!

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Firstly, let us look into the issue here. What exactly, is fibre? Or for the matter of fact, we could be more specific and technical here – What is Dietary Fibre?

Ok, basically dietary fibre represents all the parts of plant foods that your body can’t digest or absorb! Amongst so – we have 2 big components to look at here which I shall mention below.

#1 Insoluble Fibre.

This is the type of fibre that increases the movement of material inside your digestive system and increases stool bulk, so it could actually benefit those who struggle with constipation or irregular stools! Examples of these would include Whole-wheat flour, wheat bran, nuts, lentils and raw vegetables.

#2 Soluble Fibre.

This type of fibre dissolves in water in your tract to help lower your blood cholesterol and glucose levels. You can find abundance of these in fruits like apples, oranges, anything citrus, carrots, barley, oats, peas, etc.
The amount of both types of fibre differentiates between the different plant foods – so the best way to optimize and enjoy the greatest health benefits would be to eat a balanced wide-variety of all of those fibre-packed foods!

#1 Fibre fights Constipation!

As fibre isn’t digested by your body, it passes through your small intestines and into your colon. This also means that it increases the weight and size of your stool and softens it so that your bowel could regulate passing of motion.

#2 Fibre Lowers Risks of Disorders!

Some people suffer from specific disorders like hemorrhoids, irritable bowel syndrome and development of small pouches in your colon. Fibre – especially soluble fibre could be your best friend here. It helps to lower blood cholesterol levels and slows the absorption rates of sugar – which helps lower glucose levels for people with diabetes, as it helps to improve the blood sugar levels. Thus, it also reduces the risk of Type II Diabetes!

#3 Fibre helps you with Weight Loss

As fibre-foods require you to spend more time chewing, it creates a psychological effect on your brain as well as your more time for your body to register that you’re no longer hungry so you’re less likely to overeat because you realize you’re full.

High fibre meals also tend to keep you fuller for a longer period of time because you don’t digest it! Also it has fewer calories as compared to the other types of food with the same volume.


Can we not see how important and useful fibre could be? Don’t we want to keep ourselves away from all the irritating times of constipation, feeling hungry, and lower our risk of getting into some uncertain disorders? Perhaps it’s about time we realize the importance of fibre intake in our diets today!