It started with a recipe request by a friend to another who obliged her by sharing it with the group. Another friend made a pie and shared a photo of the finished product and even how to make it using Thermomix. Pretty soon, others started joining in and suffice to say for the whole of Ramadan, we had peach pies galore as our batch took up and created this accidental challenge. Before we knew it, suddenly there was a competition among us, yes, an inter-house competition. My house, Blue House (Tun Fatimah) was lagging together with Red House. Our Yellow House friends were well ahead and after a while, Green House members started catching up. The competition was friendly and those ahead were mocking those of us from the two houses which were lagging. I was content to watch for the sidelines for a while before I decided to join in.
Then my BFF, C, told me that she and a few others had created another group just for Blue House members and she asked me to join in. They planned to do their pies on Raya eve and flood the group with pictures of our pies then. I told her I dared not promise that I would produce a pie and for her to go ahead. I did, however, buy some Digestive biscuits, two tins of peaches and then scour the nearest supermarket and the two grocery stores for whipping cream. Yes, me, who had never whipped whipping cream in my entire life and had to practically google the difference between whipping cream and cooking cream. Oh, and I don’t even own a whisk or mixer so I searched and watched some YouTube clips on how to produce whipping cream without those kitchen tools.
After working outdoors and mopping the house that Saturday morning, I started draining the pies before slicing and arranging them on a dinner plate. Next, I put half a packet of Digestive biscuits into a ziplock bag and used a rolling pin to crush them. I then mixed the crushed biscuits with some melted butter and patted the mixture into a pie dish. Having done that, I then poured an estimate of 500 ml of whipping cream into a glass bottle recycled from Korean Honey Pomegranate Tea and chilled overnight and started shaking the bottle. It took me more than fifteen minutes shaking the bottle and I must admit that I was actually surprised when I managed to produce the whipping cream successfully using pure elbow grease. Alhamdulillah. I then poured the whipping cream onto the biscuit base in the pie dish and chilled the pie before arranging the peaches on the pie an hour later. Having completed my pie, I then snapped some photos and shared them with my mate and then the Blue House group (my friend quickly added me into the group). I then suggested we called ourselves the Blues Gang and suggested we use the song ‘I’m Blue’ by Eiffel 65.
That evening saw us sending and bombarding our peach pie photos to the main group and Blue House emerged the Raya eve leaders. A Blue House mate even produced two short video clips of our pies and posted them the same evening (she subsequently produced two longer video clips, one with the soundtrack ‘True Blue’ and the other ‘I’m Blue’. And the other houses of course decided to copy cat us). My friend who shared the recipe was so surprised by this unanticipated unexpected ‘attack’ by the Blue House members but her dad, a former Royal Air Force Commander and pilot, was very impressed with our tactics.
The peach pie challenge lasted for one month, from 27 April to 27 May 2020, and saw entries from as far away as Houston, England and Doha, and Kota Kinabalu and Kuching. At the end of the challenge, 94 of us produced a whooping total of 153 peach pies, much to the amazement and delight of our family members. It was a good thing I did mine on Raya eve so I could whip it out to serve to my sister and family on Eid. My nephew claimed it was the best thing I did (not that I’ve done much for I’m not one who care to spend time in the kitchen). I did produce my own homemade ice-cream with the remainder of whipping cream.
And guess what, there was even an awards night on 30 May 2020. Yes, you read it right. My friend, the recipe owner, invited two guest judges (one of them Kaer Azami - of course I didn’t know anything about him as I don’t follow the local music scene) and the sponsored presents are from a leather house owned by Kaer. The awards night was held over Webex and Facebook Live with performances by the receipe owner’s father, son and daughter (one song each) and Kaer too. Who would have thought that the pie challenge would be such an event!
Blue House did not win the House with the Most Peach Pies (Yellow House), Picture Perfect Pie (someone from Yellow House) or Most Artistic Pie (my mate from Red House), but we won the Most Non-Compliant Pie, House with Most ‘Kayangan’ Cluster (Kluster Kayangan) Pies, House with the Most Kiasu Team Leader and the Best Peach Pie 2020 (our dormmate did it on her first attempt!).
Safe to say that we had a peachy time and that the Kurshian competitive spirit still lives on within us.
And what did I learn from all this seemingly simple experience? Well, it taught me the principles of The Art of War of course. Of course Blue House did not win the Most Peach Pies award but we swept four awards because our team leader calculated our chances of victory (we did emerge the victor on the eve of Eid and took everyone by surprise). We laid our plans and then we waged our war by limiting conflict among ourselves, instead focusing on our goal. We then attacked on the eve of Eid. Individually, we may not be strong or confident enough to share the photos of our finished pie but united and together, we were strong enough. After Eid, we tried to recruit a few more of our Blue House members but some were not able to commit. We still managed to finish runners-up and not let Green House (boo!) overtake us. Because we started fairly late and lagging behind the others, we used our creativity and timing to build our momentum and we gained ideas from others. Our opportunity to emerge victor on the eve of Eid came because the others and especially the then leaders did not anticipate our attack and were not able to respond then - although they did manage to regain their standing after Eid but we should all should appreciate that it’s more difficult to initiate, strategise, coordinate and execute an action than it is to react (reacting is natural, initiating is not). It wouldn’t have been possible without a leader nor would it be possible without the others’ agreement, commitment, dedication and unity.
We also tried hard not to draw others’ anger and ire towards us and our strategy and we succeeded. We tried to be flexible and hence anticipated the counter attack by Yellow House and although they outnumbered us in the number of pies produced, we concentrated on persuading other Blue House members to participate. We were also aware of Green House members who were close on our heels and breathing down our necks. It had become an open ‘battle’ towards the end.
Who would have known it would blow out to a large-scale live event, the Restriction of Movement Order period notwithstanding? Who would have thought that what started off as a peach pie challenge can teach us all about The Art of War (if we care to analyse it)? Whatever the rest of the world wants to label us by, we proved again that we are not just girls who just wanna have fun. And I proved to myself I could do a peach pie on my first attempt even though I used elbow grease to produce the whipping cream (some of my friends overwhipped their whipping cream - and they have proper kitchen tools).
Then my BFF, C, told me that she and a few others had created another group just for Blue House members and she asked me to join in. They planned to do their pies on Raya eve and flood the group with pictures of our pies then. I told her I dared not promise that I would produce a pie and for her to go ahead. I did, however, buy some Digestive biscuits, two tins of peaches and then scour the nearest supermarket and the two grocery stores for whipping cream. Yes, me, who had never whipped whipping cream in my entire life and had to practically google the difference between whipping cream and cooking cream. Oh, and I don’t even own a whisk or mixer so I searched and watched some YouTube clips on how to produce whipping cream without those kitchen tools.
After working outdoors and mopping the house that Saturday morning, I started draining the pies before slicing and arranging them on a dinner plate. Next, I put half a packet of Digestive biscuits into a ziplock bag and used a rolling pin to crush them. I then mixed the crushed biscuits with some melted butter and patted the mixture into a pie dish. Having done that, I then poured an estimate of 500 ml of whipping cream into a glass bottle recycled from Korean Honey Pomegranate Tea and chilled overnight and started shaking the bottle. It took me more than fifteen minutes shaking the bottle and I must admit that I was actually surprised when I managed to produce the whipping cream successfully using pure elbow grease. Alhamdulillah. I then poured the whipping cream onto the biscuit base in the pie dish and chilled the pie before arranging the peaches on the pie an hour later. Having completed my pie, I then snapped some photos and shared them with my mate and then the Blue House group (my friend quickly added me into the group). I then suggested we called ourselves the Blues Gang and suggested we use the song ‘I’m Blue’ by Eiffel 65.
Main ingredients
Peaches all sliced up and arranged, ‘TF’ for Tun Fatimah (not T-- Foxy, heh!)
in the middle
My final product. Decided to use props. Koala was wearing a blue necklace and blue brooch. I lack blue accessories!
Must say I was proud I managed to produce this
That evening saw us sending and bombarding our peach pie photos to the main group and Blue House emerged the Raya eve leaders. A Blue House mate even produced two short video clips of our pies and posted them the same evening (she subsequently produced two longer video clips, one with the soundtrack ‘True Blue’ and the other ‘I’m Blue’. And the other houses of course decided to copy cat us). My friend who shared the recipe was so surprised by this unanticipated unexpected ‘attack’ by the Blue House members but her dad, a former Royal Air Force Commander and pilot, was very impressed with our tactics.
The peach pie challenge lasted for one month, from 27 April to 27 May 2020, and saw entries from as far away as Houston, England and Doha, and Kota Kinabalu and Kuching. At the end of the challenge, 94 of us produced a whooping total of 153 peach pies, much to the amazement and delight of our family members. It was a good thing I did mine on Raya eve so I could whip it out to serve to my sister and family on Eid. My nephew claimed it was the best thing I did (not that I’ve done much for I’m not one who care to spend time in the kitchen). I did produce my own homemade ice-cream with the remainder of whipping cream.
And guess what, there was even an awards night on 30 May 2020. Yes, you read it right. My friend, the recipe owner, invited two guest judges (one of them Kaer Azami - of course I didn’t know anything about him as I don’t follow the local music scene) and the sponsored presents are from a leather house owned by Kaer. The awards night was held over Webex and Facebook Live with performances by the receipe owner’s father, son and daughter (one song each) and Kaer too. Who would have thought that the pie challenge would be such an event!
Blue House did not win the House with the Most Peach Pies (Yellow House), Picture Perfect Pie (someone from Yellow House) or Most Artistic Pie (my mate from Red House), but we won the Most Non-Compliant Pie, House with Most ‘Kayangan’ Cluster (Kluster Kayangan) Pies, House with the Most Kiasu Team Leader and the Best Peach Pie 2020 (our dormmate did it on her first attempt!).
Safe to say that we had a peachy time and that the Kurshian competitive spirit still lives on within us.
And what did I learn from all this seemingly simple experience? Well, it taught me the principles of The Art of War of course. Of course Blue House did not win the Most Peach Pies award but we swept four awards because our team leader calculated our chances of victory (we did emerge the victor on the eve of Eid and took everyone by surprise). We laid our plans and then we waged our war by limiting conflict among ourselves, instead focusing on our goal. We then attacked on the eve of Eid. Individually, we may not be strong or confident enough to share the photos of our finished pie but united and together, we were strong enough. After Eid, we tried to recruit a few more of our Blue House members but some were not able to commit. We still managed to finish runners-up and not let Green House (boo!) overtake us. Because we started fairly late and lagging behind the others, we used our creativity and timing to build our momentum and we gained ideas from others. Our opportunity to emerge victor on the eve of Eid came because the others and especially the then leaders did not anticipate our attack and were not able to respond then - although they did manage to regain their standing after Eid but we should all should appreciate that it’s more difficult to initiate, strategise, coordinate and execute an action than it is to react (reacting is natural, initiating is not). It wouldn’t have been possible without a leader nor would it be possible without the others’ agreement, commitment, dedication and unity.
We also tried hard not to draw others’ anger and ire towards us and our strategy and we succeeded. We tried to be flexible and hence anticipated the counter attack by Yellow House and although they outnumbered us in the number of pies produced, we concentrated on persuading other Blue House members to participate. We were also aware of Green House members who were close on our heels and breathing down our necks. It had become an open ‘battle’ towards the end.
Who would have known it would blow out to a large-scale live event, the Restriction of Movement Order period notwithstanding? Who would have thought that what started off as a peach pie challenge can teach us all about The Art of War (if we care to analyse it)? Whatever the rest of the world wants to label us by, we proved again that we are not just girls who just wanna have fun. And I proved to myself I could do a peach pie on my first attempt even though I used elbow grease to produce the whipping cream (some of my friends overwhipped their whipping cream - and they have proper kitchen tools).
