Today's Sweet Haul: Morinaga Caramel and Ramune

Looks like a cigarette box... Smells like Matcha!

     I found a mini japanese sweets haunt today!!! Hidden away underneath the busy streets of Clarke Quay at The Central (a Mall), is the store YAMAKAWA SUPER. yes. that's the name of the store. It is quite as SUPER as they claim it to be. Rows and rows of shelves stocked with Japanese snacks and treats, plus, a section with imported Japanese drinks like the ever-so-popular Calpis, Ramune sodas and gasp! sake (Which i'm not old enough to even touch).

    They have a wide selection of interesting looking sweets, half of which I can't even tell if they are sweets or kid's toys. SO anyway, I was allowed to buy just two. 

   First up, Morinaga Caramel in Matcha flavour. If you're a big fan of sticky, chewy caramels, then this is the sweet for you (If you can find it, it's a particularly shy creature.) They come in all sorts of flavours, from the usual chocolate and milk, to the surprising sweet potato, pudding and Azuki (red bean). Also, they come in a really neat packaging - a slide out match box. Personally,  I like the Matcha flavour best. It's really nice and milky, kinda like green tea ice cream. 

Decorative Totoro figures not included (I made them myself)

Also made by the same company is this bottle of Ramune flavoured tablets. Ramune, for those unfamiliar with the drink, is a japanese soda. It's sort of like a sweeter version of sprite, and it's a flavour that's very popular wherever Japanese sweets are concerned. These sweets taste very much like your average soda tablets, and they dissolve pretty fast too. not surprising in the very least.

     

   If you ever want to try out some other interesting japanese morsels, here's the address to the place:

6 Eu Tong Sen Street #B1-28B

The Central Singapore 059817

Tel: 6534-9518

(Haha I got this from the receipt)

BEWARE the place is like a maze, and it's kinda hard to find your way around the basement. The Mall's fairly easy to locate though. All you have to do is to alight at the clarke quay MRT station. Good luck! 

Hungry Bunny over and out~

 

Star Candy - Old sweets #1

Magic faerie dust perhaps *~*

   This has probably got to be one of the most charming looking sweets I've ever come across in my entire life. Really! They look magical, mystical, and they've even been given the all-so-fantasy-ish name of "STAR CANDY" . Hmmm... maybe you'd have the power to glow if you consume this.

    You must be wondering how I got this. No, I did not open a portal to another universe, all I did was just head down to a convenience store - No Kidding! They sell these in quite a few colours, but these two seem the nicest looking. Plus, I didn't have to trade in a unicorn horn for this (Okay, I promise i'll stop with the exaggerated jokes soon). It only cost me about 40 cents. cheap really.

   You must also be wondering, "What the heck is this stuff?" well, put simply, it's just sugar crystals. COLOURED sugar crystals to be exact. They don't taste like much, really. They are pretty crunchy, but they only last for like, 4 seconds since they dissolve so fast, but at least they have the manners to leave behind a sweet aftertaste. Taste wise? Not much. But just eating these make you a whole lot awesomer.

   Apparently these have been around for quite some time, probably since the time of Ol' grandpa. They're really Really old sweets, I mean, you can't expect much of the old days other than a simple rock of sugar right? I guess times then were very straight forward, and sweets literally meant something that was sweet, and nothing more. Well, anyway. it's worth it considering I get a free glass bottle and a cork. Not bad for 40 cents now eh?

Hungry bunny over and out ~

 

Popin Cookin Review - Curry rice set (カレーセット)

Sorry about the picture,
I hope your necks don't crank from the angle...

Yes!!! The all new Popin Cookin Curry rice Set!!! That actually TASTES like Curry rice. Anyway, this set includes:

1) Curry sauce (Duh.)

2) Rice (Ditto)

3) 'chicken nougats'

The process in doing this is REALLY really easy. It's so easy that it's almost impossible to mess this up. I should know, just scroll down and take a look at the popin cookin Sushi I ended up with. Not good. But this? It's so straight forward that you don't even need to watch any video tutorials even if you can't read the japanese instructions on the back. well, at least my friend and I didn't have to and it ended up lookin' quite appetising. The hardest part of the whole set would most probably be moulding the nougats into...gasp! spherical balls. How difficult.

   I gotta say, Kracie really outdid themselves with this addition to the popin cookin family. This set has got to be the best tasting set amongst all of them. (The burger one was good too, but that one was just plain weird) and also, the most believable and swallowable one of them all. The curry sauce is as good as any other instant curries you can get in the supermarket. The rice tastes like rice but slightly more seasoned (Still good anyway) and the nougats, well, some of you may not like it because of its doughy texture. But it tastes SOOOO goood. The nougats are coated with rice crisps, and I thought that to be quite ingenious of them. It really did have a fried texture to it with the rice crisps, and the flavours mingled well with one another when mixed. If you ever get this set, I'd recommend trying each part out individually just for the experience, and then mixing in the curry and the rice together. They taste WONDERFUL together. really! Okay, so the texture and the lack of heat might take some time getting used to, but once you are, (If you're a seasoned popin cookin taster like me) Then you'd really really enjoy this one. I advice first timers to get this one if you're searching for something easy and magical tasting. Then you can move on to harder ones like the hamburger set and ...gasp again! Sushi.

Here's a pic of the finished product:

Yes thats right. Mini peas and carrots in the curry. 

Ahhh....I wish i had a Maximising ray gun. Then I could blast this baby into a fully sized lunch meal for one. Along with the other miniature Barbie toys so that they'd ACTUALLY be useful.

Hungry bunny over and out~

Weird chinese Sweet #1 Hard plum candy

BEHOLD! Yellow heart plum (Direct translation)

   Today was the first time I've tried this even though it isn't the first time I've seen such a thing. You can find this in any old convenience store and sometimes even supermarkets. First off, It doesn't exactly look appetising, it kinda looks like a bug preserved in prehistoric resin to be frank.

    I FELL IN LOVE WITH IT IMMEDIATELY. I'm a sucker for sour things. Literally. So basically, this sweet is made up of hard sugar, and encloses a little plum gem inside, but just so that you'll still be able to taste it without dissolving everything first. It's like a lolly, just that you've got small bursts of sour plum along with the sweetness of the sugar. I never knew such a taste! the best of both worlds, the sweetness of a flower garden in the cold winter, or maybe the glaring sunlight against the warmth of my skin. Or maybe I'm just exaggerating. 黄心梅...Yellow heart Plum. If you see it. GET IT. Unless you've already had the fortune to have eaten it already. Today, I learnt that we really shouldn't judge a sweet by its wrapper.

Hungry bunny over and out~

Singapore Food & Beverage Fair 2012 (美食与饮料展)

Just look at the CROWD!!!

   Alright, so the best thing about Singaporeans is that WE LOVE OUR FOOD. Okay, maybe not the best, because that just means that there's more competition for all of us. So you can tell that I was not surprised when a whole stampede of people charged right through the doors of the convention hall. This fare is not for the claustrophobic at heart. seriously. But if you're willing to stand the heat, the noise, the occasional rude uncle shoving you aside or the stepping of one's foot on your littlest toe, then why not? TWO HALLS filled with Singapore's best food? Not such a huge price to pay now is it?

THE one thing we're ALL here for

Yes. Free food. That's why half of the people there ARE there. They're the stalls bombarded with people coming for more and more of their free 'samples'. Trust me, people actually come here for lunch and they can actually get filled up with just the samples. It's even come to the stage where they don't even bother with politeness and actually listening to the sales personnel. They just TAKE and GO. and the TAKE again. OKAY, I admit, I was one of them. But the food was just soooo so good that I just had to come back for more.

Some odd wheat stuff

Now this was something that got me hooked on coming back for fifths and even sevenths. They are kinda like a wheat staple, made of soy beans and oats. This stuff, is DA BOMB. Or maybe its just the way the lady cooked it. I wouldn't have ever imagined dried soy beans could taste this good. They taste plain on their own, but with a drizzle of oil, a pinch of spices and a handful of chilies and onions, These things turn into addictive little munchies. I could eat these everyday for lunch. They just taste so warm and cosy and homey. kind of like hot chocolate in front of a fireplace kind of cosy. Home-cooked meals kind of cosy. If you ever decide to stop by the Fare, be sure to check these out.

Close up of the bean-curd-like-thing

BEWARE!

So, I feel I must warn you. NOT everything that's free tastes good. In fact, this stuff shouldn't even be allowed for the public to sample without a warning. Well, unless you like the taste of rotting garlic, of course. YES. Fermented garlic. It seems that (according to the brochure) garlic, when fermented, slightly alters in its chemical properties and therefore, one would gain more antioxidants when he or she consumes this foul thing. Pfft. As if Garlic on its own wasn't foul enough. Adding FERMENTED to the equation would do it no better. I tried it thinking that it'd be as brilliant as the other free stuff, but I immediately recoiled at the moment the thing touched my tongue. Its sweet, but not pleasant. its a very sharp, acidic sweet, like what you get with anything rotten. Imagine the sweetness of rotting onions, combined with the taste of sour putrid vomit, that leaves you with a bitter aftertaste that smells like sewage. I think I'd rather miss out the Anti-Oxidants.

POP!

 There are many interesting sights, sounds and smells to experience at the food fare, and I came across this particularly interesting piece of machinery. The machine fills in grains of rice into a small circular hole, and then compresses it while electrocuting the grains until it they fry like pop corn. And its REALLY LOUD when it does this. When the rice reaches a certain temperature, the cooked rice cracker it then sent flying out of the machine where it crashes into a container full of the other rice crackers. With a LOUD BANG. It scared me the first time as it was just a really unexpected way of making rice crackers. Here's the failed photo I tried to take of the flying disc of rice. trust me its hard. I took like ten shots and this was the best one, which isn't really exactly nice since its all blurry and stuff.

OF course, thats not all. Not even close. So here's to me saying goodbye and leaving the rest of the stuff there as surprises for you to discover. Sharksfin soup going at $5 for 3 bowls? Thai tapioca/ coconut desert? fried squid on a stick? you're just going to be spoilt for choice. 

Hungry bunny over and out~

Venue: Suntec City convention centre.  Halls 403-404

Admission is free!!! (and that's the best part.)

 

 

The Problem With Hairdressing...

Whoa, this picture is really accurate. That's my exact haircut,
and the hairdresser had short blond hair. 0_0

Okay, so I know this post doesn't exactly belong on a food blog, but I just had to say something. 

Now, I am the sort of person who has had really messed up childhood experiences of going to the hairdresser's, from kicking up a tantrum to crying after seeing my awful reflection in the mirror, YES, I've been there. Loads of times. I wonder if i'm the only one who thinks like that? 

Well, ANYWAY, after prolonging my hair cutting session for a year now, I'd decided to chop it all off. It's like letting your finger nails grow an inch because you're just too lazy, and deciding one day, "You know what? chop it, chop it all right off!" (Which i should start getting to, my fingernails are reaching the length of 'indecent') 

   I mean, I'm so tired of having to wake up slightly earlier for school so that I can tie my hair up neatly, and I can't lie down comfortably with a pony tail sticking out of my head, plus, your hair gets all shriveled up in all the wrong places after a sweaty day, AND, I have an annoying junior who likes to pull ponytails (a boy. A BOY.) I found that it was about time I started to get back to my usual ol' tomboy cut. 

  Maybe, the reason why I wanted long-ish hair in the first place was because of the remarks people made about me being kinda like a guy all the time, or maybe it was just darn laziness to get a haircut, but OH WELL. What does it matter? The point is, I got a haircut today.

    It's a horrible feeling, walking to the hairdresser's. Your stomach churns with every next step you take, your heart rate accelerates with every nerve-wrecking thought. What if I come out looking like a teapot? or What if the Razor malfunctions and starts bulldozing everything off like a Lawn mower? 

   And before you know it, you hear the soft buzz of the blade behind your ear, sawing off bits of hair, bit by bit. It was so ticklish that i couldn't stop laughing. See, whenever I feel the thing anyway near me, a shiver REALLY runs down my spine and I start wobbling like the tentacles of a squid. And with one final snip of her scissors, the deed was done. 

  I have horrible eyesight, so the mirror in front of me looks so blur that I can hardly tell anything, besides my blob of a reflection. When the hairdresser told me to put on my glasses, My hands were shaking, and I really didn't know what to expect. Most often, regaining my vision was a bad thing. 

    So when I finally put on my Specs and saw myself, I was surprisingly calm. Maybe I did grow up after all these years. I mean, If I were still my 10 year old self, I would have screamed (when I get home of course) out loud from the shock. Hair, is JUST hair. I know, but don't pretend you don't care because everyone does. Let's face it, I'm being blatantly honest here since no one knows who I am. 

   Well, I kinda like it, actually. Well, yes it does stick out in some places, and I do look a little like a helmet. But whatever.

   The Problem With Hairdressing...

 ... Is that you really never know what to expect.