More Yakult Reviews!

1013 days ago

Oh, here comes yet another Yakult review. Yes, I did a review on the Yakult drink a while back but that was the “Acelight” one. These are the original flavours! I...

Oh, here comes yet another Yakult review. Yes, I did a review on the Yakult drink a while back but that was the “Acelight” one. These are the original flavours! I have been drinking them since I was a little tiny weeny kid and I love them so much. Perhaps the biggest problem is just that. It is just too sweet and yes, kids love them. But as you grow older, you don’t crave sweetness that much anymore. Although I still enjoy sweets and sweet stuff once in a while, I no longer enjoy them as much. What can I say? That is life. And it is actually good, because too much sugar is bad for you. As we get older, all those sugars will add up and it will be like a disaster waiting to happen.

With that said, I have to tell you, this Yakult is very sweet indeed. Its cultured milk drink competitor Vitagen, well, theirs aren’t as sweet. And yes, Yakult does taste slightly better than Vitagen. But let’s look at it this way, you are drinking cultured milk drinks because of it’s health benefits or because of it’s taste? Anyway, Vitagen doesn’t taste that bad either. In my opinion, I think it taste pretty good. Plus, it does come with real fruit juice. Okay, Yakult is originally from Japan, but hey, these are cultured milk drinks. The only real difference is the cultures used anyway and they are now made locally. Japan’s reputation is undisputed, but it does not mean that our local product is not worthy leh.

Our beloved Yakult. Comes with 4 different flavours. If I am not wrong, they are apple, orange, grape and the original Yakult Flavour. All taste great. I really don’t have any preference to any of these flavours. However, if you buy the 5 bottles package, you do get two bottles of the original Yakult Flavour. Why? I have absolutely no idea. Perhaps they think that everyone loves the original flavour more.

Comes with straws for those sissies who drink from straws.  5 bottles for you to truly enjoy Yakult.

Well, they state that it is a worldwide probiotics drink with premium quality probiotics – the lactobacillus casei strain Shirota. These bacteria helps in maintaining a healthy digestive system. Yes, probiotics do help in maintaining a healthy gut flora in your digestive system. I recommend drinking at least once bottle per day in order for you to achieve that.  Look at that magnified photo of theLactobacillus casei strain Shirota. That could be a photo of some Swine Flu bacteria for all I know and we would still have no idea.

First produced in Japan in 1935. Cool.

Okay, same as the Acelight one. It states that the lactobacillus casei strain Shirota reaches the intestines alive where it helps to increase beneficial bacteria, decrease harmful bacteria and improve the environment of the intestines, this helping to maintain intestinal health. In other words, it is good for you.

The ingredients are sucrose, dried skim milk, glucose, fructose, flavouring, permitted colouring and live cultures. The important thing is that there are billions and billions of live cultures in that milk drink. That is the reason why we drink cultured milk drinks in the first place. A lot of Singaporeans when they hear the word “bacteria”, they kind of get scared and think of diseases and epidemics. Not all bacteria are bad. There are good bacteria which will in fact help your body fight off bad bacteria. All good cultured milk drinks and yogurt have billions and billions of such good bacteria in them.

The apple flavour Yakult. Note the green cap on top. Peel off the green foil and enjoy the delicious drink. It takes but a single gulp to finish this tiny bottle.  If you are a girl, perhaps you might need to take 2 gulps. Oh, that is a purple handle scissors which I am usingto prop up the Yakult bottle. Stylish, I know.

Another photo. Nothing impressive. From what I see, it seems that Vitagen is copying Yakult in every way, even to the design of the bottles. I wonder why don’t Vitagen have a completely different look from Yakult and soon, everyone will not remember Vitagen as just a copy of Yakult. Bad marketing on the part of the manufacturers of Vitagen. They should be condemned and dumped into raw milk to be fermented. Who knows maybe they will turn out to be the best cultured milk ever!

Lucky Smooth Tofu

1015 days ago

Oh no, old man food alert! I bet you are wondering what has gotten into me to be reviewing two old man food products in a roll. Well, I have absolutely...

Oh no, old man food alert! I bet you are wondering what has gotten into me to be reviewing two old man food products in a roll. Well, I have absolutely no idea. As I said before, I went to Sheng Siong and when I saw the Sichuan Soya Bean Curd, I could not help myself. And for this silken Tofu, well the same thing happened. I just looks so tempting for me to buy. And this is smooth tofu, unlike the soya bean curd which I had never eaten before, it is something which I always enjoyed eating. It is smooth, does not contain any strong flavours, easy to consume, cheap and nutritious. What more can you ask for a food?

The price of this Tofu is about 50 cents. Yes, even the humble Tofu is getting more expensive day by day. I remembered the time when Tofu pieces cost about 10 cents each. But those times have long gone and we are now stuck with overpriced Tofu. If you are thinking of making your own Tofu, you should go do it. From what I read, it is pretty easy. But you do need some specialized equipment and some time. Basically it is just soya bean milk and some coagulant like calcium sulfate is added to mix and you will see curds forming – you get tofu.

For the less adventurous, we shall continue our little review on this Lucky Smooth Tofu!

I am guessing that Taufu Lembut is Malay for smooth tofu? The packaging is pretty normal. In fact, most of the Tofu packaging looks the same. Perhaps they should follow the Japanese and start having better designs for their Tofu? I mean, just look at the dazzling array of Tofu they have in the supermarkets nowadays. Something different to catch the eye of the consumer perhaps?

Oh, the brand is typical of us Chinese. We like the word “Lucky”, so we name everything Lucky. lol!

Ahhh…the ingredients are Soyabean, GDL, Calcium, Antifoam and water. From what I know, GDL is Glucono Delta Lactone which is used to make silken tofu. That means that this smooth tofu is never press and it allowed to set in the container itself. That means that it is cheaper and easier to make, so why it is still so expensive?

Made in Malaysia. Although the weight is 300g, we must note that this is mostly water. In fact, it is just Soya Bean Milk that has been harden/firmed. Oh, this smooth tofu has no preservatives. Good for health conscious folks like me.

What the hell? The serving size is 100g while they have yet another table for 100g consumption? Something is very wrong here. Or is it because it is compulsory to have the 100g table in every nutrition table? I have no idea but I still think it is stupid.

There you have it, the end of the little review. Tofu is good. Go eat some.

FLS Sichuan Soya Bean Curd With Chilli & Sesame Oil

1016 days ago

What? Seriously? You must think that I have gone bonkers to be reviewing some old man’s foodstuff right? You know, the foods that old people eat because they have no teeth...

What? Seriously? You must think that I have gone bonkers to be reviewing some old man’s foodstuff right? You know, the foods that old people eat because they have no teeth and thus cannot chew on hard stuff? Well, sad to say, I saw this a few days ago at Sheng Siong and it looks really tempting to me. I mean, my eyes just had a glance on it and I can’t help myself. So I bought it. Luckily it is not to my liking. Probably someone much older than me would know how to enjoy this sour and spicy bean curd. I just find the taste a bit objectable. When you bite into the bean curd, the first thing you would taste is the spiciness of the chilli and then the sharp tartness of the bean curd hitting you full force. A very big turn-off. Furthermore, the sesame oil doesn’t help one bit. It sortd of clings to the bean curd and you find the bean curd a little too crumbly with the oil all around it. There is no texture at all and absolutely nothing to munch on. I had expected the chilli sauce to be like those semi-sweet kind with garlic and not that oily. But what do I know, old people have been eating this for decades and they love it. So I think we should leave this to the older generation and get back to our yogurt and kefir.

The brand is FLS and it is called Sichuan Soya Bean Curd with Chilli & Sesame Oil. Actually I believe that it is fermented bean curd. Just like those sour crout or pickled vegetables, what you do is to add brine to vegetables or in this case the firm soya bean curd and let it ferment. After a while, it becomes fermented bean curd. As I said before, this is very popular among the older folks. They sure have weird taste don’t they? Anyway, fermented foodstuff is actually very good for you. It usually makes the original product more nutritious and comes packed with numerous minerals and vitamins not found in the original product. That is also why I am trying out different kinds of fermented foods. Oh, this is cheap stuff. For one bottle it cost about 90 cents.

There you go, picture of the glass bottle of Sichuan Soya Bean Curd with Chilli & Sesame Oil. Yes, it does actually looks rather nice, nice enough to be eaten directly. However, get prepared to be shocked by the taste. Actually, the bean curd itself does not have much of a taste. Seems just sour and tart at the same thing. Maybe this needs a little getting used to. From what I read, even those old people, they consume this only in small amounts.

Made in Taiwan. It is extremely popular in Taiwan, even more so than in Singapore. Crazy Taiwanese.

Imported by Sinhua Hock Kee Trading (S) Pte Ltd. If you have not heard of this company, you are not alone. I have never heard of them either.

The ingredients are as follows – Beancurds, Sesame Oil, Chilli, Spices, Salt and Benzoic Acid. Pretty common stuff. Oh, the sound of gas and the bubbles vending up when you open the bottle are the result of fermentation. It is a normal condition. Please rest assured to have a Expiry Date show on bottle. Well, I think they meant that you should rake a look at the expiry date on the bottle and make sure you consume it before it expires.

The nutrition facts of this fermented bean curd.

Picture of the bean curd soaking in the chilli and sesame oil. Oily stuff! And I don’t know about you, I find it very difficult to get the bean curd out with such a small opening. Hence you can see the sides of the opening has some pieces of broken-off bean curd. I should have used a chopstick instead of a fork.

There you go – picture of the fermented bean curd with small chilli pieces on it. Seriously, I don’t understand why people like this so much. The taste isn’t exactly appealing and there is no texture. It breaks apart even before it reaches your mouth. Feels like you are eating foam without the bubbles.  I need to go and wash my mouth. Now.

Bought The Caspian Sea Yogurt Starter

1019 days ago

I went ahead and bought the Caspian Sea Yogurt yesterday – dried one of course. If I had purchased the fresh Caspian Sea Yogurt, it have probably have expired on the...

I went ahead and bought the Caspian Sea Yogurt yesterday – dried one of course. If I had purchased the fresh Caspian Sea Yogurt, it have probably have expired on the way to Singapore from the United States. It is surprising that you cannot find anyone online selling this Caspian Sea Yogurt from Japan but rather from the United States. It is supposed to be one of the most popular health food in Japan! Maybe because all the sites that do are in Japanese and I don’t know a single word of their language.If I am not wrong, it should take about 10 days to arrive from the United States by normal mail. So I guess I have 10 days to read up on how to make the Caspian Sea Yogurt.

Anyway, I bought this yogurt starter from eBay. The seller is brinick12 and you can asscess their page here. With 100% positive feedback, I think it should be safe to assume that this is a very reliable seller. Unless of course eBay’s raing system is crap and easily abused but I find that highly unlikely. This seller does sell a lot of different yogurt starters, you can find the Viili Culture, Buttermilk Culture, Fil Mjolk Culture, Piima Culture and the Greek Yogurt Culture and all of them organic! They also sells loose tea, vanilla extract as well as Kombucha Cultures (SCOBY) and Kefir grains. In other words – health freak people! Na, being one myself, I would be prefered to be called health conscious.  And the truth is, nowadays with our food supply contaiminated with preservatives, stenoids, pollution, genetically modified thingies, bad industrial practices, it is getting important to start paying attention to our food and start choosing the right foods. Although I am only like 30 over, I think it is about time to really eat right. If yogurt and Kefir helps, I am going to start eating them, for my health sake.

The thing about commerical yogurts is that they have a lot of additives which I don’t like. Yogurt should not come with too much additives. Well, a little sugar and fruit pieces and flavours is okay, but if you really look at the ingredient list you will be surprised to see much more than that. Usually they come with cream, thickeners or other fillers, tons of sugar, colouring and flavouring. That is definitely not what healthy yogurt should be. Yogurt should have at the very least some tanginess to it and if you don’t like it tart, perhaps some sugar or honey to sweeten it up. Fruits will definitely help, making it even more delicious. I like my yogurt slightly tart but truthfully, yogurt can be very very sour in it’s plain form, that is why I chose this Caspian Sea Yogurt. It is supposed to be a little sweeter and creamier than regular yogurt.Furthermore, it is very easy to make. Unlike regular yogurt which requires a higher than room temperature to ferment, Caspian Sea Yogurt cultures can ferment in room temperatures. So basically it is just add mix to the cultures and you get a nice container of yogurt the next day. Cool isn’t it?

Oh, I forgot to mention, the seller of the yogurt culture does provide some detailed information on how to make the yogurt. If you have bought the cultures, it would be wise to read up on those information and see how the experts do it. Not much to it anyway.

Camel Roasted Salted Peanuts

1019 days ago

Peanuts! Come get your peanuts! Not really in Singapore. Those are for Americans who spend a lot of their time at sports stadiums looking at people knock each other down or...

Peanuts! Come get your peanuts! Not really in Singapore. Those are for Americans who spend a lot of their time at sports stadiums looking at people knock each other down or throw some little ball into a little net. In Singapore, even at the stadiums, we don’t normally eat peanuts. However, with that said, in the past we do eat peanuts at the cinemas. If you are as old as I am, you will remember those sellers of peanuts and other snacks just outside the cinemas. And you get them pretty cheap too aka you can get the peanuts for peanuts. Of course some people’s version of peanuts is S$600,000 but hey, most of us don’t belong to that group. They come in those carts where you get to choose which type of snack you want and they wrap them in some newspaper or magazine paper. Then you bring those delicious snacks into the cinema and enjoy yourself. Nowadays where got? You have to buy overpriced “snacks” from the cinema itself. Drinks. some little pieces of popcorn and they charge you like five bucks! Highway robbery! And they say that you are NOT ALLOWED to bring in other snacks from outside to consume in their cinemas! I mean, what can I say about commercialization in Singapore? It has gone beyond reason, reaching to the point of insanity.

Anyway, I bought this Camel brand because I know they make the best peanuts in Singapore. Seriously, their peanuts are big, properly roasted, just slightly salted and all very crunchy! I really hate those small peanuts you find in other brands. A bit too troublesome to consume and they tend to be over-roasted at times. I like my peanuts big and plentiful. Call me lazy! lol!

The front of the Camel Roasted and Salted Peanuts. Premium quality okay! Ya! Look at the Kachumputeh man!  From what I know, they don’t carry the snacks and peanuts this way, not practical leh. And oh, sorry for the photos, they were taken at night and it seems that my camera don’t like it when I take photos at night.

I mean, seriously, how do you balance all those snacks on the board on your head? From my experiences, they usually come with a cart carrying their peanuts. However, I wonder where do those Kachumputeh men get their snacks from? Do they make it themselves or do they get from a vendor? I remember my grandmother used to make their own Tofu and sell them going home to home. So, perhaps at that time, those Kachumputeh men really do make their own snacks. And yes, if you are wondering, those snacks are indeed very delicious!

The back of the pack. Same picture.

A signature product by Camel, which made of finest premium nuts that brings back a nostalgia taste of traditional street vendors. Nice. I have to agree. Their products do come very close to what I always remembered those snacks to be. Good for you, Mr Camel Company! If only you could make it slightly cheaper for poor blokes like me, we would greatly appreciate it.

Ya, no trans fat! The ingredients are just peanuts, palm oil and salt. Hmmm….why palm oil? Anyway particular reason for that? Or is it because this is how those olden time Kachumputeh men did it? I would perfer them using peanut oil instead. Anyway, a short ingredient list is always a good thing. I worry when the ingredients list is 6 feet long. Oh, this is a product of Singapore! Hooray, jobs for Singaporeans and NS for someone else.

Looks like salted peanuts last quite a long time. But I am guessing this is probably the result of salt and it being roasted. Less moisture means less chance of spoilage, plus you got salt meh. Bacteria and other nasties don’t like salt.That is why we salt every thing and they last longer!

Okay, we are at the end of the little review. I know that peanuts is not a particularly interesting snack. In fact it is a very common snack. But peanuts is healthy and the fats they contain is good fats. So don’t worry, eat a few handfuls per day. You will not get fat or anything one.

Vitasoy Soya Bean Drink

1020 days ago

Ha, you knew that sooner or later I will be reviewing this right? Vitasoy is one of the most popular brand of Soya Bean Drinks in Singapore. Everyone heard of it....

Ha, you knew that sooner or later I will be reviewing this right? Vitasoy is one of the most popular brand of Soya Bean Drinks in Singapore. Everyone heard of it. If you have no idea about this brand, then you must either be living in some monastery in Tibet or in the underground bunker meant for protection against nuclear attacks. And it is not surprising that a lot of Singaporeans love the taste of it. And it looks exactly like milk – white, unlike most other Soya Bean drinks we have which are off-white in colour. Even the Drinho Soya Bean Milk I bought a while back, the colour is more brownish than white. And this is normal. Soya Bean Milk is not Cow’s Milk, so it is in fact off-white! Not very sure how Vitasoy did it, but theirs come out really white.

As most of my other reviews, I bought this on offer. The price is about S$2.50 for 2 packs of a litre Soya Bean Milk Drink. Again, pretty reasonable considering the high price of foodstuff in Singapore. And if I remember correctly, I always like the taste of the Vitasoy Soya Bean Milk.

The picture of the Vitasoy Soya Bean Drink.  The design of this Vitasoy brand doesn’t seem to have changed much over the years. Actually it looks almost the same as what I was drinking it during my Secondary/JC school days. That’s like 20 years ago. Oh god, I feel old and sad now.

Woohooo! Now “added with Calcium“.  I wonder what do they mean by that? These designers and manufacturers, they sometimes boggles the mind till you have no idea what they are saying.

And oh, this is low fat, cholesterol free and lactose free! But the truth is, unless you really fucked up big time when you manufacture the Soya Bean Milk, all Soya Bean drinks are low fat, cholesterol free and lactose free. This pack contains 1 litre of delicious tasting soya bean milk.

Okay, the ingredients are water, soybean, sugar, soybean oil, calcium phosphate, salt and artificial flavour. Why is there artificial flavouring in this Soya Bean drink? No wonder we Singaporeans love Vitasoy so much – we love everything artificial. Too bad. I am not keen to the idea of adding artificial flavouring to anything. The calcium phosphate is the “added with calcium” thingy they are talking about on the front of the package. It does provide some additional calcium to the milk. However, I am not very sure how effective when it comes to body absorption.

Yah, no preservatives added. If they need to add preservatives to a Ultra Heat Treated (UHT) milk product, then Vitasoy really fucked up big time. Oh, this is a product of Hong Kong. But where do they get their ingredients from?

Sedimentation is a natural phenomenon, so shake well before use. Okay, I will buy that. Those soya bean solids will always settle on the bottom. Hey, even cow’s milk you will sometimes find milk solids (not fats) on the bottom.

Hey, check out the best before date – 25 March 2010! Wow! Another very long lasted product! Oh, if you are looking for a better alternative of Soya Bean Milk, I would highly recommend Drinho over Vitasoy. The ingredients used by Drinho to make their Soya Bean Milk is better and healthier than Vitasoy. However, Vitasoy does taste better than Drinho’s.

Caspian Sea Yogurt (Matsoni)

1021 days ago

Well, as you guys know, I have been making yogurt using the Easiyo Yogurt Maker for about 6 months already. It is rather easy using the Easiyo Yogurt Maker to make...

Well, as you guys know, I have been making yogurt using the Easiyo Yogurt Maker for about 6 months already. It is rather easy using the Easiyo Yogurt Maker to make my very own yogurt. The yogurt maker itself is pretty cheap and it works fine. All the yogurt I made using the Easiyo Yogurt Maker came out okay and I actually like the taste of the yogurt made from Easiyo’s own Yogurt sachets. Basically the Easiyo Yogurt sachet contains milk powder, flavouring and dried lactic cultures. So you add water to the milk powder and cultures and then ferment using the provided flask to maintain a high enough temperature. After a few hours, you will get delicious Yogurt for your whole family to enjoy! The problem is that those Easiyo Yogurt sachets are pretty expensive. The cheapest I can find is about S$5.60 to make 1 litre of yogurt. They have varieties which cost even more – like those organic yogurt. As you guys probably know by now, I am not rich. In fact, I consider myself to be somewhere in the lower-middle class. So those S$5.60 sachets might be a little too rich for my blood. Furthermore, making yourt requires heat loving cultures to do their stuff, so it might be a little more troublesome.

Anyway, I am thinking of buying the Caspian Sea Yogurt Cultures and make myself some Caspian Sea Yogurt. Unlike the normal yogurt, these cultures do not need the high temperatures to ferment milk into yogurt – so you can do it without the hassles of boiling the milk and maintaining the high temperatures. And unlike normal yogurt cultures, if properly handled, they are able to last forever – just keep a small amount as a starter after making each batch. So you get to eat yogurt at the price of just normal milk, without the hassles! Cool. And from what I read, they taste different from normal yogurt as well. The Caspian Sea Yogurt is a slightly sweet, semi-thick, smooth and pourable yogurt. If you guys have never tasted plain yogurt before, it is actually pretty tart aka sour. It might explain why the Japanese like the Caspian Sea Yogurt instead of the plain old yogurt. And what goes great with the Caspian Sea Yogurt? Honey of course! Aren’t those two a match made in heaven?

I am very keen to find out why the Japanese love this Caspian Sea Yogurt so much. The Japanese are not famous for liking things sour, so this yogurt should definitely not be in the sour side. If you find regular old plain yogurt too tart, you might want to try out the Caspian Sea Yogurt. Just like regular yogurt, Caspian Sea Yogurt is packed with nutrient, vitamins and minerals. And if you make it yourself, you can be assured that there are no additives or preservatives or any artificial colourings or flavourings in your yogurt. And it is just so easy to make! Just mix the culture and the milk into a container and leave it in a clean cool dry place for 8-16 hours and you will get Caspian Sea Yogurt! No need for a yogurt incubator.

For those who are interested, you can find the different yogurt starters online. The best place is eBay. I am thinking of purchasing my yogurt starter from there too.

Haco Suiss Strawberry Dream Muesli Bars

1023 days ago

Health freak alert! You must really think that I am some sort of Goji Berries chewing health nut right? Well, no, I am not. Seriously, I am not a health freak....

Health freak alert! You must really think that I am some sort of Goji Berries chewing health nut right? Well, no, I am not. Seriously, I am not a health freak. I just believe that I should eat healthily. Yes, I get what I can easily find. These foodstuff which I consume are easily found in our local supermarkets. Of course, some have to be bought from bigger supermarkets but generally, you can find them in NTUC, Shop N Save, Sheng Siong and Cold Storage. Sure, Singapore sucks when it comes to varieties and everything is expensive here, but the very least it is very convenient. But it shows that you don’t have to look very far to find healthy alternatives.

So, I came across this pack of Muesli bar (Cereal bar) when I was doing a little shopping just a while ago. If I am not wrong, I got this from NTUC. We all know that whole oats and corn are good for you. Just imagine all these mixed with fruits and nuts into a delicious and convenient rectangle bar so that you can eat on the go. Thus, Muesli bars were invented.

Well, this is the Haco Suiss Strawberry Dream Muesli Bar. And yes, Swiss Made with quality guaranteed! Looky looky – it is a source of dietary fibre and contains vitamins! This pack contains 6 of those Muesli bars, each of which weight about 23g or so. I love the phrase “Strawberry Dream”, reminds me of my trip to New Zealand decades ago.

Ya, produced in Switzerland. Hopefully, it does not contain any ingredients from China. For the health minded consumers, it does not contain any artificial colours or sweeteners, nor does it contain any preservatives. If you have allergies, do note that the Muesli bar contains wheat, oat and soya.

The back of the Haco thingy.

Some information for you – Suiss Muesli bars are filled with natural goodness and taste. These delicious treats can only come from Switzerland, where the original muesli was invented. Suiss represents the finer taste of life. Only the freshest and finest ingredients are carefully selected for your enjoyment. Created by HACO Swiss, producer of premium foods worldwide since 1922. Undoubtedly Swiss! Do note that they never say where the ingredients actually come from, so…

And is it me, or are they harping on the Swiss part a little too much. Even their brand sounds a little like Swiss as well.

Here we have the nutritional table for the Muesli bars which all of us like very much. Who here does not like Muesli bars? Not possible right? Unless you have some sort of allergies, I am sure most of us enjoys a bar or two once in a while. And dudes, check out the vitamins it provides! Oh, by the way, for the RDA, they are taking the 120g serving. So to get 50% of the recommended daily allowance, you need to consume nearly the entire pack of 6! So if you are rich enough to do that, please go ahead.

The ingredients – Cereals 46% (oat, rice, corn), sugar, glucose syrup, soya kernels, invert sugar, fructose, vegetable fat, dextrose, dehydrated strwberries 2.3%, salt, rice flour, acid (critic acid), natural flavours, barley malt extract, vitamins (A, C, D, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, B6, folic acid, B12).

Is it me or they have a lot of different types of sweeteners? Sugar, glucose, invert sugar, fructose, dextrose and even barley malt extract! No wonder it taste so good. I don’t think that so much sweeteners is good for you, no matter how much nutrition the rest of the ingredients offer you.

One Muesli bar for you. Looks tempting right?

This is the back of the Muesli bar. Yes, the net weight is 23g. Oh, the best before date is somewhere in September, so I guess this is still fresh.

Hooooot! One Muesli bar ready to be eaten! I really like the taste of this brand of Muesli bars. Although it comes with several mix of sweeteners, it is not very sweet to the palate. The amount of dried strawberries they have on the bar is just right. However, it is a bit sticky and not very crunchy as you would expect from a cereal bar. It could simply because of the roasted rice which made it slightly softer to chew on.

Anyway, this is the end of the review. Next time, I will review the apple flavoured Suiss Muesli bar.

Cadbury Old Gold Dark Chocolate – Liqueur Flavoured Selection

1024 days ago

Ya, I got another Cadbury Old Gold Dark Chocolate. This time it is the Liqueur Flavoured Selection. I am guessing that means that they add a little alcohol into their fillings....

Ya, I got another Cadbury Old Gold Dark Chocolate. This time it is the Liqueur Flavoured Selection. I am guessing that means that they add a little alcohol into their fillings. As you guys know, I do like a little kick in my drinks and I do love a little alcohol now and then. Lol, I was a beer brewer you know. Yes, I have stopped brewing beer, mainly because I got really ill and had to start taking care of my health. No, it is not the alcohol that caused my illness but mostly due to my unhealthy diet. I eat oily and fried stuff most of the time and I didn’t have a balance diet. So, now I begin to eat right. And don’t be surprised to find out the eating moderate amounts of chocolate is good for you. And yes, DARK CHOCOLATE is the key. Cocoa has a good amount of antioxidants which help your body fight against those pesky free radials which might cause your cells to break down – which is bad. And dark chocolate is good fo your heart!

So,  here we go. Nowadays most of the stuff I eat are quite healthy. Well, sometimes I have no choice in the matter due to workplace limitations, but I try my best to eat healthy. And for snacks, I usually eat peanuts, cashew nuts, green peas, yogurt, honey based power bars and of course dark chocolate. And I do really like dark chocolate.They are aromatic, tastes great and have this bittersweet aftertaste that you cannot find anywhere else. Milk chocolate cannot claim to have the same taste, as most of the bitterweet and aromatic taste is overwhelmed by the milk content.

Ahhh…..got 4 flavours!  They are Coffee, Irish Creme, Hazelnut and Orange. I am not a fan of coffee but the rest of the flavours seems interesting. Hmmm….Irish Creme! I will certainly enjoy these flavours. Unlike the previous Cadbuy Old Gold Dark Chocolate, these are real fillings. Of course, this would mean that there are less dark chocolate inside each piece. Oh, the intensity level is medium. Great for dark chocolate beginners like me!In the future, I might be looking fo stronger dark chocolate for more of those antioxidant goodness.

The back of the pack. This pack contains 250g of delicious dark chocolate. You know you like.

Check it out – Coffee Liqueur Flavour, Irish Creme Liqueur Flavours, Hazelnut Liqueur Flavour and finally Ornage Liqueur Flavour. Too bad, the liqueur in those seems are pretty weak. Can’t hardly feel any liqueur in them. I remembered eating liqueur chocolate before and the flavour is more pronounced than this. A bit disappointing.  I was expecting more of a kick than this.

Check out the nutritional table. Still got a bit of saturated fat in chocolate – that cannot be helped but just think of the antioxidant in the chocolate! Oh, this is made in Australia! Cool, hopefully all the ingredients are also sourced from Australia. Whatever they do, don’t get anything from China please!

Everyone loves Cadbury! I know I do. Of course, they do not make the finest and the most delicious chocolates in the world but come on, for their price, I say they does it pretty well. For really fine chocolate, you do need to go to specialty stores. I have seen several just at the basement of Takashimaya. Hey, see they export to Singapore, Philippines, Japan and Malaysia! The best before date of this chocolate is somewhere in December of this year.

And as you can see, there is no consumer service for Singapore. Why? That is because in Singapore, there is in fact no god damn consumer service at all!

Okay, this is the ingredients list – Chocolate (70%), sugar, cocoa mass, wheat glucose syrup, cocoa butter, water, milk solids, ethanol, flavours, emulsifiers (soya lecithin, 476), food acids (330), egg albument), malt extract (barley), colours (102, 120, 124, 150d, 160b) and may contain traces of nuts. The chocolate contains cocoa solids 45%. Please store in cool dry place and in Singapore, it can mean only one thing – fridge. It is just so damn warm in Singapore.

Ahhh….the gold foil covering the chocolate. This is why they call it Old Gold!

Here we have the chocolate. See, they are kind enough to tell you what the flavours are. The beans should indicate coffee, the Clover should indictae Irish Creme, the nut is telling you Hazelnut while the orange logo is to indicate well….orange flavour. Sorry for the thumb print on the chocolate. The weather is pretty warm and it sort of slightly melted when I took them out for the photo taking. Just tells you how warm is it in Singapore!

First Choice High Calcium Low Fat Milk

1025 days ago

Oh my, yet another milk beverage review? And you thought that I might have reviewed all the milk out there already! No lah, still got a lot of milk brands most...

Oh my, yet another milk beverage review? And you thought that I might have reviewed all the milk out there already! No lah, still got a lot of milk brands most of us have never heard of, just that they are hard to find in our stores. Some of which you will have to go to specialty stores or those very old provision shops in Chinatown or Little India. I have seen several rare brands of milk in a small store at Little India. Don’t worry, I think they should be safe enough for consumption.

Since the brand is First Choice, I purchased this at my nearby Shop N Save. Yes, First Choice is the housebrand of Shop N Save and Cold Storage. And no, they are not always the cheapest, so as usual check and compare the prices before purchasing. I am not sure why the government is encouraging us to switch to housebrands, probably because they never shopped in our local supermarkets before in their life, so they have absolutely no idea. Anyway,I purchased the High Calcium Low Fat milk because it was on offer (S$1.35). I am not watching my weight, so any milk will do.

This is the First Choice High Calcium Low Fat Milk Beverage. 1 litre of milk. Hooray! UHT milk is usually not that tasty since they have been ultra-pasteurized (which might destroy some of the aroma molecules of the milk) but beggars cannot be choosers right?

Check out the design. Quite nice actually. The orangy thing on the right is the sun and the blue Dr Mahattan should be representing a human while the greenish dash should represent grass or hills. This is abstract art at it’s finest. Didn’t know that Shop N Save and the Cold Storage big bosses appreciate art so much. If I knew, I would have bought more items from my nearby Shop N Save.

The side of the First Choice High Calcium Low Fat Milk pack. Don’t worry if you can’t read the instructions or information on it. I have taken some detailed photos below.

Okay, the manufacturer says that two 250ml glasses of First Choice High Calcium Low Fat Milk Beverage meets 100% of the USA recommended dietary allowance of calcium intake for healthy adults over 25 years of age. Great news. I normally taken about 300ml of Kefir every day. Kefir is made from milk and I assume that the calcium still remains even after the fermentation process.Cross my fingers. Oh, and milk calcium is more easily absorbed by our bodies than most other forms of calcium. Again, great news!

So, this means that the milk is from New Zealand? Of course, they write that is has been processed and packaged by some company in New Zealand. It might not mean that the milk is from New Zealand.

Here are some opening instructions for the uninitiated.  You have to lift the plastic flap, peel back the silver tab, pour out the milk and then re-close the plastic flap. I guess if you forget the steps, you can easily refer to these instructions. They are conveniently located at the side of the milk pack.

Yes, product of New Zealand! Happy. And check out the ingredients – fresh milk, skim milk powder with Vitamins A & D! Cool, fortified milk. I always like the extra nutrients and vitamins provided by these fortified stuff. Healthy!

And you should refrigerate your milk after opening. I believe that you should also consume the milk within 7 days after opening as well. Don’t think that UHT milk can be kept for long periods of time AFTER opening. You should treat them the same as you would for fresh milk. I have seen a lot of Singaporeans who think that even after opening, the milk will last within the expiry date. It does not!

So, I should consume about 800mg of Calcium everyday. I hope that I do. I am getting old, so having enough calcium is important.

No wonder so cheap. The best before date is somewhere in May 2009. This is Shop N Save trying to sell off near to expiry products, which makes sense since no point keeping them on the shelf only to throw them away. Might as well sell them off at a lower price. Which is good news for bargain huntrs like me. We get cheap milk and they get shelf space and some money. Anyway, this is the end of my little review. Hope you guys like it.

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