The Great Toa Payoh Central Walkabout (Part 2)

952 days ago

Ahhh……we continue the great adventure that is the Toa Payoh Central Walkabout. As mentioned before, this is actually a photo-taking leisure stroll around Toa Payoh Central before I retire to the...

Ahhh……we continue the great adventure that is the Toa Payoh Central Walkabout. As mentioned before, this is actually a photo-taking leisure stroll around Toa Payoh Central before I retire to the library and have some much needed R&R. To some, it is boring. To others, it could be interesting. Photos to me is always interesting. Much better than words and descriptions. Some things, you just can’t describe properly even if your English is good. That is why I rely on photos to show my readers.

And guys, even in the morning, the weather is still quite warm and even a leisurely stroll is tiring. This is concrete city! No wind somemore. Lol! I begin to sound like an old man eh? Anyway, before I go off track yet again, I better continue with the walkabout. If not, you will spend half the time listening to my endless complaints.

Woooohoooo! Open space! Yes, you won’t find such open space in Singapore anymore, especially in the new towns. Luckily we have some old town flavour remaining in Toa Payoh. But it would be a matter of time before some smart-ass government official decides turn this area to yet another shopping mall. Money is king in Singapore.

Oh, here we have Toa Payoh Entertainment Centre. Basically it is a crappy little “shopping mall” with just a few shops and houses the 2nd worst cinema in Singapore. Oh, for those who are interested, there is an arcade at the second floor. I am not sure what happened, but when I went there, the McDonalds and Long John Silvers are gone. Perhaps the shopping mall is just too crappy for the likes of McDonalds and Long John Silvers.

Oh lookie, yet another building to be ready soon. I guess this is another shopping mall? Or some office building? Thanks, that is what Singapore needs, yet another concrete building.

Hey, it is Courts! Cheap prices at your local store! Sale! And look at the banners everywhere!

Cash Converters! This is the place where you go sell your stuff for the lowest amount possible and if you have no brain, this is also the place where you go buy unwanted stuff at ridiculously high prices.

A better view of the Cash Converters shop. So many stuff people don’t want.

Nobody? Well it is very early in the morning, so I guess there isn’t much of a crowd. Come afternoon, it would be  full of people sweating it out in Singapore’s streets.

So we cross the bridge and take a photo. Nothing special, just a few people waiting at the bus stop and NTUC nearby.

Ahhh….the Toa Payoh Swimming Complex. This used to be the place I go for my swimming lessons when I was much younger. The entrance fee was 20 cents. Now, I guess it should be way more than that. Not that it matters to me, as I have not went swimming for years.

Everything still close. Only bakeries are open. Nobody wants to do their shopping in the mornings.

Ah-ha! It is NTUC Fairprice! Our favourite local supermarket.

Hey, my first skool is open. Parents need to bring their kids to childcare before rushing to work, so of course they will have to open early. That is life in Singapore – you rush to work, you rush to school, you rush for lunch, you rush home, you rush to exchange EZ-Link cards…….

Yet another photo of a near empty coffee shop. But just in the mornings, don’t think that there won’t be a crowd coming soon. In Singapore, everywhere is crowded.

Okay, this is getting tedious – yet another photo of closed shops. Yes, it is 7am in the morning. Did someone say the early bird catches the worm? Smack that person in the head now.

Oh, I think I better end now. I would not want to make this post too long or you guys might get bored. If you would like to read the first part of this walkabout, please refer to: The Great Toa Payoh Central Walkabout (Part 1). See you guys next time in Part 3!

Tao Kae Noi Roasted Seaweed Garlic Flavour

954 days ago

Yet again, it is seaweed time! As you guys might know, I am all into seaweed these few days. Can’t get enough of it. I mean all these seasoned dried seaweed,...

Yet again, it is seaweed time! As you guys might know, I am all into seaweed these few days. Can’t get enough of it. I mean all these seasoned dried seaweed, they just taste so very delicious. However, all these time I have tried only the dried seaweed but never the roasted ones. The reason why I don’t go for roasted seaweed is that some of the minerals, vitamins and nutrients in the seaweed might be destroyed during the “roasting” process. Heat destroys or damage stuff and it will definitely be more than capable of destroying the important nutrients in the seaweed. Even just steaming lightly food, all the enzymes in the food will be destroyed. But anyway, I bought 2 packs of these Tao Kae Noi Japanese Style Roasted Seaweed at my local convenience store since they were on offer. If I am not wrong, they were about 30 cents cheaper than usual. So, I saved about 60 cents. And I feel good about that. Of course, then I feel like an auntie talking about which shop sells the cheapest stuff, which has the best offers and so on.

Check it out – Tao Kae Noi Japanese Style Roasted Seaweed – Garlic Flavour! Got Ziplock to help keep the product fresh and tasty. But for me, I normally finish the pack in one sitting.

Lol, got Extra Sheet for you!

Oh, the seaweed contains Omega-3 DHA and EPA! Look, the fishes are named Omega 3, DHA and EPA! Net weight of the seaweed is 16g. And oh, this is garlic flavour – my favourite sinker. You get small crumps of garlic powder (if I am not wrong, it is actually garlic salt) in the seaweed and it is surprisingly delicious.

Okay, just tear there, wow, take an easy bite and take extra sheet x 8. I really don’t understand what they are talking about. Perhaps it is a Thai thing.

Interesting, there have a new flavour – Extra Sheet Hot Chilli Squid Flavour. Sounds heavenly, doesn’t it? Anyway, that flavour is one of their most well known products, which again is very interesting. They select high quality fresh seaweed to create their special recipe. Their processes ensure the highest standards of hygiene and freshness, whilst preserving the crispiness and natural taste of the product. So you guys can always trust the quality and enjoy the great taste of this special product!

Ingredients are: Seaweed, Japanese sauce and garlic powder. And check out the nutrition facts. 15% of the recommended amount of Vitamin A. Not bad, not bad at all. Oh, and check out their Omega 3 analysis. I wonder what does the values mean? Do their seaweed contain a good amount of Omega 3 fatty acids or not? And their best before date is weird.

Yes, this is a product of Thailand. It seems that a lot of our foodstuff come from Thailand these few years.

Lemon Pear Enzymes Drink Done!

955 days ago

Yes, 2 weeks only. From what I read and what others told me, it would be better to let it ferment for 3 weeks or more to get a more beneficial...

Yes, 2 weeks only. From what I read and what others told me, it would be better to let it ferment for 3 weeks or more to get a more beneficial drink – longer fermentation equals to more good bacteria and enzymes. But alas, I am not a patient man. And furthermore, the fermentation of this Lemon Pear Enzymes Drink seemed very furious. I had some seriously bubbling at the beginning and even when I did the straining, I can still see bubbles forming. I am pretty sure it has something to do with the skin of the pears and yeast on those skin. I guess I might have made pear wine instead of the probiotic Enzymes drink.  However, when I took a sip of this drink, it seems a bit weird. First of all, it is not sweet at all, which is again surprising. It has only been two weeks. And yes, the alcohol is present in the drink, but nothing too strong for me. I had expected (and smelled) more alcohol.  And no, there is no tartness as well – so it can’t be the Acetobacter bacteria causing it to turn into vinegar. Not too sure what to make of it. As for the taste, well……kind of hard to describe - very neutral flavour with a little hint of pear. Yes, this means that the brown candy I used is the correct one (thanks to JOYFUL). Previously, I used brown sugar which imparts a strong molasses flavour to the drink.

Perhaps I got the exact duration for the fermentation just right? Since making Enzymes Drink is not an exact science, it boils down to plain old luck.

I used this plastic strainer to strain my Enzymes drinks. Basically you just pour the entire thing into the strainer with a container below. Easy stuff. And yes, that is one of my feet. The left one if I am not wrong. As you can see, my left foot is much sexier than my right foot.

Here you can see the container below. It collects the Enzymes Drink. Isn’t it so very fun?

Check it out – the remaining pear pulp. Look how it has shrunk. I guess the sugar really can suck out a lot of juice from the fruits.

Wow, got over 500ml of Enzymes Drink from 3 pears and 2 lemons. Not bad. I think the next time I will follow JOYFUL’s advise and add a little more fruit after the first day of fermentation. The reason is when I pack the fruits into the fermentation bottle, there is a lot of space remaining at the sides and in-between. However, once the sugar start drawing out the juice from the fruits, the fruit and the blocks of sugar actually kind of dissolve, leaving some more space in the bottle.  This way, I can probably get a little more Enzymes Drink from this.  Very smart.

The Great Toa Payoh Central Walkabout (Part I)

956 days ago

Well guys, I had some free time the other day and so I went for a leisurely stroll at Toa Payoh Central. Actually I wanted to go to the library and...

Well guys, I had some free time the other day and so I went for a leisurely stroll at Toa Payoh Central. Actually I wanted to go to the library and have a nice nap there, away from the stress and everything. But the library will only be opened from 10am onwards. Why? I have no idea. Perhaps the staff at the library cannot come to work early or they might be grumpy. We definitely don’t want grumpy librarians right? Anyway, I reached Toa Payoh at 7am! Yes, I woke up that early, so I had a lot of free time to go around Toa Payoh Central and take photos for you guys to enjoy. Some of you who had never been to Toa Payoh might be interested, while those working or staying there will find it rather dull and boring. But actually, Toa Payoh is no longer the old town with old shophouses and full of grannies and uncles walking around in singlets and canes. It has changed a lot since the 1980s when I stayed around there. Now, they have an air-conditioned bus interchange full of boutiques and classy shops. Of course, most of the layout still remains – it would cost a lot of pull down these old shophouses. Furthermore, keeping the shophouses makes sense as it reminds us of our past. Of course, an all-in-one shopping mall would make everyone happy as well.

And you know what? Taking photos is not as easy as it seems. And people tend to stare at you when you go around and snap photos. They would wonder why is someone taking photos of them. Furthermore, since Sept 11, people tend to get suspicious when they see someone taking photos of buildings and people. They think that you are a terrorist out to get them. But of course, in typical Singaporean style, they don’t give a hoot, except when it is on TV.

The moment I stepped into the Toa Payoh Bus Interchange, I took this photo.  Yes, most of the shops are closed.

However, the small cafe is okay and we have some Malay ladies selling breakfast as well. If I had not craved McDonald’s Egg McMuffin, I would have bought from them.

Ahhh….The Cafe Lobby. Selling you local breakfast fare at extra-ordinary prices. Look got one guy stare at me taking photo.

BreadTalk and Lee Hwa Jewellery. Even Breadtalk is not open yet. Way too early for most of us I guess. Singaporeans cannot wake up early, it is in our genetic make-up. Of course, we then force our children to wake up early to catch the schoolbus to go to school. Wow, I managed to push 4 “to”s into the previous sentence. I rock!

Wuhahaha, not opened yet as well. We have Kiddy Palace, Koufu (Expensive Makan place), NTUC FairPrice, OCBC Bank and some other which I cannot see. This place will be like an oven in the afternoons.

Wow, got POSB as well. Hardly see any POSB branches anymore – thanks to our govt. It is actually kind of sad to see what was once our friendly neighbourhood bank turned into a corporate monster like the rest of the banks in Singapore. And guys, look, it is Dell!

Wait, got one bread shop open. CAKE something. But the shelves look empty though.

This leads to the other shops upstairs or to the MRT station. By 9am, this place will be crowded with shoppers and commuters. Singapore is like that one – super crowded hellhole.

Wow, got art. But of course, nobody in Singapore cares about art. We like makan and shopping. We also like mobile phones and expensive cars.

I didn’t know that there is a Hog’s Breathe Cafe in Toa Payoh! Hmm….if only I can afford eating such oily fatty food. But then I would die from some heart disease in the near future, so I guess that is a blessing in disguise eh? On the second floor, we have Pizza Hut, Sizzler and Hog’s Breathe Cafe. Singapore is currently infested with fast food joints and where once poor quality food was served exclusively at army camps, they are now served everywhere in Singapore.

Again, the art. Looks like a few kids on top of what appears to be a quarter slab of cheese. Crazy kids.

Hmm….on the other side, another piece of art. This time, another group of kids on the other quarter slab of cheese. Someone should tell them never to play with food. Furthermore, cheese is very expensive in Singapore. Ah, who am I kidding -everything is expensive in Singapore. Nowadays even Soya Milk is expensive – just ask Mr Bean.

Another view of the shopping area surrounding the Toa Payoh Bus Interchange. As mentioned, too early in the morning, there is hardly anybody.

Wow, trees and shade! Don’t you just love a little greenery in concrete Singapore. Even in Toa Payoh, such places are rare, especially since space is a premium here. Everywhere you go, you see buildings, houses, roads, shops and people. In the past, Singapore is called Clean and Green. Now, I guess that doesn’t apply here anymore. We should start a truth campaign about Singapore – Overcrowded and Dead.

Yes, a little garden. Heaven in Singapore. But come afternoon, this place will be very warm as well. And since it is surrounded by buildings, you will not get any wind. That is probably why most Singaporeans just hide at Shopping Malls if they get the chance. Yes, they have a fountain there but it is not switched on in the mornings. And if you look at the left, you will see more “sculpture” art. It looks like an old lady cradling a child.

Yes, someone left their breakfast drinks on the public seating area because they were in a rush to save a kitten trapped in a tree. My heroes. I will be glad to clear the bottles for them. Wait….wait…look there is yet another kitten trapped in the tree and I need to save it, I guess I will leave the rubbish for others to clear loh. Busy people, we heroes. If not superheroes, then they should be free to clear rubbish for us heroes. Save the kitten save the world.

Ya, is that a shopping mall we see? We Singaporeans cannot resist the lure of shopping malls. Like what a bait is to a fish. The bigger the better.

Sorry to disappoint you guys, but this shopping “mall” is small. But it has an air-conditioned food court!  The ground floor, there is a restaurant if you are into fine dining. And next it to is Courts! There is surprisingly nothing much else.

Well, this is the end of the first part. I will continue the little walkabout in the next post. Hope you guys have enjoyed it so far! Please read Part 2 here: The Great Toa Payoh Walkabout Part 2.

SgSmallBiz.com Relaunched!

958 days ago

As I mentioned in my previous post, SgSmallBiz.com had undergone a design change and some major upgrades and finally everything is done. Our web directory have been upgraded to the latest...

As I mentioned in my previous post, SgSmallBiz.com had undergone a design change and some major upgrades and finally everything is done. Our web directory have been upgraded to the latest version and hopefully all the bugs has been corrected. Don’t you just hate having a script that keeps giving you problems? At the very least, the script developers are rather fast in correcting any bugs present. And it is indeed usable. But sometimes, it is still a big headache to keep on checking and correcting such bugs.  I guess this will be the norm, as script developers nowadays have to keep up with the pace and demands for new features.  Looks like webmasters will always be shooting themselves in the legs eh?

If you have been to my local business directory these few days, you would have seen the changes. First, the colour scheme has been changed significantly. I had changed to the dark grey and dark blue. All pretty neutral colours. Business directories are not meant to be flashy or funky in anyway. Our logo has changed, as I think that the horse logo is just a bit weird for a business directory. Need something less dramatic. As for the layout, I have added a side bar to the right and hopefully, this will make it easy to navigate when users are browsing the categories in the directory. In the past, users had to return back to the main page to navigate to other categories.  Well, this is my attempt to make it more user-friendly. For the submit page (that is why people submit their business sites for approval into the directory), I have added the option to upload logo and photos of the products and services for featured listings. I am hoping that users who want a better exposure on the directory can opt for the featured listing. Of course, a small fee is required for the added service. For the business details page, there will be more sites listed at the bottom which are related to that particular site. So users can easily browse to other sites which are related. And oh, I have added a screenshot preview as well. Users can also leave feedback and comments from now on, but they are subjected to moderation by our editors.

However, the pricing of submissions still remains free. I have no intention of charging for free listings, so don’t worry. Hopefully, this will continue to attract people to submit their business sites to us, which in turn helps to enhance the value of the directory. The more sites we have, the more content we have. I mean, the main reason why visitors visit our directory is because they are looking for something. For example, if they are looking for businesses selling beauty products but if they are greeted with just one or two listings, they will leave disappointed. We are not in the habit of making our visitors leave disappointed. We are continuously looking for ways to improve and enhance our directory. So if you have any suggestion or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us in the contact page.

Oh, our business directory is Singapore Small Business.

Oregan Westcoast Floral Honey

959 days ago

Well, I finish all my delicious honey already. So I went out to buy some more. But as you guys know, I am currently saving money to go for a little...

Well, I finish all my delicious honey already. So I went out to buy some more. But as you guys know, I am currently saving money to go for a little overseas trip so I can’t spend a lot of money on honey like before. So that Really Raw Honey (which is very very good by the way) is out of my league, so is that Yummi House Honey (which actually cost more). So I am now stuck with cheaper alternatives. As you guys probably know, I like my honey thick and creamy, just like my yogurt. Both the Really Raw Honey and the Yummi House Honey is pretty thick, but I really doubt that there are cheaper alternatives out there which has that kind of thickness without the extreme sweetness associated with regular honey.

Anyway, I bought this Oregan Westcoast Floral Honey, which is about S$24 per 500g bottle. The lady who sold me this honey told me that this is raw honey. But I cannot find any mention of the honey on the labels – it only states that it is organic. If you don’t know why I choose raw honey, it is because raw honey contains all the natural goodness of honey while processed honey (aka heated and filtered) has its enzymes, some of its nutrients and vitamins destroyed. So always choose raw or go home! Anyway, the lady selling the honey seems sincere, so I bought it. Of course, I am not expecting superb quality honey – good stuff  is seldom cheap. And I don’t think that this honey is raw. It looks very much filtered as well – watery, clear and without any darkish matter at the top (those are good stuff actually – especially bee pollen, bee propolis, wax…).

There, the Oregan Westcoast Floral Honey. Green Organic Honey! Check out the lonely yellow bee. Guess where this honey is from?

Oregan premium bee’s honey are organic produced from 100% pure New Zealand flora source. It is harvested from the natural clean green environment of New Zealand. This product is free from artificial additives flavouring and radiation free. Wait, I am hoping that all honey is free from radiation! I don’t want to be become a mutant bee-like human after consuming too much of such radiated honey. Actually, I feel much much safer consuming stuff from New Zealand than from other countries, even Australia.

Some nutritional facts for you. This is distributed by Planet Health Pte Ltd.

Hmm….not a significant source of saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, fibre, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium or iron. Sad…but at least it is produced in clean green New Zealand, right?

Ya, got protection. Do not purchase if seal is open of torn. Errrr….but dude, we only open the cap AFTER we purchase the honey! So…

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, I don’t think that this is raw honey. It should be highly filtered. Taste-wise, nothing spectacular but it is not overly-sweet as most honey I have tasted. And since this is a floral mix, there is nothing distinct about the taste, unlike Yummi House’s Mango Honey. Even Really Raw Honey has a “lemony” flavour to it. This Floral Mix honey just taste like a rather normal honey.

Lemon Pear Enzymes Drink – 1 Week Later

962 days ago

It is time for an update on the Lemon Pear Enzymes Drink I made about a week ago. The biggest difference I had with the previous batch of enzymes was that...

It is time for an update on the Lemon Pear Enzymes Drink I made about a week ago. The biggest difference I had with the previous batch of enzymes was that the fermentation was very furious as compared to the previous one. In about 3 or 4 hours after I started the Lemon Pear Enzymes Drink, there was already fermentation. Bubbles can be seen forming and they were in a continuous stream. And in just 1 day, there was a lot of  “foam” formed on the surface – looks more like white mold. From what I read, it is pretty common. As long as it is white not black, it should be safe for consumption. Well, I certainly hope so. I am not a fan of eating poisonous mold. The main reason why I say the fermentation is very active is because for the previous batch, I normally “blurb” the bottle every two or three days.  For this batch, I had to “blurb” it every day – if not, when I open the bottle, there will be a big explosive sound as the gas escapes. Well better safe than sorry, right? Exploding glass bottles can be dangerous.

In addition, there is a rather strong alcohol smell as well. Much stronger than the previous batch. I was wondering whether leaving the skin on for the pears was a big mistake. There are naturally forming yeast on the skin of fruits which might contribute to the increased amount of alcohol. Perhaps next time, I will remove all the skin. No matter how much you wash the skin, I am sure that there will be some yeast still remaining.

There, 1 week old Lemon Pear Enzymes Drink. Look at the bubbles. Perhaps it is because I moved the bottle out?

Another view. Look at how the pears have shrunk. The amount of pear juice seems to be quite significant. And best of all, I like pear juice! Hope that this will turn out great tasting. That is one thing fun about making Enzymes Drink, you get to try out different combination of fruits! And if you search the Internet, you can find a lot of  recipes. The options are just mind boggling and endless! Too bad, in Singapore you can’t find fresh strawberries or those blueberries (at least good quality ones), they would certainly be good candidates for Enzymes Drink.

Yet another view. Bubbles and bubbles everywhere. But I guess I still need to do something with the colour of this Enzymes Drink. They do look a lot like urine, not something you want to show to your colleagues. Most of them will get freaked out by the colour alone. Perhaps something red like watermelon and those red Dragonfruits.

Check out the little bubbles trapped on this pear. Just amazing that the bubbles keep on forming and forming. Just like when you brew beer, you get tons and tons of bubbles forming. Most likely they are Carbon Dioxide, a by-product when the bacteria eats the sugars in the sugar-juice mixture. The other by-products of this fermentation by the bacteria should be lactic acid, enzymes and increased amounts of bacteria as they replicate. That is one of the reasons why taking this kind of Enzymes Drink is healthy – probiotics (the good bacteria) in the drink. And yes, for the digestive enzymes as well!

The Holidays Are Coming!

963 days ago

Yes, the holidays are coming very soon.  I am sure that a lot of us are very eager to go off to our dream vacation, especially considering that it had been...

Yes, the holidays are coming very soon.  I am sure that a lot of us are very eager to go off to our dream vacation, especially considering that it had been a very tough year for most of us – the economic crisis and all. In Singapore, we are all just so stressed out with everything. From work to our family, there seems to be a neverending assault of problems for us to try and solve. I am not saying that people in other countries have it easy but from the looks of it, Singapore seemed to be affected the most. Too bad our country wasn’t prepared for it and I guess most of us were surprised by the financial meltdown that happened. I know, since I lost quite a lot of my savings and CPF in Unit Trust investing. Well, live and learn I guess. Now, I am not so naive to believe that just because some financial planner shows you a chart that looks like everything is going up and up, means that it will happen in the future.

Oh, as usual I am going off-track. I am not here to tell you about my life problems and you are certainly not here to hear them. I am here to talk about the holidays. And that is the best time to rest and get the weight off your shoulders. In fact, I think it is a necessity for most, as our jobs nowadays are very stressful indeed. The best way to do that is to go overseas. I am sure most of us are very keen to leave Singapore. Leave all the stress behind and enjoy the new environment, meet new people and see new things. I have never met any Singaporean who would not want a chance to go overseas, especially when it is on holiday! And if you are planning to go overseas, why not plan early? Or do you want to wait till the last moment when things can easily screw up? Even if you do not have any concrete plans now, there is no harm in going around to travel agents and have a look at what they are offering. You might be surprised to find some very interesting destinations and even offers as well. Early planning saves you time, headaches and even money. Furthermore, you don’t have to push and shove your way through the crowds during the travel shows or at the travel agency. In addition, if you wait too long, you might end up disappointed if everything is fully booked and you are left stranded in Singapore. So, it is always a good idea to plan early.

I have kept quite a lot of vacation leave just for this coming holiday. Yes, I am planning to go overseas. For me, the problem isn’t my family or whether I have enough leave, but money. Lol, I am not making  alot of money, definitely not enough to go for long trips to faraway places. And I tend to spend quite a large portion of my salary on food nowadays, leaving very little for everything else. That can’t be helped – my health is very important. But I think I am still able to save enough money to Hong Kong or even Korea. Well, I can only keep my fingers cross and hope that it is so.

Well, if you have plans to go overseas for your holiday, please take a look at my listing of  Singapore Tour/Travel Agencies. Hopefully, you can make your plans from there. Good luck to all of us!

SamJin Seasoned Seaweed Snack

963 days ago

Oh no, yet another seaweed review? You might be wondering why I am still not bored with eating seaweed. Well, I till tell you why – it just taste so delicious!...

Oh no, yet another seaweed review? You might be wondering why I am still not bored with eating seaweed. Well, I till tell you why – it just taste so delicious! Come on, this is something which most people will not get tired of. Furthermore, it comes with so many different flavours and varieties, every time is a new experience. Well, not exactly but something close to that. And all these new flavour seaweeds, most of them are just so very irresistible to me. Thanks to the Japanese for bringing this to our shores. Was it during the Japanese occupation? Lol, guys just a little humour here. I am all for forgiving.

This pack I bought from Sheng Siong. It is rather surprising to see that Sheng Siong does carry a good range of seaweed snacks. They even have several rows of shelves for seaweed snacks alone. But of course, these are not manufactured in Japan or Korea. Most are from China. So don’t be hookwinked by those Japanese looking wordings on the packaging, okay? Nowadays, everyone wants to pretend to be Japanese or Korean. So, remember to read the labels carefully before you purchase something, especially when it comes to foodstuff.

Anyway, this is the SamJin Seasoned Seaweed snack. They come in those little handy plastic packs which you can easily tear off and have a few pieces of seaweed whenever you want. It is actually a pretty good idea till you realize that those little handy plastic packs will easily allow moisture to enter and in a short time, your seaweed is all moist and disgusting. And since it comes with 100 tiny packs, you should keep them in a airtight container once you open the big pack. Unless you finish them in one go, which I would not recommend.

The net weight of the seaweed snack is 90g.

Yes, the ingredients are dry seaweed (dried seaweed), sugar, salt, Mirin (Sweet Rice, Yeast), seasoning, red pepper and seaweed extract. No roasted seaweed here. The reason I am not  a fan of roasted seaweed is because during the high heat process of roasting, many of the nutrients and vitamins in the seaweed is destroyed. I want those nutrients! And please, store in tightly in refrigerators, bottles or jars. Makes sense. But this one better, it comes with it’s very own ziplock mechanism. So you don’t actually have to store the seaweed in any container, just keep it abck in the ziplock pack and store that in a dry area away from direct sunlight.

See, product of China, not Japan.

Hmmm….impressed or not? But you need to consume about 12 packs to get those amounts but it is still impressive nevertheless. 40% of your recommended Vitamin C and 15% of  the recommended Vitamin A. Check out the calcium and iron content as well. Oh, Omega-3 fatty acids content is also quite impressive. There, isn’t seaweed great?

Here you have a detailed photo of the seaweed. Sad to see that once each of these packs contains about 5 pieces of seaweed. Now, it contains about 3 pieces of seaweed. Although I don’t consider seaweed to be an expensive foodstuff, prices seemed to be rising all the time and soon, this snack might not be that affordable anymore. So get all those cheap nutrients now while they are still affordable!

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