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It is time to review something which I often use – wipes. They are often taken for granted nowadays. They are just so convenient, just like tissue paper but slightly stronger and they are “wet”. Being wet allows them to clean surfaces better like cleaning your mouth, table, floor, chairs and so on. Tissue paper works, sure. But wet towel works even better.  Anyway, I bought this from Sheng Siong (as it is near my house). If I remember correctly, I bought it for S$2.50. The price is quite okay, considering that it is just made from paper and water.

Yes, you get a little flap/tab where you can put out the wipes easily. 40 pieces of thick wipes. The quality of the wipes are not too shabby.

Alcohol free. I don’t have problems with using alcohol in my wipes. It is not like I will be sucking on the wipes or anything. And even if I use it to clean my mouth, the small amount of alcohol will not do much harm anyway. But some people might feel safer if it does not contain any alcohol. Honestly, I think alcohol has a bad rep for being something poisonous (which it is) but please, small amounts of alcohol will do not much harm. And if you are careful, you will not even consume any alcohol! Anyway, the wipes are soft and thick, just what we wanted.

Another view.

The back of the pack.

Okay, Tena Wet Wipe is an alcohol free wipe that is soft and gentle to the skin. I like. The larger sized wipes are also thciker to better cleanse and freshen up the skin. Cool. Precautions – reseal the tab after use to prevent wipes from drying up, do not store product under direct sunlight or hear, consult your doctor if skin irritation appears after use and do not flush into toilet. The last precaution is important – you won’t want your toilet to be stuck. The wipes are very thick and pretty strong, it will definitely jam up your toilet.

The ingredients are spunlace and RO Ion-removed water. Made in Taiwan and can last 3 years from the date of manufacture. Spunlace is some sort of a process whereby fibres are entangled so that they become stronger.

How to open: Pull up the open tab and follow the arrow direction. Then reseal the tab after use. That isn’t complicated now isn’t it? The problem I often face is that it can be difficult to grab onto the wipe since it is so thick. Sometimes I grabbed 2 wipes instead. If only the edge of the wipe is located close to the tab…..

I really like this. The wipes can really last – I often use them to clean my table after I have finish my dinner. You don’t have to worry about them breaking apart like most other wipes. And it is big, so it helps with my large table. So if you are thinking of purchasing a set of wipes, Tena would be a good choice. Of course if you visit this blog just to read reviews on wipes, then you might need to get a life.

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Oh no, I have eating a little too much snacks these few days. Not too sure what got hold of me but I am starting to crave sweets and snacks. I think I better stop eating unhealthy snacks and start eating something better like salads and so on. Older folks like me shouldn’t be eating too much snacks. We are old and we are breaking down. Eating unhealthy snacks will only make things break down even faster. But first things first, it is time for a quick review on this little peanut snack. It is actually some flour coated peanut and they simply just add some flavour on the coating. And you should be able to find this brand in most supermarkets in Singapore. I have seen them everywhere. Not too expensive but they are not the cheapest either. But quite tasty, so in my opinion, they are alright.

I bought the Tom Yum flavour from Sheng Siong a few days back.

One can. Cute right?

Koh-Kae Peanuts – Tom Yum Flavour coated. If you like Tom Yum, you should like this. But since I don’t really like my food too spicy, all I can handle is just only a few peanuts before my tongue gets burnt. My friends told me that it isn’t that spicy.  And the snack does not taste like Tom Yum at all. I can’t even taste the tartness of the Tom Yum.

Tom Yum Flavour peanuts to enjoy and share with friends. Ya right. Eat all yourself better.

Hmm…Thailand’s No 1 peanuts snack! Obviously it is Tom Yum Flavour which is probably the most popular among Thais. They are used to spicy food. For me, I think I will just sit with BBQ flavour, the most common flavour of them all. I love BBQ flavour potato chips. But then of course, they are not real BBQ, nor are these Tom Yum peanuts made from real Tom Yum. Tom Yum is some mix of lemon grass, kefir lime leaves, galangal, lime juice, chilli peppers and fish sauce. I only taste the chilli peppers.

Product of Thailand. Obviously. Imported by Radha Exports.

Some nutritional information for you. Wow, Vitamin B2??!

The ingredients are peanuts, wheat flour, Tom Yum ingredients, coconut cream, vegetable oil, sugar and salt. Pretty common stuff. I wonder what goes into the “Tom Yum ingredients”? A secret blend of special spices or some chemical mix from some chemical factory?

I don’t know I took a photo of the top and forgot to take a photo of the actual peanut snack. Stupid of me. But basically they are just peanuts with flour coating and some powdered mix. You will definitely get the “one is not enough” feeling when you open the can. Luckily for me, I can’t stand eating spicy stuff, so I usually stop after a few peanuts. I have known people who ate the entire can in one sitting. Bad boy.

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Wow, I am on a roll. Being adding blog posts continuously for the past 2 weeks already. Not too bad considering that once a month went back when I didn’t post a single blog. The truth is I have a little free time in my hands. Company business slowdown so there isn’t much thing to do at the office. Of course I am worried about my job but according to the old birds in my company, this is very much expected. So hopefully everything will return back to normal in a few weeks time. If not, it would be time for me to go look for another job. That would suck.

Anyway, this time I would review the Cadburys Crunchie. Yes, if you don’t really like chocolate that much and if you like sweet stuff a lot, this would be the snack for you. There is a layer of chocolate covering something like a honeycomb, probably made from sugar or something. It is extremely sweet but not really that hard. The reason why a lot of consumers like the Crunchie is because it is crunchy, sweet but not rock hard. And of course the layer of chocolate really change the entire flavour of the snack. It would be even better if the chocolate was dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate. Just imagine the complexity of the dark chocolate and the sweetness of the interior……

All in gold colour foil. Crunchie!

Golden Hokey Pokey Honeycomb covered in Cadburys Dairy Milk Chocolate.  I have no idea what hokey pokey means but reading from the Internet, it is actually some sort of sweet. They call it Sponge toffee, made from golden syrup (the ones the English love). Hokey Pokey is a song right?

Okay, the ingredients are sugar, milk solids, wheat glucose syrup, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, vegetable fat, emulsifiers, raising agent, flavours and hydrolysed milk protein. Wow, so complicated.

Here you have the nutrition information.

I don’t know. I don’t really like sweet stuff that much. Overall I would say it is okay, if eaten once in a while. Certainly would not be a good thing to eat this like every day. But I really like the crumbly texture of the interior -too bad that some parts of the interior are still hard but most of them is just right. Well, if you have a sweet tooth and all those candy gets you down, maybe you should try Cadburys Crunchie for a change. And nowadays the prices of sweets and snacks is not cheap anyway.

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I bought this from Sheng Siong the other day. Needed something to munch while I surf the Internet so I went ahead and looked for something easy to handle. You know the kind of snacks that does not require my hands to be dirty and can easily be opened? And I want it to be slightly healthier snack than the usual. Yes, dried fruits would be the best bet.  I was thinking of cranberries but when I saw this, I knew I had to have a try. I don’t think this is a common snack in Singapore though. Well, at least I don’t see this Sarawak Pineapple slices very often in our local supermarket. Or maybe I am just blind or something. Anyway, I bought one packet to have a try.

Singapore, export quality. Might be good or might be bad. I realize that different countries get different standard of foodstuff. Even manufactured stuff, they deliver the same goods of different quality to different countries. So, with this “export quality”, it might not always be good, especially for foodstuff coming into Singapore. Anyway, this is supposed to be nutrition food, high fibre and Vitamin C. Is it me or the pineapples look a bit small? Perhaps that is what Sarawak Pineapples are supposed to be – small?

100% natural fruits. No Saccharin and no artificial colouring. That is good news

The back of the pack.

Some nutritional information for you to take a look in the boring afternoons if you have nothing to do.

Ingredients are fresh pineapple, cane sugar and Sodium Metabisulfite. Too bad they added preservatives to the ingredients, if not, it would be very healthy. Well, if they don’t add preservatives, the shelf life of this snack will be short and their profit margins will drop. Well, what can I say except to suck it up and eat in moderation. Anyway, this is a product of the Philippines. Which is weird since Sarawak is supposed to be in Malaysia. I guess maybe they take the variety of pineapples from Sarawak Malaysia and plant them in the Philippines. So that is why is it called Sarawak Pineapples. Just like the milk from Indonesia which comes from Australian cows.

One piece of the dried pineapple slices. Not that good looking isn’t it? All dried fruits don’t look good, they are wrinkled and look like they have been beaten to a pulp. But the taste is not too bad. At least I can taste the pineapple in the slices. A bit sweet because of the added sugar but overall not too shabby.  I would prefer one without sugar, the taste would be better since good quality dried pineapples are already very sweet. But as you know, it is very hard to control the quality of the pineapples, so the added sugar comes in to help sort of moderate the flavour. Anyway, you should try it out at Sheng Siong. If I remember correctly, it cost about S$2.60 per 80g pack.

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Woooo…chocolate. Delicious. Yes, while I admit that Mars chocolate isn’t exactly what one would consider fine chocolate, but at least it is delicious right? Even those “made in China” chocolates we buy from our provision shop or at Sheng Siong are delicious since they are full of sugar and other flavourings. I don’t know why, chocolate seems to be one of the best tasting stuff I have ever eaten. I like all kinds of chocolate including those slightly bitter dark chocolates. Those are the ones that really have the flavour and the complexity that I often associate with chocolate. Less so for white chocolate. Taste a bit like milk instead of chocolate.

Please note that I am not a Mars chocolate bar fan. I have hardly eaten Mars throughout the years, even though I am a fan of chocolates. I prefer my chocolate to be smaller in size like those who buy in a box. A bar seems a bit wrong as I am rather used to eating them from a box. Weird huh? You would expect a chocolate freak like me to be a good friend of Mars but no, I am not.  Oh, by the way, did you know that dark chocolates are actually pretty healthy – they have tons of antioxidants and minerals to make you healthy. I am talking about real dark chocolates here, not the milk chocolates or those white chocolates.

The Mars Caramel bar. I guess this is the same as the normal Mars bar? Or maybe the original Mars does not have caramel in it?  Nougat or something. And yes, that is a strand of hair. Not too sure whose it is. Maybe mine. I don’t know. As to how did it get into the picture – I guess I was too lazy to find a proper place to take photos of the Mars bar.

A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play. Sounds like what an old man would say. Anyway, this is a creamy, chewy caramel covered in thick Mars chocolate. This sounds more delicious. And by the way, that is the new Apple iPhone prototype in the picture. It is going to be called Apple i5. Don’t be jealous of my phone and my short silky hair.

The back of the Mars bar.

Check out the nutrition information. I bet it has a lot of fats and sugar in it. If not, most of us probably wouldn’t have bought it. Why does all these delicious food have to always be so fattening and unhealthy? Somebody must be punishing us.

40% chocolate. 60% Caramel. Wow, that is going to be one gooey little bar. I am guessing the reason is because I don’t put my chocolate in the fridge. Makes it all hard and I don’t like my chocolates hard. Some people do like to put their chocolates in the fridge though. Ingredients are milk solids, vegetable fat, cocoa mass, water, cocoa powder, emulsifier, soy lecithin, natural flavour…..sounds delicious I guess. And yes, it is going to be due soon. When I bought it, I didn’t know that it was going to be due in like a month or so. Means that this chocolate bar isn’t fresh.

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I am not a sweets freak. And I am not talking about that weird clothing/shoes line either. In fact, I have stopped eating sweets for some time already. Okay, maybe once a while like once per month or so, I have some sweets here and there. But definitely not as often as before. I remembered in the past I used to have a pack of candy or even chewing gum (before they ban it) in my pocket every time I leave the house. Even when I am not eating food, I feel a bit weird not to have something sweet in my mouth. So yes, it has been a considerable improvement. And of course my health has improved, not to mention I don’t have so much cavity anymore.

Anyway, this little review is about the Zappo Raspberry Sour Chew. Nothing special about this sweet but since my nephew love it and we often have one or two packs lying around in the house, I thought to myself, why not do a little review. It is a small thin pack with about 7 pieces of sweet. It is the usual “sour” chew just with some raspberry flavour. Again, it reminds me of my younger days when I love eating these kind of stuff.  By the way, it is a chew, which is some sort of a soft candy and you can “chew” on it like a bubble gum but you don’t need to split it out afterwards.

Yes, Zappo! With a punch. Contains only natural colours. Cool! But don’t be fooled, it does not mean that the flavour is “all-natural” as well. Just the colour. And they might even claim that dye from some poisonous plant is “natural” too. Got to love how to add all these tagline to their wrappers, making the sweet sounds “healthier” than it actually is.

Ingredients – Corn Syrup, Sugar, Hydrogenated palm kernel, oil, acid regulator, gelatine, emulsifier, flavour, natural colour and salt.  No, not natural at all. Anyway, it does not taste like raspberry. And made in Australia or Korea? Either way, kind of disappointing but it could be because I am an old sad man. My nephew loves it.

One piece of chew.

It is indeed a bit hard when you first start to chew but after a while, it softens and you can chew it like normal. I guess the heat in your mouth makes the chew soft. And sorry about the blur photo. My photo taking skills have dropped tremendously these few weeks. Must be getting old. Anyway, if I am not wrong, you can get this sweet in most supermarkets. If not, try one of those shops that sell Candy – I think the franchise is called Candy Empire or something. They sell chocolates, snacks and drinks as well. Usually quite big.

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Yes, I looked in the mirror the other day and greeted by streaks of white hair. White hair or grey hair, whichever you prefer. I remembered the last time I looked carefully at my hair was a few months back and there weren’t that many white hair. Now it is like covering 5% of my scalp! And then it dawned to me – I am freaking old. Time for my body parts to start failing and time to get those “old people” glasses so that I can read the newspaper in my antique rocking chair. No seriously, I know I am growing old but it never really dawn to me that it will be so fast.  I barely remember doing anything in my youth and suddenly I am old? That was surely fast. Doesn’t seem fair does it? Life goes by so fast and you feel like you have not done anything. And one day you wake up with your head full of ugly white hair and some kid calling you “Ah Pek”.

Anyway, in order to fight nature, I decided to do something to prevent those white hairs from growing. Most people will pluck the white hair off their scalp, but not me. I will not resort to pulling strands of my hair out. Not will I be dyeing my hair. All these just seem so stupid.  Instead I will be trying out different methods of preventing white hair growth. One of the most common reasons for “pre-mature” white hair growth is due to stress. So from now on, I will try to relax more often. In fact, I think I will be going home on time from today onwards. Who cares whether my boss gives me extra work, I will leave it for tomorrow or the next week. I will also not be listening to my work phone after 6pm. I don’t care whether it is important stuff or that the world is collapsing, I just don’t care. Preventing white hair is more important for me.

Other than that, I will be applying generous amounts of beer on my scalp when I bath. Heard that beer can really improve the health of your scalp and in turn will prevent white hair growth. And I will stop using all those chemical shampoos that I have in my bathroom. From today onwards, I will start using only natural soap to wash my hair, then apply beer on my scalp. I have several beers which I had left during my beer making days – they weren’t exactly good beers but for the scalp, it should okay. Well after all that, I am not too sure what else to do to help prevent white hair growth. I have been eating rather well these few years. I have cut down on greasy foods, ate more vegetables and fruits, taken some supplements, drank kefir and ate yogurt nearly every day. So I am quite sure diet shouldn’t be a problem.

If you have any tips on how to prevent white hair growth, do leave a comment. If you think I am vain, leave a comment too. I will start monitoring my hair from today onwards and see whether there is an improvement. Hopefully I will be able to spot a completely black crown one day again. Ciao.

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