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I really don’t know. On one hand this is rather cheap – about S$7.50 per kg but on the other hand, this honey is from China. When you read news about foodstuff from China being diluted or whatever dangerous chemicals added to the product, it kind of worries you a lot. Especially when you are planning to ferment it. Yes, I will use this to make my next batch of mead. At the time of writing, I have already made my next batch of mead using this Song Shan Winter Honey. The taste and smell of the honey is pretty neutral. It taste like most commercial honeys out there – sweet with a slight hint of that honey flavour. The texture is also the same like most commercial honeys – liquidy. And what is the difference between normal honey and “winter” honey? Does colder climates make the honey taste better or something? I have no idea. I really hope that the mead made from this honey will turn out okay.

Song Shan Winter Honey. And yes, it is empty. In my haste I used the honey to make my mead before I took the photo, so now it is empty. And on the label it states – Pure! Of course they will label it as “pure”. Can’t be labelling it as “fake” or diluted honey right? The problem is there is no practical way for us to test whether the honey is pure or not. It could be made from sugar for all we know and we can’t even tell the difference. And this is indeed from China. The food standard there isn’t exactly that stringent. Even my colleagues from China worry about buying foodstuff from their own country, especially honey. Yes, I am worried. So should you.

Song Shan Winter Honey is a pure honey from North Eastern China. Add Song Shan Honey for better taste in grill, bread and pastry. As you can see, I have already used the honey to make my mead. The colour of the honey is pretty light. In fact, it is the lightest honey available on the Sheng Siong Shelf. That is one of the reasons why I chose this brand. I wanted to make a mead that is lighter in colour.

Some nutritional information for you. And approved by the Islamic Association in China.

1kg of honey. And for S$7.50 only. In Singapore, we would consider that cheap. But my friend from Australia told me that he could get double the amount for the same price (in Australian dollars) and have high quality raw honey that is thick and full of flavour. Sometimes my friends like to exaggerate a little. But then he lived somewhere far from the city, so yes, I think that is possible.

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Ah…yet another chocolate review. Well it is coming to Christmas so the stores are full of chocolates, so I bought a few. And since they are available at our local supermarkets, I won’t consider them as like premium chocolates but they should be slightly better than the regular chocolates we find there. And no, I am not a snob. Just someone who likes chocolates. And someone who doesn’t really have the finances to enjoy great chocolates. So I will have to stick with the supermarket varieties while those teenagers who never work one day in their life, bite into those 10 bucks per piece premium handmade chocolates from some exotic Europe country. Sad isn’t it? But I guess it is always good to face realty, if not rich, don’t pretend to be rich and spend beyond your means.

Anyway, I bought this from our local Shop N Save – the poor offspring of Cold Storage. Cold Storage is considered slightly higher class if you realize. Everyone needs to get into the mood of Christmas, so the store is stock full of chocolates and candies. And the staff all forced to wear the ridiculous red hat. If I remembered correctly, this was on sale for S$8 or so.

Wow, Merci’s Finest Section of assorted dark chocolates.

Wow, they added a piece of display in front to show that this is for Christmas. But in actual fact, it is the same old chocolates they retail regularly. Smart marketing move. Tricked me too. Honestly, sometimes you have to resort to such marketing gimmicks to attract buyers. Remember, this brand of chocolates isn’t exactly well-known like several other brands.

See, the finest selection of dark chocolates they have.

The back of the pack.

4 varieties of Merci Dark. Coffee & Cream, Cream Truffle, Dark Cream and Marzipan. Not too bad. Definitely much better than the regular ones we find at the supermarket. I really like the Marzipan which I think comes with the coconut cream or something like that. Not really too sure, but I think that is the one with the coconut cream.

The ingredients are sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, high fat milk powder, almonds, whole milk powder, butter fat, whey powder, lactose, coffee, invert sugar syrup, glucose syrup, emulsifier, dextrose, fructose, flavourings and salt. Good eh? I don’t understand why people like to eat chocolates with “low-fat” this and “low-fat” that. Good chocolates should not have low anything. It should be tasty, fattening and full of flavour. Just don’t eat too much of it!

Some nutritional information for you and me to be impressed about.

Made in Germany. I thought Merci is a French word? 250g only.

Hmmm…finest ingredients and a delicious selection of chocolates created by master confectioners have made Merci Finest Selection such a world-wide favourite. Enjoy Merci Finest Selection in all its rich variety. Of course I will. In fact, I don’t think it will last more than a week.

20 pieces of chocolate in all.

The different flavours. Yaaah!  You won’t get bored eating the entire box like that. As you guys should know, I like dark chocolates. Give me milk chocolates and I will probably push it away. Okay, I admit I will probably eat it as well but seriously, dark chocolates are loads better than milk chocolates. The most important is the complexity of dark chocolates. Milk chocolates is full of milk and sugar and you can’t possibly taste the cocoa in it. What is the point – might as well drink milk and sugar.

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 Time to review another chocolate. This one is pretty common, can be found almost everywhere. Of course for me, I would say it is a bit expensive but then that is just me. Most Singaporeans aren’t really that poor, so I guess I am the exception. This chocolate is from Cadbury and I am sure you do not expect them to make fine chocolates right? Good for a quick chocolate fix. And specially good for those with a sweet tooth because this chocolate is sweet. As I have often said, the only way to eat chocolate is dark chocolates. Milk chocolates are those for the sweet tooth. But there isn’t much a choice here, I couldn’t find a dark chocolate version for this flavour.

The Cadburys Milk Chocolate with peppermint center. Thank the gods for the peppermint center, if not I would have thrown away the chocolates. At least the peppermint isn’t that sweet. The overall taste is quite decent, just don’t expect fine chocolate or even real peppermint flavour. 

 Wow, Dairy Milk chocolate with flowing peppermint flavoured centre. I think the term “flowing” is a bit of an exaggeration. Just common milk chocolate with some peppermint flavoured fillings. Nothing too special but edible.

 I don’t know my DIs. And they have some pretty good advise here – enjoy your favourite treats as part of a balanced lifestyle. That would mean some exercise, some movement, some other food like fruits and vegetables and so on. And NOT just sitting on the sofa watching TV or on the chair surfing the Internet the whole day. I am just surprised that a candy maker gives good advise. Kudos!

 The ingredients are full cream milk, sugar, wheat glucose syrup, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, milk solids, vegetable fat, sweeteend condensed milk, emulsifiers, flavours, salt and colours. Sad, the coca solids is just 26%. If only they made a dark chocolate version. The usual problem is the lack of chocolate flavour and that it is a tad too sweet for older folks like me. Maybe the youngsters would like this one.

 Some  nutritional information for you to be impressed about. 5.9g of fat is nothing lah!

 One piece of the chocolate.

 Yes, there is the “flowing” peppermint center. And yes, I bite my nails. I can’t help myself. Not too sure when it started but this nail biting habit for mine has been going on for years and I just can’t stop it. Even I get a little nervous or even just bored, I would bite my nails.

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Yes, I finally got it. This is authentic Ragi (not to be confused with the millet) – not the one from our Chinese Medicinal halls but one actually from Indonesia! One of my readers had some and he (or she) sent them to me. Thank you! Greatly appreciate it. And I am going to make myself some Tapai Ubi Kayu soon. The problem now is getting young tapioca. Went to Sheng Siong the other day and found only old tubers  which would make the Tapai fibrous. Not something you would like to bite into – trust me, getting young tapioca is very important when making Tapai Ubi Kayu. I have tried before those fibrous ones and I hate having to pick out thin pieces of tough stick-like thingy from my mouth every once in a while. It is not good.

Anyway, here are some of the photos of the Ragi. Looks very much like the Chinese Wine Biscuits used to make Chinese Rice Wine. In fact, I think there are almost identical except maybe a slight difference in the composition of mold and yeast (since they came from Indonesia). They are usually made from flour and ginger and then left in the open to attract the correct mold and yeast. After that they are immediately dried. If I am not wrong, it should be left in the open for 2-3 days to attract the correct mold and yeast. I am waiting for someone to make a pseudo Ragi from the mold and yeast found in actual Ragi. This would ensure that we get the same taste and result everytime.

It comes in twos. Individually wrapped so there should not be any worry about hygiene here. The process is exactly the as making Rice Wine. Pound the Ragi till it becomes fine powder. Cook the tapioca (half cooked) and then let them cool. After it is cool enough to handle, add the Ragi powder to the tapioca. Let this sit (in a clean container) in a dark warm room for about 2-3 days. You should see the tapioca changing colour slightly and there will be a sweet smell coming from the container. And yes, that would be Tapai Ubi Kayu or fermented tapioca. Add a little sugar and you are ready to eat.

Yes, pretty small. Much smaller than the Wine Biscuits we get here. But from my experience, you don’t really need a lot of it. The mold grows pretty well especially if you feed them the correct type of starch. However it is often the yeast that is going to give problems. But no worries, I always keep a pack of bread yeast as standby when making Tapai or Rice Wine. If after 3 days you are not seeing any liquid forming (which would mean no fermentation), just add the pack of yeast to the container. You should see fermentation soon enough.

Have a look at my previous attempt at making Tapai Ubi Kayu.

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Time for some “high classed” chocolates. And I bought this from Shop N Save if you would believe it. So this means that the chocolate is not really high class right, since I bought them from a relatively common supermarket. But at least it taste wonderful to me. GuyLian (not to be confused with Ah Lian aka female gangster wannabes) is a famous chocolate manufacturer in Belgian. They made some of the more delicious (but affordable) chocolates and they have been available in Singapore for some time. I remembered my first time having a GuyLian chocolate was those seashell chocolates – again they were wonderful.

Anyway, I bought this for about S$3.50. 4 small pieces of chocolates. Yes, luxury for poor folks like me. I don’t think Shop N Save usually carries them but since Christmas is coming, they are starting to stock up on chocolates. And honestly S$3.50 is not really expensive, it is just that I am poor.

The name is La Perlina Dark Truffles. Dark as in dark chocolate. No, I doubt there are any real truffles in the chocolate. And oh, wow, 74% cocoa solids, not too shabby. But note that the majority of the chocolate are the “truffles”. Only the surface of the chocolate is made from the 74% cocoa solid chocolate.  I really like the milk truffle filings, very nice. I believe they have a milk chocolate version, which I doubt will be as good as this dark chocolate version.

I can’t read the wordings and I have thrown away the box.  Should not be anything important.

The back of the pack. They say that you should store the chocolate at 18 degrees celcius.  I am surprised that there are a lot of people who still keep their chocolates in the fridge. I find hard chocolates that really that nice to eat and I have never kept my chocolates in the fridge. Just a cool place in the cupboard would be enough.

The ingredients are cocoa mass, vegetable fat, sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, emulsifier (soya lecithin), natural vanilla flavouring. Contains 74% of cocoa solids. Yes, I love dark chocolates. If you have only eaten milk chocolates, you should really try dark chocolates – the difference is the extra complexity which you will never find in milk chocolates.

Made in Belgium. 33g of chocolates. Only 4 pieces. I am so sad.

See, 4 pieces of chocolate. Hey, one of the chocolate truffles looks dented. Maybe they give me a little less truffle in that one.

I took a bite and I was in heaven. My nails looks fine right? Somehow I can’t stop myself from biting my own nails. Bad habit which I have been trying to get rid of since I was like 10 years old but still persists. Anyway we should stop talking about disgusting habits and talk about the taste of this chocolate. I have to say, it is lovely. The interior filing complements well the dark chocolate shell. Not too sweet – the way I like it.  And as I said, don’t put the chocolates in the fridge! The smooth silky texture of the filings will be destroyed. And once you put the chocolate in the fridge, and if you bring it out to room temperature, it is going to melt for sure.

Alas, poor people like me we will need to consider twice before buying such chocolates. Not because it is not nice, but because we don’t have the dough. By the way, I ate the whole lot in one sitting. Ciao.

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It has been some time since I make any real alcoholic stuff but I think it is about time I start going back to making some alcoholic drinks. So why not make some wine – from grape juice. Yes, most people will tell you that you will never get the same quality of wine if you use those store brought grape juice. Heck, you won’t even produce a good wine if you use store bought grapes. That might be true but honestly, is there a need to have those types of wine? As long as it taste good enough, I think it should not be a problem. It is cheap, it is tasty and in Singapore, it is even legal. Basically what you need is a container to ferment your wine, some grape juice (without any preservatives) and yeast. I kid you not, that is what you need. Of course, it would be easier if you have some other equipment like an airlock, racking cane, yeast nutrients, finings and proper wine yeast. So this is what this Red Star Montrachet Active Dry Wine Yeast is for.

5 grams of yeast!

This envelope contains enough yeast to make up to 5 gallons (20-23litres). For best results, dissolve yeast by adding about 1/4 cup (50ml) of water at about 38°C-41°C. After opening, the yeast should be used within 1 month and kept under refrigeration. The ingredients are yeast and emulsifier. And it is manufactured in Belgium. Anyway, from what I read this is a good fermenter and should produce relatively full bodied wines. So why not give it a try?

The major problem with making wine in Singapore is the temperature. The temperature is just too high to make good tasting wine. Either you have to find a cool place in your house or you use some sort of a cooler like what I have. It is just a big styrofoam box where you can place the fermenting container in and you add ice packs to cool down to the temperature you want. Easy, relatively cheap but you will need to do some work (replacing the ice packs).

If you are looking for some expert wine making classes, you should try out Wholesome Living. http://www.wholesomeliving-sg.com/classwines.html

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Well, this is just a little test. I wondered to see whether I should boil the tapioca or steam it. From what I read, if you steam the tapoica, you will get a slightly dry Tapai Ubi Kayu. However if you boil the Tapioca, you might get a very mushy result. So I start this little experiment to see which will be the one I like. Anyway, this is a rush job, you can see the small pieces of the Wine Biscuit which have not been properly pounded into a powder. So sorry about that. But it should work, since all we need is the mould in that Wine Biscuit to start converting the starch in the tapioca to sugar and then for the yeast to convert those sugars into alcohol. At the end it will be Tapai Ubi Kayu! Fermented Tapioca – sweet with a hint of alcohol. The one I had which my mother brought back home the other day was heavenly. I can’t stop thinking of it since the day I ate them. Of course I couldn’t just go to the stall and ask the lady how she did it but there is nothing wrong with experimenting. And my of my readers is sending me some Ragi (thanks!), so I will be doing this for real some time soon.

Who knows, some day Tapai Ubi Kayu might be one of my staple snacks – definitely healthier than the rest of those other fried snacks I have been consuming. And that small amount of alcohol isn’t going to do any harm to you lah.

Tapioca with the wine biscuit. Again, this was a rush job, so I didn’t pound the biscuit properly. You will see some big chunks still in there. As I said, it should not affect the end result of the little experiment.

Another view. The small amount of vapour is because the tapioca is slightly warm. Don’t worry, it is cool enough to touch so it will not kill off the mould or the yeast.

All kept in a bottle. Hope it will turn out okay. The next morning, I started to smell something sweet already, so that is a good sign that the mould is working (converting the starch to sugar). Now it would be the time for the yeast to start fermenting those sugars to alcohol. Hope it will turn out moist the way I like it. Will keep you guys updated soon.

Update 16-11-2011: Not too sure whether I did it right but I did taste the alcohol, so the wine biscuit did its job. However it wasn’t sweet at all. At least I didn’t taste any hint of sweetness in the Tapai. A pool of alcohol was formed on the bottom, so there should be some starch to sugar conversion and alcohol conversion going on. Maybe I need to add a little sugar to it before fermentation. Well, I will be making another attempt once I get the Ragi from one of my readers. Hopefully it will turn out better.

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Yet another chocolate review! I know that it is not really that healthy, even though it is supposed to be some form of dark chocolate but I just can’t help myself. Every time I visit the supermarket, those bottles of chocolates are just sitting there on the shelf, challenging me to bring them back home where I will gleefully place them into my mouth. What can I say? I am weak. Anyway, I bought this from Sheng Siong – apparently it was on offer but during the check-out, it was not indicated to be on offer and I forgot to check (as usual). So by the time I remembered that it was supposed to be S$7.90 I had returned home. Yes, I am too lazy to walk back to ask for a price return. Not only that, I had already opened the bottle.

This is the dark chocolate with almonds. Basically roasted almonds coated with dark chocolate. Sinful? Yes. Delicious? Yes. Unhealthy? Most likely.

There you have it, the Beryl’s Almond Bittersweet Chocolate. Not too shabby lah. But the dark chocolate does not taste anything like any dark chocolate I have ever tasted. Definitely without the complex flavours that dark chocolate supposed to have. Most likely they just add more sugar to replace the milk and cocoa solids. You know, cocoa solids is pretty expensive compared to the sweeteners. So yes, this is indeed bittersweet chocolate with the emphasis on sweet.

Almond coated with bittersweet chocolate. 500g.

A more detailed view. The brand is Beryl’s.

If you can read the ingredient list, you have better eyesight than mine. The list is long, so it should not be that good. I think they claim that it contains about 31.45% cocoa solids. Well, better than many milk chocolates I suppose. And for me, I would very much prefer an ingredient list which is short and does not contains words which I can’t even pronounce. But alas, most commercial processed products nowadays contain all those chemicals and whatever so there is no avoiding them unless you are willing to fork out a ton of money or make them yourself.

Some nutritional information for you to check out while you consume the big balls of chocolate.

This chocolate is probably made in Malaysia. I am very sorry for the blur photos. I just don’t know how to use a camera properly. There is enough lighting just that my skills as a photographer suck big time.

There you have it, one relatively big piece of almond covered bittersweet chocolate from Beryl’s. The chocolate layer is actually pretty thick compared to the other brands of chocolate. Many of these coated chocolates have very thin layer of chocolate while is pretty nice as well but if I eat chocolate, I would rather have some taste of chocolate when I bite into them. The almonds are also quite decent. So overall, no complains. Honestly, I seldom have complains about chocolate products.

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It seems that in Thailand, they love their coated peanuts. Probably one of their favourite snacks there. In Singapore, it is also one of our favourite snacks, just that here we definitely aren’t that adventurous. Most of the time, it is just squid flavoured or BBQ or something. In Thailand, they have coconut and even coffee flavoured coated peanuts. I kid you not. The world famous coffee coated peanuts have arrived in Singapore. But sadly, I don’t like it. Maybe it is because I am not that adventurous or that I don’t really like coffee, but the taste of this peanut snack didn’t agree with it. Not even after I eat a few. Normally I cannot stop eating the Koh-Kae Peanuts once I start but this time, after like 4 or 5, I gave up voluntarily. That speaks volumes for someone who can’t control his mode of snack eating!

The Koh-Kae coated peanuts. Coffee flavour.  I bought a can and ate like only a few peanuts before I stopped. I tried giving to others in my office but it seems that the flavour is not popular with them as well. Maybe we Singaporeans need to start adjusting our tastebuds to accept different flavours. I read from the Internet that people are claiming that this coffee flavoured peanut is the best. That is why I bought it from Sheng Siong. Never did I expect something tasting so bad.

Another view. Who would have thought of adding coffee to peanuts?

Don’t play play. Premium export quality.

Okay, the ingredients are peanuts, something, flour, vegetable oil salt, coconut cream and coffee flavour. Why is there coconut cream here?

Some nutritional facts for you to look at while you slowly eat the peanuts.

List of distributors.

Product of Thailand. They must love their coffee. Honestly, I like their other flavours but this coffee one certainly didn’t appeal to me.

Oh look, coffee coated peanuts!

A detailed view of the peanuts. Basically they are just flour coated peanuts with coffee flavour added to it. If you are into coffee, this might taste decent. But for non coffee drinkers like me, it just taste downright awful.  Waste of money in my opinion. They are actually more expensive than the conventional flavours. The Tom Yam flavour was great!

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I bought this online. Don’t ask me where I got this because I don’t think it is an official source. Heck I don’t even think this is the real stuff.  If I remembered correctly, I paid USD 9 for this pair of headphones which is much lower than what I would expect from a “branded” pair of headphones. No it is not those wireless headphones but a normal wired one. And it is supposed to be light weight which I really like. Although I am not planning to use this on the road, being light is good since I really hate those big bulky kind of headphones. Feels like you are wearing a helmet.

Airily Portable Wire Headphones ZHP-013. Light and airy. I don’t really understand what does airy means but I guess it means that it is light as a feather? Uniquely designed wire headphones go with you any where, any time. Sound and Style. Well, it does look quite good – I always like stuff that is simple without the flashy graphics or design.

Zumreed is actually a company in Korea. It doesn’t seem to be that popular in Singapore though. But of course I am not a sound person.

Another view, this time without the plastic cover.

Some information for you if you understand Japanese. Maybe Zumreed headphones are popular in Japan?

More information in Japanese. Oh, made in China like everything else in the world.

The simple pair of headphones. Nothing too flashy. You might think that the muffs are too small but it is meant to be so. The muffs does not cover completely the ears. Don’t worry, it works and it is pretty comfortable. Unlike many headphones I have used, this one is pretty comfortable. I can wear it for hours without the need to take it off. Just two thin metal handles to hold onto the muffs. Simple, light and comfortable – that is what I want from all my headphones. But it could be a little too small for those with a big head though.

Zumreed brand.

The sound quality is acceptable. As I said I am not a sound guy but from the movies I watched, I didn’t find anything amiss from the audio part. As for listening to music, I also find it acceptable. I mean if you compare it to the Monster Headphones my friend has, of course it is far apart. But for a relatively cheap pair of headphones that feels very comfortable, I think it is still good enough.

Sorry for the dark pictures. I took the photos in the evening and I think I forgot to change the settings.

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