Japanese Candy

Japanese Candy has been trending recently, especially among teenagers and young adults. I think that it is highly probable that the trend was started by a Japanese youtube group called "RRcherrypie".

Specifically, the craze involves DIY candy, most of which the consumer mixes a specific amount of water with different "candy powders" and voila! You just made your own candy! Its pretty hard to explain in words but you can easily find out what I mean by youtube searching "popin cookin" and "kracie", the two companies dominating the DIY candy market.







So the local retailer of Japanese candy, Candy Play Singapore, generously held a sale on their second anniversary and I managed to get a few kracie sets for a low price. I got the neruneru set and basically its just magic sticky candy.

I first added the powder labelled "1" and added a little water(A tiny piece of container was provided to measure out the water) and mixed it. First it was a dull purple. Then I added the powder labelled "2" and mixed it. The mixture slowly became stickier and stickier and the colour actually became a pastel pink! This was the strawberry flavoured sticky candy. I did the same for the next two packets of powder provided and got the yellow sticky candy.



But theres more! If you mix the two sticky candies, you get a whole new flavour. A pack of sprinkles were also provided to sprinkle on top of the sticky candy.

Time for the taste test! The pink candy was strawberry soda flavoured. Indeed, when you eat it, its sort of has tiny air pockets in it that gives a "fizzy" feel. Same with the yellow one, which is yes, lemon flavoured. They both have a really tangy taste to them. And.. the flavour derived from mixing both is...Cola! (last picture) Pretty cool right?

I apologize if this post has been a little confusing. Its quite hard to explain with words and its easier if you watch a video, or even experience it yourself! These don't come cheap usually though. Each pack can cost $6-$14 in Singapore due to the shipping fees.

However, (Im not paid to do this! Just an objective recommendation) it is good to get from Candy Play Singapore as I believe they are the most relevant and they do try to keep their prices reasonable. They are also really nice people! So google them and check out their website if you wish to get some Japanese Candy to try out.

OH WAIT. But if you do not live in Singapore, websites such as napa japan stocks them too!



I will leave you with a video that I did in the past with "Gummyland" a popin cookin set. And while you're at that, check out my channel!

Back to Sugarloaf~

We had our lesson at TCA again. And we just couldn't resist the temptation of the amazing desserts displayed in the sugarloaf display counters.

I really couldn't decide between the gourmet sandwiches and the sushi as they all looked delicious. In the end I went with sushi and I think I'm glad I did. They were generous with the salmon sashimi and there were relatively many ingredients. However, since it wasn't wrapped with nori, the sushi kinda broke up when I picked them up with my chopsticks.






For dessert, I chose the passionfruit chocolate mousse. The bottom later is the mouse, the middle layer is some while chocolate cream and its topped with passionfruit puree. The dessert is elegantly finished with a piece of white chocolate.

The first spoonful was amazing. The rich chocolate flavour of the mousse, the creamy and sweet white chocolate cream was balanced with the acidity of the passionfruit puree. However, the more I ate, it did start to get heavy and a little too sweet. Perhaps it would have been great with a warm cup of tea!

Mocktails?

Yesterday, we celebrated the dad's birthday in advance since mum will be going away on a business trip during his actual birthday.

And so after a meal of chilli crab, salted egg yolk crab, stir-fry and salad, I decided to make some mocktail. Since there weren't enough spirits at home and since Im underage anyway, I made some mocktail instead.

I got the recipe from mybestcocktails.com and made the orange-lime relaxer. So as you can probably tell from the name already, there lime and orange juice in it. Sprite is then added and the mixture is shaken.




Unfortunately, there seemed to be a problem with my shaker and no matter how tighly I held it together, the mixture was flying everywhere. I guess its time to get a new shaker? Anyway, I had to settle for stirring instead and it did change the "effect" of the mocktail a little. Overall, it turned out pretty well actually. Theres the tangy-ness from the lime and the sweetness from the orange juice and the fizzy sprite made it really refreshing to drink. (which is why I initially mistook the name of the mocktail as 'refresher' is my insta and facebook posts)

Since I have some leftover orange juice and sprite, I wanted to make myself a nice beverage after school today. Since there was not enough lime, I replaced it with some lemon. (2tbs lime 1tbs lime, 1tbs lemon) I could taste the difference, but it wasn't significant if one doesn't pay to much attention to the flavours.

Yep. That's it. Hopefully I can try out more recipes after getting a new shaker!

Collin's Grille and Bento

This afternoon, Dad brought back a treat -- A Mixed Grill Bento from Collin's Grille. Bento EXPRESS.

Its $10.90 for this bento. A reasonable price for Aglio Oglio, a small salad, a pretty large German Pork Bratwurst, two pieces of Grilled chicken and a small buttered cob corn.











The texture of the pasta was just right, or at least to my liking and pretty tasty, although a tad too spicy for me.

I liked the bratwurst, which was very satisfying to eat and went well with the gravy. There was a bit too much skin and fat on the chicken but I guess that is just a personal preference. Nevertheless, the chicken chops was one of the better ones I have eaten. Tender and tasty.

The sides were not bad at all! In fact, I quite liked the buttered corn. Though it sits in the same gravy as the bratwurst and the chicken, it was quite a good match. Salad was fresh with just the right amount of dressing.

I visited the restaurant facebook page and I was quite impressed by the menu. All the food looked amazing and are quite value-for-money. Apart from western grill dishes/bento, they also serve Japanese food, as you can tell from the name. I made a note to try those soon!


Overall,  4/5 for taste and 3/5 for presentation! :)

Mocha Chocolate Chip cookies!

Havent been baking in a while and finally got to do so due to yesterdays inpromptu "holiday" x)

I used and modified Laura Vitale's (check out her website and youtube, shes awesome) recipe cause I forgot the vanilla essence and accidentally added too much flour.  I also replaced the vanilla with a two tablespoons of milk and added some honey too.

Thankfully, there were quite a success! They came out quite light and crunchy but I think the coffee flavour could be stronger. Well, I was supposed to add espresso powder but I couldnt get any so had to settle with mocha powder!

Sugarloaf @Temasek Culinary Academy

My classmates and I hopped of to Sugarloaf at the @TCA after food science and product knowledge class. For some of them, it is already their second time there but it was my first so I was a excited bouncing thing xD

Anyway, Sugarloaf is a casual dining cafe run by the CCM (my course!) year 2 students(me next year!). They bake and cook the food sold there under the guidance of the chefs. The front of the house is handled by the students doing service management module.





Now to the important part! -- The food!
I was spoiled for choice as we walked past the counters. The purchasing works in a way that you walk down a "series" of counters and display shelves and you are assigned a number. So as you walk you just choose the food you want and you get billed at the end. The counters are roughly divided into cakes and tarts, desserts and sandwiches, pastries and main course, then cashier and drinks.

In the end I went for the apple crumble and the thai grilled chicken. The thai grilled chicken was nice and tender and a little burnt on one side as you can see from the picture. Maybe its intentional? heh. The sauce that came with it was sweet and spicy and had a strong taste of coriander. Overall, pretty good! Though the portion was a little small.
The apple crumble was really good. The crust is crunchy yet light and not too sweet. The filling though, was a little sweet for me. The meringue (which I thought was whipped cream at first sight), was good too! Not too sweet and melts in the mouth.

Eugenia and Whitney also kindly let me sample their deserts. The lemon curd of the lemon meringue pie was a little too sour for me and there seems to be an overload of meringue. But I suppose that is serves to balance out the acidity of the lemon curd. Nicely browned peaks and sweet and simple presentation tho imo!

The creme brulee was awesome! I really liked it. The satisfying part is always tapping and breaking through the sugar surface. I think the colour of the "brulee" is really nice and I like how it is topped some fruits!

Definitely going to sugarloaf again and looking forward to making these myself next year!