Edible chocolate deco

Really admire Japanese and their ability to create such cuteness. Saw these on Meiji website. 

So cute and they are made of chocolate and are edible. It is quite creative of the Japanese. It is just like an edible greeting card for you to put whatever message you like. 

I have a hard time trying to read the instruction on the Meiji website on how to make the "glue" to be use to "stick" the wordings and deco onto the chocolate bar despite spending few months learning Japanese Language.  How I wish they have a English site. 

M.O.F. - Japanese Sweets & Coffee

いらっしゃいませ！

Today, Z and I decided to have dinner out instead of at home, as we were both pretty depressed  over things that cope up at work and needed some sweet stuff to cheer us up lol. So we decided to have dinner at MOF at Raffles City. Though we reached there around 6pm, the place was already packed with customers. 

We ordered two dessert items and a bento. The first dessert served up was this red bean sauce and mochi. It tasted a bit too chewy for the both of us, and you had to really dip the sauce because the mochi itself was tasteless.

Next up is my favourite, the azuki beans with mochi.

This is the second time I am eating this because I love the taste!

Anyway I already told Z not to expect much from MOF's food menu as food is not their strength. But he still went ahead and order a curry chicken ball bento. He says the chicken tastes a bit "off". Next time he will try the salmon instead. For me, I will still prefer to stick to their desserts for my next visit.

Z's curry chicken ball bento

Close-up on the curry chicken ball

My conquest for the past 2 weeks

A lot of new dolls to buy these few weeks, just an update on what I have bought:

No new addition to the Blythe population to my collection. I did not get myself new dolls from the autumn sales at Junie Moon online site though there is a 20% discount on some dolls. I also did not buy CWC Exclusive Middie Blythe - Macaron  Q-Tea party mainly due to her price. I hope I would not regret this decision cause I really like her a lot.

For momoko, I managed to order the PetWORKs A Line momoko on the online store on my second attempt on 26 Oct 2010. Yeah!!!! I made payment for her yesterday and she should be on her way to Singapore soon.

After getting her, PetWorks annouced that they are going to have her on order to production, i.e. you can pre-order her while they produce based on your order. But the materials they use for the clothes may be different from the photo as they may not be able to get the original materials for production. A bit disappointed that she will be a limited quantity doll to a mass production one.

I also get myself a usaggie from PetWorks. I do not really like an animal head with a human body other than slyvanian families, but there is something about it that appeal to me.

Usaggi

Due to the amount of stuff I buying this year. I would be canceling my second Japan trip this year in Nov 2010. 

Dinner at Fish & Co.

We had tried lunch at Fish & Co. So it was time to try dinner. If you have a citibank credit card, you can choose either two drinks or a garden salad. We chose the garden since they do provide iced water.

First to arrive was the garden salad. It comes with a sprinkling of deep fried anchovies aka ikan bilis and garlic, with a splash of mayonnaise. The crunchiness of the anchovies work well with the crunchiness of the vegetables. Z ate all the anchovies while I concentrated on the leaves. Lol

 Next up is my dish. I ordered stingray. The fish is soft and not overly cooked. This is important, as this kind of fish will be very flakey and dry if overcooked. The sides are the usual, rice and mashed potato.

This is what Z ordered. It's fish fillet with chilli sauce. Z thinks the chilli is quite ok, not too spicy but still not palatable for those who cannot take chilli. Sides are sauteed vegetables and mashed potato. The mashed potato comes with cheese sauce. If you add a bit of pepper to it, the mashed potato will taste even better!

Overall, this was a very satisfying meal. The bill came up to about $40. Quite ok considering how full we were after that.

New PW momoko again - CCS-momoko 10AW Home

PetWorks announcing new momokos - CCS-momoko 10AW Home. I wonder how my wallet is coping with the news. 

My visit to Moomin Bakery & Cafe at Tokyo Dome City

If you are looking for interesting places to visit in Tokyo, you can try the Moomin Bakery Cafe located in Tokyo Dome area.

Moomin: "Welcome to my bakery and cafe"

It is a Moomin theme cafe, serving bread and western meals. The interesting part about the cafe is that some of their foods that they are Moomin theme, i.e. Curry rice in shape of the character of Moomin Valley:-

Nothing attract me than sweet cakes and yummy pudding

In addition, there is a life size moomin plushie sitting at each table in the cafe to accompany you for your meal at the cafe. As I went there around the Christmas period, the moomins are all dressed in Christmas Theme. 

I ordered their pumpkin pudding and chocolate cake. For the pumpkin pudding, you can take away the cup after you finished eating. It is very common in Japan for food to come with "take-away" plate or cup, etc after you are done with the meal. 

At the other side of the cafe you can also pick moomin items like forks, spoons and even mugs as souvenir for your friends or family members.

Their website - http://www.benelic.com/moomin_cafe/tokyo_dome

Address of the cafe:

Tokyo Dome City LaQua, 1-1-1 Kasuga, Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo 112-0003 Japan

CCS11SS "ETERNAL SWEET HONEY"

In 2011, Momoko will celebrate her 10th anniversary. In celebration of this, they are launching 2 new dolls - CCS11SS Eternal Sweet Honey - Ugly Duckling and Princess on the Pea.

Princess on the Pea reminds me of Escort Me Momoko. As for Ugly Duckling, I think she has a sad looking face. Cannot wait for more photos of them. 

Long time no see, Sushi Don

It have been ages since me and Z have our dinner at Sushi Don at Funan Digitallife Mall. Since we are going to visit a friend who just moved his shop to Funan Digitallife Mall, we decided to settle our dinner there before visiting our friend's shop.

This is the first time I tried their Cha Soba. Do not really like the taste of their soba sauce and their soba is a bit soggy. That's one less item for me to choose from the menu next time. 

My Cha Soba

Z always order this don when he was there. I always find the smell of the onion overwhelming. But he loves this dish. The portion is generous, the serving of chicken is adequate and they seemed to have stripped the skin from the chicken, which is a big plus for Z as he does not eat chicken skin and avoid it like the plague.

Z's Don, consisting of chicken, onion and egg. 

After dinner, we are on our way to our friend's store. 

Okonomiyaki

Went to try the Okonomiyaki at Ajisan at Jurong Point. It is nothing compared to the authentic one, as it tastes like it is full and thick with batter. I did taste some bacon and vegetables but the overall feeling was eating mostly batter.

I know that in Osaka and Hiroshima, their styles of Okonomiyaki are different. Those that we have in Singapore are mostly the Osaka Style.

In Hiroshima, their ingredients are layered rather than mixed together. The layers are typically batter, cabbage, pork, and optional items such as squid, octopus, and cheese. Noodles are also used as a topping with fried egg and a generous amount of Okonomiyaki sauce. Their batter is the base, but it is not as overwhelming as the Singapore version, as it is not as thick.

I have tried Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki when visiting in Hiroshima last year. There is a place called Okonomi Mura (御好み村) located at Shintenchi Plaza新天地, where you can found dozen of stalls selling Okonomiyaki, Hiroshima-Style:- 

Okonomiyaki tried in Hiroshima

Their ingredients are layered, you can see the veg at the bottom follow by the noodle, then the fried egg and lastly and most importantly, the sauce.

Okonomiyaki with pork and egg topping

This one is veg with pork and egg as topping,. Without noodle as one of the toppings., it is less filling, but equally nice.

We are given this to eat our Okonomiyaki.

Fat juicy scallop side dish

I hope I can try out the Osaka-Style Oknonmiyaki in Osaka someday. 

I sinned today

I sinned. I cannot help it as the weather today just unbearable. So bought myself a ice blended bubble tea from 'each a cup' after lunch to cool down.

Lunch with a headache

I have been having headache since Tue. It got worse today, but having so much work in the in-tray, I did not take medical leave today.  I decided not to stick to original plan to eat fish soup for lunch today cos it is not appetizing for a sick person like me. My lunch buddy suggested going to lunch at Sakae Sushi at Square Two instead. 

There were not much people lunching at Sakae Sushi outlet at Square Two today (maybe I am there early), which is great for me as the place will be rather quiet with smaller lunch crowd. Too much noise is going to make my headache worse. 


We ordered a don each from the Don Menu. Mine is the unagi don, while my lunch buddy ordered the teriyaki chicken don. While waiting for our main course, our starters:-

Tamago. 卵　It tastes fantastic when you dip it in soy sauce.


Taiyou Oshizushi.太陽押しずし This is something Sakae designed right? Well, it combined two perennial favourites: tamago and salmon. Genius is an understatement. At least Z would think so :-)


Here comes our main course - the DON!!

Teriyaki Chicken Don. The chicken seems to be lightly fried and marinated with teriyaki sauce, which emits faint sweetness that makes the dish that much more delectable.


Eel Don

Feel that the piece of unagi today is much bigger than the one that I normally get. Maybe my headache is making me hallucinate. Every bite of the eel just reminds me of the time I visited the beach near Kamakura in Japan. It tastes like it just swam out of the ocean :-D

Hokkaido Fair Tue 19 Oct to Mon 25 Oct

Received this MMS from Z today:-

Hokkaido Fair

It get me all excited. Takashimaya Singapore is having Hokkaido Fair again this Oct, starting from 19 to 25 Oct. They offering the Shiroi Koibito (White Lover), scallop fishcake, etc. Love to try that corn croquette in that photo. Look so yummy!

Interested, check out their site for details - http://www.takashimaya-sin.com/events_content.html#22

Autumn Sale at Junie Moon!

Junie Moon is having a “Welcome Autumn Sale” from October 9th to October 17th, for a limited 9 day run! And it is extended to Junie Moon International Online Shopping as well. The announcement on Junie Moon International Online Shopping said that this is the first time the Junie Moon international online shopping site has participated in such a sale! A 20% discount is offered for items purchased.

According to the announcement, the 20% discount sale is restricted to selected Blythe dolls.


Neo Blythe - Simply Guava, Simply Mango, Nostalgic pop, Urban Cowgirl, Cassiopeia Spice, Nicky lad, Simply Thumpty Thump, Simply Bubble Boom, Bohemian Peace, Achachum Zukin, Love and More, and Very Vicky


Petite Blythe - Pure Punthic and Muchacha Zukin



I guess this is not a good new for those who bought these Neo Blythes from Junie Moon Online site at the original price. But for those who have not and planning to, may be it is a good chance to take advantage of the sale to get those Blythes are a cheaper price.

Want free ticket to Japan?

Just received an email from JNTO (Japan National Tourism Organization) in Singapore.yesterday. They are organizing a online travel contest again.  Hurray!! 

I joined the contest, think 2 year back, but did not get selected. Not sure whether to enter into the contest again this round. 

For this round, it is "Discover Japan via Haneda Airport", and they will sponsor free ticket to the winners to fly into Haneda Airport from Singapore. 

The participating contestants will need to plan interesting itineraries to either Tokyo or other part of Japan. There are three differenet travel categories which the contestants can choose to do their itinerary:

1) 3 Days Tokyo Jalan Jalan

2) 5 Days Gateway Japan via Haneda

3) 5 Days Discover East Japan

For those who are interested, can check out their website at www.discoverhaneda.sg for the T&C.

A Line Momoko

Latest momoko dolls from PetWORKs is the special A Line. She is designed and hand-maded by “A line”, Akane Suzuki herself. She comes with a price tag of 50,000 yen and sold through the lottery at PetWORKs Store.

PetWORKs Special A Line

I guess what makes her so much more expensive than this other PetWORKs released CCS momoko dolls is the amount of details that went into a A line outfit. I really like her and want her!!! But her price tag and the shipping fee is making me think twice.
** See http://doll.petworks.co.jp/staff/?p=154 for more information on the lottery information on this doll.

 I am glad that other than the special A line doll, they also have a version at a cheaper price of 22,000 yen.

PetWORKs A Line

 ***See http://doll.petworks.co.jp/staff/?p=168 for more information on the purchasing information on this doll.

Daiso Charcoal Mask

This week is a lucky week for me. 

I won a $20 voucher from Sakae Sushi contest and also got a $30 vouchers from Watson due to RBS card promotion. 

And also, I finally managed to find Charcoal Mask from Daiso outlet at IMM.  It has been out of stock for a while already. I am so glad that they are finally re-stock it. 

Daiso Charcoal Mask

I simply love the charcoal mask from Daiso, as it is very efficient for removing blackhead and what more, it is also very cheap, only S$2.

Another Q-pot and Blythe collaboration, Middie Blythe "Macaron Q-Tea Party”

So happy to know about the release of a new Middie Blythe, adding on to that is that the first one that JM is releasing is a collaboration with Q-Pot. 

Hug hug please!

I really like to get her. I already have Princess Milk BisQuit de Q-pot and Mademoiselle Chocolat de Q-pot. However the price tag of 14490 yen is making me re-considering my decision.