Puerh teas with a twist

I have never liked Puerh teas because they taste too earthy and like mud in my opinion.

Recently I went past this stall and saw these tea tablets and got some to try because they smelt quite nice especially the glutinous rice one 糯米香普洱 and Lotus Leaf 荷叶普洱沱茶.

Puerh and glutinous rice was really fragrant like pandan.
The puerh lotus leaf is like drinking tea after just having eaten lotus leaf wrapped rice dimsum.
There are other flavours as well such as lemon, rose, dates etc.

http://www.ybtea.com/index.php?m=content&c=index&a=show&catid=16&id=3

LAY'S cucumber flavoured crisps

Thanks to a friend for getting me these crisps.

I was surprised it was cucumber flavoured.
Before I tried it, I was expecting it to have a minty taste which it did.

There was a sweet scent too when I opened the bag!
It did not smell of cucumber but when you eat it, the cucumber taste is quite strong.
Just for fun! At the back of the packet, the shelf life is referred to as "Durablity"

Abalone biscuits from Lun He Yuan in Foshan

My friend got me these from Foshan, they look like flat spiral cookies.

The texture of these are quite hard and they taste savory.
They remind me of Western Palmiers or Elephant ears which are made from puff pastry and butter.

Sachima

My friend got me these Sachimas from Foshan and they were surprisingly nice.

I have not had much of these before because they looked big and I thought the texture was hard, but surprisingly they are soft.
This particular one was not too sweet so I loved it, some have dessicated coconut on it too.

It is also chewy as well, so I really enjoyed eating it.
There is a distinctive smell with these Chinese pastries but I do not know which ingredient that is.
I find this smell in other Chinese pastries especially the fried ones.

Sachima, also called Shaqima is a common Chinese pastry found in many Chinese-speaking regions. Each regional cuisine has its own slightly different variation of this food, though the appearance of all versions is essentially the same.

Sze Hing Loong: Super ring cheese flavoured snacks

Another snack from Sze Hing Loong: cheese flavoured corn rings.

Basically they taste like wotsits with sweetener!

Angel Fruity mooncakes 安琪水果月饼 Pineapple

http://www.szangelfood.com/

The Angel Fruity mooncakes 安琪水果月饼 are filled with dense fruit filling which is really nice because I do not like lotus paste or mung bean paste.

There are three flavors: Melon, Pineapple and Strawberry.

I tried the melon which tasted really similar to the Taiwanese Pineapple cake but much better because I do not like the buttery pastry of the Taiwanese version.

The sweetness was just right and not cloyingly sweet.

Although the filling was nice, the texture was rather dense and sticky and I still have my reservations for eating products from China because they could be synthetic!

Yijiangnan Tea - Jasmine tea leaves

http://www.hzyjn.com/index.asp

10 grams of Jasmine tea leaves by Yijiangnan.

The Jasmine taste was not that strong and the leaves were not intact.

天喔茶庄 Tenwow Beverages Jin Series Puerh Tea

In comparision to the Iron Buddha flavour, I preferred the Iron buddha because I am not a fan of Pu ehr.

Fake pig ears made in China

http://chinanews24.net/2012/05/pictures-fake-pig-ears-found-sold-in-jiangxi/

Recently, fake pig ears were found being sold in the market of Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province. The local Bureau of Industry and Commerce has seized some of these processed artificial pig ears, and sent to the local product-testing authority for examination.
According to their preliminary conclusion, these fake pig ears could have been made from the industry gelatin and plastic material.

Guava drops - Classic series

I am not keen on products from China because you never know what chemicals they use, but anyway I don't think one sweet will do much harm.

I tried it because this fruit drop was guava flavoured which is quite rare.

Inside there is a tiny ball shaped sweet that is light green.

The overall taste was really nice and similar to real guava and it tastes the same as Vita's guava juice drink.

http://www.hongyuanfood.com/hongyuan/cp.htm

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I doublt I would try their other products but some were interesting such as the taro milk sweet.

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Kidsmania strawberry candy

Got this because the packaging was interesting! Obviously it is made in China, so I doubt I will actually finish the whole candy.

The candy is contained in a folded plastic box.

The taste was really fake, but I didnt expect much from it because it is from China and it was really cheap!
http://www.kidsmania.com.cn/

Candied Buddha's hand

Before researching about the Buddha's hand fruit, I used to think it was a genetically modified fruit because of its weird shape but it turns out it is natrually like that.

Anyway tried the Buddha's hand candy which basically tastes like fruit peel with liquorice taste.

Egg Tofu

I am not a fan of egg tofu because it has a slightly sweet taste and it tastes of egg more than natural tofu.
The egg tofu is always packed in plastic pouches which I never knew why until I wiki'd it.

Anyway, this particular one I bought was made in Chinese and it did not taste really nice, although it did not have that sweet taste, it was quite salty and tasted really artificial.
It just tasted like a disgusting version of Japanese steamed egg or savoury egg caramel pudding.

Definition of Egg Tofu by wikipedia:
Egg tofu (Japanese: 玉子豆腐, 卵豆腐, tamagodōfu) (Chinese: 蛋豆腐, dàn dòufu; often called 日本豆腐, rìbĕn dòufu, lit. "Japan bean curd") is the main type of savory flavored tofu. Whole beaten eggs are filtered and incorporated into the soy milk before the coagulant is added. The mixture is filled into plastic tubes and allowed to curdle. The tofu is then cooked in its packaging and sold. Egg tofu has a pale golden color that can be attributed to the addition of egg and, occasionally, food coloring. This tofu has a fuller texture and flavor than silken tofu, which can be attributed to the presence of egg fat and protein.

Chinglish hilarious dishes finally get a proper English dish name

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2012/03/13/no-longer-on-beijings-menu-chicken-without-sex/

After a city-wide effort to scrub embarrassing English translations from street signs ahead of the 2008 Olympics, Beijing is embarking on yet another linguistic rectification campaign – this one aimed at restaurant menus — that’s bound to leave foreigners a bit disappointed, if better informed.

Associated Press

The Beijing Foreign Affairs Office and the Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages Program have jointly published a book offering official guidance on the translation of Chinese restaurant menus featuring “proper” English translations for 2,158 Chinese dishes, the state-run Beijing Daily reported on Tuesday.
Gone are the days of “four glad meatballs” (四喜丸子), which the book says should be henceforth known as braised pork balls in gravy. And as for “tofu made by a woman with freckles” (麻婆豆腐)? From now on, the iconic Sichuanese dish should be simply indentified by its Romanized Chinese name, mapo dofu.
Many restaurant menus feature English translations so strange they confuse, not only foreigners, but even English teachers well versed in “Chinglish,” the paper quoted an unnamed official with Beijing Foreign Affairs Office as saying.
“The names of Chinese dishes are rich in meaning,” the official said. “It’s not always just about the ingredients. Sometimes it’s a mixture of culture, historical events, peoples’ names, etc.”
Mangled translations have long been a source of amusement to foreigners visiting Beijing – and an embarrassment to city officials eager to present China’s capital as a sophisticated, global metropolis. With the Beijing Olympics looming, city officials launched a war on Chinglish in 2006, aiming to eliminate non-standard translations of everything from hotel names to traffic warnings. Though some of the worst examples were corrected – a cultural attraction once infamously identified as “Racist Park” was eventually renamed “the Chinese Minorities Park” – restaurant menus have remained stubbornly resistant.
Debate was unavoidable during the compiling of the list, according to the Beijing Daily. Professor Chen Lin of Beijing Foreign Studies University, one of the experts involved the effort, said many names of dishes sparked heated discussions. According to Mr. Chen, considerable discussion was devoted to the translation of one poultry dish (童子鸡), sometimes translated as “chicken without sex,” with the committee eventually agreeing on the less colorful but arguably more appetizing “spring chicken.”
In other cases, the group appears to have been more concerned with potential misunderstandings arising from stereotypes about Chinese eating habits. In the case of giant meatball dish “red-braised lions’ head” (红烧狮子头), for example, the book recommends “braised pork ball in brown sauce” instead. “If foreign customers found a lion’s head in the menu, I’m sure they will complain it at animal protection organizations,” the newspaper quoted Mr. Chen as saying.
Exactly how Chinese restaurants come up with their translations – some of which cannot be mentioned on a family-friendly website – is unclear, though one widely noted photo of a Chinese restaurant called “Translate Server Error” suggests online translation software might play a role.
Regret over the potential loss of charming menu missteps is not limited to expats. Reacting to news of the new book, some users of the Twitter-like microblogging service Sina Weibo posted photos of their favorite translation errors. Others said the best solution was for restaurants to provide photos of the dishes to help foreigners order because, as one user put it, “some of the Chinese names are just too meaningful to express in English.”
Whether Beijing’s restaurants will forgo the risky convenience of online translation tools in favor of the government’s recommendations remains to be seen. Beijing Daily quoted the Beijing Foreign Affairs Office official as saying local restaurants would be encouraged to use the book as a reference when making their menus but would not face punishment for going their own way.
Have a favorite Chinglish menu item? Let us know in the comments below (bearing in mind, once again, our website’s family-friendliness.)
– Stefanie Qi

The 5 Grossest Things You're Eating

Gross Food #5: Grain products

Why it’s gross: Many packaged breads and baked goods contain L-cysteine—a non-essential amino acid made from dissolved human hair (often from China) or duck feathers (mmmm). Food manufacturers use the ingredient as a commercial dough conditioner, meant to improve the texture of breads and baked goods.
Why it’s bad: Eating something derived from the human body violates the religious and ethical beliefs of Muslims and vegans. Plus, eew! If you want to avoid ingesting hair and feathers—and really, who doesn’t?—try eating unprocessed whole grains like oats and brown rice, and make your own baked goods whenever possible.


Source:
http://health.yahoo.net/experts/eatthis/5-grossest-foods-supermarket

Shineway Hot Crispy Sausage

Usually sausages are bought from the refridgerated section of the supermarket or in tinned cans/jars.

However, these sausages are ready to eat snacks.

There was so much MSG in these sausages.

Despite the English branding Shineway, they are made in CHINA!!!

Ham by Maling!

Again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another product from China!
But it is produced in Czech.




Anyway, the ham was very mushy in texture, slightly sour.
There was lots of jelly surrounding the ham in the tin.
Curry, Kung Pao and Sichuan pork! Also pork knuckles!! The English on the picture does not make sense because the English on the website is wrong! www.maling.cz

C'est bon taro cake

The packaging looks Japanese, but it is from China.
Slightly greasy and too sweet.
You can taste and smell chlorophene in the cake.