New Food Product Concept Development Competition 2008

This will be my last semester being a teaching assistant (TA) at my university. The journey has been very rewarding. There are times when I am totally annoyed by the students. However, on the whole, I must say most of my students are very sweet and smart.

In this semester, I am once again the TA of the module FST 3104 Food Sensory and Innovation. My main responsibility is to guide the students in completing their new food product development project. This project is like a melting pot, taking into consideration chemistry of the food components, its microbiological aspects, its ease of manufacturing (lots of engineering involved) and its final route of marketing.

What makes this semester so memorable is that in conjunction with the course, our team was invited to participate in the New Food Product Concept Development Competition. This event is organized by the Singapore Food Manufacturer Association in conjunction with the Asia Pacific Food Expo 2008. The competition was pretty intense. There were a total of 28 participants ranging from those representing polytechnics and of course our university.

Our institution sent out 4 teams and we grab Best Packaging Award, Most Innovative Award and the Grand Champion. My team, creating the 'Cold-Brew' coffee concentrate was crowned Grand Champion. We were all so fascinated and utterly thrilled. Lots of photo-taking and interviewing by the media followed after the event.

I am so proud of my students. All of them had worked very hard. This will be the best present they gave me before my graduation. Thank you guys!!!

Christmas Treats

Christmas is around the corner!!! The festive mood is everywhere in Singapore. Orchard Road is congested with artificial Christmas trees and lightings. Hhhhmmm, even they are all man made, the view is still pretty magnificient. I shall click some snaps and post them here soon =))

While waiting for the Santa to arrive, my lab mate, Xiaohui has been busy baking a rich collection of Christmas cookies. Here are some of my top picks.

Ginger Bread Snaps:

Nicely brown ginger bread of various cute shapes. Top with colourful food grade decoration. They absolutely brighten up my boring day in the lab.

Raisin Oatmeal Cookies:

These guys might look a little ordinary. But, they taste like heaven! Sweet raisins suspended in a crunchy web of fragrant oatmeals. Delicious.

The Snow White:

These 'suji' like cookies are my beloved. Coated with icing sugars, they are smooth on the outside and soft in the inside. Totally fabulous!!!!

The Chocolate Bar by Max Brenner

Wondering where to go for a cup of nice hot chocolate? Try the Max Brenner Chocolate Bar at The Esplanade.

The place that serves smooth and thick hot chocolate in hug mug. Absolutely aromatic as well. 90 marks from me.

They might probably be the expert of chocolate drink. Depending on its types, each drink might be served differently. Ranging from the hug mug to the suckao selections.

My all time favourite is the Italian Thick Dark Hot Chocolate with a zesp of coconut flavour. Coupled it with a moist chocolate brownies. Trust me, nothing will taste any better.

Tocco Toscano

My current canvas sling bag is getting old and worn out soon. Buying a new spacious sling bag is a must. Hhmm... I am hoping to get a leather ones this time cos I am bored with canvas and synthetic leather material.

Have been window shopping for it for the pass 1 month. Last Saturday, I finally found it from Tocco Toscano. But, the bad news is that it cost SGD 300 for Christ sake!!!! Way out of my budget which is below SGD 200. Well, so I did not get it.

Now, the problem is that I am still thinking about it day and night. Haiz...... Olive green in colour, coupled with off gold colour buckle. So nice...........

My previous blog account got suspended

Haiya. I am totally lost. I've no idea what had happened to my gmail and blog accounts. All of a sudden, both accounts got suspended!!!! Alamak!