Instant Jajangmyeon

I bought a pack of instant Jajangmyeon last week. I have never tried Jajangmyeon before, so I was pretty excited when I found out that Ranch 99 Market sell various kinds of instant Jajangmyeon. Jajangmyeon, you see, is a Korean dish - wheat noodles topped with black bean sauce, and usually garnished with some diced meat and vegetables. This particular noodles derived from a Chinese dish named Zhajiangmian, which basically made out of the same element of food.

Instant Jajangmeyon

Sure, you may see nothing special about this dish, for it is merely noodles with sauce. But, the thing is, the sauce is the main star of the dish. The sauce is black in color and it is made out of fermented black soybeans. The only thing that popped into my mind when I heard the word "fermented soybean" is a traditional Japanese food named Natto. I've tasted Natto before and I'm not fond of it because it tasted weird, bitter, and funky in a bad way. My past self hoped that Jajangmyeon would tasted somehow better than Natto. 

Put the noodle into a pan of boiling water

The instant Jajangmyeon that I bought had a slightly larger and wider noodle compared to the ones that we have here in Indonesia. It came with another pack inside the packaging, which is the black bean sauce. As I grope the smaller packaging, I could feel some chunks and cube-shaped object at random places. "That must be the meat," I thought.

A pack of black bean paste

Mom did the cooking while I documenting the process. It was written on the package that the noodle must be cooked for five minutes. I don't like soft and squishy noodles, so Mom cooked it for three minutes. The noodles turned out medium well, just how I like it!

Pour the sauce into the bowl

After the noodle was nicely cooked, Mom proceed to tore the smaller packaging and pour the black bean sauce onto the goldilocks. They didn't lie when they said that the sauce is black because it was! Its' pitch black color was intimidating. Now I know why squid-eating predators would sprint when the squid has squirt out its' ultimate self-defense tool: the blinding black ink.

False advertisement 

As I mix the black sauce with the noodles, I could smell the aroma tingling my nose. It smelled slightly weird, to be honest. I rolled my chopstick around the dark brown noodle and took my first bite of Jajangmyeon. It tasted weird, but not too weird for me to finish the whole bowl. The sauce tasted like soy sauce, and it has this weird flavor which I cannot determine. Maybe it was the flavor of the black bean since I have never tried black bean before. There were chunks of mushroom, meat, and potato, and they didn't taste that bad.

Bon appetite~

Long story short, my first experience in eating Jajangmyeon was okay. It didn't tasted that bad, but I would prefer to have a couple bowl of Indomie Kari Ayam. For those who fancy Korean dish, you should definitely try Jajangmyeon. Who knows, maybe you will like it better than I do. 

P.S. You can get instant Jajangmyeon at most supermarket that sells imported products, such as Ranch 99 Market and Food Hall. Happy hunting!

Another Box of Pop Tarts

So, today, I bought my second box of Pop Tarts. Since I have tried the Cookies and Cream Pop Tarts before, I decided to try the S'mores Pop Tarts. The box was decorated with chocolate-glazed tart, with chocolate and white filling, which I assume as the chocolate blocks and the marshmallow spread. I couldn't wait to go home and lay my hand on my first piece of S'mores.

A box of S'mores Pop Tarts

It turned out, I like the Cookies and Cream Pop Tarts better. Don't get me wrong, this one tasted sweet, sugary, and delightful as well, but it's not much to my liking. The chocolate glaze went along perfectly with the tart and the fillings, but I'm not fond of the plain tasteless tart. The white filling was actually marshmallow spread, I could tell by the rocky and bubbly texture. All in all, it was a fine Pop Tart, but I think I prefer to have some genuine S'mores during camping.

The physical appearance of the so-called camp food

Chocolate and marshmallow for fillings

Hey look, it's Tintin!

Nyan Cat for Breakfast

I finally got the chance to buy myself a pack of Pop Tarts! 

Pop Tarts, you see, is one of Kellogg Company's product. It's a sandwiched toaster pastry, with fillings inside and icing on top. This particular snack is well-known for its' heavenly deliciousness and its' one and only meme, Nyan Cat - the animated cartoon cat, with Pop Tarts for its' body, flying through space leaving rainbow trails behind. Pop Tarts is available in 29 flavors, and I managed to bought myself a pack that says, "Pop Tarts: Cookies & Creme". 

Pop Tarts. Pop Tarts everywhere.

This morning, I had a slice of the delicious Cookies & Creme Pop Tarts for breakfast. I opened the package slowly, as if I was handling a fragile object, and found four wrappings inside. It turned out that each wrappings consist of two Pop Tarts. This snack has a rather amusing package, with "Get us out of here!" and "It's dark in here!" written on the wrappers. Since I don't have a regular toaster nor a microwave, I used an oven toaster instead. A warning was written on the wrappings saying that we must not microwave the entire pouch. I didn't bother to obey. 

Being a badass by breaking the ultimate rule of Pop Tarts

When my Pop Tarts is heated perfectly, I took it out from the oven toaster and indulged immediately. For a few years I have waited for this day to come, and I can finally taste a bite of the almighty Pop Tarts! I thought that this funny-looking pastry would be crunchy like biscuits, but it turned out that it share a similar texture with those Ice Cream Sandwich's sandwich. The chocolate pastry was rather soft, yet still bitable,  while the icing on top was solid, crunchy, and sweet. 

I personally didn't like the chocolate pastry because it tasted funny in a bad way. Yes, it was chocolaty, but it left an unpleasant aftertaste and tasted slightly bitter. The icing, on the other hand, was sweet and delightful, and it made the chocolate pastry tasted nice. The vanilla fillings was also delicious and sweet. Eating Pop Tarts makes you feel as if you're consuming a dry version of Ice Cream Sandwich.

Don't you just want to take a bite?

Crack it open, then you will find yourself a hidden vanilla cream

For those who haven't try this delicious product of Kellogg's, go buy yourself a pack. Cookies & Creme Pop Tarts is very enjoyable, although I can't help but to think that the Chocolate Chips Pop Tarts and S'mores Pop Tarts would probably tasted more awesome. Enjoy your breakfast! Nyan~ 

Instant Cappuccino

A glass of hot cappuccino is what we all need when we are lacking of sleep and the need to be productive has to be fulfilled. Why don't you stop by at your nearest supermarket and buy yourself some instant cappuccino, the ones that are being sold in a paper cup. It's easy to make, not to mention it's way cheaper than those fancy cappuccino that you can get at Starbucks. Other than the fact that this drink will keep you sober and productive, you might as well practice your latte art when you're making a glass of this energy booster.

Instant Breakfast: Page Two

Knusper Crunch and Fresh Milk

Ever heard of Knusper Crunch? I didn't know this thing exists until a few weeks ago. I was at a fancy supermarket named 99 Ranch Market and I stumbled upon this particular cereal-like muesli at the breakfast section. It didn't cost much for a small pack of Knusper Crunch, and it has this appealing packaging that attracted me, so i decide to buy some. Since then, having Knusper Crunch for breakfast has been a pleasure. You can eat it with yogurt or with milk, or both if you like experimenting. I prefer to have this cereal with milk because it brings the best of this Swiss-made product. 

A glass of cereal to start the day

Daim-covered Paratha

For those who don't know what Daim is, it's a brand of chocolate that you can find in some duty free stores at airports. Each wrapping has this thin rectangular-shaped milk chocolate, with hard caramel and nuts filling inside. I love the inner part of the chocolate the most because it tasted so good! The combination of the caramel and the nuts is nice. It would be better if they add some more nuts though. 

To have this quick and tasty breakfast, just buy yourself a pack of roti paratha at your nearby supermarket and a bag of Daim chocolate. If you can't find any Daims, you can just use any chocolate bar or chocolate jam. Fry the paratha with non-stick pans until it's darkish brown in color. Follow the instruction located at the back of the paratha packaging properly! When it's done, put it on a plate, unwrap some chocolates and cover the paratha with them. Voila! your chocolate-flavored paratha is ready.

Food mash-up!

Canned Midnight Snack

When you get hungry in the middle of the night and you don't have anything other than canned food, don't hesitate to cook them. A few nights ago, I had the urge to munch when I was about to fell asleep. I couldn't help but to seek for food when, suddenly, Mom offered me to make a plate of American-breakfast-style dish. it turned out that we had a can of baked beans and mini sausage in our foodstuff cabinet. So, Mom took out both cans and started to boil them. 

Boil 'em up together

About 15 minutes later, both of the food were well-boiled and ready to be indulged. Mom placed the sausage after the baked beans, which made it look like meals from a motel restaurant. Mom and I share the dish and we finished it in less than 10 minutes.

A plate of American-style-breakfast for the hungry stomach