I love how instant cooked meals are evolving from instant cup noodles to microwaveable meals and now to this. The innovations from people today are astounding and most of all, inspiring. 

I've been one of the few who was amused by the recent craze on the internet over this instant mala hotpot, originated from Si Chuan and Chong Qing. The brand "lazy people" illustrated the food trend today for people who are mostly on the go, with little or no time to prepare pipping hot home cooked meals. 

This instant mala hotpot is sold on Qoo10, Carousell, Shoppee (and many more) if you wanna get it in Singapore as it has yet to hit the local stores. Priced between $10- $12, it is slightly more on the expensive range for instant foods. I got mine in Malacca when I was there on a short family vacation, sold at 29RM. 

How the packaging looks like. Filled with chinese words but they are basically descriptions of the ingredients, nutritional values, shelf life, manufacturing etc etc.  

Ingredients consist of 1) soup base, 2) potato starch noodles, 3) assorted vegetables including lotus, black fungus, potatoes and bamboo shoots, 4) quail eggs, 5) beef sausage, 6) sesame oil 

The instructions manual given was easy to follow, you just have to dump all the ingredients into the bowl, add 1/3 cup of water, open the heating pack and place it onto the bigger bowl, pour about 1/5 water, cover it with the pot of ingredients, and close the lid for 15 minutes. 

And... you're done. :) 

Taste Review: 3/5 

I considered the taste to be slightly overwhelming, which would probably take sometime for Singaporeans to be used to it. The hotpot was spicy, numbing and best of all, oily...... 

However, I've been to China quite a few times and I'm convinced that this is how it should taste like, considering the fact that the chinese eat really really spicy and numbing mala hotpot, especially during winter. 

Hence, it is worth a try (at least just for once). 

Ps: I bought the instant cook beef mala with rice too! Can't wait to try it. :D 

I forgot how old am I, when I started drinking coffee from those 3 in 1 sachets. Usually loaded with sugar, they were the best "solution" when we needed to focus during exams. Coffee did not exactly start out as my favorite drink, because no kids would appreciate its bitterness at their first try. Until now, I would only appreciate coffee with milk - just eliminating the sugar, because it spoils the aroma of the coffee beans. 

Years down the road, caffeine became my everyday necessity. 

Be it a on-the-go kopi siu dai, to cafe hopping, I haven't lived a day without coffee since I don't-know-when. In the fast paced society today, we all need that cup of caffeine boost in order to focus and think. 

Today, not only do we need coffee for a quick perk, many of us also became coffee enthusiasts who travel around sipping different kinds of coffee made with different beans, roasting method and blends. 

Here are the few that I've bummed to while trying to get my caffeine fix:

Coffee Break @ Amoy 

Selling both traditional kopi and ang moh lattes.  

Kopi Guyu (Coffee with Butter) @ Heap Seng Leong Coffeeshop 

Heard about all the ah gongs who used to put a slab of butter into coffees? This coffeeshop is perhaps one of the few left in Singapore to remain its butter legend. Forget about the calories, the smoothness of the coffee was enough to make me finish the entire cup.  

Changi Coastal Settlement 

Enchanted Cafe 

Coffee on the rock @ Brunches Cafe 

Bev's C, JB 

Compos Coffee, Melbourne

I like how entrepreneurs and baristas are coming up with new creative ways of presenting their coffee to customers. Be it coffee cubes, fancy foamy latte arts or cotton candy coffee, they tend to draw people like me to try them out. However, at the end of the day, what draws repeated customers are not just creative presentations, but the aroma and perfect blend of the coffee. 

Tell me what's my everyday to go coffee - I've stopped those 3 in 1 sachets since 3 years ago. Now I'm a full time nespresso with milk type of coffee drinker.