Hold your horses, it's only choccies made in Hong Kong and sold in Asia that are being recalled. So the Cadbury's here in Europe is fine.
The products include Cadbury Eclairs, dark and milk chocolate, hazelnut and praline chocolate, dark Chocettes, and products made specially for the Chinese New Year (in February).
[...]
bq. Cadbury's Asia Pacific region includes Australia, New Zealand, India, Japan, Thailand, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines and South Korea. The recall order was so far only registered in Hong Kong
More info at HK gov's The Centre for Food Safety - http://www.news.gov.hk/en/category/healthandcommunity/080929/html/080929en05004.htm
All the recent news about immigration officials in Dublin airport treating certain visitors to strip searches, detaining them, humiliating them even though the visitors have valid visas. The article today from the Irish Times highlights all the recent incidents and some experiences from various interviews. I'm one of the luckier ones that gets a "how are ya?" and a half-nod. But this is only in recent years, and mainly when I travel back to Dublin airport. No one actually mentioned about other national airports, such as Shannon airport. I'd remember I would get wave passed, but not before I get a discerning look of disapproval. Maybe it's just my imagination, I am very sensitive to any reactions around me in those situations.
Other unpleasant experiences that I remember (not that many, thank goodness):
Recently I was in Seattle, and the immigration took my passport, chatted a little and said "Welcome home!" by accident before changing to "..erm.. United States of America. Enjoy your stay.". That was funny, maybe because I have some American twang in my accent. I think it's most likely that they are use to seeing Asians travelling in and out, and there were alot of Asians working in the airport. Obviously, they did not bat an eyelid in San Francisco.
Any experiences, opinions? Chat about it at the IBC forum.
(大白兔奶糖) White Rabbit Creamy Candy that may contain melamine are recalled and Asian supermarkets have been told to stop selling them by The Food Safety Authority of Ireland.
This action follows laboratory testing by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) in which unsatisfactory levels of melamine were found in the sweets. This product has been withdrawn in other countries. The FSAI is advising consumers who may have purchased these sweets not to eat them. Retailers and wholesalers are advised to immediately remove these sweets from shelves.
More info here.
If you have not heard of the milk scandal in China, just do a search in Google and in the news, you'll find it's not just affecting baby milk (which is deplorable in itself as it did harm people, especially babies), but other dairy food stuff.
Today, I received an email from a Singaporean friend saying that the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore has issued recalls in a number of dairy produce originating from Mainland China. They are extra strict but pay heed nonetheless. Health is the most important thing right now, and something needs to be done to the wretched people who only care about their own pockets and causing harm to unsuspecting public.
Highlights from their site:
As of 24 September 2008, the AVA has detected melamine in an additional 5 products imported from China. Two are flavoured milk and three are confectioneries containing milk powder as an ingredient. They are :
- Dutch Lady Banana Flavoured Milk;
- Dutch Lady Honeydew Flavoured Milk;
- Silang - House of Steamed Potato - Potato Cracker;
- 徐 福 记 Puffed Rice Rolls - Butter Corn Flavour; and
- 徐 福 记 Puffed Rice Rolls - Cheese Flavour
This brings the total number of affected products to 8. The other products that were earlier found to be contaminated with melamine are:
- Yi Li Choice Dairy Fruit Bar Yogurt Flavoured Ice Confection;
- Dutch Lady Strawberry Flavoured Milk; and
- 大白兔奶糖 - White Rabbit Creamy Candy
In my friend's email, there were more products, but I'm not sure if all those were recalled, so I won't include in this entry.
Anyway, more information in the PDF provided by the AVA, and they even include images of the contaminated products.
Came across this news article. The teenager is on bail and has not been charged. he was
suspected of placing 2,000 Chinese-language pop songs on a Web site for free downloading.
I did not come across any funky vending machines, like cans of hot food. Not sure what it would taste like though.
Saw this from one of my friend's postings in Facebook. It might make you miss HK more and also how easy it is to make a nice video with something as simple as a handicam.
Teaser Trailer:
Now the 3 eps:
Wong Fu Productions website: http://www.wongfuproductions.com
From Fusion View's tweet, he pointed out that Singapore's Prime Minister showed the use of Qik on a live broadcast. Pretty cool, huh? Wonder what will it be like in Ireland if our Taoiseach did something similar?
While I was in Seattle, I came across this Japanese store called Daiso Japan, just so happens to catch my eye after buying some bus tickets down by the WestLake Centre. All I can say is "OMG!". The music bopping in the background is JPop, you walk into this wonderland of Japanese goods. It's everything and anything you can think off. Sweets, hardware, stationary, sushi making wares, home wares, toys, the lot. Mick found a DVD and magazine storage bags. We bought a couple as it does not take up space. I've been dying to try them out and what's brill about them is that they have carry handles and a clear plastic side to see the titles of your dvds or magazines. I also bought some for my brother's ever growing pile of mangas. A proper example of the bags can be found here (either that or I'll have to take a picture of them).
All I can say is, if Daiso Japan opens here, I'll be in there quite often. So much cute stuff, that I will buy loads and will have an excuse of buying space storage stuff from the store as well. Heehee.
Oh, and guess what, everything is US$1.50 unless otherwise specified. And yes, almost everything is US$1.50. What a bargain!
