A refined German taste from Japan - Juchheim's matcha baumkuchen (Takashimaya)

Although I have passed by Juchheim many times to date, I have never had the urge to buy their baumkuchen for some reason. Perhaps it was that I always had the impression that baumkuchens are expensive due to the effort and skill needed to produce them or that Japanese brands tend to have this pricey image. However, when I saw the limited edition matcha version publicised on Juchheim's Facebook page, that was the best excuse to try their baumkuchen.

Baumkuchen which means tree cake in German (Der Konig der Kuchen), is regarded as the King of German cakes and also the symbol of the German Confectionery Association. In Germany, confectioners can only earn the title of Meister after mastering how to make this cake. Karl Juchheim, the founder of Juccheim, was the first to bake the baumkuchen in Japan back in 1919.

Much as I am very into anything matcha, I still felt apprehensive about buying a whole baumkuchen on my first attempt especially since it does not have any preservatives and can only last for three days. Coupled with the fact that there were no samples for this flavour, I pondered over this a lot at the counter which I suppose must have made the staff there wonder if I had no intention of buying anything. To make things even more complicated, seeing another limited edition version i.e. dark chocolate swayed my will as I deliberated between matcha and this flavour. In the end, I finally bit the bullet and went ahead with my initial choice. Luckily, the baumkuchen turned out to be better than I expected.

I was expecting a somewhat drier texture and sweeter taste from the matcha flavour based on the impression I got from the lemon version's sample. However, the matcha flavour turned out to have the right amount of moisture and the texture was smooth enough to eat it on its own. If paired with tea, I think it will be a great teatime snack or after-meal dessert. Although the staff did mention that the outermost layer may be a bit sweet, I thought that it was still acceptable for me. Price-wise, the matcha flavour is slightly more expensive than the original flavour but for this quality and size, it's a worthwhile deal after all.

Now that the matcha baumkuchen has won my heart, I guess it's time to get the dark chocolate version soon before it gets taken off the shelf.

When nostalgia strikes - the golden age of Hong Kong dramas

There used to be a time when I was very into Hong Kong dramas. In those days especially during the 90s, cable TV wasn't that widely available and affordable and online streaming was not as prevalent as it is today. As such, there were limited ways to feed my craving for these dramas. Nonetheless, compared to J-dramas, it was lucky that there were more sources I could tap on for HK-dramas. I could wait for the broadcast of older dramas dubbed in Mandarin on free-to-air channels, watch the broadcast in the original Cantonese track on Malaysian TV or shell out money to rent video tapes. I preferred watching the Cantonese versions and actually picked up the dialect through watching these dramas. I guess that was a great takeaway from the hours spent on watching these dramas.

Being a poor student then, it was not possible to use my limited pocket money to rent video tapes for every drama. Most of the time, I resorted to watching the dramas on TV but there was only one drama which I did rent video tapes for - Detective Investigation Files II (刑事侦缉档案II) which goes to show much I love this drama. I have a thing for detective / thriller / suspense stories and this drama has a nice blend of these elements with bromance and a very interesting love triangle featuring Michael Tao (陶大宇), Kenix Kwok (郭可盈) and Amy Kwok (郭藹明).

Recently, this drama has returned for yet another re-run on cable TV and I'm watching it for the nth time (can't remember how many times I have watched this to date). Although I know the story inside out, I still continue watching it and have never lost interest in this all these years.

However, when it comes to the HK dramas in the last 10 years or so, I struggle to come up with a title which gives me the same amount of satisfaction and the motivation to keep watching it over and over again. Perhaps it is due to the fact that many of the big-name HK drama actors and actresses have left the TV station so the casting choices do seem quite limited these days. However, I feel that the issue of dissatisfaction lies more with the storyline rather than the cast. There were a few dramas which were engaging from the beginning but faltered right at the end which was a great pity. Many were lacklustre for a variety of reasons.

As I rewatch Detective Investigation Files II for another round, I can't help but wonder when I will come across another good and enthralling HK drama again.