Twiggies "Minion" - characters from the "Despicable Me" & "Despicable Me 2"

 Recently my sisters and I made some sweets/dessert that resemble the famous Minion. Minions are those adorable yellow creatures from the film Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2.

The ingredients needed are Vanilla Gardenia Twiggies, POLO sweets for the eyes and Choki-Choki (a type of chocolate paste in a tube).

A "minion" made from Gardenia Twiggies

One-eyed minion

Minions "lookalike" 

Cute? :D

United Arab Emirates - Mac 2010

 Once upon a time in Dubai....

Dubai Metro - We're going to the World's tallest building

Burj Khalifa

Its a wall..

inside a mall...

A building next to the Burj

Wow~

Dancing Fountain 

Dubai Aquarium inside the Mall

Nippon (5): Omiyage - Tokyo Banana

Besides flavoured Kit Kats, Tokyo Banana is also an excellent souvenir for family and friends if you have visited Japan. Its special, its cute and its from Tokyo! LOL~

Tokyo Banana is not an actual banana. Its a banana-shaped sponge cake with banana-flavoured custard cream. Each cake is individually wrapped and comes with a small banana-shaped plastic tray and a packet of oxygen absorber.

Tokyo Banana & Flavoured Kit-Kats

Each Tokyo Banana is individually wrapped.  

20th Anniversary Special 

Tokyo Banana 20th Anniversary Special Gift: Handphone Strap

I like the Tokyo Banana Caramel Custard flavour, too. They have Tokyo Banana Tree now!!

Nippon (4): Japan's Flavoured Kit Kat

Strawberry, Matcha (powdered green tea) and Sakura Matcha

I think this is Nihonbashi Special Edition 

Winter Special Edition

The Matcha Kit-Kat is now available in some Japan-themed stores in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, eg. Aeon. Oishii~

Nippon (3): Umbrella Lock & Weather Forecast

An Umbrella Lock 

The umbrella lock is something special that is not available in my country. I have also seen a machine(?) that will wrap your umbrella with plastic bags before you enter the shop to prevent rain water from dripping all over. Staff or security guards will hand you plastic bags for your wet umbrellas before you enter the shop. ;) Arigatou gozaimasu.

Note the "transparent" umbrella (second umbrella from left). We don't have that in Malaysia, too! I was told those are "emergency" umbrellas that you buy in convenience stores if you forgot to bring your own or if it suddenly rains. Can anyone please verify? ^^ I bought one, but it can't fit into my luggage :(

The weather forecast in Japan is super accurate and I heard those who live in Japan will always refer to the weather forecast before leaving the house so they will know what to wear/bring.

P/S: I LOVE that "Beep..Beep..Beep..Tuuuuttt" sound on the radio to indicate every hour. :D 

Nippon Obsession (2): Posta Collect Gotochi Postcards

Nippon Obsession (1): Chibi Maruko-chan's Stamp

Chibi Maruko-chan's Family on stamp :)

Chibi Maruko is one of my favourite Japanese cartoon. Its shown on TV in Malaysia and I have the comic books (translated to Bahasa Malaysia). Chibi Maruko-chan is more realistic compared to some other cartoons because it shows the daily life of Maruko, her family and friends.