Expectations.

The new intern JJ who has just joined us on the 30/8/11, asked me what kind of responses i would expect out of the new market project ( will be talked about in a separate posting) which we will be diving into this week. i shrugged and said, any response would be good. If not this marketing effort would at the very least spread the news to the receiving ends of the email that JFF existed and is very much alive and happening! 

From previous experiences (8, 9 years ago), when i started peddling packets of dried snow jelly to the medical halls. I get snubbed by all the chinese TCM educated grey hair folks. Some of them were vehemently insisted that my product is a fake (!!??!). I spent weeks and months, travelling to their medical halls with cooked and raw but soaked samples for them asking them to try for themselves to see the difference. I was SUPER enthusiastic, they were much less interested. Out of the 25 shops i visited, only 7 eventually agreed to put our products on consignment. To date, only 3 of them still maintained an account with us. The shops that i subsequently gave up on, placed our products behind closed cupboards.. or underneath stacks of other brands of dried snow jelly.

” Its ok that you do not want to sell my snow jelly. I have 100% faith in my products and you ought to have some respect for it!.” 

Bottomline is to manage your expectation but full conviction on your product!

Halt to the Trial

but thats ok.. This trial was interrupted by a 10 days holiday to Japan. In the quest of looking for more collagen related products, I made up my mind to PAUSE everything I was doing and go on this trip.

This trip was very eventful and was indeed a refreshing  getaway to a world where everyone looks beautiful, well-groomed and contented.

I thought of bringing a packet of the dried snow jelly there but in the end i left it as just that.. a THOUGHT. I didnt find any sushi bar that serves frog sashimi. Oh well, what were i thinking.

I read somewhere about how there could only be 2 fundamental sources of human motivation- Desperation or Aspiration. The Japanese certainly must be motivated by the latter.

While the Chinese do businese based on “Guan Xi”, Japanese do so based on “Wa” – which means harmony and peace. Even though they do not speak my language (English) they try to explain themselves in their language coupled with universal sign language. The sales girls there laugh at absolutely everything and anything you say even though they do not understand you. HMMmm.. seems pretty silly sometimes.. but did they manage to build a rapport..?? Absolutely.

7th Day SJ Trial – Lemon Ceylon Tea with Longan & Collagen Bits

To make this is as easy as 1-2-3!

1. Soak the Tea Bag in a half a cup of warm water.

2. Add in 4-5 Longans (do not add in syrup!!)

3. Add in 100 ml of (soaked and Boiled in rock sugar) Snow Jelly.

OK- Maybe 4 steps. Lastly, add in some ice cubes!!

Swarmed with lots of admin work today.. so cooking is not an option. That is why its useful to stock up the soaked and boiled in Rock sugar Hashima in the fridge! In fact, other than for preparation of this trial i have been cooking tens of bowls; in fact by today it would have been at least a 100 BOWLS of Royal Snow Jelly in this week. We have an order for 99 bowls of dessert for a RC group coming tomorrow morning. And on Sunday, we will be participating in a 9am-12pm event at Teck Whye CC. We will be selling our Royal Snow Jelly and the Applicious Collagen Desserts there!! So please do show your support by showing up at our stall!

6th Day of SJ Trial – Savoury Collagen Omelette

I must admit that i’m pretty tired of adding snow jelly in all the sweet desserts. Today i am going to experiment with adding the Processed Snow Jelly (Pls read below) into my favourite omelette. I remember seeing this cook performing this recipe in a cooking show before when i was younger and Mum actually did tried it!

Guess i must be pretty young when Mum was buying the dried snow jelly from medical halls. I do have recollections of her using a tweezer to pluck out those black specs and threads etc.. the smell of those products were pungent so she usually add in ginger in her cooking to kill that smell.

When i was in my mid teens, Dad started experimenting processing the snow jelly from the raw products and our family eat A LOT of that. Luckily for sweet toothed me, i aLWAYS like hashima for its texture and that it’s always done sweetened. I have ever even frequent Soup Restaurant to take away their Double boiled Hashima with rock sugar for $6 – $8 a bowl. The portion was meagre!!=(

Back to this recipe, the result was fantastic! As Froggie Guide has suggested, it has a bit of the oyster omelette bite. This recipe is certainly one which i will definitely try again! It took me barely 10 mins to get it done!

Recipe (serves 3):

1. Beat 3 eggs together with a pinch of salt and pepper

2. Cut up a small stalk of chives and 2 small slices of ginger.

3. 50 gms of soaked (In plain water) snow jelly. You may boil this portion of snow jelly for about 15 mins first before sieving it out. 

4. Heat up wok with some vegetable oil. Add in (1), followed by (2), Lastly (3) when omelette is 75% cooked.

5. Serve Hot!

5th Day of Snow Jelly Trial – Steamed Snow Jelly in Papaya boat

 

Have you ever experienced any form of obsession?

I read a Malcolm Gladwell book which suggests how genius are not born ingenious; they are products of 10,000 times of obsessive trials & tribulations. Yup yup.. its only been 5 days but i do think thats where this snow jelly experiment is heading now..

Honestly i do need all the beauty need  i can get! Work is overwhelming man. Workers issues, payment due dates, restocking inventories, month end statement of accounts, KCA’s demands of the Hon Sec, walk in visitors and friends, teachers on recce. Have i forgotten to mention the 86 kids from YCKPS and 40 ducklings from PCF  Froggy guide and I hosted this morning?

Yes… this is Life at JFF.

Ok back to the Snow jelly, “TCM practitioners believe that it can strengthen the functions of organs such as liver and lungs, therefore lowering blood lipids, promoting active blood circulation, boosting the immune system and promoting the brain cells’ ability to utilise oxygen..” (* Source from The Straits Times, Mind your Body 12.5.11)

Sadly, hashima has never undergone any clinical trials. Which means another opportunity for us to get these claims scientifically proven!! This adds another thing to do to my LIST OF THINGS TO DO (Completion Date: 30.06.2016)

Disclaimer: ONLY IF annihilation doesn’t happen in 2012.

Recipe:

1. Read Day 3 Post for How to prepare Cooked Snow Jelly from Dried Snow Jelly.

2. Slice a papaya into thick strips of about 10 cm each.

3. Cut out a box in the middle to create a papaya boat. Use a dessert spoon to scoop out the seeds and papya flesh.

4. Add in processed Snow jelly, fresh milk and some rock sugar for taste (according to preference) into the papaya boat.

5. Steam this portion under low heat for 20 mins.

 

4th Day of SJ Trial – Osmanthus Royal Jelly with Ginseng

4th day of snow jelly trial and no pimples in sight despite my lousy eating habits these days! Great news!

 Yesterday KY watsapped me as she was confused by my previous postings about the handling of the snow jelly. Would like to clarify here that the dried snow jelly itself is already cooked by heating and naturally preserved by drying. To use the snow jelly as a ready to use ingredient, you will have to soak the dried sj in water first overnight, boil it to sterilize this ingredient for at least 15 mins. You may break up the pieces into smaller morsels with a fork. Take note that sj is fully expanded when it is translucent and if your sj looks opaque, u r not using it to the full capacity!

KY n I also kinda concluded that the recipe on Day 2 probably works better with warm milk. She even offered another recipe with Almond paste which I’ll def experiment soon. as today is my off day I am quite reluctant to cook. So I’m offering this recipe which the product we are also selling at the farm. The inspiration of this recipe came after a visit to a friends Chinese restaurant which serves up jelly in champagne flutes! adding some collagen to it should be complimentary to both the taste n nutritional value!

Recipe:
1. Boil chrysanthemum flowers for 10 mins to 2.5L of water.
2. Sieve out the flowers n residues.
3. Add in Soaked Snow Jelly, wolf berries, red dates n  ginseng to the boiling chrysanthemum tea. Put to boil for another 25 minutes

5.  Lastly, add in 1 packet of Konnyaku jelly powder (some of these packaging comes with sugar in it! if not use the amount of sugar as recommended on the pakaging)

6. Off the fire when the mixture starts to boil. Continue stirring until the powder is completely dissolved in the mixture.
7.  Pour it into the moulds when the concoction is less hot. The boiled Chrysanthemum flowers may be added into the moulds as edible garnish.
8. Serve chilled!

You can see how much ‘love’ goes into the making of this product. It is absolutely delicious!! However for some of you non-cooks out there,  I would recommend visiting us at the farm n buying this cooked product from the Royal Frog Shop to get an instant fix!

3rd Day – Applicious Collagen Drink

Today is the 3rd Day of this trial and i’m ABSOLUTELY LOving it! I get to experiment with the past and present recipes and introducing them together with Hashima (Snow Jelly) as the key ingredient. Hashima is a neutral tasting ingredient thus it made most of my experiments so effortless! In fact today’s recipe is by far the one i enjoy best in terms of taste! Imagine slurping down the snow jelly with a soaked in apple flavour and fragrance…=P

Well, my friend asked me what i hope to achieve out of this 14 days trial. I guess it is a challenge to myself to churn out 14 different easy to prepare recipes and f.y.i. keeping to a regime has never been my forte. To maintain this for FOURTEEN DAYS??! I guess the cheap thrills are worth the effort!!

Besides the postings, the main motivation of working in the weekend must be the thought that everywhere else in the city must be really crowded and noisy. To be absolutely honest, being in the farm is my solace. Although today is actually the busiest day of the week for us at the farm but i actually do look forward to it; Simply because tmr’s OFF day!

Recipe:

1. Add 1 apple cut into cubes, red dates, 2 gms of soaked snow jelly, rock sugar and 1.5 cups of water into a small pot.

2. Put to a boil and continue cooking for 15 mins until an apple aroma is detected.

3. Serve warm or cold!ENJOY!!=)

2nd Day of Snow Jelly Trial – Snow Jelly, Osmanthus flowers with Milk

It’s only the 2nd day of my trial and i have 2 friends warning me about the cooling effects of Snow Jelly. i don’t know when the cough or ‘liang’ effect will hit me but if thats the only side effects i have to pay for a luminous, poreless, radiated skin.. without the eyebags.. i’m all ready for it…

Yes.. though i live in the farmlands, vanity persists out here too. 

When i was doing the usual grocery shopping, i thought of the recipe ( i will share at the end of this post) which a beautiful HIGH flier real estate friend introduced. That is my dose of Snow Jelly on this 2nd day.

Did i also mentioned that i had a terrible back strain yesterday? I realised that straining the back can happen to anybody at any ages!*Please note that this is not spoken on a defensive tone* Good thing was after 3 application of the tiger balm patch, the pain wasn’t so acute anymore though. Am really praying hard for full recovery FAST… i wana get back on the TRACK. Literally.

Just as i thought that i could spend half a day resting by staying attached on my chair, 2 bus loads of church goers stopped & alighted at the Farm. There was absolutely no notice sent to us and obviously we were caught with limited manpower and preparation for these 90 people. Everyone was going for the free snow jelly sampling and the organiser started helping himself to the sampling pot and dishing out the sampling cups to the rest of the bus load.

Wow.. WELCOME TO THE FARM & PLEASE MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME!!!

Oh well, those of you, snow jelly lovers out there, you have to try this very simple recipe.

150ml Cold Fresh Milk

4 tbsp soaked Snow Jelly

1 tsp osmanthus flowers

Put these together in a cup, stir well and serve cold! You will feel your skin gleaming after this serving of snow jelly milk! Enjoy!=)

 

 

 

14 days Royal Snow Jelly therapy starts today!

This blog started a couple of days ago. The idea was spurred by a fren who has many auntie colleagues who blog about their recipes, shop from other people’s blogs and the so many other people i know who will spend weekends reading people’s blogs and facebook updates.

As far as froggy guide and me are concerned, the lives we lead working (& living in my circumstances) is a far cry out there from most of you out there. We hope to document our daily activities and thoughts most coherently and vividly through this channel to you.

Oh well, i am going to start with a personal testimonial of a 14days of consuming our farm’s speciality Royal Snow Jelly. I will share this recipe with you at the end of the blog. I actually intentionally soak  ~20 gms portion of our specially selected dried snow jelly (u.p. $16.50) it is indeed heartening to know that this portion serves up a good 14 portions (~200ml each portion) for my little experiment.

Why am i doing this experiment? Besides the constant reminder that 30 is not far away, it’s also the encouragement from a MONDAY FRIEND who had ever tried a brand of collagen essence and her colleagues could see the difference of her skin condition. OK WE will see at the end of this Trial!!

Recipe (Serves 14 bowls):

1. Soak 20gms of snow jelly overnight.

2. Smash up soaked snow jelly using a fork & drain out excess water.

3. In a separate pot, add in 2.5L fresh water, 250 gms of rock sugar, slices of po seng, red dates, wolfberry.

4. Boil for as long as 45 mins using low heat.

5. Serve warm or cold according to preference. 

Tips! You may chill the remaining Royal snow Jelly in the fridge and eat it over the week!