Souvenirs from Hong Kong: Illusionary Foods

Over the summer, both my friends Tim and Candice went to Hong Kong and kindly brought back some souvenirs for me:

Tim's gift:



My first reaction was to slap him, but then after giving it a double take I realized that this was indeed candy.

Candice's gift:



Isn't it cute?

It's funny how both of them managed to bring me foods that plays tricks on the eyes. I was more than eager to rip them open and see what lies inside-



So far after opening, the package is still determined to keep up its facade:



Each little pack comes with four fluffy pink marshmallow pillows that were actually pretty good quality in taste and texture. Really.

The back of the Dim Sum molding kit has awesome self-explanatory illustrated instructions.

The contents: clay, little serving dishes, molds, and a compressor.

Here we go- 

Step 1. Pick out your mold

and determine where and what you want the first layer of colors to be on the surface.

Step 2. Relieve your stress and compress the life out of it.

Step 3. Unveil the mold and shake your head in disappointment.

Step 4. Be in awe of its miniatureness. 

Here we have a BBQ Pork bun, an eggroll, two steamed buns, and a spotted blue cowfish.

After painfully observing my sad attempts at molding a proper fish, my miniature-adoring housemate, Lillian, happily shows off her mini sushi set:

"How the heck do they make these intricate masterpieces?"- I exclaim.

"Like this!"- Lillian chimes as she busts out her non-cooking cookbook:

My reaction went as follows-  :O***


Note that these models are no larger then my thumb and that these can all be hand-crafted at home following these instructions:

To anyone who wants to attempt recreating their favorite dishes in this manner, I say Godspeed.

-Angela