Mad about Food Miniatures
It’s been more than a month since my last post and I’ve received several e-mails from concerned readers, asking if everything’s fine. I’m extremely grateful for your concern and am glad to report that all is well! 
I’ve just been a little pre-occupied with other matters and haven’t had much time to bake something interesting enough to blog about this past month. I’ve also been revising my macaron recipe, which is why they are currently off the menu, but more about that later on in this post.
The main topic of this post isn’t entirely baking related, but it is food-related, even though it’s not the sort of food that’s edible. 
Ever since I read about food miniatures on Carol’s (Paris Breakfasts) blog, I’ve been fascinated by them. When they started popping up not long after on several other food blogs, I knew I had to own a set (or more) of these adorably diminutive toys.
Too impatient to order them online and wait for shipment, I did a little research online and found several shops in Singapore that carry Japanese anime products. Most of these shops also sell Re-ment and MegaHouse miniatures.
While I got my hands almost immediately on the Re-Ment ones, the widely-coveted MegaHouse Pierre Hermé Collection seemed to be out of stock at every store I called. Fortunately, I found a local online seller and I have my own set now.
I have to say that I prefer the Re-ment miniatures over the MegaHouse ones. I think it might have something to do with the fact that the novelty of owning cute tiny food toys had already worn off by the time I received the MegaHouse ones in the mail. I also found the miniatures in the MegaHouse PH Collection much smaller than the Re-ment ones, making them difficult to handle.
As for macarons, I haven’t had as much time to spend on the recipe revision as I’d hoped. So far, I’ve only had time to make peanut macarons sandwiched with dark chocolate and jelly. I preferred the ones with jelly, but I found that the filling tended to turn the macaron shells soft very quickly. Many thanks to S for the peanut and chocolate suggestion!
Other flavours, several of which are courtesy of Pierre Hermé, on my experiment list include passionfruit (with passionfruit milk chocolate ganache), chocolate (with dark chocolate yuzu ganache), violet (with cassis), lavender and ubi. I’m also contemplating the white truffle and hazelnut combination as well, but I’m not convinced yet.
I’m pretty excited about these flavours! I just hope I’ll have enough time for all of them.
April 15th, 2008 at 3:22 am
You just reminded me that I should assemble my re-ment miniatures of the PH collection. Aren’t they just sooo cute. Love the macarons and new flavors. I’m playing around with some new ones too for the summer!
April 15th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Violet + Cassis sounds wonderful. They all do actually. Glad to hear all is well.
April 17th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Hi Karen, can I have your email
Need your help!
April 18th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Karen….glad you liked it…heehee! =)
Have not had the time to experiment much with macs because of work but also cos’ I am quite sceptical of the weather these days…mostly humid and from what I’ve heard from other friends,their macs are not turning out well too..hmmmm….
I was just discussing the yuzu ganache with A the other day too and we were arguing about whether it would work… =) She says yes,I think not..well more about this another day if we can catch up soon over another afternoon of lunch and shopping… =)
April 19th, 2008 at 12:09 am
Boy, oh boy those peanut macarons looks good….
April 19th, 2008 at 1:27 am
lovely blog you have here! and your macaroon looks great too. piere herme are 1 of my idol of pastry too. my friend did mention that he will be in singapore but thanks for the pic , will keep on tracking your updates
regard ko wai
April 19th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Thank you, everyone!
Stef: I made the yuzu ganache today. I won’t have time to make the macarons till Tuesday. Looking forward to it though!
April 19th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Karen, JINX! I wanted to make a yuzu/dark choc macaron too. *Shooosh, stef!*
Stef and I made some macarons for SHF, but they looked horrid due to all my macaron problems. I just need a break. Will definitely make them again next week to snap a photo.
Why don’t you make french meringue macarons?! They’re fast and simple…then I’m sure you’ll be able to make the deadline!
I’ll be making Mogador soon…as soon as I can fix my problems Xo(
April 20th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Amrita: I’ve had the yuzu chocolate flavour on the back burner for the longest time now, but never found the time to execute it. It’s actually a PH flavour that I saw in one of his macaron catalogs more than a year ago.
April 21st, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Nice. I’m going to attempt his fresh peach macaron soon. I don’t have time right now though, I just started school :o(
On top of that, I’m pretty sure the shells won’t turn out properly.
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:15 am
Your blog is just so delicious. Seriously.
everything looks so beautiful and I am sure it tastes as good as it looks!
April 23rd, 2008 at 3:27 am
oh how pretty those miniatures are! anythin small is cute to me lol. i like this blog, x
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Wow! Fantastivc work and great photos! I’m really glad I’ve found your website.
April 26th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Hi Karen,
So cute minatures !! I would really love to have 1 set of my own too. Can u e mail me the online seller that u bought, woild like to get 1 set too.
My e mail is chuigin@gmail.com
Tks,
elizabeth
April 30th, 2008 at 4:14 am
Ohhhh I prefer the Megahouse minis. I thinkthey’re better made and more sophisticated in a way - not so funky. But I’m still constantly looking for more. No bored yet…well I LOVE painting them in still lifes - must better than real objects!
Go figure
Wish I knew how to make real macarons though…
May 19th, 2008 at 3:39 am
After admiring my collection for a while I shipped it off to my mom so she could make me a disply case. It is just too cute!
May 20th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Hi,
can i have the details for the online seller on the minatures too? would love to get a set on all these! shelene26@yahoo.com.
May 20th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Thank you, Sarah, diva, Olga & Elizabeth!
Carol: You’re right about the Megahouse miniatures being more detailed, even though they are smaller. I guess my fingers are just too big to handle them.
Helen: It’s so nice of your mom to make you a display case for them! I’ve already run out of space on my shelves.
Elizabeth and Shelene: The site is here. Happy shopping!
May 21st, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Hi Karen,
thanks for the link! i hope they are the cheapest we could find!
May 21st, 2008 at 8:59 pm
no dear, bad news, contacted the seller and he said all are sold!
May 24th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
hi karen, chanced upon some plastic mini food(pastries, cakes, sweets) in a box sold at 7 Eleven stores. So i got 4 boxes. 1 box costs $3.95. My daughter is so fascinated by it and won’t allow me to pack them as ‘prizes’ for her bday party games tomorrow. my aunt also sells these miniature figurines. I used to buy alot of it. Wait till you see my collection!
June 15th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
wow. you have got quite a collection here.
http://miniaturestore.blogspot.com sells some of the re-ment items as well. she is quite a nice seller too. i got a few boxes from her. but the boxes are opened so that the buyers can get what they want.