MILO & me

I'm a fan of the drink, popularly known as "MILO". Have been ever since my childhood days. The originators of this drink are geniuses. Man, it is not often that I claim addiction to stuff (nothing ever illegal nor immoral).

It took me many years to realise this but I do consider myself lucky to be living in Singapore in this part of Asia.

I wonder if they do have it in USA? Better I go ask my friend, who had studied in USA before. Else, I can bet with you that there will be some MILO freaks like me, who will pack AT LEAST one tin of MILO into their luggage, come what the weightage will be. There you go, Mr/Ms Customs Officer, this ONE TIN will have to last me ONE SCHOOL YEAR. Yes, that's right. You heard me correctly.

The "Milo" comes in a chocolate-coloured powder form, which is packed into grass-green tins. Now, the tins when empty, serve as useful storage containers for things like: biscuits & love letters (edible tidbits served during Chinese New Year). It is air-tight, thus sealing in the crispyness into the container.

What one can do is to take a couple of teaspoons (or in my case, TABLESPOONs) of the MILO powder, drop it in a glass/mug, before mixing it with some hot water & milk (doesn't matter if it is full-cream or skimmed), finally topping it off with some cold/cooled water. I like mine cuppa with extra MILO powder floating on top. In some food & beverage places, they call it the "Milo Dinosaur". More or less the same recipe & they put it up for sale.

MILO lovers would have you know that there are TWO different types of powder available in the market out there, at least true in this part of the world, Asia. Depending on your luck & how the business managers do it, you can get MILO powder in Singapore coming from either Malaysia and/or Australia.

Unless I'm very much wrong, the one coming from our neighbouring Malaysia, is sweeter; to accomodate our Asian tastebuds for sweet stuff. While the one coming from Down Under Australia, it is creamier (probably from all the milk supply from the moo-moo cows).

Both types are equally good, not one above the other. It is just a matter of tastes.

There has been spin-offs using the MILO powder to manufacture drinks. Like the ever-popular MILO Dinosaur in Singapore (a recent concocted drink). Another is the MILO Freeze (more or less like pure crushed Milo drink). A third is the tetra-packed instant MILO drink, in packs of six. This can be found in Singapore & Malaysia.

A fourth is the "instant MILO 3-in-1, or if u prefer, 2-in-1 powder). They (meaning the instructions) always tell you "just add hot water" ... Bah, humbug!! To me, when I do that, the drink is like drinking "long kang water" (water from the drains, not a very pleasant experience). I always end up adding milk to those "2-in-1" or "3-in-1" instant MILO powdered drinks.

In the part of Australia during my student days, I NEVER SAW any TETRA-PACK of the Milo drink. To say it literally, I would have given an "arm & leg" just to get hold of ONE.

Only in my final semester, did they come up with it ... in my uni's cafeteria. It was delicious & creamy, not too sweet. It was not tetra-packed but in a plastic bottle with "an hour-glass" figure. Not exactly what I always drink back in SG. On hindsight, I should have packed a dozen of those drinks in my luggage.

The Customs Officers surely would be interested in my packing. I guess they would probably think,"This girl is crazy. You can get MILO powder in Australia, why would she want to bring in from her home country??"

I only ever once did pack those "3-in-1" but as they fell far short of my expectations (read above), I never did that again. Instead, I relied on Australian-made MILO powder & milk. Learnt my lesson.

On a parting note, please don't try this unless you don't mind chocolate teeth for awhile. I used to sneak a clean spoon into the family MILO tin at home & gobble up a few TABLESPOONS of the addictive powder. This, of course, was done only when the parents were not at home ... and when I was much younger.