#things ive tried

Saw a new KitKat at the convenience store the other day - peach parfait edition. It does have a sweet peach flavor and scent!

I find it amusing when I see my image archives and I can immediately recognize the place by spotting some particular details on the picture - soba noodles with gyushabu donburi and German sausages…. Wait, is that a combo of soba and sausages? Then it’s Motosumiyoshi's Nadai Fujisoba for sure!

Banana Tengoku… This tastes good and I cannot stop looking at the bottle design.

(The label says the drink has the dietary fiber of 10 bananas - and tengoku also means “heaven”)

This year, Setsubun - the last day of Winter in the old Japanese calendar - was celebrated on Feb. 2nd. 

One of the traditions of this date is eating ehomaki, a huge sushi roll prepared using seven different ingredients, representing the Seven Gods of Fortune. There are few interesting details about the way you should enjoy your roll - you’re meant to eat it in silence, facing a particular lucky direction (this year it was South-southeast if I’m not wrong?)…

Our local fish market had this delicious ehomaki for sale - we brought it home for dinner time, it’s super huge!

Today is time to refill the rice grain box… Today’s pick was a rice bag that came from the southern region of Hokkaido - this Fukkurinko rice is popular for its fluffy texture.

Qu'il fait bon is a fancy sweet shop with a nice choice of colorful tarts - I got this mont blanc tart for dinner time, looks really yummy. Their take-out box looks like a mailbox!

Koboremame’s sweet snacks are thin and crispy - and they come with loads of peanuts.

The package design is really nice. By the way, small trivia: that peanut illustration on the middle is also the kanji for mame - 豆 (bean)!

We love furikake, there’s always some at home! These little cute packages have some condiment mix in flakes that you usually sprinkle on the of cooked rice, it’s very common to see these making bento lunchboxes very colorful.

Urth Caffe’s latte art is always so pretty - once in a while I open their instagrampage to see their cute designs.

Sweet and bigs Yuubeni strawberries from Kumamoto Prefecture - featuring the yurukyara Kumamon!

Amazake is a sweet drink made of fermented rice - Hakkaisan’s amasake has no added sugar but it’s very sweet, I really like it.

Have you ever seen the inside of a cooked takenoko (bamboo shoot)? 

Nature makes some pretty design, don’t you think?

We were gifted this drink the other day at Matsubara shotengai - corn makgeolli. Makkoli/Makgeolli is a korean alcoholic drink, it’s quite known here in Japan.

I’ve never tasted this flavor before, the alcohol+corn scent is really nice. Will try it later cold with our dinner!

It’s been years since the last time I ate Sido’s delicious dishes! It’s good to be back to Hodogaya area and being able to enjoy this super flavorful curry again. 

Having a relaxing moment with Senjo amazake, from Nagano Prefecture. We opened the pink one, labeled as the addictive-free version. Will try the germinated brown rice one later!

The product design of this set is just so lovely. The rock ptarmigan (raichou) are the official bird of Gifu, Nagano and Toyama Prefectures.

I got a renkon snack for today - Lotus root chips, French dressing flavor. 

(Recently I’ve seen around few different renkon snacks with different flavors - I hope it’s a permanent trend, I like how light and crispy are those… )

In Japan, you can often find in meat shops not only meat cuts but also some deep-fried goods. Marushin’s big juicy fried onion skewer, what a nice take-out option for a hungry belly. 

Went out for a walk. The plum blossoms looked so pretty - plus I had the chance to try Tera Coffee’s delicious latte while going back home…

Otona no jyagariko, a jagarico branded for “adults”: spicy mala + garlic seasoning. 

(Hmm, it’s pretty good, I’d try this one too even if I were younger, hahaha.)

Shiroi koibito! A classic favorite from Hokkaido Prefecture, white chocolate drink version.