Nori chocolate from South Korea ♥

My friend, Kira, went to Korea and she brought some chocolates as souvenir for us (yuhuu... thanks, Kira! ^_____^ ♥) One of them is this one:

Nori chocolate from South Korea

NORI (seaweed) CHOCOLATE ! ^^

OMG! nori : a bit salty somehow, plus chocolate : sweet! o.O ... How will the taste be ?!?! ^___^ I couldn't miss the chance to try this unique combination, definitely! I'm quite adventurous in trying food and drinks actually, except if they are some kinds of insects, bloody, or slimy, hehe. 

I asked Javier if he wanted to share the chocolate with me, coz.. c'mon, it's chocolate! It cannot be wrong! he loves chocolate so much, anyway! .... but then he said no, hehe. Javier doesn't really like nori. He is also not into onigiri because of this reason. Well, he loves sushi and he can eat nori with sushi, but it is still not his favourite. 

However, if you know me enough, of course I cannot let him live without trying this incredible invention!!! ^_^ So, I managed to catch him off guard and slipped a small piece of nori chocolate to his mouth. ^___^ and... he survived!!! I told you it's not bad at all! ^^ javier, now you can tell people that you have tried nori chocolate! =P hehe. 

In fact, I think the orange flavor in orange chocolate, for example, tastes stronger than the nori flavor in nori chocolate. It might depend on the chocolate brands though. When I just started to munch the chocolate, I couldn't taste the nori. The chocolate was quite sweet enough to cover the immediate taste of the nori.  However, after the chocolate and nori were mixed inside my mouth, I could finally taste the nori, and yes, sweet nori =P haha! It was amazing, surprisingly!

Some korean seaweed I received from my friend

Nori is the common Japanese term for a group of seaweed species. It is rich in protein, dietary fiber, iodine, and iron, not to forget that it is also an important source of vitamins A, B, and K. This makes nori a popular nutrition source for vegans. 

The way to make nori sheets is similar to papermaking. It involves shredding of nori, creating thin layers of it, and drying them on the racks.

I found this video showing how to make home-made nori sheets. Very interesting! I feel like trying it myself, but probably I should practice with pulp first. =P Check it out! :)

LOTTE Fit's Link Gum x Mobile Suit Gundam: Zaku & Gouf

Lotte Fit's LINK with Zaku and Gouf launched on April 16, 2013 (taken from lotte-fits.jp)

Lotte Fit's LINK original mint and no limit mint (taken from lotte-fits.jp)

Lotte, the largest confectionery manufacturer in South Korea and the third largest in Japan, launched its new products, Lotte Fit's LINK original mint and no limit mint, on April 16, 2013, with the illustration of Zaku and Gouf on the package. The Fit's LINK gum itself is said to be a long-lasting mint gum that is able to keep the flavor for 50 minutes. 

You can check the official site HERE.

I found them for the first time at COOP, arranged on their special display rack decorated with three big heads of Zaku and Gouf made of paper. It was really eye-catching, maybe because I always think that these characters look cute. ^^

Fit's LINK original mint and no limit mint with Zaku and Gouf

Please forgive me if I look so amateur while writing about Gundam. In fact I'm not that familiar with Gundam, but my brother likes it a lot, so I'm used check on whatever cool things related to Gundam to share with him... and to make him jealous, so he will finally come here to visit me. =P hehe! 

Oh wait... I watched Gundam SEED series, though. I remember that I liked it a lot, but now I can't remember the story, haha =P However, don't get mad, Gundam fans, because I often forget the story of most movies I watched, anyway... yup, even big movies included. =P

Anyway, although I'm not a big fan, I love to see Gundam models, items, etc, coz they are so cool! My favourite is this Gouf type actually, because i think it looks cute hehe. Well, my brother has the SD version of Gouf, and I loveeee it so much! I think it was the best SD Gundam model my brother has ever had. However, please understand that the things i call "the best" might sometimes be "the cutest" =P

SD version of B3 Gouf Custom my brother has

After I saw the SD version, no matter how many times my brother bought the original version of Gouf, which looks extremely cool, strong, etc of course, I just can't change my impression. Gouf is always cute for me hehe. ^^

I will definitely visit Gundam Front Tokyo when I have the chance!

Back to the Lotte Fit's LINK gums, I don't really take mint gums or candies, but I bought both flavors of Lotte Fit's LINK in the end, mainly because I was curious to check the special wrapping paper that separate each gum inside. The concept design of the packages seems to be about Zaku and Gouf in action, having the bullet marks at the front cover of Fit's LINK original mint and the slash mark at the cover of Fit's LINK no limit mint.

Fit's LINK original mint and no limit mint, front and back

It contains twelve units of gum in each pack, and each gum is wrapped by a zaku-or-gouf-themed wrapping paper. In addition, the end of each unit is attached to the box so the gums will always be neatly arranged inside the package as long as we haven't pulled it out. They will never scatter around in case we drop the pack or something. I love this design!

Special zaku-or-gouf- themed wrapping paper for each gum inside the packages

the package upside down (left); pulling out one gum (right)

By the way, I have tried the gum, and it seems the idea of the "long-lasting mint gum that is able to keep the flavor for 50 minutes" really works! ... O.o ... Not bad at all!

Zaku and Gouf heads made of thick paper on the display rack

I can help you to buy them as long as they are still in the market. The delivery fee is not expensive from japan if you use airmail or SAL (economy airmail).