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! :)

Pocky x Snoopy - Pocky Limited Edition Spring 2013

Dear Pocky and Snoopy lovers ... 

Glico launched its latest collaboration event this spring, called Pocky x Snoopy. Therefore, from April 2013 we can find these Pocky chocolate, milk chocolate, strawberry, and almond crush in limited edition packages featuring Snoopy and his friends in the market. I like Pocky but rarely buy it. However, this time I couldn't resist the urge to try it, most likely because of the cute Snoopy and Woodstock. ^^

Pocky x Snoopy edition (taken from pocky.jp)

The unique thing is that all of them form a neat line, showing all the characters walking together as if they are going to the same spot: the bus stop. I also found that there are more than one front cover design for each flavor, so we don't have to buy each flavor to collect all the designs.

Pocky x Snoopy with different front cover designs

In fact, there is also another Pocky Snoopy edition : Pocky Coffee Cookie Crunch, but it seems this one is not inside the set of Pocky x Snoopy. I love this one more because it has a lotttt of Woodstock at the back of the package. I love Woodstock! ^_____^

Pocky Coffee Cookie Crunch

Pocky Coffee Cookie Crunch - front and back

This edition contains 3 packs of biscuit sticks coated with milk chocolate and crushed coffee cookies. The plastic packages separating the 3 packs inside also have Snoopy or Woodstock printed on them!

The 3 packs inside my box of Pocky Coffee Cookie Crunch 

Pocky biscuit sticks coated with milk chocolate and crushed coffee cookies

Back to the Pocky x Snoopy edition, there are total 11 designs of the back of the package. Not only that, this package has a special feature! They were designed somehow that we can make the characters hanging on our bag! O.o ... so difficult to explain by words ... Luckily they provide an informative picture to help us understand how the design supposes to work, even if we don't understand Japanese. 

Let's just see the picture below :

Some of  the "back" designs (taken from pocky.jp)

.. and then ...

How to carry Pocky x Snoopy (taken from pocky.jp)

It might look simple, but it successfully makes us smile, right? ^_^

If you are a big fan of Snoopy and his friends, you should check this super cute and nicely designed Pocky x Snoopy website from Glico. They also provide FREE wallpapers and screen savers for us to enjoy :)

As usual, I can help you to buy them as long as they are still in the market. in regards to the delivery fee, it is not expensive from japan, as long as you dont mind using airmail or SAL (economy airmail).

New Choco Ball drink ... and Kyoro chan

The new Choco Ball drink in peanuts flavor 

I have been developing the habit of checking the racks in detail trying to find new things every time I go to supermarkets or snack shops. This time I found ...

the new Choco Ball drink in peanuts flavor! ^_____^ 

The taste was not as imagined, but it was unique and I find it quite light compared to other milky drinks. The peanuts flavor is quite strong, so definitely it's not just like a normal chocolate milk. The parrot at the packaging is  called Kyoro chan. Isn't it cute?! So excited! Kyoro chan is definitely the new character I'm obsessed with this year! ^^

Kyorochan soft toy with batteries we found in Spring Golden Market 2013

Kyoro chan (キョロちゃん) is a Japanese cartoon character that is a mascot for Choco Ball, a brand of Morinaga chocolate. Due to its popularity, this super cute parrot had his own anime series in 1999-2000 and a movie which was released around 2000-2001 in Japan, as well as soft toys and other related merchandises.

Choco Balls peanuts, strawberry and soybean mochi

The strawberry Choco Ball contains some special balls with cute pictures of Kyoro chan

Kyoro chan has a lot of expressions, but he always looks happy and smiling. I love this character because it just simply brightens my day and makes me smile just by looking at him. ^^ In this case, I’m going to hunt for Kyoro chan soft toy to put it on my desk, so hopefully working won’t be so boring anymore! ^_^ 

Choco Balls on the display rack

View from top: Each eyes expression reflects different design of Kyoro chan at the box cover

Other Choco Ball version

I mentioned before in my previous post, that there is a chance to win Kyoro chan merchandise if we are lucky. I still wish I could win! ^___^ But yah... it seems impossible.

Anyway, I just changed my display wallpaper to Kyoro chan wallpaper downloaded from the official Kyoro chan / Choco Ball website from Morinaga. The website is exxxtremely cute and gives a happy feeling just by looking at it! You have to check it out! And of course, don't miss the video below!

Super cute strawberry Kyoro chan ^^

My latest findings related to Japanese food or snacks

How can I not be excited because of small little things if I'm surrounded by tons of kawaii, unique, or special edition food or food-related stuffs ?! ^_________^

This time I'm going to talk about my latest findings related to food. Honestly, I have been growing more interest in snacks since I came to Japan. Last time I used to think that these stuffs should be avoided because they will make me fat ! XD ... well, not to mention that they tend to have high content of MSG, oil, salt, and stuffs like that. 

Anyway, surprisingly snacking in Japan doesn't make me fat.. o.O (except on winter maybe.. hehe) I'm not the right person to make comments about the food nutrition etc. I think I don't gain weight so fast because of snacks here because I also do more unintentional exercise regularly everyday by walking and cycling a lot. It really makes the difference I guess. So everyone, let's try to exercise regularly, or at least walk more, for healthier body and better shape !

Let's check what I found :

1. Wasabeef, potato chips with mainly wasabi flavor

wasabeef (ワさビーフ), my favourite wasabi potato chips !

It wasn't the first time for me to see the green one, actually. In fact, I LOVE it so much !!!

I used to eat a lot of it last year until finally I decided to stop snacking too much potato chips, hehe. Besides, after Javier came back to Japan, I should choose potato chips with flavors we both like. Well fyi, Javier is not a big fan of wasabi (yet =P). He puts a bit of wasabi into his sauce while eating sushi, though. Not bad.. not bad.. :)

The green one is potato chips with wasabi and beef flavors. It is the original flavor, i suppose, since the name of the chips is wasa-beef hehe. My wasabi-lover friends are so crazy about this chips too ! Maybe I should bring it back home for x'mas so that my brother can try.

The red one is potato chips with ume (japanese plum) and wasabi flavors.. o.O I can't imagine the taste! I saw it for the first time last week in Odori but I didn't have time to buy it because I was rushing. I have to try the new flavor soon !!

  
2. Pocky strawberry with heart-shaped sticks

pocky strawberry with heart-shaped sticks

I laughed a lot the first time I saw this one! I mean, arghhh... pocky is so cute already, and now this one has... heart-shaped sticks !?!? OMG! the shape of the sticks are so important huh ?!?! it will be covered by the strawberry chocolate layer anyway.. why bother to make the heart shape ?! OMG! but yaa it's so funny hihi I love the cute detail ! ^____^ 

  

3. Chocoball from Morinaga

Choco ball in peanuts and strawberry flavors

If there is a mark inside the lid, we can win the bird!

This choco ball is so addictive! OK, honestly this is not my kind of snack because I usually will call extremely cute snacks 'children snacks' ^____^.

However...!!!, I bought it exactly because of the same reason!

That day I was walking around the shop at Engineering school and I saw this on sale. Well, normally I still won't buy it because, well, I just dunno why I don't buy snacks with cute packaging except if they are special edition or very unique. Of course my heart melted a bit when I saw the cute bird, but.. still.. no la.

But then... when I knew that we have the chance to win the bird, as shown in the second picture on the right (oh yeah of course it's impossible!!!, but i still fell for it even knowing that it's impossible) I bought it! ... and not only once! I bought it at least 5-6 times ___ ___ !

By the way, as shown in the first picture on the left, there is one ball inside the strawberry choco ball box which has special print. hehe.. They really have a lot of ideas on how to make simple things cuter and more fun. On the other hand, it's quite funny to see that the boxes come in various designs, including xmas edition and winter edition ^^ It gives some feeling of celebrating the season.

I stopped buying it, finally ^^, but yah... I still wish I could win the bird... =P

  
4. Japanese games with similarities to UNO stacko

No. 4 is not about food but food-related items. I was shopping with my friend, hunting for x'mas gifts for his family, and we found these games !




The pieces come in the shape of different kinds of foods! haha isn't it amusing? I like the look of the dango (rice balls on sticks) games but I can't imagine how to play it. Btw it's not exactly like UNO stacko, it seems. I haven't really checked because we had to check more things that day, but if I'm not mistaken, we might just need to build upwards without the need to withdraw any pieces. I will check again when I go there. Maybe this weekend.


5. Curry plate in the shape of japanese squat toilet 

No. 5 is also about food-related items. I found this on the same day I saw no. 4. I guess the title and the picture below are self-explanatory XD :

Curry plate in the shape of japanese squat toilet XD

I REALLYYYYY LOVE THIS ONE !! ^________^

My friend was looking for 'special or unique x'mas gifts that represent japanese culture or is quite japanese' for his family and relatives from Brazil, and we found this !!! Don't you think this is so fit with his criteria?! Moreover, the plate is for (japanese) curry! It's so japanese, unique and hilarious! It was not expensive, as well.. around 1260 yen if i'm not mistaken. I myself was thinking of buying it as souvenir but then my friend thought it's so gross, so maybe it's better not to make it souvenir in case it will create wrong impression. ____ ____ !

That's all for now. You can expect me to see more posts like this in the future because unique things are just a lotttttttt here! ^______^

and now... Kitkats from Japan.

I had to transit at Narita airport, Tokyo for almost 6 hours, so I decided to walk around the Airport Mall, and I found these amazing kitkats !! The Fuji-san (mount Fuji) special edition is so cute ! I bought the wasabi, sakura matcha (cherry-green tea), and wa-ichigo (strawberry) ones for souvenirs to bring back for xmas actually, but hm.. maybe i should just try them now huh ?! ^^

Unique Oreos from China !

See what i found in China !!! ... Oreos with unique flavors ! ^_____^

white grape-peach,
ice cream,
birthday cake (heh O.o ...),
orange-mango,
mmm.. maybe red berry-grape??

... and it's not like what you might think.. they are real oreos from kraft foods!