Snack Time Part II

Last year, in addition to my obsession with ochazuke I ventured into snacking territory as well. Again, I think this was my nostalgia for Japan taking on the form of cravings for certain foods and snacks. 

First up: Shijimi Wakame Soup. I was really looking for something similar to the one I found at Nishiki Market in Kyoto. I bought 4 packages to share with my parents. Too bad these didn't taste anywhere near as good as the Kyoto version (of course, what was I thinking?). They weren't too salty but had a heavy briny and fishy taste that the Kyoto version didn't.

This Yuzu Wakame Soup was yummy though! Wasn't salty and had different varieties of and good quality seaweed. Again I bought 4 packets to share with my parents, but each was tiny with only 38g, so they didn't last long at all.

These White Softwood (白い針葉樹, しろいしんようじゅ, Shiroi Shinyoju) White Milk Chocolate & Langue de Chat were regional copycats of Shiroi Koibito, by Matsuzawa Ltd. of Nagano, with the same Rakuten JP online shop Shishu Mebukido that sells some of the best ochazuke I've had. They also have a maple version, Karuizawa Maple Langue de Chat, and another Shinshu Ringo & Butter Sandwich Cookie and Karuizawa Maple Sandwich Cookie, but Shishu Mebukido doesn't ship overseas, perhaps because these sandwich cookies require refrigeration? I guess that's the benefit of living in Japan, right? *sobs*

Lookwise these were identical to Shiroi Koibito. I could taste the difference though. The white chocolate was slightly sweeter than Shiroi Koibito, and not as smooth, and the cookies weren't as fragrant and buttery. Don't get me wrong, these White Softwoods were still pretty tasty, so I happily ate them all up ^.^

Picked these up through one of those online shops that sells sweets and snacks from Japan and had to resist the urge to sign up for their monthly subscription. Thankfully, these were hit and miss, which helped satisfied my curiosity and killed any remaining lemmings ^.^" May be I'm just terrible at picking snacks LOL!

These Meiji Meltykiss Burned Butter Caramel were yummy. True to the name, they were melty, and they all melted in the packaging by the time the got to me. Ha. I still ate them, but they were in globs instead of the nice cubes as shown on the packaging.

These Morinaga Chocoball Caramel weren't as good. Tasted artificially chocolate, if even that.

These Meiji Horn Strawberry and Matcha weren't great either. They were way too sweet for my taste.

These Glico Bitte Sakura were less sweet, but the cookies inside also tasted like cardboard.

I looked forward to these LE Oreo Crispy Lemon Mousse and Tiramisu the most and luckily, they didn't disappoint. Neither was too sweet, and both were perfectly crispy. The Lemon Mousse was a tad tart, but I mean, they were lemon. The Tiramisu was so yummy with that taste of coffee liqueur. I actually bought a few boxes of each to share with family and friends too.

My sister got me into these Lotte Macadamia Carameliser. She sang their praises ever since she came home from Japan. The problem is that these are only available instore at the conbini (just Lawsons specifically, I think...) and nowhere else, not even online. Why would they limit distribution for a chocolate like that, I wonder. Anyway, Julia was so sweet to indulge me and sent several of these packets, all of which were gone in a flash. My sister was right, they were yummy and addicting, and I couldn't eat just one.

In the spring, my old friend K. also sent me a care package with candies, snacks, and fun things for my little guy.

This Shirayuki Hoshiimo (candied potato slices?) was super interesting, not in the least because I've only ever had savory potatoes.

These Lotte Koume candies brought back so much memories, especially of our Yokohama days when I used to eat these all the time. This packet came in three different flavored hard candy outer shell with the ume center, Green Plum (green), Peach (light pink), and Sakuranbo (darker pink). Likey!

These peanut cookies were yummy too, and not too sweet. My little guy liked it too!

I was returning some things at the local mall when I passed by a pop-up Woops! cart selling macarons and such. I couldn't help but pick up a few to try, with tempered expectations of course because I honestly haven't had macarons as good as those in Japan, save for the ones from Crown and Crumpet Tea Room in SF (made by a Japanese patissier, ha!). Sure enough, these aren't anywhere near as pleasing aesthetically and taste-wise. They were on the sweet side, and not soft or chewy enough. Meh.

Lastly, over the last Valentine's I picked up some Godiva's Chocolate on a whim, only to wonder to myself how and why these have become so popular. They were sickly sweet and over-flavored. No more Godiva's for me, I decided. Instead, I discovered a local chocolatier by the name of Robin and, wow, talk about exquisite chocolates! These were so good, smooth, luxurious, and perfectly sweet, hubby and I inhaled the whole box before I even remembered to take pictures :P I'll definitely buy more though, so there will be pictures someday haha

See my previous Snack Time post.