Cranberry Almond KitKats

I came across a new kitkat flavor this morning at the convenience store while I was paying my water bill. From the packaging you can tell they're not just going for a novelty flavor, they're trying to be fancy.

I love fruit and nuts in my chocolate, but I was still skeptical of these. I've been burned by too many bad novelty flavors. (And yet I still keep buying them. I must be a glutton for punishment...or maybe just a glutton?)

When I opened the box I was surprised to see six tiny individually wrapped sticks instead of the usual three packs of double sticks. The cranberry almond topping only seems to cover about 3/4 of the top. I'm not sure if they're intentionally giving you a handhold there, or what.

But despite my low expectations, these turned out to be real winners. The fruit and nuts really comes through in the flavor. And the texture of the nuts and chewy fruit pairs nicely with the crunch of a kitkat. The only downside is that these cost nearly double the price of a regular kitkats. While I wouldn't buy these on a regular basis (Not that there's any risk, they'll have disappeared in no time) I would happily eat them again.

Recent Conbini Finds

I love poking around in conbinis (convenience stores) looking for the latest seasonal flavors of snacks, laughing at weird novelty items, and finding the newest flavor of chu-hai. I don't know why I love them so much, but I really do. It's been a while since I've posted a round-up of my finds, so here's the latest.

Pasta flavored popsicles.  I haven't tried them, but I don't think I need to.

Caramel Cinnamon Mojito in a can. I didn't try this one either, but the flavor combination sounds terrible. Where do they come up with this stuff?

Blueberry Yogurt flavored Oreo bites. Alright, I should have known better than to buy this one. It was just so weird I couldn't help being curious.  They're awful.  Like oreos mixed up with flintstone vitamins.

Melon flavored chu-hais. These are delicious! Before coming to Japan I didn't care either way about melons, but now they're one of my favorite things. I hadn't seen this flavor until recently, and I can only find it at Family Mart, but if you get a chance try one!

Elderflower and Lemon Peel Sparkling Water. Sparkling water isn't a very big thing in the US is it? Or maybe just not where I grew up. I've really come to appreciate it. 7-eleven grapefruit and lemon sparkling waters have long been my favorite, but I just found this flavor today. The carbonation doesn't last quite as well as 7-eleven's, but the flavor is very floral and refreshing.

Pretty Fingernails

Japanese girls have the fanciest fingernails I have ever seen.  I'm always checking out other peoples hands on the subway to see what the latest looks are.  Gel manicures have been popular for a while, but they don't stop at fun colors, it's pretty common to see nails that have been bedazzled with little gems or pearls (fake, obviously) or charms even.  Sometimes I wonder how ladies are even able to use their phones with such blinged out nails.

With all the fanciness going on around me I've been keeping my nails painted most of the time, but I only recently ventured into territory any more exciting than that.  My nails are pretty weak so I haven't wanted to try a gel manicure, I'm pretty sure my nails would be destroyed!  Plus it's a lot more money than painting them myself.  But I recently found a really beautiful set of sparkly blue nail polish stickers.  You know, those strips that you peel off and stick onto your nails?  I'd heard good things, but never tried them.  So I bought these stickers, but before using them I thought I'd do a trail run with a set I'd gotten for free in a magazine.  If I was going to ruin them, I wanted to do it with a set I didn't care so much about.

The way it works is you peel off the polish and apply it to the bare nail, starting from the cuticle and smoothing it down the nail.  At the end you fold the strip down and file it away.  I read online that to smooth out any air bubbles and to help them stick you can blast them with a hair dryer for a few seconds afterwards. Easy, right?  Sort of.  They actually go onto the nail pretty easily.  I thought it would be more difficult, but that wasn't the problem at all.  Filing them off was. It was hard to get the file to tear through the sticker, and then it left the end a little ragged.  The first set I did  evened out a lot during the first day, but the second set is still pretty rough.  I found the hair dryer helped a lot with air bubbles on the first round, but on the second I didn't really have any to worry about.   After I put them on I was worried they would immediately peel off, but the first set held really well!  Eventually the pattern started to flake off but the white layer stayed attached to my nails.  The problem was taking them off.  Maybe the Japanese ones are different, but polish remover didn't dissolve them, and eventually I had to peel them off.  The only problem was they tore off the top layer of my nails!  Ick!  I did a lot of googling and can't find any other accounts of this.  I do have really weak nails - maybe they're the weakest in the world.  Or maybe the hair dryer made them stick too well?  I don't know.  I was hesitant to do the second set after that, so after giving my nails a couple weeks to recover I did the second set with Raku.  She did hers on bare nails, but I put on a base coat of polish first to make removal easier.  Now I'm having the complete opposite problem.  They're trying to peel off all the time, but Raku reports the same problem so I don't think it's the nail polish.  Either way, they're cute but I don't think these will last more than a few days.  They're a fun idea, but maybe more trouble than they're worth.

In other news, Strawberry Sandwiches are back at 7-Eleven!  It seems they have a blueberry sandwich this year as well, which I haven't tried yet but appears to be blueberry jam and cream cheese.

Southern Food

When my sister came to visit I had her bring me some grits. I'm sure you're completely shocked to hear they're not available in the grocery stores here. I waited a few weeks trying to decide how to use them first, and finally decided to try and recreate a meal from Crook's Corner, an awesome restaurant in Chapel Hill. Shrimp and grits, and frozen mint juleps.

Doesn't that look amazing?

They have a frozen mint julep on the menu (both cocktail and dessert) that is to die for. It's a shot of bourbon over a scoop of mint sorbet, served with a tiny spoon. I've been wanting to recreate this drink for years, but I've never been able to find mint sorbet. Finally it hit me, I could just make a mint granita in the freezer and use that in it's place.

Aaaaa-mazing!

It was perfect! Almost exactly like the original. We were in heaven. For dessert, we had cheesecake (pre-made from 7-Eleven) with raspberries (from Costco). All in all, it was a fantastic meal of comfort foods.

If you're indulging, go all the way

Strawberry KitKats

I bought some Strawberry KitKats the other day.  (If I blog about them, it's research not just idle snacking, right?)  I've seen them before but never tried them.

The packaging and the candy were all a lovely shade of pink.  But the flavor left something to be desired.  They had a very artificial flavor, and somehow they were really sweet but tart enough to make my nose prickle at the same time.

Like the passion fruit KitKats it seemed like the outer coating melted really quickly.  Too be fair our house is still pretty warm these days.  In the picture you can see the bottom left corner squished, just from taking it out of the wrapper.

I still think the original chocolate is the best flavor I've had, but I'd rank these better than the passion fruit.

Late Spring

The weather has been wonderful for the past couple of weeks.  It's warm and breezy, and perfect to be outside most of the time.  I know that rainy season (tsuyu) is only a few weeks away and after that the terrible heat and humidity of summer, but for now I'm enjoying all the time I can outside.

There's a little park near our apartment that has lovely flowers all year round (the winter cabbages and camellias are both from here) but it has suddenly exploded into a gorgeous rose garden.

 I found a really fantastic kiwi popsicle at the 7-Eleven.  The outside is like a regular fruit popsicle, but the inside is a crunchier icy texture more like a snow cone.  It also comes in the blue flavor "Soda" and the super gross "Corn Potage" flavor.  (What is Japan's obsession with corn potage?)

Speaking on 7-Eleven snacks, I found some passion fruit flavored kitkats earlier this week. They smelled nice but tasted a little strange.  I'm not the biggest passion fruit fan to begin with though, so they're probably great if you are a fan.  The coating seemed to melt just a little faster than the chocolate does.

Besides enjoying the weather I've been getting a lot of writing done.  One day Raku and I were in Omotesando writing outside at the fancy Starbucks, but also having a great time people watching.  At one point a lady walked by with seven little fluffy dogs that were all the same size and color.

She must work for a pet store 

Then later out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a big animal walking down the street.  When I looked up there was a man with a donkey selling flowers.

Not your average sight on a Tokyo street

Grapefruit Obsession

You know what fruit doesn't get enough attention?  The grapefruit.  Before coming to Japan I never really thought about it.  Once in a while John and I would drink grapefruit juice (and Simply Grapefruit is undeniably delicious) but I never sought it out.  In Japan however, grapefruit is a very popular flavor.

7-Eleven has a line of sparkling waters, and the grapefruit is excellent.  It was this drink that first made me realize how much I love grapefruit.

Delicious!  And only 88 yen.

Once I was paying attention I started noticing common grapefruit is as a flavor.  Peach is also a very popular fruit, but I see grapefruit everywhere.

I think this is a seasonal flavor

I like the concept - but they're not the best.

 One of my favorite bakeries - Maison Kayser - has even introduced a grapefruit pastry.

Being french they call it "pamplemousse"

My second favorite grapefruit product (after the sparkling water) is the Grapefruit Chuhai.  Chuhais are fruit flavored alcoholic beverages, that can actually be made as a cocktail, but are mostly sold in cans.  The name comes from "ShoCHU HIgh ball" This basically tastes like grapefruit flavored Sprite.

Time for karaoke?

Fashion Magazines and Strawberry Sandwiches

Did you know that many magazines come with fun freebies like bags or accessories?  This is a delightful fact that I only recently discovered, and I just bought my first magazine with swag in it.  In the stores you'll see many of the magazines tied or rubber-banded up so that what's inside doesn't fall out.

Can you see the yellow bands, holding them closed?

I chose this magazine with a free make-up bag from L'Occitane en Provence

The upper right hand corner will show what the free gift is.

   

Yay for my cute new bag!

John, however, informed me that I am super lame because this magazine I chose is advertising that it is #1 among thirty-somethings.  Oh well, live and learn.  There's another magazine with an Anna Sui coin purse that I have my eye on...

And, just for fun, I bought a strawberry sandwich at the Seven-Eleven today.  I only started seeing them last week.  Maybe they're seasonal, or maybe I'm just unobservant?

Delicious!

I was worried the white stuff would be mayonnaise or butter or something else unpleasant, but it wasn't. There appeared to be a white and a yellow icing, but they turned out to be whipped cream and custard in very nice proportions.  Definitely more of a dessert than a lunch, but delicious all the same!