Japanese Snacks!

I love odd snacks and I have long envied Orchid64 at Japanese Snack Review. Finally, I have a chance to eat some interesting things that I actually choose from a selection of things.  Hopefully we will have a follow up to this blog with even more food!

Fun assortment of stuff!

Kind of odd combo in my opinion.

 Banana = alright, Almond = pretty good, Strawberry = kind of icky, Carmel = pretty delicious

Not poop sticks

 This is a traditional Japanese snack.  Delicious burned sugar flavor!

Traditional son of a peach mochi

 Really really delicious.  Kind of a brown sugar tasting mochi.

Chocolate bar and chocolate sandwich!

 Tastes like a chocolate bar.

Not a frappe = blue Hawaii slushy

 Tastes like blue . . . but not raspberry

Tons of cakes!

I got a chestnut one!

Nice pleasant chestnut flavor.  I don't know why we don't make chestnut cakes.  Yum!

So, far all successful!

Bento: Dubu buckim yangnyumjang and Dubu ganjang jorim

I made a delicious meal that consisted of two types of stir fried tofu yesterday.  Today I have a delicious bento made from it.  I made Bento: Dubu buckim yangnyumjang and Dubu ganjang jorim (based on Maangchi's recipes).  Both are very easy and fast and tasty.  I particularly like Dubu buckim yangnyumjang as the spicy sauce makes rice taste extra good.

Yum!

I added some raw carrots and a milk flavored diafuku to complete the bento.  The diafuku is made in Taiwan and the flavor tastes like Tawainese sweet biscuit I previously reviewed (no doubt from the Maltose used in it).  I was hoping for something a bit more custard-like when I bought it, but it was still good.  Overall, I think I have a pretty good lunch here!

Umaibo: Tasty Stick

No really, that's what it means.  Despite the weird (in english) name, umaibo are a really popular snack that comes in many many varieties.  They all consist of a very large corn puff, much like a Cheetos, and flavoring of some kind.

I recently got my hand on an assortment of flavors: Mentaiko (marinated roe of pollock), Vegetable Salad, Corn Pottage (grain soup), Teriyaki Burger, Tonkatsu Sauce (Often called Bull Dog sauce due to popular brand), Prawn Mayonnaise, and Cheese.  Clearly by Western standards some of these are exotic tastes or taste combination.  Having sampled all of these I can tell you some are better than others.

Mentaiko - The smell is really really fishy.  However, it tates like bbq sauce! Yummy!  Actually one of my favorite of the flavors, just enough sweet and sour to it.

I'm not sure why there is a mad scientist on it.

Note terrifying orange color.

Vegetable Salad - sweet and spicy with a lot of onion.  Very delicious, but doesn't taste like salad or vegetables (not counting the onion).  I could eat this flavor anytime.

Nothing says vegetable salad like bike riding clowns and a monkey!

Pretty normal looking with vegetable spots.

Corn Pottage - light sweet taste with a hint of spice.  Tastes kind of like ChiChi's corn casserole.   A nice subtle taste.  This flavor wont have you jumping over the moon but is very good.

I don't know what the corn is saying, but I think it's happy.

Yellow . . .

Teriyaki Burger - Very sweet and a bit of spice .  Aftertaste is not as pleasant as the initial flavor. Not very teriyaki or burger flavored.  Maybe my least favorite as it was just too sweet and had such a funny after taste.

See there is an implied link to an actual burger in the packaging.

I imagine the brown spots are "flavoring."

Tonkatsu Sauce - Smells and tastes like Tonkatsu sauce.  Gets spicer as you eat it and the aftertaste is only the spice flavor.  Much spicer than the Bull Dog brand sauce I usually buy.  This flavor is also very sweet, probably my second least favorite flavor.

He's like an astronaut or something . . .

Intense brown "flavor" spots . . .

Prawn Mayonnaise - Smells very strongly of shrip and sugar, but tastes like japanese mayo with a hint of shrimp.  Really not a very strong flavor, but a very nice flavor.  One of my favorites.

The prawn travels with his own mayo, convenient!

Not too much color.

Cheese - Initially there is a nice strong cheese flavor, but then it fades to corn puff.  I'm completely indifferent to this flavor as it was a complete bore.

Is it a cheesy singer?

It doesn't look boring.

In the end I suggest buying some Umaibo if you get the chance.  Super fun and super yummy!

Akihabara@deep

I just finished Akihabara@deep which was quite good. The story is about a group of misfits brought together by a mysterious internet personality named Yui.  The group then become troubleshooters for Akihabara.  The show is much more adult than most jdramas and I would say its definitely not for children.

The cast

The show is very funny but also slightly creepy.  The character of Daruma is particularly creepy.  Kitamura Kazuki is also very good as the really strange/crazy/creepy Nakagomi Takeshi.  I think the slightly creepy nature of many of the characters and the dark nature of many of the stories really makes this show.  I really enjoyed it. The zombie episode was not one of my favorites, however.

Daruma creepy old guy who leers at girls

The adorable Ikuta Toma as Box-kun

In the show they eat a lot of Umaibo, which I've gotten to try.  These are corn "sticks" that are the consistency of Cheetos and about the size of a candy bar with a hole running down the center.  I sampled the seaweed flavor (I love nori flavored things) and found the Umaibo to indeed be delicious sticks. The characters also eat a lot of canned odon in the show, which is apparently very popular among otaku.

Tons of Umaibo!

If you want to watch I suggest ::Jdrama::