kawai

Unlike Glico, Kabaya frequently acquires licensing for popular characters. I've seen Hello Kitty & Thomas the Train. Seems like Rilakkuma is currently the most popular from San-x. Re-ment already has plans for releasing 2 Rilakkuma sets but not the other San-x characters. Even the pouch is covered with Rilakkuma! The sticks are butter flavored and they taste pretty much the same as Glico's Pretz. Japanese Oreo candy bars! I thought I give these a try because the Japanese Kit Kats were so good. The one on the top is matcha green tea and the bottom one is milk tea. I thought the center was chocolate w/ Oreo bits but whole thing seemed to be a cookie covered in a layer of chocolate. Even my brother thought so too so his first reaction was, "it's so chalky!" Matcha Green Tea. I love this one and I'm definitely going to stock up on these next time! Milk Tea. I didn't really like this one because the milk tea seemed to be the Earl Grey type of milk tea so ...

Glico has a new product out called Pankish. It's a chewy type of cookie similar to Fig Newtons but instead of a fruit filling in the center, there are raisins, apples and chopped walnuts embedded throughout the cookie. It's just a little over 200 calories so I don't feel guilty snacking on one.

Meiji just changed their packaging for Apollo. The tube on the top is the older version and the bottom one is the newest one. I like the new one more. There are more colors that make the packaging more kawaii. The chocolates are still the same.

The 2 newest Fujiya Look chocolates at the Asian supermarket! One is a collaboration with Baskin Robbins! The graphics on the Look packages are always wonderful. Very colorful. The Baskin Robbins package suggests eating them after chilling them in the fridge. The inside flap of the Parfait A La Mode The usual set up of each package. From left to right: strawberry cheesecake, mocha coffee, orange sorbet and vanilla. The vanilla tastes slightly tangy so it seemed more like a sorbet than ice cream. From left to right: Blueberry parfait, pudding (flan) parfait, strawberry parfait and chocolate parfait. The parfait flavors come from the thick syrup. I think I like this set more than the Baskin Robbins ones. The blueberry and strawberry parfait syrups were tart so there's a contrast between the sweetness of the chocolate cream and the tartness of the syrups.

             I only get fresh fruits with frozen yogurt but a friend said frozen yogurt goes really well with tiny mochi balls. I never knew tiny mochi balls were one of the toppings. Saw these prepackaged mochi balls yesterday at the Asian supermarket and I decided to give them a try. This one's the mango flavor. There were strawberry and original flavor too. It was also super hot yesterday so it was a great excuse to treat myself to a large frozen yogurt and adding these mochi balls to it. However, when I arrived at my closest frozen yogurt store which happens to be Quickly, I was told that they don't offer frozen yogurts anymore! I ended up trying the mochi balls straight out of the package. They tasted exactly like mango gummy candies. I though it was slightly too sweet but I assume the tartness of the yogurt will balance the sweetness of these mochis. I wonder if the original flavored mochis are sweet a...

Buttery chocolate biscuits w/ cute designs on them. Each image is unique! $1.99 at Manila Oriental Market

Tasted 2 new Japanese snacks today. The Pocky is from the Dessert series w/ 2 different layers of chocolate and a thicker but softer biscuit stick. There's an obvious coffee taste but doesn't really taste like tiramisu. The roast corn caramel is not too sweet. Does have a subtle corn flavor! I thought it would be gross but not bad at all! Available at Chamalyn in San Francisco.

3 packs for only $0.99! They expire in 2 weeks so they have to get rid of them ASAP. 2 cups in a pack (Only about $0.17 a cup) and 2 tiny plastic spoons are included. These spoons are perfect for doing small scale resin projects!! From Manila Oriental Market. Near one of the cash registers, opposite from the popsicle freezer.