My New Years Gift of Sweets

I spent my vacation over New Years traveling around Central Japan and the Kansai region. New Year's Eve was in Kyoto, and in addition to a little sightseeing a picked up a few traditional things.

My gift for the office was a box of yatsuhashi, which most likely Kyoto's most iconic food. It's a lightly sweet snack that is essentially a souvenir sweet these days. It comes in two forms and several flavors.

The baked version is mostly found in curved long triangles, similar to a stick of gum curved into a long semi-circle. 

In its raw form, it's a soft, flexible dough. Many prefer the raw, unbaked yatsuhashi, which is usually cut into squares about 4" in size and folded into a triangle with a small bit of red bean paste filling inside. 

The "basic" flavor is cinnamon, and unlike most snacks in Japan, the cinnamon can be quite pronounced. But baked yatsuhashi is also found in matcha (green tea), and raw yatsuhashi is found in at least half a dozen non-traditional flavors, like strawberry, chocolate, and yuzu (a sweet lemon-like fruit). Chocolate might be my favorite, although the other flavors are pretty good too, and the traditional cinnamon is certainly good as well!

 A gift to myself (as a sampler for the blog, naturally!) was the box you see above. The shopping street leading to Kiyomizu-dera Temple in Kyoto is full of, well, shops, mostly selling souvenirs and traditional goods. After picking up some yatsuhashi, I wandered into a different store that had a shelf of small jellies and some boxes to pack them in. I grabbed a nine-pack box (there are larger sizes, too) and picked out a selection of gorgeous sweets.

You can see my non-harmonious arrangement above. One of these wasn't really a jelly (top-left) but was okay-tasting; the rest were mild but sweet. They're really beautiful, though! The sweets go by the name of wagashi, and are generally served with tea. As with most Japanese sweets, the base is usually mochi and/or anko, or fruit jellies. I believe the form above is namagashi, a "wet" type made fresh without preservatives.

Japan has an obsession with fruit flavors with dessert, and the fruits themselves are usually fairly expensive still too. Grapes, apples, and strawberries aren't just snacks here. Gummy candies are all over the place with fruit flavors - fine by me, because I love them! These are much milder, but I think they would go great with a cup of tea on this cold winter night!

Onigiri: Why Did I Wait So Long?!

Onigiri is everywhere. Basically, it's a ball of rice with something inside; most onigiri includes fish or other seafood of some sort. It's also usually wrapped in a piece of nori, which is dried seaweed. I've been trying to develop a taste for nori, but there's something about the scent that, to me, is off-putting. Most people (Japanese or western) don't have a problem with it.

Japanese people usually eat onigiri as a snack. The large amount of rice is filling, and it's easy and quick to grab at a convenience store and eat before catching a train. I've had it as a light meal though, before or after a larger meal. And two of them makes for a very tasty and filling breakfast.

The nori is like bread in a sandwich. It holds it all together and keeps the hands clean. The rice is sticky, and will generally stay together, though. There are a few varieties of onigiri that come without the nori, and I've been trying them.

First, I present tamago onigiri. Tamago is Japanese for egg, and as you can see there's half of a hard-boiled egg inside. This is pretty good, especially if you like egg, and makes for a decent breakfast. The price: about a dollar, from the 100-yen shop.

 The next picture, above, is kimchi-flavored. It's kind of spicy and has a lot of flavor. The full name of the kanji/kana above is "buta kimuchi chaahan" - pork kimchi fried rice. I like this one a lot! Coming from 7-Eleven, this is a little more expensive, at about $1.40 with tax.

 The triangle above is yaki onigiri, or grilled/baked onigiri. True to its name, this is baked to brown the outside. It is a bit sweeter on the outside, but this is only rice. So 7-Eleven sells it for only $1.10 with tax.

This is chaashuu chaahan, or roast pork fried rice. 7-Eleven charges 130 yen for this; a simpler fried rice can be found at the 100 yen shop.

There are plenty of nori-wrapped variations too, and I've also tried an oyster onigiri (not wrapped in nori) which was decent. My favorite is the fried rice now, though hopefully in a month or so I'll be chowing down on ones with nori.

Christmas Wish List from Japan

Since it's now officially Black Friday in America (and in some stores, it started many hours ago), I figured I would go ahead and post my wish list for Christmas. Not that I expect anything on this list; it's just a collection of tangible things I miss from America.

How about kicking it off with some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups? I got some this summer through a friend, but I can never get enough chocolate and peanut butter together! Too bad it's really unhealthy for me.

And along the lines of peanut butter, how about some of those MnMs or Reese's Pieces. Seriously, candies in Japan don't combine peanut butter and chocolate. It's so rare, I don't even see it at Don Quixote - though I have seen mini peanut butter cups (non-Reese's) at Costco. And I have two boxes of chocolate-peanut butter brownie mix that I need to use.

Another rarity in Japan is mint, so York Peppermint Patties are nowhere to be found. I was lucky enough to find some mint chocolate instant coffee, though it runs me 50 yen per cup. I guess that's cheaper than the nearly 600-yen white mocha drinks I like from the local Starbucks.

The recent news has reminded me how much I love Twinkies, Ho Hos, and Cupcakes. I know they won't disappear completely, but I could go for a package of each!

OK, let's get a bit healthier. Pumpkin pie is my favorite kind of pie, but I haven't had any since I left the States. I haven't looked too much for canned pumpkin, but then I would have to find small pie crusts that would fit in my little oven...

Mexican food. I brought packets of taco seasoning with me, and I can buy them here (they aren't cheap!), which means I get the same basic tacos I made in America. But I can't get the awesome ones that I love from San Francisco's Mission District. And nachos are pretty difficult too, though I guess they can be done. Perhaps some more taco seasoning packets could be brought my way.

And while we're talking ethnic food, I really miss kung pao chicken. Send me some sauce that I can mix in here (preferably in dry-seasoning form - just add water!) and I can add the chicken and everything else. I found one place way out west of Tokyo, several months ago, where I was able to get some kung pao-style chicken. It was awesome. I've replaced my spice craving with curry here in Japan, which I can easily make at home. But a little bit of that familiar flavor would be great. (I suppose I could probably find all the ingredients somewhere around my local supermarket.)

I miss many of my favorite TV shows from America. I've considered Hulu, but the Japanese version doesn't carry most of the ones I want to see. And there are a few movies I didn't get on DVD before coming out here that I really want to watch, most notably the Blues Brothers movie. (Why can't I just stream Netflix like I did in San Francisco!)

While I keep myself pretty busy most of the time, I've returned to reading. English-language books that I want to read are either really expensive or difficult to find. Maybe a gift card I could use on Amazon.JP would do wonders here! I have a bunch of books in a couple boxes left in San Francisco that could be sent over, but you know how heavy books are and thus how expensive it would be to ship them.

Of course, there are many other things I want, and I don't really need anything.

I'll run out of deodorant soon, but I have heard that can now be found in Japan so I'll start my hunt in the next few weeks. I have a lot of toothpaste, and I think good toothpaste is also available. I've lost enough weight that I can fit into (3x-large-size - basically a size L in the US) Japanese clothes and I've had some luck finding new shoes (any guys over a size 10 will probably have some trouble).

Really, I wrote this post with the hopes that those who come to Japan will get an idea of what they might miss while living here and can plan accordingly. As I've tried to convey in the past, there are lots of new and exciting things to be tried, from different food dishes and sweets to exploring the back streets of Tokyo. While I don't have chocolate and peanut butter keeping me fat, I can get some amazingly delicious baked goods and packaged candies to keep my sweet tooth pleased. And while I can't read all the time, I'm pretty happy spending my time trying to figure out what, exactly, is in that package of food, or poking my head around some new-to-me neighborhoods.

So for those of you buying all kinds of stuff this weekend, happy shopping! My address is...

Oishii-so: Give me a break! KitKat Flavors in Japan!

Japan is known for it's flavor. More specifically, it's odd flavors. I haven't had much of a chance to try the ice cream flavors, though I see green tea flavors in almost everything. I tried some steak flavored cheetos last month. That was an adventure.

Nothing seems to be more coveted than the variety of Kit Kats found in stores, though.

Some of them are available only for a limited time, or in certain places. The key is to always keep your eyes open!

The first flavor is one I found in a special box, and it didn't come cheap. 800 yen for a souvenir box from Yokohama.  This is the one in the middle-right package above, and as you can tell from the picture, it's flavored like a strawberry cheesecake. The flavor is awesome, just like you'd expect from a strawberry cheesecake. It isn't as tart as a cheesecake would be, though - more sweet. It looks like this:

From there, we move on to the other white-colored Kit Kat, in the white wrapper:

This has a cookies and cream taste, with a black Oreo-style center. The cream flavor is stronger than the cookies, but it is pretty good! There is an aftertaste similar to eating just the center of Oreo cookies.

Next, let's get one of the patriotic ones. How about the blue-edged wrapper?

The chocolate tastes different on this Kit Kat. It came in a bag of three different types (whatever happened to one of them I don't know - or maybe it was only two types). It is supposed to be some sort of worldwide edition, so maybe this is a dutch chocolate or something!

And as for the red-edged wrapper:

The chocolate tastes more "normal" - in fact, there really isn't much diference from normal Kit Kats. Maybe they are normal for me - perhaps English.

Next, the green wrapper:

Green tea!

They taste just like green tea, but similar to the cheesecake, are sweeter. These are pretty good too! But I don't care much for green tea, so they aren't a favorite.

Last, my favorite bunch:

Pink Kit Kats! Strawberry flavored, these are super-sweet and strawberry-y. I really like these Kit Kats! 

And one more for good luck. These aren't mini Kit Kats:

This is a long bar, and costs about 100 yen. This is "Salt and Puff" flavored. There is a hint of salt flavor, and little cereal puff balls around the "cookie" part of the bar. It's really good!

As I find additional flavors, I'll let you know. There are dark chocolate bars out there for sure, plus I know I'll come across some other flavors over the year. Here's hoping I find a blueberry flavor soon!

Oishii-so: Fried Chicken for your backpack!

I'm a bit sick with a cold. It's wreaking havoc on my sinuses, mainly. I think I might be on the far side of a 48-hour flu or cold (I felt worse this morning than I do now) but I'm trying to take it easy. Not the simplest thing to do when life keeps going on: laundry and chores had to get done yesterday, and work goes on regardless of how I feel.

I'm cooking more, now. I need to tell you all about that. But for tonight, here's a snack I picked up from the kid's store in Shin-Misato.

The English on the front of the bag says "Fried Chicken Taste" and has pictures of real pieces of fried chicken. The back is a little more telling, that these are Texas Corn brand corn puffs (just like Cheetos balls but with different flavoring).

Opening the bag (see photos below) they don't have much color. I can't smell too well right now but they do smell a bit like chicken. And there's no mistaking the taste.

The flavor is not unlike that of fried chicken skin. There's a hint of oil flavor, maybe some light spices. The aftertaste reminds me of chicken meat. It's quite amazing when you think about it, how well the flavor matches that of actual fried chicken (if a bit unseasoned).

They aren't as good as the shrimp flavored chips (I've been thinking of getting another bag of those, when I run out of snacks). But they aren't bad. I won't buy them again, because there are other things I enjoy more in the snack category. I'll eat them again if they turn up at a party, though.

Ooshii-so: Seafood Flavored Chip Things

Just as the title says, tonight we're looking at a bag of chips. They appear to be made the same way Funyuns are made (mmmm funyuns). However, as you see by the pictures, they're spiraled arcs instead of onion-ring shaped.

They really have the same underlying texture as Funyuns. There is a mild flavor but it's more of a non-hot spice than outright shrimp/prawn/etc. I'm pleasantly surprised and I'll probably pick these up occasionally when I feel like having a snack. There are other flavors so I'll try those in due time.

As you can see, they're made by Calbee, which is the major chip company in Japan. So you can expect to see that name again soon!

Verdict: oshii! A mild pleasant flavor I can enjoy but not get tired of halfway through a bag. The strong-flavored Doritos, for example, have so much cheese/ranch/etc flavor (and strong aftertaste) that I wouldn't want to eat many chips.