31 Days of Halloween: Japanese Twix?

I have one crazy sweet tooth. Why other would I be undertaking such a unique project? And the tangible thing I miss most from America is the supply of candy and other foods. There are plenty of substitutes in many areas, but peanut butter mixed with chocolate just isn't popular here. So Reese's Cups, peanut butter MnMs, and peanut butter Twix don't make their way across the Pacific. Actually, regular Twix don't either, although I've found those in South Korea. Go figure.

Sequoia is a chocolate bar made by Furuta, a name which I usually see on children's novelty chocolates. The packaging here is a bit more geared to adults, and I found two flavors: chocolate and strawberry. Seriously, Japan loves its strawberries. Shortcake isn't shortcake unless it's strawberry shortcake.

I managed to open one of the packages so perfectly I could have probably sealed it back together again. Should I be worried about that? Anyway, there are two wafers with a layer of chocolate between them, and the whole thing is coated with another layer of chocolate. These are a bit smaller than Twix, and there's a distinct lack of caramel. Otherwise, they are almost the same, right down to texture and crunch.

The chocolate melts quite easily though; it's definitely a comfortable room temperature and just handling the chocolates outside of the wrappers got me a bit messy. But after washing my hands I can write this post to tell you that these taste pretty good. Nothing special, of course, but if you miss Twix, you could probably dip the chocolate version in caramel and be satisfied. I might try that with peanut butter. The strawberry version tastes just like strawberry chocolate always tastes in Japan, mild but apparent flavor.

Now I just need to get my US candy fix somehow. Maybe Hong Kong or Singapore has some good import stores!

31 Days of Halloween: Ramen... Candy?!

One of these days I'll brave the stranger snacks found at Japanese snack and candy shops. But I'm going to take a small step in the right direction by popping into a couple packs of noodle snacks.

If you've ever wondered what instant noodles would taste like without the water, wait no more. These tiny packs are essentially the same thing.

The left-hand pack has chicken-flavor ramen noodles, while the pack on the right has yakisoba style noodles. Honestly, I don't know the difference yet. But these two packs have two different flavors. The chicken flavor in the ramen pack is apparent, and the noodles taste a bit saltier. The yakisoba noodles have more spices which in turn makes them more flavorful.

I'm not sure which one I like more, but I think the chicken ramen noodles in the orange pack have a slight edge. And these tiny packs have made me more interested in trying other (full-size) bags of similar snacks!

31 Days of Halloween: A Sucker for Sweets

Today's post is a little fruity. And by that I refer to the flavors in today's candies!

To be honest, I didn't even think about what might be inside this package when I bought it because I was just grabbing something from each box. The character you see is from the insanely popular (with pre-school children) Anpanman. It's "Anpanman Peropero Candy"!

Peropero means licking, so yep, it's a sucker. Or lollipop. Whatever you want to call it. Look closely and you can see it's in the shape of Anpanman's head. The character on the wrapper is Dokinchan, a germ and antagonist in the cartoon. And as labeled on the package this candy is peach flavored. The peach really stands out and this is a nice little treat!

The second candy today comes in a small box. These are "choco balls" and I see them in stores all the time. Those birds on the box are always there, and must be the candy's mascots. There are different flavors, with this one being "Mix Juice".

The lid opens up so you can save some of the balls for later. They have a yellowish tint and the smell of tropical fruit was strong as soon as I opened the box! The outside is supposed to be fruit-flavored chocolate, although I didn't taste any chocolate, only fruit. Inside the chocolate coating is a biscuit ball. Essentially, it's a smaller-sized Whoppers candy, with fruit flavor instead of chocolate. I'll have to find more chocolate-only versions to compare to what I remember about Whoppers.

The flavor is exactly as advertised - it tasted like I was eating tropical juice. You can see the mix should include banana, peache, pineapple, orange, and mango,  These are pretty good, but I prefer my tropical fruit as an actual juice.

31 Days of Halloween: Mommy, where do baby donuts come from?

Let's see what the early trick or treat basket holds for tonight, shall we?

This package contains ヤングドーナツ (Young Donuts). Which raises the question, will they grow up to be full size donuts? And if so, will they be Krispy Kreme or just Dunkin' Donuts?

That's about a kilogram of sugar they're coated with. Okay, I'm exaggerating. Each donut is about the diameter of two quarters.They're shaped like donuts and taste like donuts, but they're not soft and squishy like regular donuts. The consistency is not unlike a stale donut, which makes them a little off-putting. But hey, if I was a kid and wanted a sugar rush, I might grab a pack of these!

This little plastic bubble, also about the diameter of a couple quarters, is called プチハート (Petit Hearts). There are four little heart-shaped candies inside. It's a shame they don't come in a heart-shaped box. Yes, that's a Nirvana reference.

What else would these be but chocolates? Not much chocolate is included in the container, but this would be a nice little gift or prize, or a cute Halloween treat I suppose! The chocolate tastes pretty good, though it's plain milk chocolate.

31 Days of Halloween: Chewy Chewy!

Today's first sweet is a brownie. Can't you tell from the package? It says "BROWNIE" in English, then twice more in Japanese.

Home-baked brownies don't seem to exist in Japan, but thinner ones like this aren't too difficult to find. The small pink-wrappered stick of chocolate you see above is the cheapest one I've seen, but it tasted okay. It's not chewy like a delicious brownie, but it's very soft. I'm not sure what's up with the white coating on the outside, and it's kind of crumbly, which means overall it's a little dry. The flavor was pretty close to an American home-style brownie too.

This is a very small package of orange-flavored balls. Reading the katakana on the front identifies them as gumballs; each box comes with six pieces.

Children's gum in Japan is much softer and fresher than the cheap stuff in America. Eating one of these individually basically turns it into a soft candy, as it disintegrates quickly. But popping the entire box in your mouth at once gives a nice wad that has a ton of flavor and chews very easily. I don't recall any other flavors at the time I bought this, but I know I've seen others in the past. I'll stick with the adult gum, though - it's just like American gum in composition with long-lasting flavor.

31 Days of Halloween: A Thursday Threesome

Today, I'm sharing a trio of snacks that combined cost well under $1! Perfect for your trick-or-treat bucket!

I'm not sure how to translate this snack. It looks like something only adults would like. But hey, I'm an adult, right? And I love berries and chocolate!

The filling inside doesn't quite have that pink hue the wrapper does, but this was totally delicious! The center is a soft cake, and the chocolate "tire" around the outside doesn't taste cheap and oily. I could really pick up the berry flavor in the creamy center. I polished this off pretty fast. Even as a child I'd be happy to have one of these!

Next, this egg-looking thing. It's basically called Chocolate Fondant Marshmallow.

It's a little denser than American marshmallows but the taste is similar. The chocolate cream on the inside is rich and almost liquidy, but it doesn't run like a liquid. This is a dangerous sweet to have available!

How about a carrot to polish things off? Ninjin, says the wrapper. That means carrot. What's inside?

Those are small rice puffs, just like Rice Krispies. They're lightly sweetened but don't taste anything like carrots. I think that's a good thing. And I hate to say this, but they're probably the healthiest of today's three sweets. And they aren't half bad, either. I'd take these over a Choco Bat simply because they don't have that oily aftertaste the chocolate on the Choco Bats has!

Are you getting hungry?

31 Days of Halloween: Choco Bat and Choco Cake

Japan has dozens - hundreds, prehaps - of relatively unique candies, sweets, and snacks on the shelves of convenience stores, supermarkets, and surprisingly common snack and sweet shops. This month, I'm going to share many of those with you as a sort of Trick or Treat event!

I am going to generally stick with sweets, though a few salty snacks are in there. Just like the bags of pretzels or peanuts some people give out. And in the spirit of Halloween candy, I'm using inexpensive packages - fun size in the States.

First is the Choco Bat. I've had this before, but it's been a long time. I first heard of Choco Bat because I saw the little logo guy on a handheld fan and bought it (I'm a baseball fan, remember?). It was a couple months later that I finally tried one.

I guess Choco Bat sounds better than Choco Stick or Choco Log. But that's what it looks like. It's very lightweight, too.

The taste is okay for kids, but now I remember why I haven't had one in a long time. The chocolate isn't really rich enough and the semi-soft cake inside tastes artificial.

The Choco Cake is moon pie-sized, but less than 50 yen per package. There are two small cakes inside.

These are softer than the Bats, but essentially the same product. The Cakes are a little better tasting if I had to choose, but I'm not running back to the store for more.

Well, one pair of treats down! What will I pull out of my bag tomorrow?