Naughty Japanese ^^'

A friend of mine just came back from her 3 months ship journey. She flew out to Japan first; stayed there for a week or so and took a cruise ship to Dubai, Singapore, India and some more countries which I can not remember at the moment. Sounds amazing doesn't it?!? She brought back some snacks and little gifts for me :) I mostly loved these cocoa cookie bars covered with chocolate in the shape of a penis!! XD You have got to love the Japanese. They come up with these whimsical, naughty, fun things that makes it impossible for you get bored there on Japan land ^__^ She bought them from Okinawa where she loved. I haven't been there yet but I most certainly will be some time around next year. She couldn't carry the whole box of cookies because the box was too large but she cut off the front of the box and squeezed it in her luggage because she just had to bering it;
see "why?" v below v
Sorry again, I had to take the photo with my phone and the cookie looks very blurry ><

A Tasty-Fun Discovery

A good friend of mine introduced me to this very cute restaurant last night. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me so I took the photos with my cell-phone's camera. Though the phone's battery died soon after we ordered so I did not have a chance to take a photo of what I was eating yet again ><>
The entrance was kind of hidden and mysterious. Right after you slide the door you hear a cat "moeeewww"ing and a frog "wraaack"ing. I'm not going to talk a lot about the interior now because I will be updating this post with photos of the interior. Promise with better photo quality this time!!

Japanese Candy (>w<)

Loads of sweets from Japan this month!! Another good friend of mine sent me this cute little box that contains small white&pink Japanese rice candy and a jelly in the shape of a tiger. The reason why the jelly is shaped as a tiger is because this is the year of the tiger according to the Chinese astrology. So this was a Chinese new years gift for me from dear Michiko ^__^

Gochisousamadeshita~

Japanese Sweets&Snack *Q*

I had a friend visit me from Tokyo last week ^_^ We've been good friends for almost 2 years now and it was very nice to see her, spend time with her for a whole week!! Since I love almost every Japanese sweets and snacks, I told her to bring me the ones she love so that I don't have to order the whole sweets and snacks section of the Supaa or Kombini(super market-convinience store). My eyes brightened up as soon as I saw the package prepared for me and of course I begin to drool ;p So here's what I've been eating the whole week kekeke~~ ~_^

>The first three photos are Japanese rice crackers. There are many types of rice crackers that you can find in Japan; salty plain, with sugar, with spices etc. This one Fuyumi brought me is the plain salty one and it's so damn delicious!
>>The second set of photos... Hmm how should I explain... Fried crackers dipped in melted Japanese brown sugar. They do seem like a pack of poop but believe me, they taste so good!!
>>>Below that are Fujiya's Country Ma'am Choco Chip Soft Cookies with two flavors; vanilla and cocoa. There are also packs with 5 flavors, strawberry being one of them I love! They are smaller in size compared to an average American chocolate chip cookie.
>>>>Last but not least, is a pack of pochy by Meiji that is dipped into white chocolate. Mmmm... *Q*

Ja~ Itadakimasu!!

Yummy!!

Today I went to an Italian restaurant with my best friend and had some pasta polpetta di carne(my favorite) with a glass of red Merlot. Do I sound old? Right after that we hopped in a small cozy cafe to eat chocolate suffle and drink coffee. Yumm~ *Q*
I did not have my camera with me so I couldn't take any pics but I sure will next time and share!!
You definitely should try pasta polpetta di carne if you haven't!

~Mmm... Sangria~

I'm obsessed with one alcoholic beverage these days. Whenever I go out with friends to a bar or some night club, I search for Sangria!! I'm just hooked!! My classical drink used to be red wine and I guess I did not drift that far away from it since Sangria is also made with red wine. Put loads of sliced oranges and apples in a huge bucket full of red wine. Add sugar, juice and cinnamon in it and voila!! Spanish people know their thing ~_^ It's a great coctail drink, great party drink... Just great!! XD

Here's a
Basic Sangria Recipe taken from HERE

You'll Need:

• 3 1/4 cups ( 26 fl. oz) dry red wine
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Juice of 1 large orange
• Juice of 1 large lemon
• 1 large orange, sliced thin crosswise
• 1 large lemon, sliced thin crosswise
• 2 medium peaches, peeled, pitted and cut into chunks
• 1 cup (8 fl. oz) club soda

Preparation:
Combine all the ingredients except for the club soda in a large punch bowl or serving pitcher, mixing well. Refrigerate overnight. Immediately before serving, mix in the club soda for added fizz. Ladle into cups with ice cubes.

Who Wants Candy? \(^__^)/

Everybody knows about my obsession with candy and dark chocolate. With that in mind, a friend of mine who has recently returned from Osaka, Japan brought me this pack of really cute candies. Both white and pink have the same taste of fresh, green apples; not too sweet. When I first picked up the pack, I thought the drawings on the candies were only stickers but turns out that they aren't. They look like cute little, tasty beads^___^ Makes me feel like a little kid. Japanese packaging and candy are the best!!

Discovering Genmaicha

I drink tea more than coffee everyday, especially green tea because of it's anti-oxidation effects on both body and skin. I have many friends who want to drink green tea(ocha) but can not bare it's taste. For those of you with the similar problem, I have a great solution: Genmaicha. Genmaicha is green tea combined with roasted brown rice. Tastes much better than plain green tea with it's roasted brown rice resembling popcorn. The one I have is in bags. The pack contains 14 bags. Each bag has 5 grams of Genmaicha and it usually serves 2 to 3 cups. "The water to steep this tea should typically be about 80–85 °C (176–185 °F). A steeping time of 3–5 minutes is recommended, depending on desired strength and the source of the tea - some sources recommend as little as one minute of brewing time."~Wikipedia

Where to Buy: Amazonor Ebay