lately...

Remember this?

Well, recently, anything and everything has this salted caramel or caramel flavor added to it...Actually, this has been going on for awhile in Japan now, but it seems like more and more things are popping up here and there.

We tried the caramel version of the W cream eclair and say that the original version is best.

Theobroma's caramel chocolate drink...I prefer the original chocolate.

Starbucks convenience store brand, Discoveries' Provence is creme brulee flavored. It reminded me more of a caramel macchiato than creme brulee.

Haagen Dazs' Truffe Chocolat, this was really chocolaty with bits of chocolate in it too....mmm!

Banana Chocolate was so-so, banana ice cream with a chocolate swirl running through it.

Almond Praline, almond ice cream with caramel running through it. The caramel was a little bitter, probably to off-set the sweet almond ice cream....meh!

I recently found stroopwafel at Starbucks...140 yen (about US$1.40), I guess I was impatient because the caramel wasn't too gooey when I had this, but it was good.

I also got an apple cinnamon macaron...220 yen (about US$2.20)...the outside was vanilla and the inside was an apple cinnamon gel...not too sweet and good with black coffee.

Veggie lasagna...I tried making this with no-boil noodles. I didn't have enough liquid, so I ended up adding some water while I was baking this. Still it was easy to put together and very delicious.

Harnn soaps...these soaps from Thailand smell so wonderful. I first saw this in a magazine on the plane from Palau, I thought the only place to buy them was in Guam, but when I went online I found out they sell them right here in Osaka.

I think they use jasmine extracts. The rice series (black, white and red rice) has bits of rice in them, good for exfoliation.

Ellie's baked shrimp with feta...I didn't have feta and used goat cheese...this had a lot of liquid, good for lots of bread mopping.

My hand at cappuccino art...I think I'll stick to being a housewife.

Burdigala's citron brioche...bits of citron baked into a soft brioche. I don't think the icing is too necessary though it does keep the brioche moist.

Huge maitake (hen of woods), doesn't it look like a corsage??

The cappuccino at Malebranche doesn't come with a spoon but a stick of cinnamon to stir....delicious but hard to get at the crema at the end.

Starbucks' fruit jewel 390 yen (about US$3.90)...a cake made with graham flour and dried fruits....one of the fruits that they use is lingonberry. My only gripe with the lingonberry is that there are tiny seeds that get stuck in my teeth, other than that it was a really delicious cake, nice and moist.

Starbucks is also collecting books/magazines from December 1 to 25 called "book for two", I think they donate or re-sell them, anyway, I donated a book that I didn't need anymore.

Pafonte's cinnamon roll 120 yen (about US$1.20)...buttery and delicious and just the right size.

What have you been eating/into lately?