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Almond milk is finally in more markets these days.

Most of the brands I've seen are coming from Australia, though there are some from the U.S. as well.

I bought a couple of liters (almond & coconut and almond), though I wish they would sell "unsweetened" versions.

I'm not too crazy (no pun intended) about the company name though...Sanitarium, even though the product name is "so good".

Another thing in the markets trending these days are "greek yogurts" and "chia seeds".

Any interesting food trends where you live?

this and that

I recently tried these chocolate almonds by Stettler, a Swiss confection maker.

The almonds are quite large, they are coated with a thin layer of caramel and then covered with chocolate and cocoa powder.

Nice with wine...

How do you choose what bottle of wine to buy?

My way is by looking at the label...if it is "cute" or the font is "pretty" then I look at the price and if it isn't too outrageously priced, I usually buy it.

Sometimes the wine I buy is good, sometimes it's not.

We recently tried this organic wine from Spain.

It was a little too light bodied for my liking, but the label was cute.

p.s. Happy Girls Day!

good neighbors' fine foods

I am not too sure how I found out about Big Spoon Roasters, but I was happy to find them being sold online by Good Neighbors' Fine Foods in Tokyo.

I bought the Chai Spice Nut Butter. They also sell June Taylors preserves, so I bought a jar of her Seville Orange Marmalade.

If you like Chai, you will enjoy this nut butter.

Nice balance of spices and just a tad sweet.

The marmalade is really dark and thick, and there is so much fruit in there...love it!

Both are made in the USA but I didn't think I could find them in Hawaii, so I am glad I was able to find them here.

What are you enjoying these days?

things I'm liking (disliking)

It's been awhile since I've done a post on things I'm liking & disliking...

First off, disliking...It had been some time since I bought unsalted butter.

Whoa?! the brand of butter I've been buying has cut back...it used to be 200 grams, but now they only come in 150 grams.

The sad part is that the price is about the same as when it was 200 grams...eep!

Guess I'll be making less baked goods...

On to liking...found almond milk!

Granted it is only in these teeny 200 mililiter boxes (about a cup), and they don't have unsweetened, but I am happy that the food scene is changing in Japan.

Oh, the almond milk also comes in chocolate, coffee and tea flavors too, I picked up original (plain).

What are you liking (disliking) these days?

happy valentine's day

Happy Valentine's Day...in Japan, it's only for the guys...which I've told you about here and here.

This is the recipe I used for the truffles, though I only made half the recipe.

Super easy and only 2 ingredients, well 4, if you consider the matcha powder and chopped almonds.

I tasted some before giving them to him and we also had some extras to enjoy too.

Have a nice Valentine's Day, everyone!

roasted brussels sprouts salad

I forgot to mention that growing up in Hawaii, we had to work in the cafeteria once in a while, I enjoyed these times, because our lunch was free for that day.

Also, as far as cleaning went, we used to have to "clap" the chalkboard erasers to clean them once in a while, but never had to do the whole class room.

Thanks for all the great comments on yesterday's post.

Now onto today's post...after French class on Tuesday, I went to Daimaru to pick up a couple items for dinner.

Upon looking at the veggie section, I found a little pack of brussels sprouts (10 orbs for 298 yen). In Japanese, brussels sprouts are called Me-kyabetsu (literally sprout cabbage).

It was my first time cooking with it and I winged it.

After cutting off the stems and washing them, I cut them in half then drizzled some olive oil and roasted them at 420F (220C) with a half of an onion for about 15 minutes.

While I was waiting for the sprouts and onion to be done, I sauteed some pancetta (3 thin slices) that I had cut into bite sized pieces, and drained it onto a paper towel.

Then, I put a handful of dried fruit and the drained pancetta into a container and drizzled one mini container of olive oil basil-balsamic dressing (20 ml, about a tablespoon).

After the sprouts and onion were done, I added them to the fruit and pancetta then drizzled one more mini container of the olive oil basil-balsamic dressing (20 ml) because the dried fruit and pancetta soaked up the first "drizzle".

And since I had some marcona almonds in my freezer, I toasted them in the a 300F (150C) oven for 10 minutes and added them to the mix.

NOTES: a little tangy from the dressing, crunch from the nuts though I think I overcooked the brussels sprouts because they were a bit bitter (which I read about online). Still, I really enjoyed this. It was good warm and even better the next day cold. I hope to see more reasonably priced brussels sprouts in the future so I can make this again.

chocolate finds

Recently came across these covered almonds.

Meiji, a well-known Japanese candy company & Kameda, a well-known Japanese snack company got together and came up with this.

The almonds are first covered with a thin wafer.

Then, Kameda's kakinotane (spicy rice crackers that look like persimmon seeds) are crushed and used along with Meiji's milk chocolate to cover the almonds.

Satoshi and I both agree, they can do without the almonds in the middle, somehow the flavors don't match.

Another variation of this tie-up is chocolate covered kakinotane.

This was nice and spicy.

Black cocoa baum kuchen with a dark chocolate glaze by MUJI.

Wow, this was rich...good.

Valrhona's Equinoxe series...dark chocolate (55%) covered almonds & hazelnuts.

The nuts are not roasted but are delicious with their semi-dark chocolate covering.

I say semi-dark because I don't feel that 55% can be called "dark".

Another item is the dark chocolate (55%) covered puffed cereal.

Crispies...yum!

As February rolls around, I think there will be more chocolate finds...

trying a new recipe

I found about this site from Rowena's blog, where you can make almost any photo into an Obama poster look-a-like.

The inauguration was shown here in the middle of the night. I woke at 1:30 am to watch what was being shown here. There were some parts of the broadcast which were shown but with no audio as the local newscasters decided to give their analysis of things instead.

It was still an exciting moment and I am glad I got to witness it as it was happening.

Now onto food...I recently tried Fuji Mama's recipe for her Fuji Nana's Deadly Chocolate Almond Toffee. I've been wanting to try this recipe ever since seeing it.

Since butter is still pricey, I am still cutting my blocks of butter into fourths. So, I cut this recipe also into fourths.

I don't think I cooked my caramel long enough because it was pale and soft, but I am still happy with the results.

The caramel was sticky but not so much that it stuck all over your teeth, which is good because my dentist had said that my fillings were getting old. Also, since I didn't have walnuts, I topped the melted chocolate with cacao nibs to add a crunch to the top.

It was a great recipe and very hard to keep myself from eating the whole thing...

odds & ends

It is the end of the month, so let's clean out the photos that weren't posted about.

Baked some scones using a new recipe. These definitely have to be eaten with jam--not sweet at all, still delicious though.

New version of stuffed bell peppers, added some renkon (lotus root) to the beef and onions and left out the egg.

Made some 3-bean salad (only with 2 beans--canned garbanzo & cooked daizu(soy bean)). Added corn, bell pepper and onion.

Curry fried chicken. Added some curry powder, salt and pepper to panko (bread crumbs). Dipped the chicken pieces in egg then dredged it in the panko mixture. Ate it with some tonkatsu (pork cutlet) sauce--delicious.

New version of Meiji's almond--this one has salted caramel wrapped around the nut. Japan's latest fad is salty sweets. Delicious, but gets quite salty after awhile.

Used one pod of the Lifou vanilla to make strawberry jam.

Have been enjoying the jam on yogurt in the mornings.

Cut some basil tops so that it wouldn't flower, put them in water---hydroponics?? (maybe) Planted them in the soil, hopefully they will grow.

Found these cute bananas, called "monkey bananas" in Japan and are also called Senorita. Thought they would taste like apple bananas, these were really sweet, not tart like the bananas we get in Hawaii.

Tried the Green & Black's Organic Cocoa. Followed the instructions on the can. Not much flavor. Kind of disappointing.

Got this Japanese confection from one of the memorial services. It is called Hakata no hito (lady from Hakata). A tiny baum kuchen with a sweet bean paste filling--delicious.

Our neighborhood 7-eleven closed on Friday. Satoshi and I are particularly sad to see it go because it came into the neighborhood the same year we moved into the neighborhood.

Another store which closed on Friday is the bakery in our shopping arcade a.k.a. my almost everyday lunch pick-up place. Since I have to find somewhere new, looked into buying bento (boxed lunch) from a sozaiya (pre-made foods store)--420 yen (about US$4.20)--rice with crunchy ume (pickled plum), hijiki (edible brown seaweed), tsukemono (pickled veggies), iwashi hamburger (sardine patty), tamagoyaki (omlette), pumpkin & kusamochi (rice cake mixed with yomogi (mugwort)).

meiji's chocolate covered almonds

Ugh, the humidity today was so thick here that I swear you could cut it with a knife....

Here's something new...Meiji's lastest chocolate covered almonds.

This version is made with a crunchy chocolate shell around the almond, then a layer of dark chocolate & lastly coated with cocoa powder and crispies.

It was so good that the contents didn't last for very long...

Have a good week!