thank you

Big thank you to my Instagram friend @yumyumtofu for sending me all these local Canadian chocolates.

Can't wait to try them soon!

unreal

Recently found these candies by Unreal, called Unjunked, at Target.

They boast using no corn syrup, no partially hydrogenated oil, no artificial ingredients, no GMO nor preservatives.

I liked the peanut butter cups, the chocolate seemed to be on the darker side.

And I appreciated the peanut butter filling, not like the one I tried the last time I was home.

The chocolate caramel nougat bar was delicious as well.

Similar to a Milky Way bar in taste, it had a lower sugar amount.

The chocolate candy shells were like M & Ms but the colors muted.

I like that they used beetroot juice, turmeric & purple cabbage to color these candies.

They were a bit sweet to me even though they have a lower sugar amount than the M & Ms.

The candies overall are a little smaller than the more "famous" ones, but for a lesser amount of sugar, I think it is a good thing.

I'd definitely buy these again.

chocolate finds

February in Japan means there are lots of chocolates to be found.

I picked up these three recently.

Charbonnel et Walker's truffles.

You can really taste the alcohol in these champagne truffles, too bad they don't use dark chocolate in any of them.

Peters bon-bons are thin and delicious.

From top to bottom: Prosecco-Raspberry, Orange and Latte Macchiato. My fave was the orange.

The container makes a nice pen case, though it isn't too "thick", so you can't put a lot in there.

Dufflett's Nutt-e Dark chocolate with maple coated cashews.

This was more like a brittle coated with chocolate.

Everything was good, hope to find more chocolates in the coming weeks.

lox & bread (part 2)

Today's breakfast was the smoked salmon that we received, a warm mizuna (potherb mustard) salad, the bread that I bought (cranberry-lavender & the baguette) toasted and with cream cheese and a pear that we also received the other day.

I think the salmon was dry smoked, so the meat literally crumbles while slicing. The smoke flavor is really subtle and you can really taste the salmon's flavor. It was really good!

My friend's husband (the one who caught the salmon) had his catch canned and smoked at a place called St. Jean's in B.C. Canada. Even if you don't catch anything while fishing, you can still buy some great fish from them!!

lox & bread

Today, my friend gave me some smoked salmon and canned salmon that her husband caught (Thank you!!). He fishes for sport and also owns many fishing supply stores around Osaka.

Most of his stores are called "Esaichiban". I think it might mean "the No. 1 lures".

He caught the salmon in Vancouver at a place called, the Langara Fishing Lodge.

They canned and smoked it for him. Since the salmon is frozen, it will take probably a day or so to thaw out.

In the meantime, I decided to go to buy some bagels or baguette to eat our "lox" with. I went to Makiochi (2 stations away from us).

I read on a website that a favorite bread shop of mine had moved from Esaka to Makiochi recently. The name of the bread shop is "A Bientot" (I think it means "See you again!" in French). They mostly have crusty type French breads, but I really enjoy their scones and sandwiches.

(I ended up buying a bit more than I needed). The narrow bread is the baguette (it had just come out of the oven and was crackling). The bread in the foreground caught my interest, it is a campagne (farmhouse bread) with cranberries and lavender in it. The one that looks like a pizza is a fougasse (french type foccacia) with eggplant, broccoli, ham and potato and cheese on it. And a baguette sandwich with marinated chicken, mozzarella cheese, tomato and basil.

I can't wait to try the smoked salmon and am thinking to make salmon patties or tofu salad with the canned salmon.

A bientot
3-11-2 Makiochi
Minoo, Osaka
Phone: 072.725.8060
*Not sure of the days of operation, so call to make sure before you go!!