omusubi ambassador (part 2)

I tried the tuna, bonito, mayo & konbu musubi...258 yen (tax included)

It got a little smushed in my bag (I think) because I've almost never had musubi in Japan that looked this messy

It is big!

And filled to the gills! I was leery to try this because sometimes bonito can be "fishier" than tuna

But this wasn't.

I've also found a coupon online, so I hope to try these again before the coupon and campaign ends 

omusubi ambassador

Recently Shohei Ohtani became the Omusubi Ambassador for Family Mart (had no idea there was such a thing)...

And they released two musubi as part of the campaign.

The one I tried is similar to the one on the right of the picture, this time though they changed it a little adding bonito to the original tuna, mayo & konbu...will try this one soon…258 yen (tax included)

I was more excited to try the one on the left because it is supposed to resemble the musubi from Bongo, which we've been to in the past and also have tried making at home.

The first bite was only the egg yolk sauce

But the second bite had the soboro and egg yolk sauce...delicious!

Flavorful, sweet and salty

Because convenience stores don't sell things for a long time, I will try to go back to have this again soon.

(There was another musubi with takana (mustard greens) and mentaiko (spicy pollack roe) mayo, but I’m not a fan of mentaiko)

I'm glad I got to try this...198 yen (tax included) and look forward to trying the one with tuna & bonito

7-eleven

Saw these in the frozen section of 7-eleven back in the summer.

Of course it was too blazing to even think of eating oozy cheese then

So, luckily we were able to find these on one of the coldest days...

the 2 cheese is like a doughnut, it had sugar on the outside

Apparently there is honey in there too...meh

We felt this was oily and "heavy" feeling, not much cheese flavor

The sweet potato version reminded us of the one we tried from MOS

A little sweet, very chewy

My photos uploaded wonky: these need to be kept frozen until you are ready to eat 

Zap in the microwave for about 1 minute 40 seconds (depending on the wattage of your microwave)

Left is the cheese, right the sweet potato

I'm glad we tried these and would get the sweet potato one again.

7 eleven

Not sure when 7 eleven came out with smoothies but I finally got around to trying it.

After you purchase it, go to the area where you can get coffee, there is a special smoothie making machine.

Scan the bar code on the plastic label, it tells the machine what type of smoothie you plan to make.

Take the plastic film off and put the cup into the machine, press "ok" and it does all the work.

Put a plastic cover on after it is whizzed.

You can carry it home in this special bag.

There are also special straws near the plastic covers.

When I got home, I added li hing powder 'cuz I couldn't resist.

Bummed I didn't try this when the temps were blazing.

At least now I know and hope to try the others before the weather gets too fahreezing.

shirokuma

Monday, the weather dude said that the rainy season is over in our area...usually rainy season lasts about 40 days, but this year it ended 20 days early! (WT!) which means, bring on the heat of summer! eep.

Shirokuma, literally "white bear" is a popular frozen treat from the Kagoshima area of Kyushu. 

Shaved ice that is drizzled with condensed milk, topped with fruits and sweetened beans. Sometimes there is also some vanilla ice cream under the shaved ice.

The two versions I found at 7-eleven...one had strawberries and strawberry sauce, the other version had fruits...321 yen (tax included) each.

We’ll try the strawberry version today.

I'm glad we tried this and it was the perfect way to keep cool.

Hope it is more bearable where you are.

hokkaido

Since Family Mart was having a Hokkaido Fair and we can't travel we bought some foods to eat our way through Hokkaido.

Chicken skin chips...oh em gee...so bad for you but so good!

Almost $5 for a teeny bag but so worth it...I would get this one again.

They had different flavors but we tried their salt version.

Fruit beers made by Hokkaido Beer.

Yubari melon and Yoichi Cherry & Berry ales.

Just like drinking the actual fruit juices!

Hotate Butter Shoyu Ramen by Fujiwara Seimen.

So much scallop and butter flavor!

On the package it also said to add rice at the end for zosui.

Satoshi was excited because he thought Kat was gonna let him drink all the broth...ha!

He was bummed when he found out he had to use the spoon with holes to eat the zosui...

Yakisoba bento. I had been wanting to try this but apparently this is only sold in Hokkaido.

I was excited to see that Family Mart brought it in,  add the hot water to make your yakisoba.

Then instead of throwing the water out, pour it into a cup and add the instant soup to have with your yakisoba.

I only took a sip of the soup because eating the yakisoba and soup would be too much salt, but you know who drank all of his soup...ahem.

I'm glad we got to try all these different items from Hokkaido but am looking forward to the day when we can travel safely again.

shopping

Just a heads up for those of you who come to Japan to shop.

At the 100 yen stores, food items are 8%..."things" are 10%.

When I went to the 100 yen store today, I bought some spacers for my shoe cabinet...these were 10% tax.

I also bought some ume candy...these were 8% tax.

Also, if you use your credit card at the convenience store, there is a little "discount" (I think 2%) off your bill.

Not sure how long this discount will be given though.

Just somethings to keep in mind when you shop here.

yum

Merchandise at the convenience stores change at lightning speeds.

What you had one week may not be there the next.

7-eleven recently teamed up with Haagen-Dazs and came out with a waffle cone ice cream.

Apparently it is the first for Haagen-Dazs to come out with this for a convenience store.

Macadamia nut ice cream, waffle cone and topped with hard shell caramel.

I liked that the cone was super crisp.

A little too sweet but I'm glad I tried this.

Even though the weather continues to be fahreezing, there is always space for some ice cream.

snackage

When we first moved to Japan back in 2001, the "trendy" food items in the US would usually take several years before catching on here.

These days though, it seems that a lot of "trendy" food items can be found more easily.

I recently found these snacks at Lawson under their "Natural Lawson" brand.

Coconut & Amaranth cookies...the cookies remind me of anzac biscuits.

Manuka Honey glazed almonds, crunchy and doesn't stick to your teeth.

Coconut sugar chocolate.

72% cacao & bits of coconut has a slight crunch to it...delicious!

What are you enjoying these days?

cold brew

Recently, I saw this at the convenience store.

I usually don't buy coffee that comes in a can (unless I have to do some mc-gyver-ing) because I feel it has a "metal" taste to it.

Being it was a cold brew version, I wanted to try it.

It was good, smooth flavor.

I'd buy this one again.

things I'm liking (disliking)

Yesterday, it rained all.day.long. and now the cold is back (until Saturday, so says the weather dude...)

It's been awhile since I've done a liking (disliking) post...

Disliking the Pablo monaka (wafer) ice cream bar...the ice cream was a cream cheese flavor surrounded by a sickly sweet apricot sauce enveloped by a crisp wafer shell.

Pablo is a popular cheese tarte (cheesecake) maker, and they have had some delicious convenience store creations in the past, this just wasn't one of them.

Kind of in the middle on Minoh Beer's Godfather 4.

While I normally enjoy stouts, this one seemed a bit watery.

On the other hand, the yuzu flavor was nice.

Meiji Almond...this was a rich matcha (green tea).

Usually whenever something is green tea flavored they usually mix the green tea with white chocolate making things a bit too sweet.

This version was nice because it wasn't sweet.

Kinoko no yama's matcha and chocolate "mushrooms".

The balance of matcha and sweet chocolate are perfect.

Nature Valley's Coconut Crunch granola bars.

I first came across these at the cash register area of Yamaya. After buying one, I had wished I had bought more.

There is lots of coconut in this.

I'm glad I was able to find more at Yamaya recently.

City Bakery's rugelach. Packed with dried fruits and nuts.

This is huge but so good with the flaky croissant type outer shell.

Here is a better photo from the first time I tried it.

What have you been enjoying lately?

customer service

The other day, I went to 7-eleven to get something for snack.

I ordered a caramel doughnut at the register paid and then went home.

When I opened the package there was a kinako doughnut in there instead.

Man, was I bummed.

After eating the doughnut (which was good), I called 7-eleven because I noticed that the price on my receipt was no where near what a kinako doughnut costs (the kinako costs less).

The lady I spoke to said that they would need to check up on it.

She then asked me for my address and telephone number.

At the time, I thought it was kinda weird that they needed my address...

So a couple minutes later, the manager called to apologize.

She offered to DELIVER a caramel doughnut to me (probable reason for needing my address), as well as to refund my money.

I told her that it was not necessary to bring the doughnut over (especially since I already ate one) and that I would go to pick up my refund the next day.

So the next morning, I went to 7-eleven and told them who I was.

They apologized and refunded my money.

I offered to pay for the kinako doughnut because even though it was their mistake for giving me the wrong item, I still ate the kinako one.

But they wouldn't hear of it and refused my money.

Customer service at its finest.

p.s. keeping with the doughnut theme...

today is Girl's Day...we're celebrating with some doughnuts from Donuts Dept, so cute! (and delicious)

anno imo chips

I've talked about anno imo before here and found some chips made by Calbee at the convenience store.

These were a thick cut chip so they weren't too crisp. Still the potato was very sweet.

I like that these chips don't have anything extra added to them.

p.s. today is a holiday (Bunka no hi (Culture Day)), so we have a short week!

things I'm liking (disliking)

It's been some time since I did one of these posts...not liking this sakura latte.

Just because sakura translates to cherry, it isn't "American" cherry.

Plus, they paired it with strawberry...meh!

Kinda in-between on these popcorns...the one on the left was supposed to have crushed almonds...(none) and the one on the right was supposed to be gorgonzola with honey (more cheese please!)

Haagen-Dazs came out with an ice cream that has a soft mochi layer.

This particular one has a mitarashi sauce (sweet-salty) and walnuts scattered in vanilla ice cream.

It was so popular that 2 days after they brought it to stores, they had to stop production because the demand was too high.

Wish I had gotten a chance to try the other version which was kinako mochi...

What have you been enjoying?

p.s. have a nice weekend!

pablo x sweets+

The last time I talked about Pablo Cheesecake, was in this post, they had teamed up with Family Mart (a convenience store) and had a cheesecake that I particuarly didn't like.

Well, they again teamed up with Family Mart and this time came out with a chocolate cheesecake ...

This was fabulous!

The chocolate was rich and creamy. The crust flaky. The whole dessert actually reminded me of a chocolate cream pie more than cheesecake.

I would definitely want this one again.

re-connect

Came across these macarons at Lawson the other day. They are made by a Japanese confectioner, Fujiya.

The green one is filled with framboise (raspberry) cream and the pink one with pistachio cream.

I enjoyed the cream fillings tasted like the real deal.

Last month, Yoshimi gave me this yuzu macaron by Malebranche. It was filled with dark chocolate ganache.

So good! Thank you!

I'm glad I re-connected with macarons, it had been awhile since I had one, these reminded me how much I love them.

ispahan

Last year we tried Pierre Hermé's Ispahan yogurt.

Well, the same company came out with a yogurt drink version of it...so good!

Love how they incorporated his logo on the drink too.

What are you enjoying these days?