popcorn

Saw someone online popping popcorn in their clay pot and had to try.

I only did a tablespoon of corn with 3 tablespoons of oil...

Because the lid isn't see through, you can't tell when the popcorn is done, so I had lots of burnt pieces.

But, mostly everything popped...

The burnt parts leave a residue on the bottom of your clay pot too…boo!

Tried with a frying pan upping the amount of popcorn to 2 tablespoons to 3 tablespoons of oil with a glass lid and this worked well...

Since I like popcorn, I am glad I found a way to get most of the corn to pop.

tokachi popcorn

Recently came upon this popcorn made by Maeda Nosan which uses popcorn grown in the Tokachi area of Hokkaido.

The bags are a little smaller than the Quinn Popcorn I usually buy whenever I am in Hawaii.

This one is 56 grams, where Quinn is 66 grams.

I need to extend the popping time a little.

This was delicious and I'm glad we tried it and will definitely pick up more the next time I see it.

thanks for today

Went to see "Won't You Be My Neighbor", the documentary about Mr Rogers.

Did you grow up in this era?

For those of you too young to know about Mr Rogers, please look him up on YouTube.

I feel he was influential in my childhood.

His voice, his songs, his message (that we matter and that we are loved) resonate in what I think we need in the world especially these days.

Have you gone to the movies lately?!

It's been ages since I've seen a movie in the US and I was shocked at the price of popcorn.

I should've brought snacks in to the movies, but didn't, so I bought a bag of hurricane-style (butter, furikake and kakimochi) popcorn afterwards from L1 Iniki, a shop in Pearlridge, which turned out to be my very late lunch.

Still, it was a good day.

I'm glad I saw this, it's not a trendy movie and will probably never be shown in Japan.

It was nice reconnecting...Thank you Mr Rogers

lunch with friends

Had lunch with S and BFF on Saturday.

We went to The Counter and got there when it opened at 11:00...only to order then wait almost 40 plus minutes for our food to come out...WT?!

Needless to say, BFF's burger did not have the onion rings that her burger was supposed to have.

S's custom burger did not have the avocado that she requested...

Was it an off day? We hope so, but aren't planning to go back any time soon.

S shared some goodies with me...Red Velvet and Fudgy Brownie from Chocolate & Vanilla Bakery in Kaimuki (I want to go back to try their macaron!), Furikake Popcorn from Island Popper (a food truck), a pretty pair of beach glass earrings.

BFF made some delicious brownie cookies.

I'm glad we've been able to keep our friendships going over the years and able to get together while I'm back.

Thanks S and BFF!

Chocolate & Vanilla Bakery
1115 12th Avenue
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone:808.737.2462
Closed Sunday & Monday
Open Tuesday-Friday 10:00-18:00, Saturday 9:00-17:00

Island Popper
@islandpopper on Twitter
Phone:808.391.0238

kukuruza popcorn

Seattle popcorn maker, Kukuruza, opened a shop in Osaka late March. (don't you love their name?! I do. Apparently it means "corn" in Russian.)

They sell 9 different flavors and one flavor of the month.

The flavor for April is Cashew Caramel (shown above).

This past Saturday, I was in Umeda a little earlier than usual, so I queued up for this popcorn.

Not knowing what to expect since I was the first in line, I entered the store and proceeded to give them my order.

Little did I know that I was at the "tasting" area, and was directed to the register area for my purchases.

I like that the cashew caramel has a nice ratio of nuts to popcorn.

We also tried the Buffalo & Bleu Cheese...this one was created to resemble Buffalo Wings.

The bleu cheese is tangy. Not spicy. This popcorn is mixed with caramel corn. The sweet-salty combo was our favorite.

I'll be back.

Kukuruza Popcorn (UPDATE: 3/2017 they closed this location)
Lucua B1
Umeda, Osaka
Phone: 06.6151.1144
Hours: 10:00-21:00
Open when Lucua is

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!

pop gourmet popcorn

I wrote about Pop! Gourmet popcorn previously here and here.

Since Valentine's is coming up, some stores brought in a new flavor, their infused chocolate caramel with sea salt.

Love this one!

The chocolate coating is infused with caramel (or is it the other way around?!) making it more like a toffee coating. And there is just the right of sea salt sprinkled on each piece.

Like I said when I posted this on Instagram..."I'm glad it was a single serving, after tasting a couple, I wasn't about to share"

I'm really glad I got to try this one.

How is your week going?

pop gourmet popcorn

I talked about POP Gourmet Popcorn awhile back when I tried their Rogue Blue Cheese popcorn...here.

Since then, I also tried their Cascade Mix...caramel and cheese...this one was so-so. Something didn't quite match, dunno if it was the caramel or the cheese.

On the other hand, their Almond Roca was fabulous! I loved the toffee coating and would get this one again!

Downer about their garlic parmesan...bitter bits of burnt garlic...blah!

I love to snack on popcorn, but these were hits and misses...

halloween eats

What did you do on Halloween? Satoshi had plans, so I partied alone...

I "made" myself some scary sushi...I got the idea from a commercial for sushi vinegar. Their version was jack o'lanterns.

I bought the sushi from the market and just added the "scary" eyes and mouths. I made jack o'lanterns with salmon and ghosts with ika (squid).

I made some guacamole. I didn't have jalapenos so I just sprinkled some of that habanero salt that Kirk gave us...so good!

I munched on some Pop popcorn in their Rogue Blue (cheese) flavor...really cheesy and quite piquant.

For dessert I had a mont blanc which had purple sweet potato and pumpkin puree in place of the chestnut topping.

And for something to drink, this white beer by Baladin, an Italian maker. Super citrusy.

Hope you had a nice, safe Halloween.

butter popcorn

Butter Popcorn is related to Butter, the pancake shop.

These days, the popcorn craze is about as popular as the pancake craze and the french toast craze (though I think the latter two are higher in the "craze rank")...

They have 12 different flavors to choose from...I had a hard time deciding.

The girl working behind the counter wasn't of any help either, just stood there staring blankly at me waiting for me to order...sigh.

I ended up trying their their quatro formaggio pepper & caramel popcorn combo...which didn't really match.

I did like the cheesiness of the cheese popcorn. Would be good with an alcoholic beverage.

Would I go back? Probably not, though I am glad I tried them.

Butter Popcorn (UPDATE: 2017 this shop is no longer in business)
1-1-49 Sonezakishinchi, Umeda Shiga Bldg 1F
Kita-ku, Osaka
Phone: 06.4797.6216
Hours: 11:00-23:00

garrett's popcorn

Saturday, I was walking past Hanshin Department Store's basement area and there was a rather long line...I looked at the sign that the lady at the very end of the line was holding and figured out it was for Garrett's Popcorn.

Instead of immediately queuing up, I finished up my errand and went back...bummer they were sold out already, and it was only 30 minutes after the store opened!

Then on Tuesday morning, I had an appointment, so after I was done, I went past Hanshin to see if I could get in the line.

They were still giving out tokens to purchase the popcorn...so I waited for about 30 minutes.

Everyone was limited to 1 can, 1240 yen. And they only sold 200 per day...There was a lady in front of me that had already queued once and was in line again to buy another can!

The can was Garrett's quart-size.

The caramel was darker than most of the other brands I've been trying...almost burnt in flavor.

I'm glad I got to try this though, I hear the line in Tokyo is crazy!

gary poppins

Tried this popcorn made by Gary Poppins (love the name!)

Cheddar, Caramel & Kettle...too bad they didn't have too much kettle corn in there.

Still, I'm glad I got to try this...so good!

trending

Popcorn is starting to trend here.

Garrett's, a famous popcorn maker in Chicago, has a shop in Tokyo.

I've heard from several blog friends that their Chicago mix is super addicting.

Well, I don't have any plans to go to Tokyo any time soon, so I improvised and bought a bag of G.H.Cretors' Chicago Mix at an import grocer here...

I like how the caramel doesn't stick to your teeth, and how the cheddar makes your fingers neon-orange.

Sweet-salty...addicting...I like that these are non-GMO too.

What's trending where you are?

primo popcorn

Tried Primo Popcorn recently.

They have so many variations, it was hard to choose from.

I tried their "Kalakoa" which means an assortment of colors in Hawaiian.

This popcorn was a bit too sweet for my liking, but it was interesting trying to figure out what flavor each color was.

I also tried the Aunty Leo's Chex Mix.

They have the standard cereals and a little furikake which is usually found in the chex mix in Hawaii.

What makes their version different is that they add popcorn and then the whole thing is caramelized.

The sweet and salty is pretty addicting.

They are kind of pricey as everyday "snackage", so I'll be back whenever I need gifts.

Primo Popcorn
120 Sand Island Access Road
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.729.7322
Closed Sundays

hawaii sights

Popcorn orchid in full bloom at my parent's house...beautiful.

things I'm liking

Some things I'm liking...the salted caramel popcorn at the movies.

It was my first time trying the popcorn at the movies, did you know they don't allow you to eat while watching the movies?? WT?

The small at 300 yen (about US$3) is about 2 cups of salted caramel or plain popcorn.

Since we couldn't eat this while watching the movie, we gobbled it up while waiting for our theatre to clear out.

The other night I tried SOL's chicken curry for dinner.

It is medium hot but my mouth was definitely on fire, in a good way.

Sometimes I want to have this shop's curry for lunch but he doesn't open early, so it has been awhile.

I wish he would bring back his Keema, it is so good.

Muji's Fair Trade teas. I tried the Chai blend & Orange Ginger.

Both are delicious. The Orange Ginger is so fragrant, like a freshly squeezed orange.

Subway's BLT. I was a bit disappointed with this. Bacon is still limp.

But, it had been awhile since I had had a sub sandwich so this was nice. Plus it was only 300 yen (about U$3) for a 6-inch (not sure how much it is in the US).

And even if it wasn't eco-friendly, I liked how they packaged my sandwich in this plastic container because it didn't get smashed on the train ride home.

Lotte's Yukimidaifuku...a soft mochi filled with ice cream.

The plus to this is that there is oozy chocolate in the middle...mmm!

What are you enjoying these days?

odds & ends

It's Sunday here. Just wanted to share with you some photos I took in the first week that I came home--it was raining off and on and cold.

The yellow flowers are called "popcorn" orchid. (They do look good enough to eat, yeah? They aren't edible though.) The green plant on the right top corner is called a jade plant.

Hope you are having a wonderful, relaxing Sunday. Have a great week.

li hing popcorn

I recently posted about li hing here.

Well, the other night I made some li hing popcorn.

After popping your corn, add half a teaspoon of the li hing powder with 1 teaspoon of sugar to the popped corn, shake the pan and enjoy! If that isn't enough crunch for you, add in some arare (rice crackers).

boo!

Today is Halloween. They don't do house to house trick-or-treating here (at least not in my neighborhood anyway), but slowly there are more and more decorating of houses and stores and the assortment of candies are also improving for this time of year.

I found this malted milk candy at the gourmet supermarket recently. It made me remember something that Bourgogne wrote in the comments about adding Milk Duds to popcorn.

So, after buying a bag of the malted milk candy, I then remembered that Milk Duds weren't malted milk candies but instead were chocolate covered caramels...sigh. Overall I was disappointed with the malted milk candy, it didn't have that scratchy texture in your mouth like Whoppers have. Still, I added it and chocolate covered kakinotane (spicy rice crackers that look like persimmon seeds) to freshly popped corn...delicious! The chocolate slightly melts while touching the hot popcorn, gets kind of messy and you gotta lick your fingers while eating everything...it is yet another addicting way to jazz up popcorn. (Thanks Bourgogne!)

Last week, my student gave me these delicious Halloween-y cookies...which are now long gone, right after I took the photo...gone. (Thank you!)

I'm not sure if it just the season for pumpkins or if Halloween is the reason that there are more foods with pumpkin around, though I think the former is probably the reason, but I found this foccacia that was loaded with pumpkin, eggplant, red bell pepper, onion and a little cheese...delicious!

Hope you have a safe but fun Halloween, if you celebrate where you are.

brilynn's popcorn

Last month I wrote about popping popcorn and Brilynn wrote her favorite way to eat popcorn in the comments section.

The other night while watching baseball, I wanted something to munch on, so I tried her combination of spices. Since she didn't give any measurements, I made them up.

1 teaspoon sugar
3/8 teaspoon cumin
2/8 teaspoon paprika
3 grinds pepper
10 shakes salt

1/4 cup popcorn (unpopped)
1 to 2 tablespoon olive oil

Mix spices and sugar up well and after popcorn is popped, sprinkle the mixture onto the popcorn, put the lid back onto the pan and shake. As soon as the sugar and spices hit the pan it should caramelize onto the popcorn.

I love the sweetness from the sugar and mixed with the spices, it is out of this world! Thanks for the tip Brilynn!