chocolates, sweets and other goodies...

Hope you enjoyed the first half...here are the other goodies...

Le Chocolatier Takagi: marron truffle royal--chocolate covered marron (chestnuts) & orangette--dark chocolate covered candied orange peel

Message de Rose: semi-bitter & bitter chocolate roses, they come in various sizes, these are the medium size...Cute!

Sol Levante: Salame di Cioccolato--a log of 35% giandjua, hazelnuts and covered with powdered sugar made to look like salami.

Origines Cacao: The dark chocolate assortment--Quiza (acidic & bitter chocolate ganache), Origines Cacao (very bitter chocolate ganache), Maracaibo (natural ganache), Basil (basil infused ganache). The basil one had a nice flavor to it and all were very good and may have been even better with a nice dry glass of red wine.

La Maison du Chocolat: Tasse de Chocolat-chocolate "pearls" made with 4 different chocolate coatings of various origins and strengths. Add them to a nice hot cup of milk to make a delicious, rich cup of hot chocolate.

Dean & Deluca: A gourmet supermarket in N.Y.C.

I got these Firefly Tonics--made by a company in England--Self-Defense (wild orange and echinacea) and Detox (lemon, lime & ginger) tonics. Can't wait to try them.

Also got a Dean & Deluca dark chocolate with almond bar and these mints made especially for Dean & Deluca by Cocoa Bon. 100% peppermint centers covered with dark chocolate.

Del Rey: escargot-a dark chocolate outside with marron (chestnut) cream inside, dresse noisette-a dark chocolate ganache with a hazelnut atop.

Doughnut Plant: A New York doughnut shop--this is their famous "Black Out" doughnut, named after a real black out in N.Y.--A Valrhona chocolate cake doughnut with Valrhona chocolate cream filling and Valrhona chocolate glaze on top. Rich and sinful!

Well, that's all the foodie info, did you enjoy this foodie adventure as much as I did? I think I've gained about 5 pounds from this adventure...if not more!...my next post will be about Satoshi's Tokyo adventure :)

p.s. if you are planning to run around as much as I did, please get this subway ticket. It costs 1000 yen (about $10) and it lets you ride all day on all the TOEI & TRTA subway lines. I unfortunately didn't make back the amount I spent on this ticket, but had it been a sunny day, I think I may have.

macaron, macaron...macarons!

The weather was awful on Friday. A typhoon was passing over the Pacific Ocean side of Japan. Heavy winds and rains started from Thursday night. Luckily, I was able to get to Tokyo safely. Unfortunately though, I had to cut my plans drastically, because of the weather. I ended up shopping at stores within minutes from subway stations or in the underground shopping arcades. Not to mention, I totally bruised my bum and ego by hydroplaning and falling on the steps as I left La Maison du Chocolat! At least I didn't hit my head or smash anything that I had bought...

I was able to get quite a bit of goodies despite the change in plans and the weather...I'm breaking this post into 2 parts because there is a LOT to tell.

Sadaharu Aoki: orange=caramel sel (salted caramel ganache), brown = peche (cinnamon shell with peach cream), pink = ume (pickled plum ganache with roasted sesame seeds on the outside), yellow= citron (lemon ganache), lt. purple = sumire (violet flavored ganache). These were very different and interesting flavors, but very good. I also got a florentine naturale (a brittle like cookie) and orange chocolat noir (a candied orange dipped in dark chocolate) which are waiting to be tried.

Dalloyau: Coconut on the outside (Ananas= coconut macaron with pineapple ganache), Beige with black spots (The peche= peach flavored ganache with earl grey macaron), Orange= Orange macaron with orange flavored ganache, Green/orange (Orange Potiron= orange with pumpkin ganache mixed with 4 different spices like pepper and cinnamon). I really enjoyed the Earl Grey flavored one.

Decadence du Chocolat: brown= lavender/chocolate ganache, white = grenoble (vanilla with walnuts ganache), green = pistachio ganache, lt brown = praline ganache, yellow= passion fruit ganache, brown= caramel ganache. The lavender one was very nice and not too overpowering.

02 Patisserie:light purple= cassis ganache, pink= fig ganache, white=jasmine tea ganache, dk brown= dark chocolate ganache, beige= coffee ganache. The beige was was really pretty too--it had gold fairy dust on the outside. The fig ganache kind of reminded me of fig newtons.

Jean-Paul Hevin: I was kind of disappointed with these...sorry, I couldn't tell what flavor was what on these: bitter chocolate ganache, vanilla ganache, coffee ganache, orange/passion fruit ganache, honey ganache, rose ganache, framboise (raspberry) ganache, pistachio ganache, caramel/bitter chocolate ganache.



Pierre Herme: white= vanilla ganache, pink=rose ganache, yellow = lemon ganache, green=huile d'olive et vanille (olive oil, vanilla beans & white chocolate ganache), orange= arabesque(peach cream with pistachios on the outside), lt brown= caramel with fleur de sel cream, brown = marron (chestnut) ganache, dk brown with cocoa powder = bitter chocolate ganache, yellow with cocoa powder = mogador (passion fruit flavored milk chocolate ganache), lt brown with cocoa powder = plentitude (half caramel with fleur de sel shell, half chocolate with a chocolate ganache. The olive oil one had a salty olive taste to it, but the others were excellent.

I'm definitely in love with these cute goodies...Stay tuned to what other goodies were found.

the ultimate foodie adventure

This coming weekend is "another" 3-day weekend (yes, another one!)--Taiku no Hi (Sports Day). Satoshi has a seminar in Tokyo--Thursday & Friday. Tomorrow morning, I'll go to Tokyo and will spend the day checking out the sweet shops that I've read about in magazines and seen on television here, then meet Satoshi in the afternoon.

Tokyo is the largest city in Japan--if you want something trendy, Tokyo is the place to get it--up there with L.A., N.Y.C. and Paris...the last time I went to Tokyo was with Satoshi about 3 years ago, he didn't have much time to show me around and I wasn't much of a "foodie" then.

Here's just a part of my list of the places that I want to check out:
1. Yoroizuka Toshi
2. L'atelier Joel Robuchon
3. Pierre Herme Paris-Aoyama
4. Jean Paul Hevin
5. Del Rey
6. Pierre Marcolini
7. Dalloyau
8. Hidemi Sugino
9. La Maison du Chocolat
10. Sadaharu Aoki Paris
11. Gerard Mulot
12. Dean & Deluca

Wish me luck, I only have about 6 hours until I need to meet Satoshi, after that, the rest of the weekend will be "his time"--spent checking out his old "stomping grounds" during his university years. Namely, the field that he practiced and played baseball on during college--it will be sold and the land will be used for something else, so he wanted to see it for one last time to say "goodbye".

Have a nice weekend!