Photos by DJ

Kit Kat Jackpot!

Two new Kit Kat flavors were released here yesterday.  (Thanks Julie for the head's up!)  So, after dinner, we headed into Zushi in search of Ume Soda (plum soda) and ChocoMango.  Not only did we find them, we also found two new flavors to us too.  Not sure how long they've been out, but we picked up a Limited Edition custard and Kinako, toasted soy flour.  (Here's an interesting blog on Japanese snacks.)

 

This is the plum soda.  Ever have a green Kit Kat?  Like I said before, we've never had a bad Kit Kat experience, even with all these wild flavors.  This one was no exception and was pretty wild.  Not much to talk of until after the first couple of chews, and then the flavor just explodes!  Very yummy.

 

This is a mixed bag of both choco and mango.  Not sure of the real specifics.  We only tried the Mango one and it wasn't too bad.  Much more subtle in taste than the Ume.  You can buy Kit Kats here in a variety of sizes.  This is a bag of mini bars.  You can also get just the mango in a two pack too.

Here are the two extras we found.  We walked all around Zushi going to all the convinient stores, before finding the new flavors at the  train station, all we had to do was go right instead of left.  (We got them at the circle, heart, star store.) But then we wouldn't have found these others! 

 

Custard, again a very subtle taste.

 

Kinako.  We didn't know what these were when we first tried them.  They're chocolate, but not quite.  Again, still tasty.  These are bite size balls, almost like a malted ball of chocolate.

It's rather interesting to do blog searches of Japanese Kit Kats.  They're quite the craze amongst foreigners.  Not sure if the Japanese get as excited about them as we do, but it's sure a fun treat. 

Candy, Carfts and Corners

Time for a little update and catch-up.  Aren't I always trying to catch-up?  I have three photos to share today from this week. 

 

This was taken near the Kanazawa Hakei station.  It's actually the corner of a building.  Hubby was able to position himself well and zoom in.

 

I don't have a model the right size for this, but I finished my first hat this week!  I used circular needles and this was actually quite easy.  I'm very happy with how it turned out. Not sure what my next project will be, but I'd like to try making socks--my knitting group assures me they're very easy.

 

A new pack of kit-kats!  We got these in Tokyo last week.  Espresso Coffee.  Haven't tried them yet, but our friends said they were very good.  We've actually not had a kit kat we haven't liked.

Kit Kats

I know I've posted before about the abundance of Kit Kat varieties we can get here in Japan.  This weekend, Dale found a new one, the 150th Anniversary of Yokohama edition.  We didn't know what flavor they were until after we tried, but that didn't stop us.  It was very good too!  We found out that they're caramel and salt.  Not exactly two flavors I'd put together, but the Japanese aren't afraid of putting any flavor out there.  A friend of mine recently posted about some interesting ones on her blog: Dollars to Yen.  This is actually great blog, by the way, she gets out and does a lot!

Culture Clash

Today we went to the Cherry Blossom Festival on base.  This was a celebration that included the Japanese public and it was fun to watch how they interpreted "American culture."  They were buying up the pizzas and bags of chips.  Enjoying hot dogs and hamburgers.  The best though, was watching a group of Japanese women eat nachos. . . with chopsticks!  Who knew.  The weather wasn't bad, but the skies were gray so it really detracted from the cherry blossoms that have just about peaked here.  It won't be long before it's snowing blossoms, covering the ground in light pink petals.

Dinner Tonight

We had a nice dinner tonight.  A Sherry Vinegar Chicken that was yummy!  We've been doing really well lately in trying out new recipes.  Its been nice having a bit more variety.

 

Yesterday at scouts, the boys played marbles.  We had a teacher come and teach the boys and show off his marble collection.  Wow!  There were a ton, and many of them rather special, including some glow-in-the-dark ones that got a huge response from the boys.

  

Here in Japan, we have some rather fun vending machines.  When waiting for the train or walking down the street, it's fun to try and guess just what is in the machine.  These drinks for instance, have no idea what they are, but they sure look cute.

  

Again, the topic for POTD at 2Peas this week is technology.  What comes to my mind is how much technology has changed in just recent years, especially when it comes to data storage.  I remember having to record my records and cds to cassette tape so I could listen to them in the car or on my Walkman.  What about the old 5 1/4 inch floppy disks?  So in thinking of technology, my hard drives and even bettter, my iPod which contains our entire CD collection! How far we've come.

  

   

Playing Catch-up

What a crazy week!  I got my pictures taken, just didn't have a chance to post them.  So let's begin.  It's been really cold this week and the frost in the morning has been really interesting--at least to me.  I got up early this morning to try and get some shots.  There wasn't as much as previous mornings, but still some.

 

Hubby went into Tokyo yesterday and got this shot.  It's in Harajuku which is supposed to be quite the happening place in youth culture.  He didn't see anything too unusal, so we're hoping to go back. This is the entrance to one of the main shopping streets.

 

A VERY small selection of hubby's tie collection.  He teaches and wears a different tie each day--usually a novelty tie of some kind or another.  E-bay has been helpful in increasing the collection.

 

Going with the texture theme of the week, I thought this park bench was appropriate.  Poor thing. 

 

My boys read every night.  Their reading selection isn't typical though, they like to read non-fiction, mostly animal books.  Their favorite right now is an animal encyclopedia.  My oldest has gone through and tabbed all his favorites.

  

Finally, one of our favorite dinners: chicken curry.  We added a bit of shrimp to it this evening.  Mmmmm.

 

Food, Glorious Food

This actually goes with the week's theme.  Today the hubby went grocery shopping.  As part of our New Year's Resolutions of eating better, I'm really trying to not only cook more at home, but also cook freasher.  I want to make my own sauces, eat more viggies, and plan meals better.  So tonight is Mexican night with chicken fajitas and home-made guacamole. (I can't believe I actually hated avocados growing up!) But here are the "fruits" of hubby's trip to the store for the week.

 

Now while out in town, hubby also stopped at one of the many 7-11s to see what he could find and came home with some fun Pringles.  There are SO many flavors of Pringles it's hard to believe.  We still haven't been able to find our favorite papprika flavored ones that we used to get in Italy, but that doesn't stop us from trying new ones.  Yeah, not so good for the diet, but it's a one time thing.  Here we have Grilled Sausage and "Extreme" Pringles.  Not sure what all the Extreme ones have, it almost looks like pizza toppings.

 

Nutella

Mmmmm, this stuff is the best!  We discovered it while living in Europe years ago and usually try to keep a jar around.  The boys love it and have recently discovered it as a dip for pretzels.  Just before break, the scouts did wreaths out of pretzels and melted chocolate--very cute, easy and fun food craft by the way.  You basically dip the heart end of the pretzel into melted chocolate and create a circle with the pretzels, chocolate touching.  Do two to three alternating layers then sprinkle with sprinkles!  We even crushed up candy cane for a few.  My oldest the other day decided that the nutella would make a good substitute and boy was it yummy!  Today, my youngest decided he wanted Nutella and pretzels for snack, only he decided to wear his nutella.  He was so happy though and so enjoyed the snack.  Next time we'll have to make sure he has bigger pretzels rather than the crumbs.

 

 Here is the wreath we made for Christmas.