Showing posts with label pic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pic. Show all posts

Sunday, April 03, 2011

Hits, Misses, and in betweens

Back to something less heavy yet infinitely more caloric.

Tirol is a traditional, much beloved chocolate in Japan. Often found in the convinence stores, it's not known so much for quality, but for it's compact size, quaint designs, and variety of unimaginable flavors. (Yes, it even puts Kit Kat to shame in this respect.)

Allow me to introduce a few of the recent flavors.
We'll start with the 'hits'.


Milk one was a super-creamy milk chocolate and the one in black was an espresso flavored Tirol. Both definite redoables.

You don't need to read to know what this one is.


I must say the Japanese have done quite an excellent job of squeezing in all the deliciousness of a tiramisu into such a tiny chocolate. Of course, they do have a lot of practice in this area.

NOW, on to uncharted frontiers of in-betweens and outright misses...


Yes, that is a pancake not an illusion and they are serious about it, complete with butter and maple syrup.
And yet, it wasn't a miss, but one of the fence-sitters. Packed inside that teeny chocolate was a dime-sized dot of maple syrup(ish liquid) on top of a heavily butter-flavored cookie. (I had been seriously questioning the proposed butteriness of the "pancakes" until I bit into the Tirol.)

The one to the right is Kinako Mochi, which is good if you like kinako and mochi. The sweet, chewy rice cake (mochi) is inside a kinako flavored coating. It only made it to the in-betweens though because although I like both main ingredients, it had as much as chocolate in it as white chocolate does. (The kinako was mixed in white chocolate then used to encase the mochi filling.)

Now on to the final two. Can you guess which will be the miss and which will be a fence-sitter??




The one up top is a Matcha Soy Latte.
On the bottom....



Yes, that does say Gouda cheese.
If the smell doesn't knock you out upon unwrapping it, you could probably convince yourself to eat it, but a cup of coffee later and I still can't get rid of the taste.
It was not chocolate.
In no way, shape, or form was that chocolate.
That is what is known as congealed cheese `food` with a cracker on the inside.

Not much to say about that.
I was once again blinded, deafened and lead astray with the sweet, deceptive promises of chocolate.

Cheers! (^_-)-☆

Thanks again for stopping into my little corner of the 'net, and Happy Browsing!!

All translations copyrighted and owned by myself. All copyrights of their respective owners. No part of this web site may be produced, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

a Non-nuclear winter continues

Maybe not exactly sunny skies lately, but no rain, no radiation warnings and temps above 10C.

As a result, we're already in FULL BLOOM.
(I'd love to know what these are.)





And in the school yard, Shinsei's Flower.




Cheers! (^_-)-☆

Thanks again for stopping into my little corner of the 'net, and Happy Browsing!!

All translations copyrighted and owned by myself. All copyrights of their respective owners. No part of this web site may be produced, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

ame nochi HARE!

After the rain, come sunny skies.

This is Taka-chan.
S/he hangs out on the roof of the building next to me.
S/he doesn't live there (It's an elementary school.) but at 5-6 floors high it's the tallest building around making it very nice for survelance. I can usually spot her every morning and evening.

Maybe it is just coincidence, but I distinctly recall thinking Friday morning, "No, Taka-chan? Where's Taka-chan?"
The major earthquake followed by days of continuous after-shocks and tsunamis occurred around Friday, 3:15PM.



Now, Sunday morning, for the first time since Friday morning....




Screw TV.
Taka-chan has officially (and more reliably) declared an ALL CLEAR for the Wakayama coast.


Cheers! (^_-)-☆

Thanks again for stopping into my little corner of the 'net, and Happy Browsing!

All translations copyrighted and owned by myself. All copyrights of their respective owners. No part of this web site may be produced, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner.

Saturday, January 01, 2011

NEW YEAR 2011

Possibly my favorite card of all time.
And particularly appropriate since this year is the year of the Bunny.

☆.。.:*・Happy New Year☆2011・*:.。.☆

For computer viewing: http://bit.ly/faoInN (RakutenGreeting)

For cell phone users (simpler version): http://bit.ly/fOVL6H (RakutenGreeting)

☆.。.:*・Happy New Year☆2011・*:.。.☆


Cheers and we hope to see you again! (^_-)-♪


All translations copyrighted and owned by myself. All copyrights of their respective owners. No part of this web site may be produced, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner.

Monday, January 25, 2010

a different kind of morning shower.

Since ancient times, chocolate has been tauted as an aphrodisiac.
But coffee....?



I'll just stick with chocolate, thank you.
(click on picture to read the English "To Use" instructions.)


Cheers! (^_-)-☆

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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

... and Fauna of the sub-tropics

There's always Bupo Beach if you are feeling to lazy to make the 2 hour trip to Busan.
(I love the cliff-like crevice dug out by the waves. I have never seen that phenomena at any other beach.)



But this will surely forever sum up the image of Korea for me.





Cheers! (^_-)-☆

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Sunday, January 17, 2010

Flora of the sub-tropics

Around the neighborhood:


And around my doctor's office:
(In addition to the color, I love the puffy, fan-like shape, how they seem almost furry.)


One thing I absolutely LOVE about Asia is the abundance of these flowers which I only know as 蓮の花 and 木蓮.

蓮の花 in clay water pots are all over, particularly around hospitals.


And 木蓮 flowers are giant and have the most amazing smell:



Cheers! (^_-)-☆

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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Angels on High

Being too brain-dead to do anything else, I am actively avoiding all pressing and necessary labor by uploading pictures from my soon to be vacated apartment. (good riddance.)

ROOFTOP pictures because you wouldn't want to see the inside of it anyway.
Besides I know you people are tired of hearing me babble on and are just waiting to see the "goods"(^_~)






Notice the mountains faintly in the background?
Korea is apparently nothing BUT mountains.
Mountains and STAIRS.

endless
lengths
of
stairs
.

Cheers! (^_-)-☆

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Tuesday, February 24, 2009

MichiKusa {道草を食う}: tea

~READING TEA~

In Japan there is a traditional belief with tea that if you find a leaf is floating upright in your cup that means good fortune is coming.

This is what I found in the bottom of my tea cup late late last night.


...
...
Does this mean I am meant to find love on the otherside of the ocean?!?
I wasn't particularly looking, but sure why not.

Cheers! (^_-)-☆

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