♡ WTFood; Puccho Squid + Salty Lemon Flavour ♡

みなさん、こんにちは!

Upon my mass purchase of Sakura Pepsi on ebay - trust me, I frickin' love that stuff - I stumbled across something, that I knew was familiar, but at the same time, made me think "what the actual..." and thus, I give you squid and salty lemon flavoured puccho! A couple of my friends in Japan sent me packages of these items, as I wasn't sure about actually purchasing it at first, but hey - it's nice that people think of me, when they see weird things!

When I first opened up the packet, there was a strong, tangy citrus flavour, which is delightful to someone who loves citrus flavoured items, i.e. ME! Each piece is individually wrapped, and once unwrapped, you cannot tell that there are pieces of dried squid embedded in these delightful sweets. So therefore, you believe you are just simply eating a piece of sweet sweets.

It's an odd taste at first, and it's very hard to describe it in all honesty but it is a nice flavour?! You have to taste it, to believe that it is tasty... because in all honesty, who would have put dried squid in lemon chewit-esque sweets for a daily treat? Not me originally, but now that I have tasted these... I am slightly addicted and would gladly purchase more, but they seem to have disappeared off the face of the earth for now, so I'm guessing that they were a limited edition item - oh well!

Thanks for reading!
xoxo

♡ Oyatsu Cafe Unboxing // Review ♡

みなさん、こんにちは!

I am super duper behind on my planned blog posts and I apologise so much! There were a couple of obstacles in the way though... the first one being that we switched internet providers and something went wrong so we were without internet for about six days. The second obstacle was Hyper Japan last weekend and didn't really have internet then and the final obstacle being work! Seriously, I wake up and it's dark and when I get home from work it's dark again and I just haven't had enough energy recently to get everything done? ANYWAY; small babbling session over, on with this post!

As many of you probably know, I do enjoy my snacks (more savoury than sweet but I am trying to branch out more!) and I do have a stash hidden around my room so my family doesn't pinch my goodies! If I wanted to share them, they I will do so but as they like to sneak it away from me, I'll just keep it hidden until further notice!

Tohato Caramel Corn in Delicious Milk (Yo-Kai Watch Edition)

I had only tried one flavour of this product before in the past and I have wanted to branch out more with the flavours (there seems to be a few around?) so when I saw the milk flavour with an added bonus of extremely cute packaging... how could I refuse?! The taste of this reminds me of something I've had before, but do you know when you cannot remember what it was and you just ponder where you have had this familiar flavour before? Yup, that was me for about two weeks. I still cannot remember what flavour I am on about but this caramel corn is absolutely delicious! It is very sweet though and I could only eat about a quarter of a packet every couple of days... but I did take a packet in to share with my work colleagues and they seemed to enjoy them as well!

Mitsuya Cider Candy in Original and White

Ugh, Mitsuya Cider Candy is honestly one of my favourite sweets out there! I love the raspy texture you get when you suck on it and I adore the tartness of the lemonade. I remember when I first saw these I, hand on my heart, believed they were alcoholic but alas like wine gums over here in the UK they are not, in fact, doused with alcohol. I love all of the cider candy flavours so I couldn't resist getting a couple of these packets just to hide a few in my purse for when I have a sugar crash moment during a long day at work.

Fujiya Milky

These little buggers are extremely addictive!! They remind me of taffy because of the texture but also like a softer version of a chewit (google it for you non-UK folks if you don't know!) I adore the milky flavour of these sweet and it has such a subtle after taste that you're not left with a sugar residue left in the roof of your mouth - I know that sentence sounds weird but I get that feeling sometimes with certain sweets?

Home Run Ken Miso Sauce Instant Ramen

No order is incomplete without an instant ramen and I've had my eye on this particular brand and flavour for an extremely long time. I wanted to try it that badly that I ate this bad boy on the same day my parcel was delivered... talk about impatient!! The taste of the miso was just  a little bit over powering at first for me but I grew accustomed to the taste towards the end. Sometimes, I find with instant ramyun (Korean instant ramen) that the portions are a little bit too much but this portion size was just perfect and didn't make me feel bloated slash overfull at the end!

So as you guys may have already guessed... nearly all of these goodies are gone! I only have one packet of Mitsuya Cider Candy left in my tuck box and I'm saving that for whenever I need a pick me up! I really do recommend Oyatsu Cafe for getting your Japanese snack fixes out of the way (as well as a couple of others but shhh) and I'm dying here because I want to do another order - as well as subscribe to their Oyatsu Box - but I'm waiting until Christmas and New Year is over so I can treat myself then!! And another point I'd like to make, I paid an extra few pounds and upgraded the shipping so it came within less than a week instead of waiting around for 2+ weeks with impatience! I now have, officially, been converted and will always pay that extra few pennies to bump up the shipping to a faster service and Oyatsu Cafe really deliver with that service - you honestly get what you've paid for!

And on the final, final note; I do apologise also for such a short post... but as I said, I'm super behind on what I need to get out that I'm just zooming them out for you! Be prepared for an onslaught of posts filling up your timelines over the next week ohmigosh!

Thanks for reading!
xoxo

♡ Welcome to Candy Land ♡

みなさん、こんにちは!

Have you heard about the Candyman? The Candyman you say? Why yes the Candyman is a bastard because he's created such wonderful sweets for all the boys and girls of the world to devour and break their diets and become fat again *cries internally a little*

Today's subject is less about sweets and angling more towards potato snacks really... but there are sweets involved, just not so many as you'd think. Also the delectables mentioned today shall be from Japan as over the past couple of weeks, I have been accumulating some pieces and tasting and just... wow. I am in love with some pieces whilst others are just... meh. But all in all, I can see why some people go for these delights more than pieces from their own country. Personally, I've only just stuck to sweets purchased from Expo (from Sushi Noms and Tofu Cute) and sometimes branched out when gone to certain shops in Chinatown that sell Japanese sweets/snacks or even at Japan Centre with their extortionate prices.... but anyway back to the actual subjects of this post. I'm not sure how I'll write this post so bear with me please!

Candies - Gummy, Chewy and Hard

Suica and Kakikori Gumi

I love themed sweets and as it's summer, how can you resist summer themed ones? The watermelon gummies were going to be an obvious choice, as watermelon is one of my favourite fruits, and I decided to go with 'shaved ice' style gummies to see what they were like. Honestly, I was extremely disappointed with the watermelon gummy... I was expecting to taste more like watermelon? Instead, it felt like I was just eating an overly sweet lump of sugar and that's just nasty to me as I hate extremely sickly, sweet items. However though, I was surprised at how tasty the shaved ice gummies were! There was, hmm to describe it is difficult as it was like a sugar layer but it wasn't sugar? In fact, the shaved ice gummies tasted less sweeter than the watermelon altogether as there was a squishy centre, almost liquid but it wasn't quite liquid nor in solid gummy state. I'd definitely get the shaved ice gummies again in the future and hopefully they'll come back for next summers sweets line.

Milky (Creamy)

I love Milky's and I especially love this creamy version. I originally purchased a packet back at May's Expo as an impulse buy and I'm so glad I did. Also, my mam likes these sweets as well! They're a chewy sweet but they're not too chewy - if you eat toffees they're kind of like soft toffees and not the hard toffees that take forever to get through. I loved the extra creamy surprise in the middle as well, it kind of made the sweet feel kind of like a milkshake and it helped ease the chewing. Again, I find these sweets not too overly sweet which are perfect for me! Even though I find it hard sometimes, I do restrict myself to eating one of these delights per day to make them last longer!

Puccho

Puccho, by far, is one of my ultimate go-to chewy sweets! Because I like sour foods, some of the flavours appeal to me the most - the raume and cola ones more - as they have some sharp, sour pieces embedded in the chew! The others have gummy pieces which give a burst of juicy flavour instead of sharpness and that's also nice to eat as well... but the cola and ramune flavours will always be my favourite followed by the peach flavour.

Chocolate

CRUNKY

Chocolates can sometimes be a hit or miss for me. In the past, most chocolates from Japan have mainly been a miss because the taste just has never appealed to me and I sometimes find them a little too sweet. Even though I don't like overly sweet sweets, I do however enjoy eating white chocolate every now and again and with this particular Crunky bar there are hidden... how can I put it... rice pieces? You know like rice krispies? Them. The contrast of the texture works really well against the creaminess of the chocolate and because it didn't really have a flavour, it kind of tones down the sweetness. However, I won't be purchasing this again as once is enough for me!

Kit Kats

Japanese kit kats are definitely on a whole different level than the kit kats here in the UK! Over here, the flavours are quite boring and only recently, have branched out with some new ones. Another little perk of these kit kats are the fact that they come in mini size so you can share them with others and still have loads left over! I still have all of these flavours pictured above after getting some sent to me via my penpal whilst the others were purchased from Hyper Japan and on ebay. Also, if you have tried any of the kit kat flavours, has anybody noticed how strong certain flavours come out? For example; I don't drink and so when I purchased the rum rain kit kat, I thought it would be a very mild flavour but it wasn't, the rum is extremely over powering to the point where it feels like I could get drunk off one kit kat! In the end, I gave the box to my parents and they've been enjoying them instead, I wish I could have liked them but hey, you can't like everything right?

Snacks

Umaibo

Umaibo is a strange thing for me... it's sort of crossed between a puffed snack and a crisp snack... more puffed than a crisp in looks though. The flavours are really intense on these creations but they seriously are super delicious! My favourite flavours so far are the cheese, tonkatsu sauce and the beef tongue! I'm surprised that I enjoyed the beef tongue actually but the flavours available are so unique and different that it would be a shame to miss out! I need to get some more flavours of these things as I haven't tried them all yet, but I'm looking forward to tasting what is left! I think the only one I'm steering clear of is natto flavour as I'm not too keen on natto in general!

Chip Star

These were another impulse purchase. I noticed that they resemble Pringles a little bit so I was curious about them. I was kind of right, they are like Pringles but they taste less... stuffed with preservatives and e-numbers if that makes any sense? They taste very light and I don't feel bloated and over stuffed after having a couple. Plus the big tube on the left lasted me almost a month because inside the tube they have a foil inside which keeps the chips fresher for longer! No more stale Pringles for me!

Scones & Cheetos

Scones and Cheetos... two different labels and brands but pretty much almost the same product at the end of the day. Cheetos are actually, my all time favourite crisp snack and I would eat them 24/7 if I could. So when I read that Scones were a cheeto-esque product, I was curious to find out how "cheeto like" these crisps were. I was not disappointed. The flavours are amazing - especially the triple cheese flavour (white packet in left picture) as it really tends to a cheese-a-holics needs! The flavours, also, are not overpowering at all - which is a nice bonus - and they don't taste greasy nor do they have the tendency to leave a thin film of flavour on your fingertips like some crisp products do. The points I've stated above are exactly the same with the Cheetos, I'm really glad that I was able to taste some other flavours besides the ones we get over here - puffs, jalapeno and crunchy. Honestly, go on ebay for the Cheeto flavours and go to either Oyatsucafe or Candysan for the Scones, you won't regret it.

And thus, I bring this post to a close. I hope you all enjoyed what you read and if you ever decide to try any of the products listed above - let me know! I also want to write more food/snack posts like this in the future but I'm not sure how to go about it really - maybe recipes or restaurant reviews on where I go to eat when out in London? Any suggestions about this subject would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks for reading!
xoxo

♡ Hyper Japan ♡

みなさん、こんにちは!

It's rare for Sapphire and I to see each other so close together after a visit from whichever person but as we both wanted to go to Hyper Japan this year, how could we both pass up such an opportunity? We only went on the Saturday with a dual pass ticket (as the day was split into two sessions) but honestly, it was the best decision to go then!

The difference between Hyper Japan and MCM Expo (personal experience here) is that I find HJ less crowded than Expo... even on a Saturday and the fact it's now the beginning of summer holidays here. Even though there are many similarities and differences between the two events... Hyper Japan is just more my thing. Yes; it's nice at Expo to get the variety of movies, games and more cosplayers where as at HJ you just get a small handful of cosplayers, no real movie promotions and a small selection of recent games to check out... it's the cultural side of things that draws me towards HJ. You get to find out about studying in Japan, learning the language, the food, travelling, what is popular and what is traditional etc etc. All in all, the experience at HJ as just made me want to go again and indeed I shall. Luckily they have a Christmas version in November so I have officially decided to skip October Expo this year and just go to Hyper Japan for the weekend in November. Sorted.

The only problem I had with Hyper Japan was the heat... recently in the UK the weather has been absolutely dreadful with high humidty and scorching sunny days with no signs of rain anywhere. Saturday was no different, and it was just so horrible travelling through London on the tube because of the crappy air-con. Plus there seemed to be no air-con at Earls Court either, except for a couple of cool spots, but other than that... I was using a programme to fan myself most of the day!

Despite the heat, I loved looking around all the different stalls at HJ. There were different section dedicated to special genres of what HJ is trying to promote - so there was a section for food, for languages/studies and a section for "kawaii" stuff such as fashion, make-up, deco etc. The 'Fringe Market' was also extremely interesting to look around, as it's an area dedicated to small, independent shops/stalls selling whatever they do in their trade - so there were manga artists, wig sellers and jewellery sellers in that area.

Gosh there were so many highlights of the whole day. One being seeing friends whom I haven't seen (for what feels like) years! Finding an actually Diamond Lash stall in the 'Hyper Kawaii' section and talking to the stall owner for like 20 odd minutes about eyelashes and make-up (yes I get happy over that) The fashion show towards the end of the day that showcased Ayumi Seto's new fashion line;

Don't all the clothes look so freakin' adorable?! I honestly cannot decide which is my favourite piece... oh and all of the models are so cute and friendly just GAH! I'm so glad that I stayed to watch this show! Also seeing NEEKO was an amazing highlight as well!

Another major highlight of the day for me was seeing ONE NOT'E! After being told about them from my penpal and that they would be at HJ... how could I resist going? Also, the last official gig I went to was wwwaaayyy back in 2012!! Listening to them perform, it made me realise how much I do miss going to gigs and if there are any happening between now and before I leave for China, well I'm definitely going to make the effort! Also about ONE NOT'E, someone commented to me about the guitarist, Takato, looking extremely familiar and he really did but at that point I couldn't quite put my finger on it to where I had seen him before until I got home and googled the band... he's ex.VIRGIL! Don't you just hate it when you recognise someone but you just never remember until the moment has passed?! That was me...

Honestly, they were sooooo good performing live that I wished I had snapped out of my daydreaming and recorded some footage of them performing ahhh! I really hope in the future they'll do some more overseas gigs... if not I'm sure a quick trip to Japan won't hurt! Oh, what is a day out without food involved? My life would be incomplete without food, even though it felt like that all I had done was consume liquid most of the day because of the heat wwwaaahhh.

Oh and must not forgot about what I purchased throughout the day. You'll be able to see how truly happy I was about the Diamond Lash stall in the end! I think I picked up some amazing bargains though as well as finding out about some new shops that are worth checking out again in the future!

All in all, the day was fabulous and I'm glad that I went. I will definitely stick to my plan of going for the full weekend at Christmas time for a bit of fun (and as it's on my birthday weekend... a birthday treat!) All the above picture kind of sum everything up on how it all went on as I have nothing else really interesting left to say except for that the company was amazing, the atmosphere was brilliant and already I wish it wasn't over even though I still ache. As that is really it now, I'll just finish this post off with a couple of face pictures;

Thanks for reading!

xoxo