Month: January 2015

Fujiya Peko Candy 不二家 ペップキャンデー

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It’s my 3rd Year Blogging Anniversary!! 3 years of blogging, over 500 posts, lots of eating, many adventures (and hopefully more to come – as long as I work), meeting lots of new people and there were even times when I wanted to give up blogging. BUT I stuck to what I wanted to do for years and never gave up.
To celebrate I’m going to have MORE CANDY!! ^_^
You might be familiar with Peko Milk Candy (the chewy one) but probably not the lollipops. It’s the first time I’ve seen these.
Fujiya Peko Candy 

Back of the packet

 There’s 4 different flavours available (strawberry, grape, orange and peach) and they all taste quite fruity.

4 different flavoured lollipops

 There are different designs on each lolly

Strawberry flavour

Grape flavour

Orange flavour

Peach flavour
These are a good treat for work friends, family and your own friends… Kids will love these too. But don’t forget to brush your teeth as it is sugary as well as fruity. 😀

Nobel Cafe Jelly Milk Candy ノーベル カフェゼリーミルクキャンデー

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Ah! It’s Friday!! It’s Treat Day after a long week (well not that bad), just another week before I go on holiday again (almost finished packing ^_^) to somewhere warmer than London.
This next candy I remember buying from a shop in Shimbashi. Needed to buy some sort of coffee candy and not chocolate orientated. The ones I bought in Hong Kong were great, but I couldn’t find those in Japan. Too bad! 😦
Nobel Cafe Jelly Milk Candy

Back of packet
These are called Cafe Jelly Milk Candy from the company Nobel.
Individually wrapped candy
With these candy you have to bite and chew through the surrounding milk candy before you get to the coffee part which is in fact coffee jelly.
Milk candy surrounding
The coffee jelly doesn’t taste much of coffee unfortunately. Weak coffee. All I could taste is the very sweet milk candy. Ultra sweet. It’s like chewing through lots of sugar. Eeek. Time to brush my teeth!!!
Coffee Jelly… sorry had to bite it and spit it out ¬_¬”
Won’t be buying these again… just too sweet and not enough coffee… Too bad!

Asahi Mitsuya Cider Candy アサヒ 三ツ矢サイダーキャンディ

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Wow! Cider candy?! I’ve not seen this before. I love cider but have to be in the mood for it as it can be sweet, too sweet. These sweets refer to Asahi’s carbonated fruit drinks which are non-alcoholic and I guess resemble the taste of cider…
You would associate Asahi with their beer, but cider candy is totally different. I wouldn’t think a beer company would bring out a beer sweet would they? Nah, I don’t think so. (But you could never know!).
Asahi Mitsuya Cider Candy

Back of the packet

When you open the packet you think you might be smelling alcoholic cider! (I really did think that!). In this packet, there are 4 flavours: peach, cider, grape and honey lemon. 

honey lemon, peach, grape and cider

Each sweet has a fizziness to them just like if you’re drinking the soft drink but actually they are slowly melting in your mouth. (Just think of having non-sour fizzy cola bottle sweets in your mouth for a long time)…Each of them have a very fruity taste and I think my favourite one is the grape. 
Look like fruit drops

Don’t worry you won’t get drunk from them but remember to brush your teeth if you try to eat a lot of these! I’ve had 4, one after the other and it feels like my teeth are going to rot… ^_^

Teicalo Xylicrystal Lemon and Lime Mint キシリクリスタル レモン＆グリーンレモンミント

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Aaaah, we’re almost near the end of the Japanese snacks. Going through them very slowly…
Here is an interesting sweet which can be found in lots of convenient stores around Tokyo. This one is called “kishiri kurisutaru” meaning Xylylene Crystal but shortened to the name Xyli Crystal, Not sure what the compound Xylylene is used for but seems all scientific and complicated.
Teicalo Xylicrystal Lemon and Lime Mint

Back of the packet

The flavour here is Lemon and Lime (green lemon) Mint.

It’s actually sour with lime being on top and the lemon at the bottom. In the middle I guess is the mint. It doesn’t taste minty but has a sweet and menthol taste. It’s quite intriguing and I would probably try out other flavours if I can find them in London.

Lime on top, sweet candy in the middle and lemon at the bottom

From the top of the sweet

There’s not a lot in the packet so these can easily be finished within a week!

M&M’s Raspberry Flavour ラズベリーM＆M (Japan Edition)

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I think Miss Pinky spotted these Raspberry flavoured M&M’s first in the toy store we kept going to in Shimbashi… They are not in London as yet (or probably are but in those small sweet shops around Central London).
The Raspberry flavoured M&M’s can mainly be found in the USA and we were lucky to find them in Japan.
M&M’s Raspberry Flavour – Japan Edition

Back of the packet

There seems to be several colours but they are all the same flavour. *SHRUG*

3 different colours of the same flavour

These are very Raspberry sweet, very artificially sweet… Chocolate is normal milk chocolate.

Milk chocolate centre and sweet raspberry coating

I wouldn’t really be surprised if they didn’t make it to the UK sweet shops or supermarkets… Just too sweet.

The Elephant and Castle Pub, London Elephant & Castle (NOW CLOSED)

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Update 25/03/2015: for some reason it’s closed…

It’s been a long working week of stress this week (well the last few days)! And I think Miss Pinky has felt the strain of January stress too (more than me). So it was time to wind down yesterday and do something locally… in Elephant and Castle… ¬,¬”

After having a couple of G&Ts in Whetherspoons with Mr Picky and his work friends it was time to hit the Elephant and Castle Pub which is a couple of doors down. You can’t miss it. It looks old and grungy on the outside and I can’t say much about the inside. It’s changed ownership a few times (apparently) and now it states that it’s an Argentinian steak house… and they still serve Thai food!! OMG.
Miss Pinky and her family go to this place quite often and this is actually my second time going in there. If you pass by when sitting on a bus sometimes you might see it being quite full – that’s when there’s a game going on! Lots of oldies and students go in there too…
The Elephant and Castle Pub
Miss Pinky and I were very hungry so we ordered food. Seating is a bit awkward by the windows as the tables and couches are movable. And ladies, watch out for the men. Miss Pinky pointed out that men will walk up to you and chat you up (ok, that happened to us, thankfully the man was ok otherwise I would’ve ran away)…
So Miss Pinky ordered our food… and it did take a tiny while for it to come… Hungrrrrry!!
Miss Pinky started off with the calamari which was served with honey. Hmmm interesting. It tasted ok and the honey went well with it. I think lots of restaurants should serve fried stuff with honey.
Calamari
I had the chicken satay skewers with peanut sauce. I had it all to myself. It was great! And the peanut sauce was very tasty too!! ^_^ Love it.
Chicken satay with peanut sauce
Miss Pinky ordered this stir fried pork with vegetables and rice in oyster sauce. This is more Chinese than Thai…
Stir fried pork in oyster sauce with rice
And I had to wait a little longer for this green curry and vegetables as they cooked chicken instead of beef. It was good stuff!! A little spicy which is what I like. Courgettes were a little bitter but the sauce just made it better.
Kang kiew wan – green curry with beef and rice
Food cost around £21 (Miss Pinky paid) and I think we may have spent around £30 to £40. Prices of drinks seem to go up after 10ish but that’s ok with me (if I’m only doing one round ¬,¬”).
My geeky rating: 4.5/5
Good points:
– Cheap Thai food… better than going to a restaurat
– You’re in a pub so you can have many drinks!
– It was disco night when we went so the night music was a mixture of old and new music
Bad points:
– A little wait for the food
– Drinks go up after 10ish
– Sitting is a little awkward
Address: The Elephant and Castle Pub, 119 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6BN

Meiji Apple Milk Chocolate 明治 アップルミルクチョコレート

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I need another cheer me up post! It feels like it’s been a long week already. Just one more day until the weekend! Yay!!
I must’ve picked this Meiji Apple Milk Chocolate for some reason. Maybe it’s because I like apple flavoured foods and sweets. 
The front of the box made me giggle with this statement “The luxurious taste made by Meiji can be easily eaten”. Teeheehee. Not sure why it made me giggle! ^_^

Well yeah this chocolate can definitely be eaten easily as it’s so small.
There is a very sweet honey-apple jelly in the middle covered by a thick coat of chocolate. It almost feels like I’m having apple cider. Not sure if it’s because of the honey or the apple flavouring or possibly because they’ve added cinnamon. And it’s definitely not sour!! Lots going on in this small piece of chocolate! 
They are quite addictive with the centre bit and that means I’ve almost finished them (I’ve actually finished them ¬_¬”)!

Meiji The Chocolate [Bitter Cocoa] 明治 ザ・チョコレート[こく苦カカオ]

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Continuing on from the last post here is the other The Chocolate from Meiji. This one is called Bitter Chocolate…
The Chocolate [Bitter Cocoa]

Back of the box

It uses the same packaging as the Fragrant Cocoa…

7 pieces in the box

Golden foil wrap
And the only difference is the taste. It isn’t too bitter and it doesn’t have the sweet taste as the other one but definitely great for the dark chocolate fans.
Piece of dark bitter chocolate ^_^

I like the Fragrant Cocoa chocolate because of the sweet taste really.

Meiji The Chocolate [Fragrant Cocoa] 明治 ザ・チョコレート[香るカカオ]

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.·´¯`(>▂<)´¯`·.My head is spinning with Japanese verb conjugations at the moment and so I need a massive big treat for myself right now. What am I going to do when all my treats are finished?! Don't worry, I have places to go to and find new treats this year!
This box of chocolates from Meiji looked different to everything else. It’s also called “The Chocolate”, but what type of chocolate it was I did not know until now. Translation of 香るカカオ(kaoru kakao) means “fragrant cocoa”. And it states at the bottom of the box that it’s “bean to bar”. So I assume as soon as the cocoa is picked up from the plant it is made directly into chocolate. Hmmm. 
Meiji The Chocolate [Fragrant Cocoa]

Back of the box
The box contains 7 thin foiled wrapped chocolates.
7 in the box
Inside the foil wraps are these thin chocolates. It’s actually dark chocolate (I didn’t expect that). They are quite ordinary looking and I didn’t take a picture of the middle because it’s just plain chocolate. The taste however is different. It’s very bitter, it even smells of bitter dark chocolate, not too sugary and it has a hint of I believe of strawberry (not sure). Aftertaste is not to die for but it’s a dark chocolate to try out. I quite like them. Not sharing these though!! ¬_¬”
It’s a small chocolate, don’t let these pics fool you!

Flat dark chocolate
I have another box of these but it’s a different flavour. Will try that out this week. ^_^

Morinaga Milk Caramel (biscuits) 森永 ミルクキャラメル

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It’s Friday! Yipee! So I get Friday treat for being such a goody goody this week. Heheh. ^_^
I looked at these chocolates, called Milk Caramel ミルクキャラメル, in the shop thinking could they be like those mochi chocolate sweets I found in Hong Kong… They’re similar but no mochi in the middle.
Morinaga Milk Caramel (biscuits) 森永 ミルクキャラメル

Back of the box

Inside the box
 They look like massive white chocolate Minstrels (and there’s not enough of them in this box)!
Big chocolates!
 If you like Kit Kat or wafer biscuits then I think you might like these. The coating is white chocolate with a caramel flavour. The middle has a wafer biscuit and the center has a sweet paste which I think is caramel. It tastes all nutty and sweet. Not very sweet but sweet enough. 

I like these and they are very addictive! Yummy!! I want more!!!