With October now over, it’s nice to be able to kick back and take a break from the sugar and chocolate coma created by the craziness of Halloween.
I’m kidding, of course.
Although with the sugar-sweetness of Halloween now in the past, I believe it’s time for a more grown-up chocolate taste.
Just in time for the Halloween season, I thought I would give a quick run-down of some of my favourite candies I stocked up on during my three weeks in Japan. Most of these items can be picked up in Japanese or Chinese grocery stores in bigger Canadian cities for 3 or 4 times the price I paid for, so in a few weeks time I’m sure I will be mourning the loss of these goodies and the prices I paid for them.
Above is some of the chocolate available in Japan. I found Japanese chocolate to be less sweeter than Western chocolate, with a more enhanced cocoa-flavouring. I could not get enough of the plain Meiji milk chocolate bars which, in only in texture, is the same as a Hershey milk chocolate bar. Supporting my love of mint, I also picked up the Meiji Feel Mint cool tasting chocolate sticks. The strawberry Meiji chocolate cones (middle) and the Meiji Choco Babies are chocolates I’ve enjoyed since I was a little kid and I was happy to stock up on. Choco Babies are little nubs of unsweetened dark chocolate and the strawberry chocolate cones taste similar to that of Neapolitan ice cream (at least according to Trevor). Each chocolate was less than a dollar in Japan, whereas in Canada I’ve seen them priced from $3-$4 each.
Poifull are a candy I almost forgot about until my Mom starting buying them at every Japanese convenience store we stopped in at. Roughly $4 in Canadian stores, these fruit-flavoured little candies (similar to a jelly bean) are a mere 100 yen (roughly a $1.25) in Japan. The inside texture is chewy and soft like gummy candy and the fruit flavouring in much more real and intense than any Jelly Belly I’ve ever had. I’m not ashamed to say that on our last night in Japan, my Mom and I cleaned out a local store’s supply to take back with us.
This post is brought to you by jet lag. It’s only the first night of my return from Japan, so hopefully I can work out my sleeping schedule by Monday when I return to work. After trying to stay up on the 12 hour plane ride from Toyko to Toronto, I crashed hard last night. Six hours later, I was wide awake and staring at the ceiling at 3:30am. Luckily for me, I have lots of baking blogs and TV shows to catch up on.
Plus the unpacking and sorting through the over six hundred photos I managed to take. But first, baking blogs and TV. 🙂
I will be doing a couple more indepth postings about my Japan trip once I sort out my life and my sleeping schedule, but below I posted a few photos highlights of my overall trip. Again, since I took over six hundred photos, this barely scratches the surface, but it will give you a general idea of my last three weeks in Japan.
One thing I love about Japan is the ritual of gift-giving. Japanese people take gift-giving very seriously and most of the little shops you will find in and around public transportation stations and tourist sites have purchases related just to this ritual. Food items, such as little individually wrapped cakes and biscuits will have a plastic display to show the contents of each box and this is such a cute way to know what you’re buying and be tempted to try something new.
Each city/area in Japan is also well-known for a particular gift-giving item (usually the shape or flavour of the dessert or a cartoon character that is featured on keychains, towels and other items). More often than not, this item is only available in said city/area. An example of this is that in Fukuoka, Japan, you can buy a special dessert shaped like a little bird. Growing up, I always remember my Grandma having these little birds as a dessert and now it makes sense since this is the area where one of her sisters and her family live in.
Despite my running around and getting ready for my Japan trip next week (8 days), I knew I had to celebrate the first day of Fall yesterday with some delicious baking. This is my favourite time of the year (sweaters! boots! hot mugs of tea!) and I was a little sad to realize that as much as I love this season, I only have one other pumpkin recipe on She Bakes Here.
Now that it is the middle (and almost the end) of September, I realize that this back-to-school themed treat may be a little late. I made these almost a week ago, but it’s only now that I’ve finally found the time to sit down and write about them.
Canadian food blogger, baking and eating her way through life. Musical theatre fanatic. Personal finance nerd. Sometimes runner/yogi. Green smoothies are pretty amazing.
