November Japan Crate Odds and Ends

Aruff! Hi everyone, this is my first blog post so thank you all for reading as I begin this journey. I have quite the appetite, especially for new and out there stuff, and like any good boy I want to share all my food adventures with you.

But before we begin I'd be amiss if I didn't talk about the Japan Crate that just arrived a few weeks ago, and that would be my first Japanese candy box, the November Japan Crate. I started off getting a three month subscription and we'll see where things go for there. I'm all for whatever gets me the yummiest snacks at the best value.

Now since I've already scarfed up most of the snacks in here I won't do a full review for everything, but I'll give mini reviews for ones that I ate long ago.

Kagikko Chocolate Key - This one's pretty self explanatory - it's a bunch of chocolates arranged in a key shape. Why? I have no idea. It seems there are a bunch of these out there all in different shapes. The candies themselves tasted exactly like M&Ms, maybe a bit smaller. I ate them almost immediately because nobody eats just one M&M. Cool idea to arrange them in a shape I guess, but I wish the candy itself was more unique?

Rating: 3 - Rrr

Rilakkuma Gum - Okay first of all this packaging is ADORABLE! I love how cute Japanese packaging can be and this one certainly made me whimper in adoration. The gum itself surprisingly had a ridge shape to it, but once in my mouth it behaved like any other gum. It had a nice cola flavor which at first was pretty strong then it lost flavor quickly, which is kind of sad. I suppose I'm used to Extra.

Rating: 4 - Boof!

Sumomo Ball - Yup, it's a pink half-circle of jelly that tastes like peach. Despite the simplicity, it was really delicious! Felt like I had the pure essence of peach in my mouth for a moment without any of the texture... so I guess it was accurate. Not sure if I'd go buy more but I'd certainly pop them into my mouth if they're available.

Rating: 6 - Aruff!

Okusiriya-San Capsule Ramune - I wasn't sure to expect here but was very pleasantly surprised. These little pill candies come in retro Japanese packaging and the flavors varied from box to box. Mine was a green package and the pills looked yellow, so I assumed lemon. It was hard for me to really tell until the candy was almost gone and it started to break down into softer pieces, at which point I was hit with a delightful lemon explosion. Too bad I can't find these anywhere... or maybe it's a good thing, I wouldn't be able to stop.

Rating: 7 - Aroof!

Mistio Pokémon Grape Sparkling - Yay for the cute Pikachu packaging! I'm a huge Pokémon fan. I'll be real, I don't like carbonated beverages. The bubbles feel weird on my puppy tongue and seem to obscure the flavor of the drink, so I had a friend ready to drink the rest of this if I didn't like it. It actually wasn't that carbonated thankfully, maybe because I left it sitting out for a while. It was a nice sweet grape flavor and I was careful to not drink too much at once so I didn't get too many bubbles. An exercise in patience for one thirsty wolf.

Rating: 5 - Ruff!

DIY Magic Foam Jelly - New to the world of DIY kits, this fascinated and scared me all at the same time. What if I mess it up? What if something explodes? But thankfully this was easy enough. Took me a while to decipher the admittedly simple looking picture instructions on the back (even though there were English ones in the Japan Crate infozine), and all it was was add one packet and 2 cups water, shake, then add the other packet and 2 cups water and stir.

Rating: 6 - Aruff!

I was blown away by how boring looking white powder thickened into purple jelly when shook up with water, and that only continued when the second packet expanded into a foaming frothy liquid. My main complaint was how tiny the straw was - I had to lick my paws dry afterwards because the straw was used for both stirring and drinking and at half the height of the cup it was impossible to do either cleanly. As for the the taste itself, pretty weird. The grape jelly at the bottom was sweet grape nectar as expected (guess I'm a fan of jelly) and the top part had a fizzy aspect to it - I think it was blueberry? Not really sure and even though I mentioned I'm not a fan of carbonation, it was bearable, not as sweet as the top either, maybe I should've mixed the layers more for that perfect balance. I already found these at my local Japanese market - would I do it again? Maybe. But after trying some other fun looking DIY kits they also had there.

Anyways, that's all for the stuff I've eaten already. Onto the new! Aroooooooooo