Want Want Follow Me Senbei Milk Tea

Want want? Follow me? Sounds like this cracker really wants me to like it. And I really want to like it, as the idea of a milk tea flavored cracker sounds tail-waggingly good. But it's going to be hard to convert the refreshing, satisfying taste of milk tea into solid form... or maybe not. The British imagery on here is also a little confusing, maybe it's British milk tea? Do they even have that over there? That would be my kind of tea time.

The cracker is pretty similar to its appearance on the package, and it's definitely intriguing me. It's a nice light brown color with white icing splotches, which could be the milk. I'm certainly intrigued, though the scent is quite mild. I get the tea and the rice flavor, but no milk, hopefully all that goodness is hiding within. The crackers are also quite light and hollow meaning I'll probably be chowing down on a lot of these soon if I like them.

The cracker has more of a savory component to it than I thought, which I guess should be expected - it is a rice cracker first and foremost. The flavors within it are quite nice reminding me of some of the best rice crackers I've had, it's very rich in its grainy flavor and there's a lot of nice depth here, almost like a rice-wheat mixture, but likely just rice. The milky bits add some much-needed sweet touches to this, and although milk tea isn't the first thing that comes to mind here, it's still quite good. It's got some nice light sweetness just like the drink, just in a different form factor. These might in fact be the perfect companion to some milk tea!

Rating; 7 - Aroof!

DIY Candy Apples

I've tried one variant of carnival food with the chocolate banana, why not another one? This one is a particular favorite of mine: something about candy coating mixed with apples makes the vibrant sweetness of apples even more pronounced. And this one has all the fun of being a DIY kit!

I was surprised in this one to see that the candy coating was not a powder, instead a very thick liquid in a packet. Not that I'm complaining, let's me get to the eating that much quicker! The apple candies in here absolutely explode with delicious apple smell, and while likely artificial it's got that richness to it that I'd expect from a real apple, with all the candy sweetness. The candies are a bit thicker than I expected, only changing in shape with a little force, but all the better to stick a toothpick in. From what I licked off the packet, the candy has a very nice sweet taste.

The whole process of putting a candy apple together is quite seamless. The candy coating sticks easily, and the sprinkles stick to that in turn with no mess. The taste of these is absolutely divine. The apple candy is everything I'd want flavor and texture wise, with sweet and rich apple flavors, but not overpowering or too much richness, and the candy aids in making it even sweeter, but more importantly supplying some liquid texture that these would desperately need otherwise. And lastly the sprinkles make it crunchy and soooo satisfying to eat. Everything is so perfectly balanced that I couldn't stop eating these, and I think given infinite amount of these I'd eat them all day! Good thing that's not happening, as I need to stay in hunting shape...

Rating: 10 - AWOOOOOOO!!!

Meiji Choco Baby

Such a peculiar name with this one. Clearly it makes sense because they're baby chocolate pieces, but the way it's phrased makes it sound like a baby made out of chocolate! If they're going for the cuteness angle, they should definitely make it choco puppy... no bias here of course. All that aside, I've been longing for some chocolate, so hopefully this scratches that taste itch. I'm curious what the texture will be like though with these small pieces.

The smell inside is very reminiscent of semi sweet chocolate chips, which seems great to me. I would totally eat those out of the bag anyhow, so if this gives me an excuse to do that, all the better. Surprisingly though, the texture doesn't seem very melty or soft, so maybe these will be a more crunchy or solid exterior. I guess that makes sense, as these hold their shape very well.

There's a slight bit of bite here, but not anything excessive, so it's just very crafty texturing. They have more of a sweet and milky taste than the smell predicted, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. They're quite addictive, as treats in small pieces usually are. They're not too sweet, or too bitter, or too milky, it's an equal mix of both, that all break apart with just a small bite each. I quite like that texture as time goes on, it's a bit unique from typical chocolate candy. Overall nothing mind-blowing but a nice addictive chocolate snack that'll be gone before you know it.

Rating: 7 - Aroof!

Maruta Nericcho Soft Ice Cream DIY, Strawberry and Cider

Japanese candy includes many attempts at imitating ice cream without the meltiness, with varying but usually positive degrees of success. Now we have it in DIY form, with two flavors and these very happy little ice cream cones filling each other. The cider flavor (which likely means ramune) is of particular note, as I haven't had ice cream quite like that before. Maybe it'll work, maybe it'll be a disaster, or somewhere in between.

The contents of this DIY are quite simple, but simplicity can be sweet. A packet representing the ice cream, a spoon, and three cones. Which seems like a bargain considering only two are shown on the package!

Mini Fried Dough Twist, Salty Shallot Flavor

Right up until the point I pulled out this snack today it seemed like an amazing idea. Mini fried dough twists? So basically a churro right? And I started wagging my tail in anticipation of this. But then... I saw in the left right corner "salty shallot flavor" and I tilted my head in confusion. These... don't seem like things that'll go together. But maybe it'll work anyways. I mean I definitely have more of a sweet tooth, so it's going to be a bit disappointing either way, but onion flavor snacks can be great, and this seems like it's taking it to a different form factor altogether.

Thankfully this Chinese company knows better than to leave a bunch of dough twists bumping into each other overseas, so they are packaged in threes within. They have a texture that's not soft, but not entirely crispy-hard either, somewhere in between. Basically they hold their shape. The smell as I expect is oniony, and very salty. This might be too much salt for me, but only one way to find out.

Each one definitely has a bite to it, enough to make it feel significant. It's about the texture of your average cereal once you bite of each piece with a satisfying pop. It is salty, but not unbearably so. Having the doughy interior there makes this hole thing work. It's a bit of a buttery taste too, which actually goes quite well with the salt and shallots. The shallots pack a punch, but the butter and dough manage to mellow that down to something that makes me not too overwhelmed eating it. This snack isn't anything mindblowing, although it could be if in bigger form with more quality ingredients. I could see these being similar to breadsticks, and the oniony flavor could certainly spice those up. For now though, just a nice little salty, oniony treat.

Rating: 6 - Aruff!

DIY Dino Island Pudding

RAWRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! Sorry, just have to get in the spirit here, as we're going back into prehistoric times where canines definitely weren't a thing. Sad days those were... but instead we have these giant (well, actually small green plastic) dinos roaming the earth. And what better surface to roam in than scrumptious pudding? At least I hope it's scrumptious. And hearty enough to satisfy my inner T-rex.

The contents here are surprisingly simple, just a mold, the two dinos, and packets for the pudding and sauce. Sadly the utensils needed, as well as the cup to mix the pudding in, nor the milk to mix the pudding with, is not included. Thankfully I have all the necessary things. But for those who don't and want to follow along, get them or you'll be disappointed.

I don't usually arrive at the final conclusion so early with these DIY kits, but alas there wasn't much to show in the middle. The steps basically are: mix the pudding powder with milk, microwave it, leave it in the fridge, and then pop it out of the tray and put the sauce and dino toys on top of it. Pretty straightforward, though I didn't know how long to leave it in the fridge. I left it in for an hour, maybe should've been two. As I can't read Japanese, who knows.

Despite being a little messy, the pudding is still delightfully eggy, with more richness as this one takes on a darker color than some of the other pudding I've had. I have conflicted feelings about the strawberry sauce though: well it seems like a nice idea, every bite I have with it completely masks the pudding flavor, and you know I wouldn't want that.  It's nice on its own though, a little oversweet. I find myself wanting more from even the pudding component though, it's nice but not with the depth and perfect balance of sweetness and richness that I'm used to. If anything it needs some more sweetness and a stronger pudding flavor to really draw out what makes this great. I do have to say this is a really nice concept. Visually one of the best DIYs and it's such a simple idea too.

Rating: 6 - Aruff!

Yaokin Apple Roll

While Japanese candy has introduced me to a lot of unique flavors in types of food, some of them can definitely be a little derivative. Take this one for instance, which seems to be the Japanese version of a fruit roll-up. Not that I'm complaining of course, as those can be plenty yummy with their soft-thin texture and vibrant flavor. Also this one is entirely apple, so it'll be interesting to see which route they take with the apple flavor, as there are a myriad of natural and artificial apple flavors out there.

At first glance, this seems to be much closer to Fruit by the Foot. It also is bright green just like the packaging and the strange looking apple character on the front. It could be color association but the smell seems similar to a green apple Jolly Rancher, so that's what I'm expecting, and 3-ish feet of that sounds quite fine to me!

The gummy is a bit tougher than I've expected and requires a bit of force to get off of the paper, but I guess that's how Fruit by the Foot is too, better than being a mess of gummy and paper in the packaging. The apple flavor is a bit more natural than the green apple flavor actually, which means it's not as much as an in-your-face flavor as a Jolly Rancher, but more subdued and refreshing. It's quite a welcome change. I do wish though that this had just a bit more flavor. As I go through the rest of the roll I'm always left a bit unsatisfied and wanting more, and that itch is never scratched even when it's gone. The roll also sticks to my teeth a bit more than I'd like it to. I like to keep these clean for hunts!

Rating: 6 - Aruff!

PeiTien Pumpkin Energy 99 Sticks

I'm really not sure what to expect from this one. In some places it's advertised as a pumpkin rice roll, in some as an "energy 99 stick". What could be hiding within? From what I can read, there's pumpkin, brown rice, corn, oatmeal, buckwheat, and mung beans, so this is truly a compilation of a ton of snack materials all into one healthy and energy-giving bar. All with the wonderful taste of pumpkin! Hopefully it'll give me enough energy to run around in the forests all day long and smile doing it with the great aftertaste of pumpkin.

I was initially expecting this to take on a granola bar-like appearance with all the grains featured on the package, but it seems instead everything is ground and blended together. Could be interesting, reminds me of an umaibo right of the bat but the smell is quite different. It has quite a granola bar-type smell, along with the expected pumpkin accent, and what reminds me of coffee? I expect no artificial flavors here with everything smelling very authentic. There's also a filling in the middle, which could be the pumpkin, especially with this advertised as a roll.

It's quite a mix of flavors. At first when I bite through the snack I get the crunch aand the puffed corn taste of an umaibo, but then in the middle comes the creamy texture of pumpkin. It reminds me a lot of the canned pumpkin, and absolutely not in a bad way. It's not overwhelming, but not lost either, it strikes a nice subtle balance. There is also more sweetness in the puffed corn part than I have come to expect which is nice. It's almost gone too quickly, I wanted more of it! It has a really nice light consistency with lots of nice flavors and a comforting feeling going for it. And tastes entirely natural so it's sure to be good for me too. I'm glad I jump on pumpkin things so quickly, as this proved to be quite rewarding!

Rating: 9 - Arooooo!

Meiji Tsukorou Kinoko no Yama DIY

A while back I had one of these biscuit snacks from Meiji and it was quite yummy! But this one looks to take it up a notch, being in DIY form and having different shapes and many different layers. Already looks like ton of fun and hopefully not too much work between me and the delicious chocolate biscuits.

Thankfully it seems that'll be the case as the contents are quite simple: biscuits, molds, and three squeeze bottles with the different toppings.

Meigum Puchi Puchi Sherbet

Many of the DIY kits I've gotten outside of the Kracie ones have been very simplistic and nothing groundbreaking (but still very fun and delicious). This one from Meiji looks to buck that trend as there is a lot going on here. It seems to have three molds, all with different textures and colors, and some spherification action going on! Haven't seen that since the sushi kit. I'm not really sure how this is considered sherbet, considering it doesn't resemble the ice cream style dish at all, but no worries. Going to be a lot of fun either way!

About the number of components expected here lies inside. Three bags for the different layers, along with the animal molds and square containers. More animal molds than I thought - there's a snail, cat, pig, panda, owl, and turtle. How exciting! Also the only tool included is a dropper which is good for the spheres but could be trouble for everything else.

Ice Cream Lolly, Chocolate

Having had one of these already, I know the greatness of this concept: all the goodness of ice cream in hard candy form, without the need for freezer or the meltiness or the extra calories. But now it's a chocolate flavor! Last time I remarked that the strawberry flavor was too subtle, but I don't expect that to be the case with this one, as chocolate tends to stand out a bit more.

Already it looks like both halves might even be chocolate, because the bottom half has a light brown tone rather than the pure white of the vanilla. However the more likely case here is that some of the chocolate from the chocolate top leaked down into the vanilla part. There's not a very strong smell here, so looks like I'm going to figure out the truth all through taste. The chocolate has a very nice dark color too it though which seems promising.

The chocolate flavor on the top half, like the other lollipop, is quite subtle. I expected a huge burst of chocolate, but it's rather light and faint once again. The vanilla flavor seems that way too, with a bit of milkiness. I keep sucking and sucking on this trying to leech more flavor out of it, because what's there is great, but it never seems to be enough. The chocolate flavor is nice and pure, no hint of any ice cream flavor, but it doesn't overdo the sweetness and is overall pleasant, and adding the vanilla on it completes the combination quite well. This one sadly seems even more faint in flavor than the other one... and it's the most tragic thing because the flavors great, I just want more of it... why must they tease me so...

Rating: 5 - Ruff!

Hokkaido Matcha Milk Candy

Multiple things about this candy seem pleasant to me. The pleasant pictures on the packaging of the farm and the high detail pic of matcha suggest a down-to-earth candy straight from the farm with no other complications. I even looked to see if Hokkaido was a farming region after I remember having other snacks with this mentioned, but nope, it's an island. Maybe an island with pretty good farms.

As expected, the candies come individually wrapped. The matcha candies are circular and have a nice varied texture and deep (but not too deep) green color. I can't get much of a smell from it but I also have a bit of a cold, so that could be inhibiting things.

Good thing cold doesn't inhibit taste, because I get the most wonderful matcha flavor putting this in my mouth. I think if this were just matcha it would be a little bit grating, but the milk component thankfully adds the needed base. I've tried putting matcha powder in milk before and had great results from it, but this basically simplifies the whole process of mixing them together and puts the two flavors together perfectly in one great candy. It's basically all I was looking for in this and a bit more, because it also lasts quite a long time! I feel like I'm in a matcha wonderland, laying and sniffing the matcha grass while watching the milk clouds go by. Mmm. Perfectly relaxing and chill, and as the farm packaging suggests, the core ingredients straight from the farm, and nothing more.

Rating: 9 - Arooooo!

Weilong Kiss Burn

Have to say, I'm quite scared to try this one. Me and spicy foods don't always go along, and with a name like "Kiss Burn" there's no doubt that it's going to heat up my yap at least a little bit. As for what else is in here, I have no idea, seems like there will be a bit of a meat flavor, so maybe it'll be like jerky? I hope it has more mercy than the peppers and bright red coloring let on.

First glance says... probably not. It comes with the three pieces as advertised, and they certainly have the texture of jerky but are a bit more oily. It has a very in-your-face peppery meat smell to it.

The taste is pretty much as expected. It has that oily pepper taste that you typically get in Chinese food, and it's quite a shock to see in a packaged snack like this. It's also very chewy, as typical of jerky type snacks, but nothing my puppy teeth couldn't handle. The spiciness while evident was quite manageable, it's very clearly there but I never thought my mouth was on fire like many other times, so it's a more pleasant type of heat. All that being said though, this definitely isn't my type of snack. It reminded me of sausage in its meat flavor, which I'm actually not too much a fan of. Others may enjoy it much more and I acknowledge that it has good flavor, but I didn't want to keep eating it all the way through.

Rating: 4 - Boof!

Sankaku Crackers

Not exactly sure what these are, but at a price of 30 cents I couldn't go that wrong right? Okay so they're not a staple Japanese snack or anything, but Sankaku means triangle, so these are going to be triangle shaped, and have a vegetable flavor consisting of broccoli, tomato, and carrot if the package is any indication.

Already I'm liking the packaging of these crackers. They're in a plastic tray so there's no mess in my den and even quite neatly arranged for being jostled around in shipping. They also look quite delectable. Each one has horizontal marks as if they were cooked on a grill, and there is a nice brown on all the edges. I don't see too much of a trace of vegetables, but I do smell them. They're faint but I can pick out hints of each of them in the scent. Does that mean my sniffer is getting better, or that these are well made?

As it turns out they're quite well made. The texture is almost exactly like Ritz crackers - buttery and a crispy outer edge that then breaks away into flaky goodness as it dissolves. You don't taste the veggies at first, but then as the cracker goes down you can get all their flavors. It's subtle but a perfect match for all the other flavors, brings to mind a stir fry where they're covered in a buttery sauce. Really, I can't stop eating these, they have all the addictiveness of some of the best American crackers! While they don't need it, I can imagine putting them in some sort of dipping sauce to up the flavor and texture component even more. But I'm not sure what would be best... ranch? Tonkatsu? Who knows. But these are a steal and quite the surprise at only 30 cents!

Rating: 9 - Arooooo!

Meiji Meltyblend Green Tea

Few things sound more soothing than "Meltyblend". Mmm, a piece of silky chocolate dissolving in your mouth... And this one even has green tea in it, which should add to the soothing flavor! Also manufactured by Japanese snack staple Meiji, meaning this one should be a hit if everything goes well. Though I'm not sure I've had green tea and chocolate together before... we'll see if it's a combination that works.

Seeing as how the "melty" part of Meltyblend could get out of hand, I'm glad to see these are both in a box and individually wrapped. Otherwise one hot California day and these could all melty-blend together so fast! And I'm not trying to have them melty-blend with my paws. The chocolate seems to be on the more natural side of the spectrum. It has a grainy appearance to it which could be great, it brings to mind raw cocoa powder. Smelling it though, I get more of that delectable green tea flavor which is shown on the package. The two of these together is sure to be a hit.

As expected, the combination of chocolate and green tea proves to be slightly awkward at first as my palette adjusts to the two flavors, then is a hit. The chocolate provides a little bit of edge that the green tea calms down, and both provide a good bit of sweetness. It doesn't exactly melt as easy as I'd like it to unfortunately, it has to be coaxed into doing that with a few bites here and there, but as it does the soothing and rough flavors blend together, a representation of the comforts and struggles of life, going down my throat in a sweet fashion. I'd say this is almost too sweet, but it's only just over the edge. I think these two flavors could pop a bit more if they seemed more natural, but that's nitpicky. While unexpected, this combination works very well and I'll sure to have many of these melting in my mouth in the future.

Rating: 8 - Rowf!

Cadina Taro Chips

Well well, we've got one of our first bits of Engrish on a snack! That's when you know it's legit. Or maybe the definition of happy really is yummy taro chips. That would be quite a bold promise. Would anything else compare afterwards? I don't even know much about Taro except for having had a bit of taro flavored tea, but I do appreciate the sweet, gritty flavor that it offers. I can also see it transferring well to chips if the chips have a little bit of salt but don't go overboard. I haven't been impressed with too many Japanese chips though, so not holding my breath. Also not a fan of the creature-person-thing on the front. Looks like a Jimmy Neutron character...

Regardless of the look of the packaging, the look of these chips are quite nice. You can see the purple streaks of taro swirled through them in a marble-like fashion. It would be a nice texture to have on the walls or ceiling of a building. From the bag I get a smell that seems like a nice mix of salty and sweet root vegetable flavors, which is very promising.

From a taste point of view the sweet flavor is more present than the salty flavor in this one, which is good. I got taro chips and I want to taste taro, and I do taste it. It's an interesting addition to potato here. Since they're both root vegetables they mesh well together, and the taro shares the starchiness of the potato, but also adds a sweet nutty flavor to the mix, with almost a vanilla flavor in there. The salt in potato in this case don't drown out those flavors like other chips, but instead enhance it and stop it from being one note. The potato chip side brings out a bit more of the starch backing and some salt to overall enhance the sweetness of the taro. It overall works very well. It's not a snack that I'd be dying to eat all the time but it's certainly a more interesting and satisfying taste than your average potato chip.

Rating: 8 - Rowf!

Yaokin 7 Stick

The name of this product stumped me for way longer than it should have. Why was it 7? 7 ingredients? Nah, literally seven sticks! I'm not sure why this is the basis for naming something, but hopefully there's something more to this treat than having seven of them. Maybe it'll give me 7 reasons to eat it? I'll try to come up with them.

Already opening the bag I see two reasons to eat this: first of all the smell. I was expecting to be overwhelmed but now I have much higher expectations with this great aroma wafting out of the wafer sticks! It smells almost like freshly baked sugar cookies, and there's the cream filling wafting through, mmm... Another reason is the shape. I'm not sure what it is but I really like the round sticks with the square edges. Lots of variety when I sink my teeth into them!

Unfortunately the taste and filling isn't quite as vibrant as advertised. The wafer doesn't have quite enough flavor for my liking. It's somewhat of a typical taste to a wafer sandwich cookie, the wafer having a pleasant sugary buttery flavor but ultimately really light and unsatisfying.I keep eating more hoping for more satisfaction but... nothing. And the cream is barely there as shown in the picture. I get a glimmer of the cream, but that too ultimately is disappointing because there's only a smidge of it. Why do you tease me so??? So ultimately the 7 reasons aren't really there, because while this seems like a good snack in theory, it's too light on flavor and substance to really work. Disappointing, because it had all the components to be 7 shades of aroo.

Rating: 3 - Rrr

Nyusankin Yogurt Strawberry Hard Candy

This was another bonus item provided by the wonderful folks at asianfoodgrocer.com, and look how cute it is! I hope I have that boy's face after I taste this. This seems to be quite a unique combination, as we have strawberry yogurt, but in hard candy form. I wonder how they'll make this work? It is also said to contain probiotic ingredients to help digestion, and I could definitely use that after today's feast...

The candies have a really nice color to them. It's like a pink pearl kind of color, nice circle shape with wider edges, looks very pretty and quaint. There's no smell to be found, but this tends to be the case with hard candies as all the flavor is contained within.

Maruta Purin Gokko

Ah pudding, my old friend. It's certainly been a while but don't think I've forgotten about you. How your eggy creaminess pairs perfectly with your gelatinous texture, throwing my senses into cloud nine floating on some light but tasty egg custard... and this time I get to have a part in making it myself! We'll see if that measures up, or it should stay premade.

Well the contents might be the simplest of any DIY I've seen so far, it's just a cup, powder, and straw. Though I guess that's all you really need. Only slightly disappointing is that this means there won't be a separate caramel layer which really does add a lot to the pudding. The powder, strangely enough, seems to be a mix of things, there is one part that looks like tiny white sprinkles and another that is purely powder. I guess this makes sense as several components are in there.

DIY Chocolate Covered Banana

This is definitely one of those DIY kits where I could easily do this on my own... but why spend all that time when everything is here in one convenient package? For that reason it's been a while since I've had a good chocolate covered banana, so I'm excited to taste what lies within here.

Awrr... definitely a bit worried about this one. The "bananas" seem to be these banana flavored chewy candy which smells a bit too much like the banana Laffy Taffys for comfort. Does anyone actually like those? The rest of it is rather simplistic, with a bag for the chocolate frosting and sprinkles, and a toothpick.

After I poured out the chocolate and sprinkles, I was a little bit reassured because the chocolate frosting does smell very good, and the sprinkles are all ball-shaped, which should actually be very good for dipping.

The chocolate required a little bit of pressure to get to stick on the banana, but the sprinkles stuck right on which was a very nice surprise!

As for the taste... it actually works. The chocolate supplies a lot of the flavor that the banana candy is missing. It's really good chocolate frosting actually, sweet and rich but not too much so. The banana candy is no slouch either. It's a bit different from the banana Laffy Taffy in that the flavor is just ever so slightly more authentic, and not as chewy, so it doesn't feel like a chore to eat. The sprinkles also add a well-needed texture element to this, some crunch that makes it actually feel like I'm eating a frozen banana - but no brain freeze!

I'll admit I wasn't expecting much from this, and that banana flavor could still use some work, but it's much better than I thought it would be. Chocolate and banana is a dream come true no matter what form. Hear that Laffy Taffy? I got a product idea for you!

Rating: 8 - Rowf!