solicitor handout

Usually I dislike solicitors, but this time they left a cute goody bag!  It included a patriotic pen, candies, and a sticker.

Kasia market - visit #2

I have to say, a very nice thing about the local Kasia is that it's hardly ever crowded, especially compared to the closest H-Mart.  Even on a Sunday, like today, there was plenty of parking and no wait at the registers.

This time I got take out at the food court for the family.  Everything tasted fine.  Bibimbap ($12.99) with sweet/sour chicken (+$3), and two chicken lunch boxes ($10.99 each).  

There were also some boxed desserts on display at the food court.  I had to ask what was inside the shiny rice cake balls.  They said there was white bean inside.  Maybe next time.

Instead, I bought some Japanese desserts from the main market area - dorayaki ($5.66 - $6.49) and castella cake ($8.99).  Typing out the prices, I realize they seem rather expensive.  Anyhow, I've tried the chestnut dorayaki and it's ok, not bad.

In the housewares aisle were some cute house slippers, but I have no idea what the sizing system is.  

I just looked it up now and 290 mm is equivalent to US women size 12?  Well, good thing I didn't buy that one then.  Wonder if these are even comfortable.  Maybe I'll find my size next time.

Kasia market

Last week I went to Kasia Market for the first time.  I ordered bibimbap (rice bowl), which had 9 vegetables (sooo much), a fried egg, and an optional choice of protein.  I chose tofu, but if I were to ever get it again, I'd probably choose chicken.

Other than checking out the food court, the main reason to visit Kasia was to check out the snacks.  I had an idea of mochis, but didn't find too many of them.  There was a bit of decision paralysis on what to buy when faced with an aisle of snacks that I've never tried before.

There was a google review photo of refrigerated mochi but I couldn't find them at the store.  I even asked a store associate for help.  She couldn't locate them either, but she did recommend another item when we passed by the frozen section.  She said to defrost them for about 1.5 hours before eating.

I had to later use Google Translate to understand what the packaging said, since everything was in Korean.  It was a bag of honey rice cakes, and they tasted pretty good.  The inside filling tasted like sweet peanut or sesame.  Another nice thing is that there are individually sealed bags of 4 mini cakes inside.  I like them warmer than cold, so I heated them up in the microwave for a few seconds after removing them from the pouch.

Below is the translation of the packaging.

The other snacks that I chose myself from the store did not taste good.  The non-refrigerated, packaged strawberry mochi from Taiwan were rubbery and when I squished them, they made strange popping noises that creeped me out.  The inner filling was encased in some yellow layer that looked plastic.  The box of almond mochi cake was meh and harder than expected.  I didn't quite like the Jaffa Napolitanke wafers either.

Below is a close-up of the yucky alien mochi.

taste test: strawberry cakes

It's a taste test with Trader Joe's Strawberries & Cream Cloud Cake versus Wegmans Strawberry Shortcake.  A slice of the Wegmans cake is $6 around here.  The Trader Joe's frozen cake is sold for $6.49 in the same town.

Instructions for the Trader Joe's cake say to defrost in the fridge for 24 hours.  Well I bought it this morning, kept it in the fridge for a few hours, and then cut a small piece to sit out for a few minutes until the whipped cream was soft.  Maybe it'd taste better if it defrosted longer.  There's still a lot left, so I'll update this post if I try it again later and it's significantly tastier.

To start, the Wegmans yellow cake is soft, with sweet cream and fresh strawberries that are a bit tart.  It's good.

The Trader Joe's white cake is drier and thinner, almost like an airy biscuit with many holes.  The whipped cream is thin - almost liquid, with a milky aftertaste.  The yellow custard layer in the middle tasted like nothing.  The strawberries tasted like jam or preserves, a mix of sweet and tart.

Above is a close-up of the Trader Joe cake.  The photo on the box is accurate.  My fellow taste tester only had about a forkful of the Trader Joe's cake before quitting.  I didn't finish it either.  

Trader Joe's has cute packaging and all, and for some reason many people online think it's so great.  BUT according to us, Wegmans is the clear winner.  It tastes way better.

UPDATE: I tried a piece of the Trader Joe's cake after it defrosted in the fridge for over 24 hours and yes, it is significantly better than the day before.  The cake turned soft, as if it absorbed the moisture from the surrounding cream and custard.  It's a mushy soft dessert now, and the strawberry part is a nice compliment to it.  I would not buy it again though.

Wegmans is still better.

sugar

 

The dentist said I have beautiful teeth, and the hygienist said to continue doing what I've been doing.  I guess that means I can continue consuming sugar at the same rate as before.

hello panda

Today we have the Hello Panda strawberry cookies from Meiji.  This bag is about 4 inches and has 21 pieces inside.  The cookies look slightly different from the package illustration.  Some of the designs are hard to make out.  Is the panda running, or is it riding a bike?  In any case, they're still cute and they taste okay.  The cookie tastes like a dense strawberry pocky stick.

happy valentine's day

 

It's a mini cake.  Maybe about the size of a small paper plate.  Kawaii!

chocolate candy flavors

The label says there are 10 flavors, but even if I combine the dark and milk chocolate versions of the maple nut butter, I count 11 flavors.

happy lunar new year

Happy Chinese New Year!  Here are some treats, purchased from Costco.  Both sets are made in Taiwan, from the company, Isabelle.  The first set is the Year of the Snake assortment.  It includes snake-shaped matcha & red bean cakes, 2 flavors of ice q cakes (peach and tangerine), and taro cakes.

The peach cake is squishy like gummy candy and mochi.  It has a slight peach flavor and tastes ok.  The tangerine one, which I'm guessing is the darker orange one, has more flavor than the peach.  The taro cake is sweet, flaky and powdery.  It tastes ok.  The snake-shaped cake is creamy, and has a hint of a perfume-y or floral flavor.  The shell is like a thin mooncake.  The taste is ambiguous and odd to me.  In general, the assortment is very cute, but I probably would not buy it again.

The second set is a box of pineapple cakes.  The cookie part is crumbly and buttery.  The inside is chewy and sweet.  I like these and rate them to be 7/10.  I've gotten these before and will probably get them again sometime.

1. chocolate advent calendar

 

Although this Lindt advent calendar is cute and full of nice milk chocolates, I should probably avoid buying it again next year.  My intention was to share it with other family members, but they didn't want them as much as I'd expected.  The box says there are 28 chocolates for 24 doors.  Well, some doors had more than one surprise.  In addition to other holiday candy, I ate most of these.  Yesterday, I decided to take a break from chocolates.  I ate too many and got very sick.  Let's see how long I can go without them.  I'm also decluttering and snapping photos of some of the more interesting (imo) things to let go, starting with this item.  Happy New Year!