Kit-Kats: The Odd

These are my favorite Kit Kats. Not necessarily because of their taste but because you have to wonder, "Who thought this was a good idea? Who came up with this flavor?" Seriously, imagine what an awesome job this would be, coming up with new flavors for Japanese Kit Kats.



You could do a lot with flowers. This is the rose (ロ－ス") Kit Kat. If this Kit Kat had been white chocolate, I'm sure it would have gone with the Bad flavors. But it was milk chocolate, and all was well. I liked this flavor - it was subtle, not too sweet, and strangely appealing. Flowery, yes, but no nasty aftertaste like the jasmine tea one. It was just not a flavor I associated with Kit Kats. But, oh, how that has been remedied.

How do I explain ramune (ラムネ)? The word originates from English's "lemonade" and it's a kind of cidery drink. But it comes in different flavors, not just lemon. I've never actually tried ramune (though, after this Kit Kat, I mean to), but I'm told it's a fizzy cider drink. If you look at the Kit Kat wrapper, you will see a green bottle with a blue ball near the top. Apparently, this is a specific type of bottle used only for ramune, and it's got a little marble inside it that floats on the liquid. Why? Just for the hell of it, as far as I can tell.

This was a very fun Kit Kat. First, it's blue. (It's also white chocolate, but milk chocolate would NOT have worked with this flavor, so it's okay.) Blue is easily the most awesome Kit Kat color I've seen thus far. Second, it was fizzy. Like, carbonated soda fizzy. How fun is that? It's a Kit Kat that fizzes in your mouth! Just when I thought Kit Kats couldn't get any better. Third, it tasted good. How's that for amazing?

Here's an interesting one. Most of my students and co-workers think this Kit Kat obsession of mine is charming or cute. I got in the habit of showing Takeda-san any new Kit Kats I found. When she moved back to Sapporo, her father drove down to help her, and she asked him to bring me Sapporo's signature Kit Kat. (Have I mentioned that my Japanese friends and co-workers are beyond awesome? Because they are.) This is a grilled corn (やきもろこし) Kit Kat. Weird, but tasty. In fall and winter, vendors all over Sapporo sell this delectable treat, so it's only right that this should be their flavor. It's much better than a squid flavor, which is the other thing that Sapporo is supposedly famous for (as far as food goes). I'm still waiting for miso flavor.

And this one is just fun: hot chili pepper flavor! This is the first dark chocolate Kit Kat I've had, but logic dictates that spicy chocolate must be dark. Milk chocolate just can't do it justice. I got this one in Nagano (along with the apple and the grape, which seem positively mundane compared to this), and I shared it with one of my more advanced classes. It was a hit, and now whenever I go somewhere, they ask me what kind of Kit Kats I found. One of them even occasionally brings me Kit Kats to see if I've had them before (the answer is usually yes, but I appreciate her curiousity).

Last, I present two Kit Kats that are appropriate for summer: lemon vinegar (レモンビネガー) and apple vinegar (アップルビネガー). Yes, vinegar. It's actually closer to a cider flavor (rather like what's pictured on the apple vinegar box), but it does have a slightly vinegary taste that goes well with the chocolate. It's a very cool flavor, which is why it's so good for summer. The lemon flavor was better than the apple flavor, maybe because it was less cidery. I actually really enjoyed the lemon flavor and bought a couple of bags to eat over the summer. It's been a while since I saw the lemon, but the apple is still available at a store in the Loc City mall.

And with that, I am now caught up with my Kit Kat discoveries. For now. Autumn is fast-approaching, and I have no doubt that more exciting (and/or odd) flavors will be appearing soon. In the meantime, I can get back to blogging about more important things, like travel and sightseeing and actual food!

Kit-Kats: The Bad

So, we saw the good. Unfortunately, some Kit Kats just don't have what it takes to be considered delicious. To be honest, some of them are downright yucky. It baffles the mind, doesn't it?

Surely combining strawberry cheesecake with Kit Kat marvelousness should create something truly fantastic! Right? Er, not according to my taste buds. Granted, it's white chocolate, and I'm not keen on it anyway, but this Kit Kat was particularly displeasing to me. It's not the worst flavor I've ever had (molasses Kit Kat, I'm looking at you, and YOU were milk chocolate, so don't EVEN try to make excuses), but it has its place in the bottom ten.

Yes, I rank the Kit Kats. So?

Now, part of it probably may be because I just don't like certain flavors. Take Mr. Espresso here. I did not have high hopes for this Kit Kat because I don't like espresso, and the last espresso-y Kit Kat I had was the tiramisu, which was just nasty (that one probably ranks #2 on the worst list). And I was right. Perhaps someone loving espresso would also love this Kit Kat, but for me, it was a one-time thing, baby.

Also, take a look at how unappetizing it is:

Could it be any blander? Beige Kit Kats are a crime against humanity. Note that it almost looks like it's not white chocolate. But it is! It is! Sneak.

But enough picking on white chocolate. Milk chocolate has its bad flavors too. Isn't this a pretty box? And it sounds nice, too: jasmine tea. Ah, jasmine tea is nice! It's refreshing, yeah? Good for a hot summer day. Okay, so the chocolate is melty, but still - jasmine tea! Nice!

And then you put it in your mouth. Bleh! Might as well just rename this one jasmine and be done with it. There's no tea flavor here, it's just jasmine, and jasmine hangs around for a while with a severe aftertaste. Granted, some flowers have a nice taste to them: lavender is good, violet is not so bad, and rose can be quite pleasant. Jasmine, however, should be left well enough alone. Stick to tea, jasmine. We'll appreciate you more that way. You and chocolate just don't get along all that well.

Speaking of tea . . .

Don't get me wrong, I like green tea. And I love matcha-flavored things. But when it comes to Kit Kats, I'll leave it rather than take it. It's the only Kit Kat I've eaten that tastes . . . chalky. Sometimes matcha has that chalky aftertaste to it, but this one was stronger than usual. And take note: it's white chocolate. It's a nifty electric green color, but it's still white chocolate.

This one was milk chocolate, but it still wasn't that great:

Well, it's a short list, but there you have the less-than-spectacular, the Kit Kats that missed the mark. It just proves that nothing is perfect, not even variously flavored chocolate treats.

Next up, we will examine the weird and the wonderful, the outlandish and fantastic. The Kit Kats that make you say, "Huh?"

Kit-Kats: The Good

I have been a bad poster lately, but my greatest blogging sin has been neglecting to post my Kit Kat updates. I have over a dozen Kit Kats to introduce to the world (or the small amount of people who read this blog, whichever is more realistic), and so I've broken them down in three posts.

Behold, Part Primus: The Good. AKA, the Worth Buying, Hoarding, and Consuming at a Slow, Langorous and Enjoyable Pace.

First up is the kinako Kit Kat, which comes in both mini and BIG sizes. Kinako (きなこ) is soybean flour, made after the soybeans have been roasted. It's a little nutty in taste, comparable to not-so-salty peanut butter. There's a popular sweet treat called warabimochi that uses kinako - I've been told that in the Kansai area, it's sold from trucks like ice cream in the States, but I'm not sure how willing I am to believe it. Although, warabimochi is definitely delicious.

Anyway, as to the Kit Kat variety of kinako, it is also yummy, and I enjoyed it. It has a bit of an old-fashioned feel to it, almost nostalgic in a way. I imagine that it could be considered a comfort food of sorts. Most Japanese I've talked to about it absolutely love it and have fond memories of eating kinako sweets as children. They were all very pleased when I mentioned this Kit Kat.

This Kit Kat appears to be involved in the promotion of a concert or a band or something of the kind. I'm not entirely sure what, partly because I can't read most of it and partly because I was more interested in the flavor: sakuranbo (さくらんぼ), or cherry. As you can see from the box, the Kit Kat itself was a pretty pastel pink; it would be the perfect treat for a Breast Cancer Awareness function. If the packaging was different, of course. The flavor wasn't too powerful, just a subtle hint of cherry. I only saw this flavor in one convenient store, and I'm sorry I didn't buy more when I had the chance.

This is one of the most recent discoveries I've made in the ever-exciting world of Kit Kat flavors: mango pudding (マンゴ　プリン). I'm not a great fan of Kit Kats of amazing colors because they're white chocolate and therefore inferior, but I am enamored of the mango pudding's brilliant orange color. My camera did a poor job of capturing this wonderful shade of mango (with flash, without flash - it didn't matter). The taste is not so astounding, but it's yummy enough.

This is the remarkable ume soda (うめ　ソダ) flavor, which I had my doubts about. Not that I don't like ume soda, but it's not exactly something that you connect with Kit Kats. It has a somewhat bubbly feel to it, not unlike the effect of carbonation. The fizziness really made it that much tastier. It offset the unpleasantness of the whole white chocolate thing. This was another cheerfully colored Kit Kat, comparable to the green parts of the ume (plums) on the box. I fully intended to take a picture of the Kit Kat itself, but I forgot, and I haven't gotten around to buying another box.

This is a souvenir box of apple (りんご) Kit Kats, which I bought in Nagano. Apparently, Nagano-prefecture is somewhat famous for apples and grapes (see below - also, why, then are there no peanut Kit Kats in Chiba? Can I make requests?), so this is one of their omiyage sets. I adore apple Kit Kats. They taste so crisp and refreshing - just like apples! Okay, just like apples with chocolate, but there's nothing wrong with that.

This was another omiyage set from Nagano, flavored of the big purple grapes (ぶど) - not to be confused with those sissy little green "muscats from Alexandria." (need a refresher? they were in my first Kit Kat post) The muscat grape Kit Kat was made of white chocolate and mediocrity. There was nothing special about it. These, however, were milk chocolate and heavily scented and just downright marvelous. When a piece of chocolate makes you feel like you've just bitten into a juicy fruit, you know you have something special. This flavor has a firm spot in the top ten.

And thus concludes this portion of my Kit Kat update. Stay tuned for more.

P.S. to Heather (I know you're reading this): if you and the girls aren't practicing your kana, I'll be very disappointed!

Japanese Travel Journal: Utsunomiya (宇都宮)

I am struggling to get updated here. For this installment, I present you with my trip to Utsunomiya.

This is the first time I saw anyone from Isesaki after I had moved to Matsudo. This is not so impressive as it sounds, because we all met in Utsunomiya 12 days after I moved. The way Benni-先生 greeted us, you'd think it was closer to 12 years.

We went to Utsunomiya for gyoza. I'm pretty sure I've already posted about my love for gyoza, and the Isesaki ladies wanted to foster this as much as possible. In addition, they also love gyoza, so that helped. I cannot understand why anyone would not love gyoza, but that's beside the point. We wanted to eat as much gyoza as possible. This turned out to be quite a lot. Also, the girls helped me pick out a watch while we waited for Benni先生 to show up. Akikoさん and Yukariさん helped me program it, because the instructions were all in Japanese. This made all of us very happy (not that the instructions were Japanese but that the three of us were able to get it sorted out).

We ate at three different places, though the third place was a combination of 5 restaurants and we could order from any of the menus. At the first two restaurants, we ordered a plate or two of gyoza and shared it amongst ourselves before moving on. The first restaurant was a tiny place where you ordered the food at a ticket machine, after which you presented the ticket to the waitress. Because there were seven of us, we had to split up, so Akikoさん, Yukariさん, and myself shared an order each of boiled and fried gyoza (the fried was better). After that, we slipped out to the place next door and ordered GIANT gyoza. The rest of the girls showed up just as we were finishing, which is why we had time to wait to program my watch.

Together, we all headed out to the third location, which was an awesome conglomeration of gyoza restaurants (Utsunomiya is famous for gyoza - there are upwards of two dozen restaurants specializing in this most awesome of foods, probably more). I think we ordered about seven plates of gyoza at this place, from three different menus. There was chiso (a basil-type herb) gyoza, crunchy gyoza, not-so-crunchy gyoza, shrimpy gyoza, spicy gyoza, salty gyoza - holy cats, there was a LOT of gyoza. Boy, were we stuffed. And to everyone's astonishment, Benni先生 polished off a bowl and a half of rice along with it, the half being what I couldn't eat.

[This is nothing - I once witnessed her eat a huge bowl of ramen, an order of gyoza, and THREE bowls of rice in one sitting. Her stomach is bottomless.]

After gorging ourselves on gyoza, we went off in search of other exciting things to do. We began by buying gyoza omiyage. Half of the ladies bought frozen gyoza to take home - complete with styrofoam cooler to transport them in. Then they bought me a cellphone strap of a little plastic plate of gyoza, which I've become a collector of (the cellphone straps, not the little plastic plates of gyoza). These ladies are so totally the awesome.

While wandering around Utsunomiya, we discovered a shrine in the middle of the city and because I love shrines, we immediately explored it. I like going to shrines with the ladies because they will explain things to me the best they can. Benni先生 either has no answer to my questions or ignores me entirely (in her defense, she's just naturally oblivious sometimes). Even if the ladies don't know the answers to my questions, they will do their best to figure it out or explain it somehow, even if it means translating something.

The cherry blossoms were nearing the end of their blooming stage, but they were still very beautiful and stunning. The wind blew gently that day, but it still scattered blossoms all through the air. They kept falling and falling, a shower of pink and white petals. There seemed to be no end to them.

With the sun going down, we decided it was time to end our gyoza adventure. We set a date for our next gathering (Nagano - Matsumoto Castle in May), and then they dropped me off at the train station. And thus ended our trip to Utsunomiya. Quite satisfying, I must say.

"little yellow devils" and weekly luncheons

No, that's not a slur. It's Naofumi-san's term for the pollen that has been assaulting most of my students for past few weeks. This week has seen a proliferation of face masks as people try to protect themselves from the onslaught. Success has been limited. It's been a miserable March for some of them.

As for myself, I'm relatively okay. Last week, I had a couple of sneezing days and even that wasn't so bad. I've never had a problem with allergies, but I was worried that strange Japanese pollen may trigger a sudden bout of hay fever. So far, so good. Hitomi-san has also been faring well, but apparently, her daughter is doing terribly. Given that she's the sickliest little kid I've known, that's not a surprise, unfortunately.

What else has been happening lately?

Benni-sensei, Hitomi-san, and I totally had steak for lunch today. Not just steak but filet mignon. To give a rough idea of how good this beef was, consider how exquisite a $40 filet must be. I'm 99.9% certain that it was the best beef I've ever had. I am unfond of this habit of dousing steak/non-bunned hamburg with unidentifiable house sauces, though. It's criminal to drown perfect meat like that. Especially when it's a sauce fraught with something as despicable as onions. Ew.

Next week, we're planning on going to a Korean barbecue place. It's become a weekly ritual with us. Last week, they finally took me to a kaiten-zushi restaurant, which features sushi on a conveyor belt holy crap how awesome is that? I admit, the merry-go-round sushi left a little to be desired - there's no way of telling exactly how long the sushi has been on the conveyor belt - but you can order fresh sushi too, so that makes up for it. I also had a bowl of chirashizushi (sushi scattered over rice). You can choose what you want, so I had raw tuna and avacado, and that was just plain delicious.

We've also been to a shabu shabu restaurant. This was interesting and entertaining, but it required a lot of time and a little energy. It's almost like fondue - you take the meat and "swish" it around a few times in a pot of boiling water to cook it. It cooks very quickly, but you can only do a little at a time, and with four people sharing one pot, it can get crowded. But it was fun and definitely yummy.

For more information on kaiten-zushi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conveyor_belt_sushi
For more information on shabu shabu: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabu_shabu

Japanese Travel Journal: Kawagoe

Finally did some more traveling, yay! One of Benni-sensei's students moved up to my class in January, and she was much amused by my enthusiasm to see completely random Japanese cities. She grew up near Kawagoe and proposed that she should give me a tour of it sometime. Somehow, Benni-sensei got involved, and we made plans to go to Kawagoe this weekend. We were joined by two of Benni-sensei's students.

One of the reasons I like going places by myself is that I can be selfish and do what I want to do, which is primarily look at things, especially shrine and temple things. Shopping isn't even second on the list, but it's usually what my companions decide to do after only a short amount of time. As a result, I actually got to see only a small amount of Kawagoe (add in that we were there only four hours, one of which was spent inside a museum, and it makes sense).

Still, it was a good trip, and as always, having traveling companions makes it all just that more fun. We went first to the Kawagoe Festival Museum, which involved lots of information about festivals and floats in Kawagoe, shockingly enough. Twice a year, portable two-story shrines are paraded through the city. Each shrine has a stage with musicians and dancers of some sort, usually a fox-headed guy or a comical couple with funny faces. There was a 20-minute performance of these dances, definitely worth seeing, even though I have no idea what any of it means.

Here is a mannequin of the fox guy. None of my hostesses could explain to me his signifigance - it was hard work to get out of them that he's a fox, which was easy enough to figure out on my own. They also would not ask anyone about it. Mostly they just stood about nodding their heads, giggling, or making awed and impressed sounds. This is why people become dependent upon internet research.

We left the museum behind and walked down a street with lots of Edo-period buildings that use to be warehouses but now are mostly shops and restaurants. This is where the shopping came in, but it makes sense when the whole street is made to entice you to spend money. It was definitely reminiscent of St. Augustine's St. George Street. There are also interesting historical sites, as seen in the above picture. That's the Toki No Kane, a prominent bell tower, very photogenic. It guards the entrance to the Yakushi Shrine, which we visited, so I can't say that I didn't get to do any shriney things. It's getting to the point where I know more about visiting shrines than some Japanese though. I find it ironic that I had to explain the reason for ringing the bell to the ladies.

One of the things that Kawagoe is famous for is sweet potato ice cream. You may recall that I tried the purple sweet potato ice cream in Kamakura, so I thought nothing of trying this. It was definitely delicious, but Kamakura's trademark ice cream is better. There's something about that purple sweet potato that is undeniably awesome.

The best thing about Kawagoe? There is a street that has nothing but sweet shops on it. Proof positive that life is pretty good. I bought some kinako mochi, and we had taiyaki (fish-shaped, sweet potato-stuffed pastry thing) and purple sweet potato manju (dumpling-type of thing). Totally made up for the fact that it was freezing and flurrying just the slightest bit.

We had planned on going to the Hisawa Temple, but once we got in the car, we forgot all about it. (Actually, I remembered, but because I didn't know where the hell we were going, I didn't realize it until too late, so I just didn't say anything about it. Benni-sensei only remembered after we'd gotten on the highway.) Besides, we had reservations at an izakaya for dinner, and we still had to drive back to Isesaki.

I continue to love izakayas. It pleases me to no end that I can try a variety of different dishes instead of getting stuck with just one, and it's fun to share the meal with everyone at the table. We started with a salad with chicken and cheddar cheese (meh, nothing special), followed by pork wrapped in eggplant, deep-fried and served with marinara sauce (delicious). We also had mushroom and seafood tempura (good, even though shrimp was the only seafood I was able to identify in the tempura). But best of all was the mushroom risotto, complete with bacon and cheese. How can that not be awesome incarnate, I ask you? It was perfect. As was the Japanese sake, which I drank quite a bit of.

And that was my day with Benni-sensei and our students. We're planning to go to Utsonomiya next month for gyoza, which is what that city is famous for. This will give us an excuse to get back together again after we are dispersed at the beginning of April. I look forward to it with much enthusiasm, and not just because I almost constantly crave gyoza. The ladies are a lot of fun to hang out with, and I get as much practice with Japanese as they do with English. Probably more, actually, because they talk way more than I do.

days of wine and takoyaki

Last Saturday, Benni-sensei and I were invited to a takoyaki party at the Maebashi school (which is also closing in the coming months). This is one of the schools where Kozue-sensei works, and Hamish-sensei is also pretty cool, so it stood to reason that it would be an entertaining night. Add in the fact that we just happened to go to Beisia that afternoon and thus just happened to run into Naofumi-san who just happened to be free to accept our extended invitation to the party and it gets even better. I love to hang out with certain of my students, and Naofumi-san is definitely one of them. He can be highly amusing and a very good sport.

Of course, there was alcohol at the party, as is only right for a party with no kids around. Most of the students live within walking or biking distance of the school (or they crash on any of the numerous couches at the school - why don't we have any couches? it's so unfair), so safe driving practices are almost always in effect, from what I've seen. Fortunately, having no car, it's not something I need to worry about - it's just a matter of finding someone willing to drive me back to Isesaki. Which turned out to be another good reason to have Naofumi-san around, because at 5am, he was one of the few remaining drivers going that way anyway.

But I get ahead of myself. First came the food and the wine. One of the Maebashi students had taken a trip to Yamanashi, which is particularly famous for wine. And it was very good wine indeed. And there was takoyaki, which I enjoy reasonably well but especially when it's homemade. Take-out takoyaki is nothing compared to the homemade variety. Also, there was gyoza, but it took a backseat to the takoyaki festivities. Primarily because someone found an abandoned Kit-Kat in the office and decided to put it to use.

I don't know who started it, but Naofumi-san was involved. I cheerfully volunteered to try the cheese takoyaki (yummy) and the kimchi takoyaki (eh, but I'm not a great fan of kimchi), and I was the only one who also cheerfully volunteered to try the chocolate takoyaki (interesting but not as bad as it sounds). It was only a little bit of chocolate, hardly enough to have any effect on the taste, but the looks on everyone's faces was worth it. I did refuse to eat the strawberry takoyaki; that goes far beyond the realm of sensibility. Nobody was conned into eating that one, and eventually Kozue-sensei ate it by mistake and immediately ran off to spit it out.

This was followed by an amusing game thought up by a Malaysian student. He calls it "what goes around comes around," and it's certainly the most disgusting party game I've had the misfortune to play. The general idea is to play russian roulette with a fetid concoction of whatever liquids are available. For us, this included (but was not limited to) wine, beer, tomato juice, lemon juice, mayonnaise, takoyaki sauce, oolong tea, and Zima. Add various flavored chips, Kit-Kats, and bonito flakes to the mix, and you can imagine the wonderful liquid that resulted. Hamish-sensei even threw in some foul-smelling cheese that he found in the fridge. In order to determine the loser of this game, all involved draw cards, and the lowest card gets to take the shot.

We played three rounds of this, which is a testament to how much most of us had already had to drink. As fate would have it, the first and last rounds were both lost by the Malaysian student (after the last round, he quite comically threw up his hands and shouted, "I suck at my own game! How is this possible?") The middle round was lost by Naofumi-san, and he did us Isesaki folk proud by not just taking a tiny sip but a great big gulp of what was easily the foulest of the batches. That he did it reluctantly but jovially says a lot. Like I said, he's a good sport.

Two rounds of Uno were played, though it wasn't much of a competition because people were starting to succumb to the late hour and the alcohol. About seven of us decided to head out to a nearby bar, which I'm definitely glad we did because it was an AWESOME bar. It has a piratey theme to it, including fake palm trees in the corners, blunderbusses on the walls, and a rickety wooden dumb waiter to deliver drinks to the second floor. There is also a life-sized Yoda, which doesn't really fit with the pirate theme but nobody seems to mind. We stayed only long enough for one drink, but it was fun.

Upon returning to the school, I realized it was nearly 5am, and I had plans to go to Kumagaya the next day, so I decided it was time for me to head home. Naofumi-san was also ready to leave, so he offered me a lift so that nobody else had to worry about driving to and fro. I got home in time to get four hours of sleep before having to get up to head on my way to Kumagaya. Surprisingly, I made it through Sunday morning with only the slightest of hangovers, so I figure I must not have been too drunk. I've been worse off.

So, all in all, a most pleasant way to say goodbye to Maebashi. Our farewell party will not be as depraved because we're inviting all the kid students. I'm hoping I get a chance to chill with my stupendous adult students too, because I like them, and I'm going to miss them.

And yeah, I'm definitely moving on April 1st. It's not completely finalized, I'm waiting to hear back on the details. But if it goes through, I'll be much MUCH closer to Tokyo - as in, maybe a 20 minute train ride - but still not too far away from Isesaki if I want to hang out for a weekend. It's not been perfect here, but overall, I don't have a whole lot to complain about.

slightly belated February Kit-Kats update

And now, for your gastronomical pleasure, I present to you my February haul of Kit-Kats.

It's an anko sandwich. This, in and of itself, is an awesome thing. Put it into Kit-Kat form, and it becomes awesome incarnate. It's a special edition thing, and one of my students saw it and thought of me. Again, this touches me deeply. I know that, no matter how short a time I've had with them, my students will at least remember that I was that crazy foreigner chick obsessed with Kit-Kats. I am completely satisfied by this.

Was it for Valentine's Day, or was it one of the many "congratulatory" themed products that were available in February? Lots of exams and tests are taken in February, and there were a lot of sakura-decorated confections that offered congratulations on passing them. Benni-sensei took a glance at this and suggested it might be for that reason, but considering the GIANT HEART motif that's going on, I think perhaps it was a Valentine's Day thing.

Either way, it was lemon-flavored and yummy.

It was also yellow, making it another Kit-Kat with an interesting color scheme.

And here's a pair of random Kit-Kats I found while standing about in the 7-11. I almost missed them, because they were stuck up in the corner of a shelf, and they're rather small. The one on the left is Maccha Tiramisu (that is, Green Tea Powder Tiramisu) and regular Tiramisu. I'm not making this stuff up, folks.

I ate the Maccha Tiramisu first because I had my doubts about it tasting like any kind of good. One point in its favor: it's green. Tinted Kit-Kats might not taste better, but they look way cooler than the average candy. Also, it tasted pretty good, much better than I thought it would. The Maccha kinda tempered the near-overpowering flavor of the espresso.

Speaking of near-overpowering flavors of espresso, guess which Kit-Kat wasn't all that great? Yeah, the Tiramisu one. Not as bad as the black sugar one, but still, it doesn't rate high with me.

And lastly, I offer you Kit-Kats that can be mailed to people. Appropriately packaged, no less. I believe it's another of those "congratulatory" things, considering it's sakura-decorated but not sakura-flavored. I haven't bought "normal"-flavored Kit-Kats in a while, and I bought these only because of the box.

Of course, I ate the Kit-Kats, and it's probably not surprising that I prefer the flavored ones now.

fun things that happened this week

(no food, sorry . . . okay, there is a little at the end. the next three posts, I promise)

Despite the rollercoaster ride that has been working for GEOS this month, I still love my job. I mean it, I do. I LOVE my job, which is why I'm willing to fight so hard to keep doing it. I have not once woken up in the morning and thought, "Jeez, I really don't feel like working today." Now, I admit, I've woken up and thought, "Just the toddlers to get through, and I'm good for the day." But that's only on Friday and Saturday. Other than that, I enjoy coming in to work. Even when I have six hours between classes.

Which leads me to one awesome thing that happened this week: Rio's mother looking kind of shocked when I told her that. "You have 6 hours before your first class today? And you still come in? Why? What do you do?"

The answer to this demonstrates how focused I am on my own enjoyment: "Eh, it's more fun here than it is at my apartment. I hang out with Benni-sensei and Hitomi-san, I chat with Benni-sensei's students, I sit in my room and listen to my iPod."

Seriously, I have an awesome job. Two days a week, I can hang around in my jeans because my classes don't start until 6pm. Thursdays, we go out to lunch or make a big lunch at the school (this week, we went to a shabu shabu restaurant, which was highly entertaining). Wednesdays, I ride around in the afternoon and run all my little errands and get lunch at Beisia. Fridays, Benni-sensei and I sometimes go out for ramen and gyoza at 10pm. And on Saturdays, I'm done by 7pm. It's a terrific gig I've got here.

And, yes, I adore my students. Even my kid students have their moments.

1. I've mentioned my class with two 5-year old boys. I really can't stand N, because he will not do anything. I'd be happy if he'd just sit and make paper airplanes, but he's always distracting K, who will work for me. Today, K worked nicely on writing his letters, and then I had him practice writing his name. I wrote it out in the alphabet for him, and he copied it. Then, for the hell of it, I wrote his name in hiragana, and he clapped his hands and grinned at me. Not sure what it was about, but it was funny.

2. I have a class of 4 12-year olds who can be pretty funny and not so bad, if they're on task. For some reason, they got to practicing cursive writing; I have no idea how or why. So, I spent ten minutes showing them how to write their names in cursive. They also found my signature absolutely hysterical, but I've found that most Japanese do.

3. One of my students signed papers to buy a house this week, and he invited the whole class for the housewarming party in April. Actually, this is one of my favorite classes. They're a Tuesday class, so they were one of my first classes, and they welcomed me with sweets and fresh-ground coffee. I am so happy that they're sticking through the move.

4. Naofumi-san goes to Hamamatsu once a month for business, and he always brings something back for us. This time, he brought back tuna & cheese cubes. Now, I like tuna, and I like cheese, and I like it mixed together, so I thought this should be edible. Unfortunately, I was wrong. This may very well be the most disgusting thing I've ever eaten. I'm quite convinced that this is what catfood tastes like, because it certainly tasted the way cat food smells. The upshot is that Benni-sensei and Naofumi-san took great pleasure in laughing uproariously at my suffering.

It looks so innocent, doesn't it? And yet, it is a horrible, vile thing.

why my students are the awesome

I love my students, I really do. They're all generally nice people, and they work hard and do their best. And they are sincere about things. It's unfortunate (but understandable) that so many of them are cancelling their classes because of the school situation. Some of them have gone to visit Ito Yokado and have come back disappointed. No surprise, because the Ito Yokado school is a joke. In a cruel twist of fate, the punchline is my own misery.

Wait, this is a post about how much I like my students. Right.

First, I don't deserve their praise and loyalty - a number of them are transferring to the Ito Yokado school because I'm going there too. (no word yet on what I'll actually be teaching, but it damn well better be the adult classes . . . that's another rant, and I'm trying to be positive here) Suffice to say that they apparently like the way I teach. Go figure.

Second, they bring me things that they think I'll like. I am terribly unworthy of their gifts and so am very grateful whenever they think of me. That feeling is completely indescribable.

I love wagashi (Japanese sweets), especially daifuku, which most of my students find endearing. The above feast of wagashi was brought to me by a couple who take a private lesson. The yellow blocks are made of a sweet potato paste (delightfully yummy, not too sweet), while the white (plain mochi) and green (mugwort mochi) daifuku are filled with anko. The pink balls are wrapped in oak leaves and are traditional treats for Children's Day in May (though Hitomi-san tells me it's also for Girls' Day in March). It's an interesting combination of flavor - and yes, the oak leaves are completely edible and really make the overall experience worthwhile.

Another of my students likes to make sweet things every once in a while - she's brought cookies and caramels before. On Tuesday, she brought little tarts for everyone. A chocolate-almond tart and a lemon cream tart with fruit. Both of them were absolutely delicious.

And practically all of our students enjoyed the peanut butter balls, which I neglected to take a picture of. Oh, well.

In other news, February continues to suck major chicken balls. And only about 10% of that suckage has to do with the weather.

my Japanese Valentine

Is there any point to St. Valentine's Day other than to coerce people into spending money?

(Alrighty, that's my anti-Valentine's Day statement for the year. I have nothing personal against the "holiday," I just don't see much of a reason for it. It is properly placed on the calendar, I will say that, considering the approach of spring and all.)

I got a little bit of chocolate from my girls today, and that's all (probably a good thing, considering the amount of peanut butter balls that's occupying my apartment), but there's also a good reason for it. Simply put, on Valentine's Day, guys are the ones who get the chocolate. The ladies do the buying and the giving and very little of the receiving. They give chocolates and a personal gift to their special someone, as well as small treats for the other men in their lives (friends, co-workers, family, etc.), so it can get a bit expensive sometimes. From my observation, it seems to be more of a holiday for the younger generations - the vast majority of candy purchasers at the mall on Wednesday were teenagers and twenty-somethings.

My contribution to this Valentine's week was peanut butter balls. I've been meaning to make them for a couple of months now, and I decided that it was about time I made them. They went over quite well, especially with the adults. Handmade treats always seem to please them, and they were amused by the idea of American peanut butter being so different from Japanese peanut butter (which is sweet and thin and not quite as flavorful). Also, most of them were impressed that it was an old family recipe, something that's well appreciated. Actually, the kids were the most reluctant to try it; several of them said they didn't like peanut butter. For the most part, they liked them after trying them. A couple of the boys even asked to take a couple home to their mothers. That's always nice. I'm planning on making them some cookies soon, this time with the shortening my parents sent me.

Returning to the topic of Valentine's Day. The gift-giving is reciprocated on March 14th - White Day. Having received candy, the guys are fairly obligated to return the favor. Interestingly enough, the candies and presents given on White Day are supposed to be more expensive than what one received on Valentine's Day. Say what you will, but Japanese vendors know how to get people to spend more money.

And if you're Korean, you can celebrate Black Day on April 14th if you received nothing on Valentine's Day or White Day. The custom is for these singletons to gather together at restaurants and eat noodles in a black bean sauce to confirm their single status.

Japanese Food Journal: random food items

I planned on making peanut butter balls this evening, but I left the vanilla at the school, and considering I already changed into comfy clothes and have no desire to go back out into that cold wind, I'm once again delaying the candy-making. Wednesday, maybe, since I have the day off.

In the meantime, enjoy some pictures of random food items:

Let's start things off with my favorite vegetable: the mushroom! (yes, arguably, they're fungi, not vegetables, but this matters little to me.) Japan has wonderful mushrooms, and I've sampled a few of them. These are maitake or Sheep's Head mushrooms. They're delicious, which is reflected in their Japanese name: maitake literally means "dancing mushroom," because people supposedly danced for joy when they found them. We had them at our nabe party.

More mushrooms! Aren't they adorable? These are brown beech mushrooms (bunashimeji), and were very yummy sauteed and eaten with tofu. I've eaten them a couple times since then, and they're probably my favorite variety of mushroom now. Like most mushrooms, they have a bit of an earthy taste, but they're quite mild and delicate.

This is tamago kake gohan, which I often eat for breakfast now. It's steamed rice with a raw egg mixed in. It's delicious, especially with some sesame seed senbei. One of my students suggested it to me, explaining that it's a very filling and nutritious breakfast.

This is yaki manju, which is a specialty in Gunma. It's basically a grilled sweet bun covered in a sugary miso sauce. Some varieties have anko paste inside, but the Gunma variety is eaten plain. It's interesting, and very filling. I could only eat two. I'm fairly certain that I would like them better with the anko paste. Hitomi-san brought in cold yaki manju a few weeks ago, but the above buns were brought to us hot and fresh by one of Benni-sensei's students. Pretty good.

A while ago, I discovered this Minute Maid drink, which is aloe & white grape. It's awesome, especially because it has little pieces of aloe in it. That was surprising at first (I nearly gagged when I swallowed one because I had no idea what it was) but also pleasant. I immediately went to the internet, where I learned that not only is aloe edible, it's lauded for its health benefits, particularly in regards to digestion and immune system boosters. Keen, huh? Turns out that you can take any random aloe plant, skin it, chop it up, and eat it. Apparently, it has a bitter taste by itself, but when added to tea or yogurt, it's sweetened enough to be appetizing.

Not long after finding the drink, I found the aloe yogurt I'd read about. Not that great by itself, but with some granola or sweet crackers (something crunchy), it's pretty good. I usually eat yogurt as breakfast or a late-night snack, but I prefer the fig yogurt more.

I wrote down the name of this fruit, but I can't find it. Hitomi-san brought them in one day and gave me some (since then, she's also fed me chestnuts, seawead-based jello, and baked mountain potato - yaki-imo, which was unarguably the best of the lot). You rip the ends off and eat them with the peel on. They're like mini-kiwis. Not too bad.

And now for some non-Kit-Kat candy. The rose-strawberry combination attracted my attention, and I decided to give it a try.

This is the candy, after being bitten into. It has some kind of wafer on top, covering a rose-flavored mousse, all wrapped in a strawberry shell. Interesting combination. The rose is subtle but distinguishable and a bit intriguing.

Kozue-sensei usually brings me Kit-Kats when we get together, and last Friday, she also brought me this candy. I'm not sure how to explain it, and even Kozue-sensei and Benni-sensei were a little confused by it.

Here they are in their little packages. The one on the left is kinako mochi, which is a traditional treat around this time of year. It's baked mochi coated in soybean powder. The one of the left is matcha (green tea powder) flavored.

And here they are unwrapped. The mochi one (L) was yummy, but the matcha one was actually kinda gross. I found this unusual, as I generally like matcha-flavor. It had a jelly-like thing inside, and that was what I didn't like. The outside was okay.

And that is all for now. Another update on the school's situation is forthcoming, as soon as I get a little more information.