Well, actually, our little trip to Japan is to a charming little Japanese mall about 45 minutes away from where we live. It has a large grocery store, a bakery, a food court, video store, liquor store, travel agent, and a book store. We love to wander in and out of the various sections, seeing what we can find. Every time we go, we make it a point to try something new, along with picking up some of our favorite treasures (like Pocky and Curry- yum!).
We just took a mini-vacation a few days ago, and I thought you all might enjoy seeing the souvenirs we brought back with us, sharing in some of the strange and unique things we found on our trip.
These are a trio of tasty fruit drinks that Andrew and I love. On one of our visits to the shopping center, they were having a sample fest and these were some of the items we tried, and we fell in love with them. The green one is a grape juice, which has a light taste and, surprisingly, is filled with whole, peeled grapes. It creates a delicious combination. The orange can is a Mango juice, also with pieces of mango in the juice. The white can is a mystery- it simply looked to good to pass up!
On a sale table, for $1.25, we found these interesting treats. They are mini jelly cups! The jelly is a little like Jello, but with a slightly bitter taste to it, just a hint of seaweed, no matter the flavor. The cups, slightly bigger than a quarter, come in apple, peach, cherry, strawberry, and pineapple.
These interesting snacks caught me eye. They appeared to be a thin rice cake with a sweet frosting on them, and interesting combination. However, when I bit into one, that sweet frosting was actually salty! These treats need a healthy dose of water to wash them down with!
Andrew saw this snack, and couldn't resist trying it. It looked like frosted flakes, a favorite cereal of his. When we tried it, however, it proved to be quite different, but very tasty. It had the texture and consistency of a fortune cookies, with a little bitter bite of ginger in it, with a sweet frosted coating. Yum!
This is one of our favorite treats, found in the bakery portion of the mall. It's the Japanese equivalent of a hot dog. The hot dog is baked into a sweet roll coated with mustard and ketchup on top. It is a perfect combination, the salty hot dog, balanced by the sweet roll, and with a bit of a tang from the ketchup and mustard. Your taste buds will sing trying this out!
No visit to the mall would be complete without a visit to the bookstore. Granted, I can't read 99% of what's in the bookstore, but I love looking. This time, I couldn't resist picking this magazine up. It's huge! The spine is literally 4 inches thick. Wow!
I can't read the magazine, but I like to imagine what the pages say. I wonder what's going on it this panel. The girl looks angry- maybe she's yelling at me for spending money on something I can't read? Or maybe telling me its about time I learned Japanese?
Included with the magazine was a little gift. Apparently some magazines, particularly comic ones, come with gifts. So, you get something fun to read and a present! I recieved a cell phone strap with interchangeable decorations. They're from a popular Anime series called "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya." I think they're rather cute.That's it for now! I hope you enjoyed our mini-vacation to Japan!
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1 comment:
I owe you several posts!!! Your next vacation with Andrew must be Japan.
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