Category Archives: food

Watch me eat sakura matcha Kit Kats in my new video series

It’s not a secret that I love Japanese candy. In fact, I’ve written some strangely in-depth posts about interesting Japanese candy a few times in the past, but unfortunately I’ve noticed that they tend to not get nearly as much traction as my other, non-food posts.

Of course, the most obvious reason for this would be that no one is nearly as interested in Japanese candy as I am. If that’s the case, consider me thoroughly shocked and I will cease all candy-related endeavors at once. But instead of jumping to that conclusion, I’ve considered that perhaps reading about someone eating candy isn’t nearly as amusing as actually watching said person eating candy… Bet you can’t guess where I’m going with this!

That’s right, I’ve decided to jump into the scary world of Youtube videos! I’m calling the series Apricotsushi Samples and will be posting a new episode every Sunday. In my very first attempt, I take a bite out of the sakura matcha (cherry blossom green tea) Kit Kat pictured above. It’ll only take five minutes of your time, so if you’re at all interested, please give it a watch!

I’m sure it will become immediately apparent that I was extremely nervous to film this video. My fear of talking in front of people and the anxiety associated with that is something I’m always trying to work on, and while podcasting certainly helps, I imagine posting these videos will be a big step in overcoming that to some degree. Fingers crossed!

Of course, any and all comments are more than welcome! I’d definitely like to hear what people like/dislike about the video and what you would like to see more of in the future. And if you need to cleanse your palette after my video (pun intended; I’m so sorry), I highly suggest checking out Emmymade in Japan – her food videos are super, and she does a lot of fun Japanese candies, as well.

Japan Envy: misdo HELLO KITTY Campaign

I’ll tell you, Japan sure knows how to sell me food. From Rilakkuma Kit Kats to Totoro Cream Puffs, they know exactly how to appeal to my love of cute mascot creatures to ensure I’ll never stop craving their adorable sugary confectionaries. This time, Japan-wide donut chain Mister Donut has teamed up with Hello Kitty to offer the cutest range of donuts in existence:

source

Now, maybe I’m easily amused, but I really do love the simplicity of this campaign – all they’ve done is add a little pink (I assume chocolate) bow to some nicely-colored donuts and it’s instantly recognizable as a tribute to Hello Kitty. According to this article, the cupcake on a stick shown above (more colors can be seen if you follow the link) were designed with the Universal Studios Japan ride Hello Kitty’s Cupcake Dream as inspiration and will be available in green apple, strawberry, and orange flavors. There will also be four regular donut varieties, including “green apple whipped cream,” “green apple fashion,” “orange crème fraîche” and”pon de strawberry.” I think the question on everyone’s minds is: What on earth does “green apple fashion” taste like?

I’m most interested in this pon de strawberry! I bet it’s just as tasty as
it looks. 

In addition to these adorable donuts, the misdo HELLO KITTY campaign (that is the official name, capitalization woes and all) will be offering some limited-edition headphone jack accessories for customers who purchase 600 yen (approximately $6.20USD) or more worth of Hello Kitty donuts:

Also available in black, white, and red! (link)

I’ve always thought headphone jack accessories were a bit silly, but I don’t know if I can resist a polka-dotted Hello Kitty bow dipped in chocolate. If I could, I would buy the five or so donuts required to get said accessory, and I would enjoy every minute of eating all five or so donuts by myself. But alas, the campaign runs from April 1st until the end of May, which means I won’t get a chance to try them myself when I go to Japan in June…

So, what do you think? Is the misdo HELLO KITTY campaign a stroke of genius, or just plain weird?

Japan Envy: Totoro Cream Puffs

Japan has the art of cute edibles down to a tee, if you ask me. Not only do they have everything from Dragon Quest to Sailor Moon-themed cafés, but there’s an edible version of practically ever Japanese character you can think of! Case in point:

Shiro-Hige’s Cream Puff Factory! They specialize in none other than Totoro cream puffs. They’re almost too cute to eat!

I love how the one on the left is looking upwards!

The different things on their heads represent what flavor’s inside, too. The regular green leaf is the straight-up vanilla cream custard, while the brown leaf indicates a seasonal chestnut flavor available from October through December. In addition, there’s strawberry cream (pink flower), peach cream (hat with a pink ribbon), and chocolate cream (hat with a blue ribbon). They’ve even got a special Christmas Totoro:

I think I need to make a special trip just to eat these. I mean, even the storefront and map found on the website oozes charm (the shop’s location is indicated by a white Totoro!):

Definitely make sure to stop here if you’re in Tokyo!
That’s it! Time to plan my next trip to Japan.

Gourmet Gaming serves up game-inspired delicacies

I just stumbled upon the most adorable gaming Tumblr! It’s called Gourmet Gaming, and not only does it have a super catchy name and cute pixelated background, but it features weekly recipes for food found in all sorts of video games. There’s everything from the iconic sandwiches from Deadly Premonition to the famous chocolate energy bars of Deus Ex. My favorite so far, however, is the birthday cake from Animal Crossing: Wild World. Don’t you want to eat it right up?

I love how each recipe begins with a story about the game and is concluded with a lovely photo comparing the real version to the in-game food item. Though this cake looks delicious and is certainly one of the dishes I find most appealing personally (because, I admit it, I love Animal Crossing), the dish that I would most likely cook myself would have to be the starkos from Beyond Good and Evil. Which is another amazing game, by the way, and it’s great to see it get some recognition!

Head on over and give Gourmet Gaming some love! What’s your favorite recipe?

1st Australian MOS Burger in Sunnybank


MOS Burger in Sunnybank, QLD
MOS Burger certainly isn’t lacking in great design!

 The minute I heard a MOS Burger had recently opened in the nearby town of Sunnybank, I knew Shaun and I would have to make a trip there as soon as possible. MOS Burger is none other than the single most popular hamburger chain in Japan after McDonald’s, with its own unique twist on the traditional burger and lots of famous items on their menu you can’t get anywhere else. They’re most famous for their teriyaki chicken burger, which I honestly hadn’t tried before this Saturday. Other notable items on their menu include a selection of rice-bun burgers, where the usual bread bun is replaced by two onigiri-like rice patties. According to the Japanese MOS Burger website, they have over 200 stores outside of Japan (all located in Asia), but the one in Sunnybank is the first in Australia. For those of you not from the area, Sunnybank is well-known as being a mecca for Asian things, so in many ways it makes sense that they chose to open a shop there rather than in the Brisbane CBD.

Though there were numerous other delicious eateries I frequented while I was living in Japan, I have many fond memories of the MOS burger near my host family’s house in Nishinomiya. Since they were open late (later than the local McDonald’s, I might add), I would often hang out there with friends after having a couple drinks at a nearby bar, or, since my house was only 5 minutes away, meet up with girl friends for a late-night chat over an order of fries. One of my first memories with my now husband was at a MOS Burger, even! I had the special, Osaka-only takoyaki (breaded octopus) burger and took many pictures similar to the ones I’m sharing with you now.

Enjoying my yakiniku rice burger. The rice buns are pretty tasty!

 So, out of nostalgia’s sake, my husband and I made the 45 minute trek out to Sunnybank on Saturday. What was supposed to be a 45 minute journey actually ended up taking close to 3 hours, due to some train closures and my inaccurate directions, but we made it there all the same.

Since the shop only opened at the end of March, the line has the tendency to get rather long. Had we arrived at lunchtime, I assume it would’ve been a longer wait, but since we got so lost and only arrived sometime after 2, that wasn’t too much of a problem. We still had to queue up, but we probably only waited about 15-20 minutes, though the ladies at the counter taking orders did seem rather slow. I was psyched to get a curry croquette burger, but is was nowhere to be found on the menu. I’m sure they probably opted to go for a limited selection of the usual Japanese menu to start, and unfortunately for me the croquette burgers didn’t make the cut. We were also disappointed to find that melon soda was nowhere to be found, and had been replaced with more popular Aussie alternatives. I ended up going for the rice yakiniku burger set with a Sprite, and Shaun ordered the teriyaki chicken burger set and a matcha latte. The total was a little over $20, and my set was about $8.50, if I recall correctly.

Fries that came with our burger sets. Love the logo on the bags and the serving baskets.  

All in all, the experience was very much like one that you would having going to MOS Burger in Japan, with a few minor cultural differences. I thought it was cute that they also reused some of the original Japanese banners, though the painted wall designs were different from any I’d ever seen in a Japanese MOS Burger. The writing on the walls actually clued me in to the answer to one of my often-pondered questions: What exactly does “MOS Burger” mean, anyway? Well, folks, apparently the MOS stand for Mountain, Ocean, and Sun. There you have it!

Adorable paper placemats warn you not to take your burger out of the bun to avoid spilling the special sauce everywhere

 I’d definitely recommend anyone that has the chance to go pay the Sunnybank MOS Burger a visit, even if you’ve never been to one in Japan before. Nay, especially if you haven’t been to one in Japan before! MOS Burger should be experienced at least once by anyone that likes a good burger. It’s a little more expensive than your usual fast food fare, but all their food is made with fresh, local ingredients, and is quite a bit tastier, too. They even have a few soups and salads on the menu, though I have yet to try them. I really hope they are well-received and consider expanding to the rest of Australia in the near future!

Happy Easter!

Scone, favorite cup full of tea, and a Japanese text to translate! What’s not to love?
 Do you love scones? I know I sure do! One thing I love about Australia is that they sure appreciate a good scone and tea around here. This picture is a little old, but I never managed to post it. I found a nice recipe for British-style scones on a lovely food blog here. 
In the proper Easter spirit, Shaun requested chocolate scones this morning. “Chocolate scones? Blasphemy!” I thought, but actually they were quite good! And even though we were virtually out of butter, they still tasted quite nice. I use regular milk rather than buttermilk as well, and I find I like them just as much as any buttermilk scone I’ve ever had. 
For all of my international readers, tomorrow is Anzac Day here in AU, which is much like Memorial Day in the US (I believe; I admit I don’t know too much about Anzac Day history). Shaun and I will be attending the parade in the Brisbane CBD, and you bet I’ll have my 3DS on sleep mode to see if I can collect any StreetPass hits!
See you all next week!