*½~~~ (1.5/5)

A few months ago we received 2 cans of Nabob Coffee from BzzAgent. We received a medium roast Breakfast Blend coffee, and a dark roast Full City Dark coffee.

I’m not a super heavy coffee drinker, but I do need my 1 cup a day. I started with the Breakfast Blend, my first sip, was not too bad. As I drank more, I found the coffee to be pretty weak and light, it wasn’t very aromatic either.

The Full City Dark was a little bit stronger, but still not as rich as an Americano from a local coffee shop. It wasn’t over roasted, and it didn’t taste burnt. We tried to make the coffee stronger by adding a bit more coffee when making it, it kind of worked, but it also had a noticeable acidic taste.

I thought the coffee was very very average tasting, and that’s kind of expected. Just like most pre-ground coffees, it is a cheaper alternative than getting espresso shots.

It’s definitely not the best coffee, but if I had absolutely no other choices, I’d still drink it. If you are a regular espresso coffee drinker and are used to dark roast coffees, you probably would not enjoy this a lot.

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Nabob Coffee

***** (5/5)

One of the candies I brought back from Hawaii was Coconut M&Ms. I actually discovered them by accident at the cashier at the ABC store. A local caught me staring at it, and convinced me that they’re good. Actually I didn’t need any convincing, the package sold me at Coconut.

The Coconut M&Ms came in 3 colours. White, Brown and Green. I don’t buy M&Ms usually, but if my memory is right, they are slight bigger than the regular M&Ms. All of the M&M has the signature ‘M’ stamp on it. A few of them have custom designs. Some of them have a coconut tree on besides the ‘M’, some of them has a beach umbrella, and some of them has a sun above the ‘M’.

These chocolates have a very light coconut taste, a lot lighter than I thought it would have. The coconut flavor was just enough for you to notice after a few bites. It’s very very good, very addicting. I liked more it than the regular M&Ms.

Like I mentioned, I found these coconut M&Ms at the ABC store in Hawaii, and surprisingly, the ABC store was the only store that carried them. I tried Wal-mart and Target and Hawaii and had no luck of finding them there. I guess these are not mainstream enough, which kind of makes them special.

After a quick search online, other than Hawaii, you can buy them online, or at a M&M store in the states.

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Coconut M&Ms
http://www.mms.com/us/about/products/coconutmms/

***½~ (3.5/5)

One of the things I must get at the Tokyo airport is the Shiroi Koibito or so I call them ‘White Lover’ Cookies. It was right at the very top of my shopping list at the Tokyo airport. Unfortunately, to my surprise AND disappointment, they didn’t have them at the shops of the terminal I was at! I was so bummed out, and while walking through the shops I came across the Shiroi Koibito look alike cookies, called Shiroi Mori No Harmony.

The No Harmony cookies looks almost identical to the White Lovers. They were displayed in a section with other products that were also made from Hokkaido. Since both No Harmony and White Lovers are from Hokkaido, I thought, the No Harmony should be pretty good too, and it was also my next best bet.  Something is better than nothing right?

No Harmony cookies are squared sandwich cookies with 2 thin vanilla cookies with a slice of white chocolate in between; just like the White Lovers. At first glace, it looks exactly like a White Lover cookie. When I first opened one, I thought, wow, this is a lot smaller than I imagined. And also these were a lot more rough looking that White Lovers.  The cookies were smaller, and not as thin. When I bit into one, I could tell the difference right away. While it tasted nice, but it was just not as smooth as the White Lovers. The cookies were thicker. There were also less vanilla flavor, but the white chocolate was pretty nice.

No Harmony is the knock off version of the White Lovers. It is a good snack, but the quality is just not up to par with the White Lovers.

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Shiroi Mori No Harmony

****~ (4/5)

Royce Fruit Bar Chocolate was one of the new candies I picked up in Japan. I picked this up because I wanted to try something new. There were 2 kinds of these bar chocolates at the store, Nutty Chocolate, and Fruit Bar Chocolate. The Nutty Chocolate was hazelnut, almond, and milk chocolate. It sounded tasty, but it was also a bit too normal. I mean, just looking at the ingredients list, I could already imagine how it’d taste in my mind. the Fruit Bar Chocolate on the other hand, was a bit more interesting.

Apparently, Royce Chocolates is a big deal in Tokyo, or so my Japanese friend says after I brought her some. Score! on my choice. There were 18 chocolate bars in the box, each individually wrapped. The quality of the paper on these pink wrappings were quite nice. A couple of my friend pointed out on the wrappings and I kind of have to admit, yah, they look like tampons.

The fruit bar chocolate was white chocolate, with dried strawberries, mango, cranberry, and almonds. There was one ingredient they didn’t list on the box, which was rice crispy. The rice crispy was a surprise to me when I first bit on it. The chocolate itself was not too sweet, and the dried fruits were still a little chewy. It doesn’t really taste anything chocolate, because it was flavored with mostly strawberry.

Overall, I thought the bar was yummy, but not amazing. It still makes a great snack. Now knowing that Royce is a good chocolate maker in Japan, I should have picked up the Nutty Chocolate too because the fruit bar didn’t really justify their chocolates. Something to get on the next trip to Japan I guess.

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***** (5/5)

Continuing on from my candy shopping at the Tokyo Narita Airport, along with the Green Tea Kit Kat I also brought home Wasabi Kit Kat. Wasabi! How can you see Wasabi flavored kit kat and not bring a box home?

The Wasabi Kit Kats came in a box of 12. Opening the box was fun, because I always liked Japanese packaging, but I didn’t really know what to expect of the taste. The combination of wasabi and chocolates, just doesn’t seem like it would work together. I just imaged it was probably going to be as weird as other spicy chocolates such as chilli chocolates.

When I opened it, it didn’t have much wasabi smell, but I’ve had a lot of experience with wasabi in sushi rolls, they look harmless until you bite into one. I was prepared to have my sinus cleared from the wasabi. My first big bite… sweet.. where’s the wasabi?

The kit kat bars were in light green, coated in white chocolate and green colouring like the Green Tea Kit Kats. And the wasabi flavors were layered in between the wafers in side. The wasabi flavor was actually really light. It tasted like wasabi without the spiciness. The wasabi flavor only comes out after the sweetness of the chocolate, very very subtle, very nice in fact.

I can’t say if I’m happy that the wasabi flavor was so subtle. I liked it a lot, but I also would like to prank some people with these if the wasabi flavor was more intense than that. If you were ever dared to eat this, don’t be afraid, because it’s actually a nice treat.

Bring some of these home if you are visiting Japan soon, they taste good, and they make really popular gifts!

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Wasabi Kit Kat

***** (5/5)

During my trip I had 2 hours of flight lay over in Tokyo Japan. What did that mean? Shopping for Japanese candies! Giving yourself 2 hours in Tokyo Narita Airport is a very dangerous thing, there was just too many weird and unique foods to buy. Luckily, I had self control, and one of the few candies I brought back home was Green Tea KitKat.

These Green Tea Kit Kat came in little boxes, and each box contains 2 packages of kit kats. The kit kat bars are green, and when you bite into it, you will taste the green tea or matcha (green tea powder) flavor right away.

The outer coating is sweet, I don’t believe it has any green tea flavoring there, even though it looks green. I think it is just white chocolate with green colouring. The green tea favoring is from the matcha and it is layered in between the wafers, and the matcha layers are dark green.

I’m normally not a green tea dessert fan, but I liked these a lot. The green tea kit kats doesn’t taste as heavy as regular chocolates and they are not as sweet. I could eat a 2 or 3 packs of these at a time and not get sick of the taste.

The next time you have a chance to stop by Japan, bring some of these home, they make great gifts.

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Green Tea Kit Kat

***** (5/5)

I was on a Hawaiian souvenir shopping mission in Kailua, Kona’s Walmart when my eyes caught Hershey Macadamia Kisses. Macadamia kisses? A Hershey kiss with a whole Macadamia nut inside, wow! I grabbed 2 bags and put them in my basket without a question.

These kisses have blue wrappings, with the white slip printed with ‘Aloha‘ on it. Each piece is milk chocolate with a Macadamia nut inside. These things are very addicting. The combination of chocolate and macadamia nut is as good as chocolate and nutella. I was never a big kiss fan, but I really like these. I wish I bought more than a couple bags.

You can get these at almost any store in Hawaii; Walmart, Target, the ABC store, etc. If you are going or know anyone who is visiting Hawaii soon, definitely ask them to bring some of these back. Otherwise, you can order them online at the official Mauna Loa website for a slightly higher price.

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Hershey Macadamia Kisses
http://www.hersheysstore.com/

****~ (4/5)

My friend asked if I’ve ever had a screamer, and I said nope. He said I have to try it because it’s so good! So after this VW GTI meeting today, he brought me over to Danny’s Market on Garden City and Francis in Richmond. I’ve actually never been to this part of Garden City, but it wasn’t too hard to get to.

We pulled up to a corner store which was next to an atheltic club which looked kind of dinky. The store also had some pizza and hotdogs. But what they are famous for are their screamers! A drink layered with some ice cream and then any slurpee flavour you want! They even have a poster that says it’s a “Soul Refresher” and most importantly the “Best Drink on Earth!” You can mix your soft serve ice cream with any of their slurpee flavours. We ordered just a small Screamer with Root Beer, and they are about $2.90 or so. They had lots of other flavours, as another lady wanted to put in a big order – and some had blueberry, and even capuccino!

So what did it taste like. Well first off, they need bigger straws, which they had before says my friend. The straws were for slurpees though, because they had a bit of a spoon on the end. My first sip was mostly slurpee, as I didn’t mix it up properly yet, and the ice cream was still thick. You really need to mix it up well before it starts tasting good. It takes quite a bit of mixing to get it into a homogenous mixture, but when it does, that’s when it gets really good. When you get a ice cream and root beer slurpee with each sip. It tasted like a root beer float. It was pretty refreshing and really cold. Would be good on a really hot summer day. It’s not the best drink ever though, gimme some good alcohol anyday haha..

I wonder how much sugar this has…I just ordered a small after dinner, but they also have larger sizes, and even more layering. I don’t know if I’d want to drink that. It would definitely cause many brain freezes.

Try it out! If Root Beer is not your thing, they have lots of slurpee flavours. And sell samosa’s and pizzas and other hot food.

Danny’s Market
9040 Francis Rd.
Richmond, BC

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***~~ (3/5)

I got the Hampton House Chicken Dip-its from Costco, and they are a bit different than other chicken strips because they are like Chicken Fries, and they have potato breading! They are made from all white meat chicken breast.

The box is 2 kg and the chicken strips are packed in a plastic bag. You just have to bake them at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. When I made it, I used a toaster oven and I heated it up for 15 minutes and then flipped it, and cooked it for another 5 minutes. It turned out really good. The skin was very crispy and the middle was pretty tender for frozen food. The potato breading has a bit different from regular breading as it seemed a bit clumpier, but it was still crispy. I also used a tray that was kind of wavy and had holes on the bottom so it would crisp up better.

The suggested serving size is only 5 pieces and is already 260 calories, with 12 g coming from fat (19% of your daily value). I ate almost 15 pieces, so that’s 780 calories and 60% of my daily fat. I guess it’s quite fatty. It also has a lot of sodium. It doesn’t have much nutritional value at all. Per 5 pieces it has 13 g of Protein which is a good amount. Eating just 5 isn’t very filling.

Would I buy it again? Yup. They are a quick snack and pretty good. They are also smaller and there are a lot of chicken fries in the bag.

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***** (5/5)

I was really craving some ice cream or something cold and fruity this weekend, so I decided to pick up some Breyers Real Fruit Swirls Popsicles. It wasn’t on sale, and it was $6.99 for 14 popsicles. 50 cents each isn’t bad, but I’m sure you’d be able to find it on sale. This isn’t my first time having these, but probably my first time having it since summer.

These things are awesome. I love them so much, there are 4 different flavours and they are all good. I could grab any of them out of the box and be happy. The flavours are:

- Blueberry Lemon
- Strawberry Blueberry
- Strawberry Orange
- Strawberry Lemon

Wow lots of strawberry! These bars are really refreshing especially on a warm day. They do a really good job of cooling you down and taste really good. Each fruity flavour combination is fantastic. Normally I wouldn’t like lemon popsicles, but these ones, I do. The fruits compliment each other well. The two different fruits are swirled together thus the weird colour patterns. Occasionally you’ll get some real pieces of fruit and pulp as your sucking on the popsicle. The flavour is far from bland, and you can really taste the fruit juices.

Each popsicle is individual wrapped. For some reason the wrappings are kind of attached at the ends, but you can easily take them apart.

Each bar is only 50 mL and only has 45 calories. There’s zero fat and sodium, but there are 10g of sugars and a tiny bit of protein. In each bar is 4% of your daily vitamin C. So overall there isn’t much nourishment, but it’s a really light fruity snack that you can have and not feel guilty. 45 calories is nothing!

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