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Last Updated: 10/28/2009

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City: Yokohama
Country: JP
Signup Date: 10/29/2007

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Saturday, October 31, 2009

Azuki Bean Flavored Pepsi
Category: Travel and Places

I am still working on the kitkat blog promise i made...

so in the mean time....

Something horrid just in time for Halloween.

The newest Pepsi flavor in Japan...

Azuki

Now if you don:t know, azuki beans are, well, beans....and they are usually sweetened and formed into a paste and are actually very tasty. .....in traditional japanese snacks.....NOT in pepsi!!!

I liked the shiso pepsi....but this.....this is a disaster....

It smells like beans and it tastes like....well...i don:t know what it tastes like...it sorta reminds me of a beer fermented smell....but also sorta like beans....

Ugh...

I noticed someone on youtube has the opposite opinion though. He liked the azuki but not the shiso....he said that the azuki pepsi tastes like raspberry...but i have to wonder how he got that impression..

It seems like everyone on youtube trying this product describes its taste totally differently.....there are a lot of those videos by the way, if you are curious.

But vtec agrees with me on both....Vs agrees that the azuki is crap (we poured ours out), but he also did not like the shiso.

I liked the shiso so much that i bought up extra bottles....

oh well....

11:07 AM

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Friday, October 30, 2009

Van Tecan (our bassist) now has his own page.

Add him if you like!

He:s a very very sweet, very smart, very talented, very funny and generally awesome guy!

He speaks mostly Japanese but he knows a little English.

www.myspace.com/vantecan

There are some other pics of him in our pic section.

Did i mention he:s single??? Dont: know why....coz he:d be a great man for some lucky lady.

Anyhow add add add!!!

9:23 AM

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Sunday, October 25, 2009

And you Thought it was Just the Kitkats......(part 2)

Did yall notice the price on these pringles? The large cans are around 2.50 - 2.90$usa.

Yikes!

Anyhow...moving on....

Bacon Sourcream:

onion cheese gratin:

(left to right) New Yorker's Street: Cheese Dog, American Diner-i can:t read the name but it looks like cheese covered french fries?-, American Diner- Cheese Burger, and LA street - BBQ Chicken

Extreme: Balsamic Vinegar

Bacon Caesar Salad:

Spicy Chicken:

Chese Carnival:

I can:t believe they don:t have Camenbelt (however you spell it) cheese yet....it is such a popular flavor...

Grilled Cheese......This is probably just a remake of the regular cheese flavor lol....but i still want to buy it.....it seems like it would taste better just having the imagination of grilled cheese instead of plain cheese....but i have to wonder......do Japanese people even know what a grilled cheese sandwich is???? I:ve never seen one here....

And of course....Funky Soysauce:

And then after having all these flavors...the Pringles company can then repackage the regular plain chips as though they were something special again...and maybe they are something special ;)
Discover Classic Salt: Shouldnt that be rediscover??? lol....They couldn:t possibly be different from plain chips....

And it:s not just Japan (though i suspect japan has the most flavors, as usual).......Other countries have unique flavors too.....

Ketchup flavor from canada:

Rice Infusions: Salt and Vinegar ---- i am curious about how they taste made from rice-----

Thai sweet chili and lemongrass:

Prawn Cocktail

you can see other rice infusions and some other flavors like these

at this site:http://www.pringles-fan.nl/low-fat.html

Now i think i:m about ready to rip open that tube of mushroom pringles...but i guess i should wait and share them with VS lol ;) I:ll just go get into that caramel that i made the other day and then whine about a low metabolism while i stand on the scales hahahahaha

1:05 AM

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Sunday, October 25, 2009

And You Thought It Was Just the Kitkats....(part 1)
Category: Travel and Places

Nope....the utter unfairness of American products being offered in awesome flavors TO OTHER COUNTRIES ONLY does not stop with the kitkats and colas.....

nope....

meet the extensive flavor collection of Japanese Pringles....

What's the deal??? Don't americans like flavors too? Is it really such a bad marketing idea to offer new flavors all the time in the states???

Well whatever...as long as i:m in japan i don:t guess i can complain.

The Pringles flavors come out about as often as the new kitkats do......another dent in my wallet and blow to my diet...maybe it:s a good thing that new flavors don:t come out much in the states lol.

So let's check out the flavors i could find on the net....i had to search for a few i had seen using japanese text....so no doubt this is only part of them.

american circus - Funky Mustard Flavor

Honey Roast Chicken and Swiss Cheese Taste

Red Chili Chicken:

Garlic Seafood:

Cheese and Bacon:

These are hard to read but i think they say Smoky Bacon and French Consome ( chicken soup flavor)

Pringles Extreme: Extra Pepper

Extreme: Honey Mustard

Smoky Salami:

Spagetti flavor:

Beef Kebob:

German Selection: German Sausage

Night Club: Adult's Spice Black Pepper - ...........wow...Now that sounds REALLY spicy lol.

i just bought this next flavor yesterday...but i haven:t tried it yet: Extreme: Mushroom

Crushed Pepper and Spanish Salsa Pizza

And now on to part 2 before myspace deletes all this work i:ve done and i get too pissed to redo it.....

12:22 AM

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Friday, October 23, 2009

Headlice? What headlice? Not in Japan !
Category: Travel and Places

Headlice is still fairly common in the usa. Every year, one or two times, the school nurses will go around the schools checking kids' heads. They are looking for the little white, itchy, hard to kill bugs called headlice. If you have had them, you:re probably cringing about now....

More often than not at least one kid will have them.

I had them once or twice when i was little. I was not a poor or dirty kid. My family was rather normal and i took bathes every day, but i guess what they say is true that lice like clean heads.

But what they don:t mention is that lice can survive in dirty heads because they are not killed off immediately. so really, a dirty head is a lice factory. I caught mine from one of those factories..

And i guess this is why the usa still has them. Not everyone has the best hygeine. Most do...but not all.

So i was surprised to learn that headlice are very very hard to find in japan these days.

They do not even check for them in schools anymore.

When my mom in law was little, she had them once, but these days she seems to have a *headlice are outdated* attitude. She was surprised that the usa still has them. Why would an advanced country have a bug from such a pre-advanced era?

So are we just a dirty nation? Why can:t we get the upperhand on the little devils?

They are indeed hard to kill. The only way i finally got rid of mine (after weeks of using the shampoos and combing out nits and getting haircuts and washing the whole house over and over) was to use Cow lice dip. The bottle says not to use it on humans...and boy did it stink....probably gave me brain damage...but i was lice free!!!! after just one application!!!

But anyhow....that:s something to think about. Why does the USA still have lice when japan does not????

2:52 AM

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Monday, October 19, 2009

My Japanese Stove
Category: Travel and Places

Though it is small (2 burners), my stove is super awesome.

It:s also super standard in Japan.

Of course, it is a gas stove. I think all stoves in Japan are gas. I prefer cooking with gas because of its fast reaction time and general strength.

My stove has some great features though. For one thing, one of the burners has a temperature sensor, so it can do things like automatically keep my oil at either 160 or 180 degrees C. It will sense when water boils and beep when it reaches boiling (if you push the *water boil* button first). It also senses any amount of burning and will cut off the burner automatically. I can:t tell you how many times that has saved my dinner!!

It also has a grill on the front for fish. You fill the tray with water and put thefish on the rack. It has a low and high setting and you can use the auto timer for either 4 or 8 minutes. This grill will also cut off when the temperatures get too high.

This stove works on gas, yes, but the electronic panel is powered with large batteries. They last a long time though so i only have to change them about every other year. And i use my stove a lot!!!

My oven is separate (and also neat as hell). I will cover it later.

When i lived in the usa i missed my japanese stove so much!

In the usa i had a large stove/oven combination. American stoves usually run off of electricity and many have flat tops.

But, some people still use gas....to use gas in the usa you must have your own private gas tank i think. The city only provides electricity as far as i:m aware.

True, having 4 burners was useful but i really missed the temp sensor and the grill. The large oven was also nice but i found it to be too large at times. I didn:t want to heat the whole oven for just a small dish. (I guess i needed a toaster oven).

Next time!!

3:27 AM

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Friday, October 16, 2009

Chewing Gum in Japan
Category: Travel and Places

Japan has tons of really great gum to choose from. The only kind i have seen here that is from the usa is bubbleicious or however you spell it. There maybe others that i just don*t realize are american brands.

When you buy a larger pack of gum, it comes in a plastic box. These boxes are usually around 6 or 7$!

The odd thing about these boxes of gum is that in each one, tiny sticky notes can be found. These pieces of paper are for spitting out the gum.

Course, if you are like me and end up chewing a lot at once, they your gum wad isn:t gonna fit on that paper.....so i use mine to mark pages in my cookbooks or japanese books.

the box above ws only about 4$

7:58 AM

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Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Winter....The Other Laundry Challenge and Futon Care
Category: Travel and Places

First there is the rainy season....when it seems to rain nonstop and laundry is just impossible. You end up hanging it inside and then it gets too moist inside and the battle against moisture and mold begins.

Then when winter comes, laundry becomes a challenge again.

The main issue is that dryers are not common in Japan. In the usa where houses are larger, almost everyone has a dryer. Even if it is not used everyday, they are very handy for those rainy/cold days.

Clothes dried in the dryer are so silky soft....i miss that!

But here in Japan I hang all of our clothes. The good thing is...hanging clothes is free! ideally i hang them outside on the balcony like everyone else. If it is a rainy day i hang them inside.

On cold days the clothes just won*t dry!

I have to make sure i hang them at around 7am so that i:ll be sure to catch the most sunlight!

Not only clothes, but futons are also hung out in the sun. Hanging a futon in the sun from time to time will really make it last longer, keep it dried out, and make it smell fresher.

They are sorta heavy though and it takes some practice to be able to hoist them around onto those poles and balcony railings!

Afterwards, we beat the futons off with a clothes beater...or whatever they are called. It is amazing how much dust comes off of them when beaten!

The sound of people beating their futons can be heard echoing all over japan .It is a really really loud sound!

When i first came i wondered why the neighbor seemed to beat the hell out of her clothes... I thought she had some serious anger issues lol. now i know why. It is just a part of normal futon care!

2:43 AM

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Sunday, October 11, 2009

the sun umbrella
Category: Travel and Places

The sun umbrella is a summer item to me, so i:ll be putting mine away soon along with the other summer things.

That's probably a chore i should be doing right now.

But some people continue to use them even in the winter. Maybe it is another clue as to why Japanese women stay young so long.

Sun umbrellas are made differently than normal umbrellas. They have a more cloth-like texture and are made to block UV rays. They are often prettier too.

The sun umbrella is extremely popular in Japan. Many, many women use them on nearly every summer day. I am the only foreigner i:ve seen who uses them though....I wish this would catch on in the west as well.

If i used a sun umbrella in my home country, USA, I would, no doubt, be singled out as a wierdo. Why would someone be toting an umbrella on a sunny day? It would draw so much attention that i would never use it there. Sad.

Much like the face mask, the sun umbrella is a custom that the whole world should adopt.

7:19 AM

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Sunday, October 11, 2009

More Fun Engrish....another short blog post
Category: Travel and Places

I actually wrote a blog the other day and as soon as i had finished it got deleted. I really wish myspace would make some sort of autosave feature.....

This one is even more confusing than Jesus Body. It appeared on a bag of green tea flavored soft candy.

Any one have any ideas how this got translated so poorly or what it might mean??? I am truly stumped.

7:14 AM

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