Random Picture #215

I'm a big fan of Pucca cookies/chocolate delivery system and I was happy to see a new flavor on the shelves. Unfortunately, the flavor on the right, which is the new one, is "banana au lait". I'm guessing the "au lait" means "milk". Infusing banana flavor into any sweet is risky as even real banana can come across as a chemical monstrosity through the magical alchemy of processing a food into a shelf stable substance. Since I really don't want to find a reason to dislike Pucca, I decided to pass on this one for the time being. 

Random Picture #204

I'm not sure if these are supposed to be intelligent or if they're supposed to be sparkly and bright, but I was intrigued by these Bourbon Brilliant Truffles. It seemed to me as if they were positioned as a competitor for "Melty Kiss".  It's not only the fact that they have a similar-looking confection with a creamy interior and a powdery dusted exterior, but even the package design is similar. The Melty Kiss boxes (which you can see if you follow the link to previous reviews) have snowflakes in gold embossed printing all around the pictures of the candy. These have little lens flares/sparkly illustrations.

This offering from Bourbon even shares the very high price that Melty Kiss often carries. However, I wasn't intrigued enough to pay such a fee just to sample them, but, if they go on sale, I'm likely to give them a go. However, I'll be gravely disappointed if they don't sparkle like a vampire in a Twilight movie. (Note: I have never seen one of those movies nor read the books, but I have read a fair number of snarky reviews and lists about them so I know the vampires don't combust in sunlight as they properly should - as is the case in real life.)

Random Weekend Picture 5

Click on this picture to see a somewhat bigger one.

There's a 100-yen shop that I rarely go to because it's relatively far from my house. As is so often the case, they stock snacks that are rather different from those at the other 100-yen shops. My husband said that the ramen package design on the top shelf (on the right) reminded him of the South Park 3D versions of their characters. Next to the ramen is a monaka version of taiyaki and a spindle of "marble choco", the Japanese version of M & M's (which really aren't that good). The bottom shelf has soy sauce Baby Star ramen snacks and some sort of curry-flavored curl which I hope to review some time.