Lawson VL Chocolate Ice Milk Parfait

Every time I buy an ice cream or ice milk product, I review it on this blog. That should give you some idea of how infrequently I consume such products. I love them, but the caloric density is so high that I have to exercise caution. When I do want them though, I also find that many of the offerings in Japan don't quite do it for me. It's not that the quality isn't good, but rather that I have a particular craving for certain types of ice cream experiences when I'm ready to dive into some creamy, cold, fatty goodness.

One of the things I crave on a regular basis is a chocolate sundae like I occasionally had back home. I mean the sort of thing which comes with fudge sauce, whipped cream and nuts. Foolishly, at the times when I desire this, I'll try some Japanese concoction and feel incredibly disappointed. Part of the reason for this is that I'm not exactly seeking out the best quality sundaes at such times and will grab whatever has verisimilitude that is at hand. This is how I came to purchase this 100-yen (~$1.24) ice milk chocolate parfait.

I knew this wasn't going to be great, but I was at least hoping for something akin to soft serve ice cream with Hershey's syrup on it. I set the bar extremely low, but no matter how close to the ground I put it, this parfait was going to fail and trip over it. This tasted like frozen dairy nothingness. The chocolate sauce had very little in the way of chocolate taste and the ice milk was like sweetened reconstituted powdered milk mixed with flavorless gelatin to give it thickness. In my haze of sundae lust, I doused it with some Hershey's syrup we had on hand to try and give it something, but even that was not enough to make it worthwhile.

This was very disappointing, even to someone who didn't expect much at all. The only "good" thing is that the volume is fairly high (260 ml.) for only 176 calories and, of course, it's cheap, but the old axiom about getting what you pay for has never been truer. I've got to stop looking for sundae substitutes in Japan.

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There are cans of "retro drops" for sale irregularly in Japan. This is a product which is not very popular for its actual taste, as they are simply fruit-flavored hard candies, but rather for the style of tin that they are sold in. Wikipedia says they have a lot of nostalgia value since they have been available since the Meiji period (early 1900's). However, the company that makes these was established in 1948, so I guess that before that it was one of those hand-rolling and making it out of a little building deals (shinise) that you see less and less frequently in Japan.

I've never bought these candies, and I can't see myself ever bothering to review them because I'm guessing they won't be appreciably different from whatever is offered in the West. These do have the virtue of being made with real fruit juice, but the only reason to buy them besides cultivating a cavity is for the tin they come in, and frankly, I've got enough junk lying around my apartment already.

Omai Oh!tsumami Pasta Snack

I'm probably one of two or three people in Asia right now who does not really care for noodles of any kind, which is rather a shame since I'm surrounded by ramen shops emanating the most delicious scents from pork bone broth. It could have something to do with the fact that I'm a world class food dropper and it's a struggle to get through a day's eating without dropping a portion of my meal onto my shirt. No matter how careful I am, it appears that I am incapable of keeping my food balanced on whatever utensil I am using to shove it into my mouth.

Considering the wet and unwieldy nature of pasta, my consumption of it is tempting fate to the very limit. If I can't manage to eat a forkful of rice without allowing it to plummet to my shirt, one can only imagine the stain patterns I could create when trying to eat noodles. It's not really the taste of noodles that is the issue, nor even really the texture, but perhaps my own lack of grace when eating it, or at least that's what I thought.

I purchased this "pasta" snack (168 yen/$2.06) with the firm belief that there is really nothing "pasta" about it. If you look at the pictures on the package, it looks like square crackers (true), almonds (true) and spiral crackers (not true). It appears that the maker, Denroku, wants to infuse the spiral crackers with something which resembles pasta and the spiral deals have a starchy uncooked pasta thing going on.

The main flavor of the mix is cheese and tomato sauce. The packaging calls this "pizza tomato" flavor, and it does remind me of the shakers full of "pizza spice" that used to be on offer at really bad pizza shops in the small town that I grew up in. We had to have those shakers of pizza flavoring to flavor the slabs of styrofoam-like pre-made crusts slathered with humdrum sauce and liberally topped with low quality mozzarella cheese. The badness of that pizza was awesome, and I find myself craving it on occasion even now.

Each little packet is only 18 grams (.63 oz.) and 92 calories. It's a tiny amount (as you can see by the picture of the bowl higher up), but should satisfy the need for a small salty snack. My response to this is mixed. I found it quite tasty except for that starchy flavor on the spirals. I love almonds and I enjoyed the flavor, but I think I might go for something else rather than this in the future. That being said, if this stays on the market, I could see picking it up on occasion when I had a hankering for that pizza seasoning that I knew in my youth.

Tirol Soy Green Tea Latte Chocolate

I've been avoiding the little squares of Tirol chocolates for awhile now. Part of the reason for this is that the flavors have been in re-runs for some time, and unappealing ones at that. Another reason is that what has been on offer hasn't really sparked a fire under my ass. That being said, I'm not sure why I don't blithely just buy every single flavor and review it because each little 1-inch (2.5 cm.) candy is only 20 yen (about 24 cents). I have little to lose except the time it takes to whine about the sub-par ones.

It's that sort of reckless spending that brings this green tea chocolate to my dear readers today. I'm not a huge fan of green tea, but, hey, 20 yen. I found this at 7-11, but you can get them at any convenience store at the moment. This has 60 calories, which is a little higher than usual for these chocolates. I'm guessing that has something to do with how much sugar is packed into its white chocolate base. The initial hit of flavor is intensely sweet, but is chased by green tea bitterness.

The "latte" part of this is supposed to be the white chocolate center. I'm guessing that is where most of the intense sweetness comes from. The bitterness comes from the green part that serves as a bread to this little candy sandwich. The center is a chewy little gummi which lends texture rather than flavor. Perhaps it's supposed to be the "soy" portion, but honestly, I detect no soy flavor at all. It doesn't do anything at all for this besides stop it from being even sweeter and fattier.

If you're a green tea fan, I think you might really enjoy this. The green tea flavor comes across quite well and is well balanced by the sweet white chocolate. If you're sensitive to white chocolate, this still may be a bit much for you. All in all, I want to give this a happy rating because I thought it was good for a green tea chocolate, but I know I'll never buy another one again. So, this is a conditional "indifferent" rating. I thought this was enjoyable, but just not my kind of thing.

Kan-etsu Mikan Gelatin Dessert

When I first searched for this company as part of my research, I came across a company with exactly the same name and a Japanese domain name which did construction. For a moment, I wondered if this was some mutant food product created from industrial chemicals that usually go into building houses. Perhaps the construction company wanted to diversify their business model by branching out into calorie-free desserts. Fortunately, I came across the food making Kan-etsu, which has a non-Japanese domain name (.com, not .co.jp)

I found this at Peacock supermarket while I was searching for cheese for my husband's sandwiches for lunch. I had been driven to Japanese cheese because it seems all or most of the Costcos in Japan have been shut down since the quake. More than a month after the quake, the Tamasakai branch that we usually go to was barred and denying us access to the Colby Jack cheese and cheap Starbucks espresso beans that we so desperately need. In desperation, I bought 8 small (18 gram/.63 oz.) plastic-wrapped slices for a whopping 278 yen ($3.42), and this 100-gram pack of gelatin for a mere 98 yen ($1.21). There were 4 flavors on offer - coffee, grape, mikan (Japanese tangerine), and grapefruit. The retail price is 148 yen ($1.82), so this was a "bargain".

The first bite has a nice hit of orange (mikan) flavor followed by unpleasant bitterness. I assume this is related to the aspartame and Sucralose that sweetens it. After two or three bites, the bitterness goes away and the sweetness amplifies. Unfortunately, the orange flavor also mellows with future bites. The gelatin, which is made with Japanese agar agar rather than animal products, is shelf stable (doesn't require refrigeration), but quite soft at any temperature.

This is a fairly large serving of gelatin, and though it claims it is zero calories, it's actually 5 calories for the whole 100 grams (3.5 oz.). That probably comes form the orange flavoring which is from fruit juice concentrate. It also has added antioxidants. The whole point of this is to fill a craving for dessert or to fill a grumbling belly when you don't want to eat something more fattening. To that end, it does work, though I believe the sugar-free Jell-O gelatin, which I haven't had for about 4 years but can still recall, tastes a bit better. Both this gelatin and Jell-O brand (sugar-free) have an aftertaste from the artificial sweeteners, but the latter has a more citric acid zest to it which makes it taste more like orange.

If you're trying to reduce your calories, and desperate to quiet a grumbling belly, this will do you. I wouldn't expect too much from it though and I don't think I'd buy it again. There are better calorie-free gelatin/jelly options out there that will fill the bill as well or better.