An Acupuncturist Walks into the Candy Store

My friend Marisa recently went to Japan with her acupuncture class to study with The Master and learn the ancient Chinese secrets of the Order of the Great Tiger. Well, I don't know if the Master part is true, but she did go there to hone her needling skills and, in the process, found some fun Japanese candy for me. I've been just kind of staring at these beauties for a few weeks now, gathering excitement of the fun that awaits.
The first thing I busted into was, of course, the Choco Banana Pocky. It had the classic Pocky crunchy stick, dipped in an incredibly artificial-tasting banana coating and drizzled with chocolate. They were delicious.
The other things I'll be trying over the next few weeks. Apparently Marisa was on a banana kick, because, as you can see in the bottom of the photo, there is a banana candy bar. XL no less. The middle thing is a bunch of little packages of different candies and I have no idea what the thing on the right is. Up top, there are some candy blox. Very cute. I will keep you posted on the mysterious candies. In the meantime, the flu has hit the house of Yum, so please be patient. There really is a lot to report!

Chocorooms: Possible Contender for This Year's Best Candy Find

Aldi has started appearing in Connecticut. Apparently this chain is more well-known in the Heartland, but until recently, I'd never heard of it. For the official scoop, go here. Now here's my interpretation: it's like Cosco and Trader Joe's got together and had a baby. But, unbeknownst to Trader Joe, Cosco was having an affair with IKEA, so we're not really sure whose baby it is. The stores are small and the products are stacked, like at a warehouse store, but everything comes in normal sizes, so you don't have to buy 300 granola bars at a time. You can get a lot of your groceries there, but not all. Most of the products are under their own label, but are made to look strikingly similar to the name brand.
So let's get to the good stuff. The candy. They had quite a few Hershey options and several Haribo gummies, but they're known for their brand, "Choceur," which is made in Germany. I picked up a bar (a raisin and nut one), but then my attention was diverted to a bag of White Chocolate Almond Clusters (almond and cinnamon biscuit pieces with white chocolate). They also had a milk chocolate version with gingerbread pieces. I had to be selective, because Aldi only accepts cash, which I never carry.
The clusters are little bumpy logs-- more crunchy stuff than chocolate. They're good, but white chocolate isn't my favorite. These were really sweet, but they didn't knock my socks off.
The Chocorooms, however, were a totally different story. These days, the Sugar Baby is obsessed with mushrooms. We've taken many walks in the woods lately, looking for inky caps and puffballs, so the Chocorooms were a no-brainer.The woman at the checkout told me they were "so good!" and that she had bought several boxes because they're not a regular item. I should've followed her lead.
These little cuties are made by Meiji from Japan. According to the package, they are a "chocolaty combination cap and Crispy cracker stem." Okay, so they're "chocolaty," not chocolate. But man, these things are really yummy. A little bite of crispy/sweet/creamy chocolatyness. They are, in fact, very similar to Pocky. I love that the serving size is 11 pieces. You can eat a lot because they're so small. And yes, the Sugar Baby (and his girlfriend, the little Connection) gave them their seal of approval.

Oh, Come On!

I thought I was just kidding about melamine and Pocky until the Ice Cube Queen sent this:

The Center for Food Safety says in a statement issued Tuesday that it found
melamine in Pocky Men's coffee cream coated biscuit stick, which is produced by
Japanese brand Ezaki Glico Co. Ltd.

Enough already! Enough!

Hey Pocky, Balance Your Chi!

There's this totally creepy, scary Asian supermarket nearby--it's in a cement block building and there aren't any windows-- that I've always wanted to go into, but I've been afraid to tote along the Sugar Baby, just in case it turned out to be a drug front or something. So the other day, while No-Nuts and I were out, I saw the perfect opportunity and dragged her along.
It wasn't too scary inside, although I did avoid the entire meat and fish section.
The good news was, they had Coconut Pocky! Hooray! I was so excited. And No-Nuts actually found some stuff she wanted-- some chocolate wafer cookies, Men's Pocky and a drink called "Sac Sac Tangerine Juice." I was disappointed in their selection of Kit Kats, though. They had a berry one, and a McFlurry, which has something to do with McDonald's but I'm not sure what.
I've been wanting Coconut Pocky forever, so that night I sat down with a glass of wine, an episode of Arrested Development and my box o' Pocky.
Sadly, I was disappointed. I'm not sure what I expected, but I think the coconut flakes are just too big for the delicate stick. It seems out of balance. No-Nuts, on the other hand, loved her Men's Pocky. I was hoping she'd leave some before she left for Florida, but no ... instead she left the wafer rolls which I'm sure are half melamine.

Do You Have to Show ID for Men's Pocky?

Friday night we went out to dinner with Sue MKAFFGGF and the Golden Nose. Let me repeat that: we went out to dinner. As in, a real dinner. No pizza, no burritos, no Sugar Baby. A real dinner, as in four courses, booze a-flowin', conversations bubbling... it was awesome. We went to Nini's Bistro, which, if you're ever in New Haven, Connecticut, you really need to go to. It's small, it's funky and it's delicious.

What does this have to do with candy, you say? Well, the "theme" in the restaurant was all holiday-ish: the water carafe was topped with a shiny Christmas ball, the hot crusty, chewy bread was served in a gift bag and then... the check at the end came with a pile of candy! Twizzlers and Hershey's Miniatures. So cool.

When we left the restaurant, good and sauced and so full we could barely move, we spied an Asian market across the street with a big Pocky sign in the window, so we went in. They had a GIANT box of Pocky for $12-- would be a great grab bag gift. I, however, couldn't resist this box of "Men's Pocky." Haha! It's dark chocolate, because we all know that only men like dark chocolate. And then I found some Hi-Chews which I was totally psyched about, because I've never had them. I was hoping they'd have grapefruit, but they didn't. I settled for the lemon. What a fantastic night. It just doesn't get any better than that!

Spooky Spiders!

These snack cake spiders way cool, and the best part is, the legs are made out of Pocky! Check out the one in the back on the right-- those creepy crawly legs are made with chocolate coconut Pocky! YUM!
I wish I could say these were my idea, but they're not. They're from Not Martha.

Okay, I'm coming in late on this one ...

...but I've finally tried Pocky! And oh, what a fantabulous find!

My grocery store just started carrying milk chocolate and hazelnut Pocky, so I splurged and bought the milk chocolate. What are Pocky? They're these thin little sticks (the nutritional info refers to them as biscuits; 13 in a serving!) that are dipped on one end in chocolate. Doesn't sound too exciting, right? But let me tell you, they are YUMMY!

Sue, my kick-ass-firefighter-garden-guru friend (SMKAFGGF) came over last night to introduce me to the world of Belgian beers. We had dinner and for dessert, Ben & Jerry's Vermonty Python (coffee liqueur ice cream with chocolate crunchies and chocolate cows) with Pocky. I know, I know. How am I supposed to kick the Baron's butt in our weight-loss contest when I'm eating like this? Well I just did a long aerobic workout in this sweltering, nasty, humid weather. That's gotta count for something.

ANYHOW! Pocky is a Japanese treat and it comes in all sorts of flavors. You can check it out at different websites, including www.asiafoods.com. I particularly love this "Men's" Pocky. Apparently women are too genteel to appreciate bitter chocolate. HA! If you can find some Pocky, I'd definitely suggest trying it.