Kit Kat Mixed Berry

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Meiji Melty Kiss- Dark Rum

I have loved all of the Meiji Melty line that I have tried
There is just some thing irresistible about those little chocolaty sugar cubes. Today's Melty Kisses came as a sample from my friends over at Jlist.Com
According to the Jlist product info the Dark Rum flavor is only available once a year in the winter and it actually does contain real rum! (cause you know some times you need your chocolate and alcohol fix at the same time) Once you smell the candy there is no doubt that there is alcohol in the cube. If you have ever smelled Myer's Dark Rum it smells exactly like that.
The cube is covered in a dusting of cocoa powder. Like all of the other Melty's the texture is really, really smooth and melts quickly with a cool feeling on your tongue. The easiest way to tell you what it tastes like is to imagine rum soaked M&M's (I am sure the Mars people will love that analogy). The chocolate is sweet and you almost expect to feel the crunch of the sugar shell. The rum is woodsy and on the bitter side (as dark rum tends to be)
My only complaint is that the box mysteriously emptied within hours...

PURCHASED FROM:
Provided by Jlist.com

Morinaga Dars Affogato

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Glico Walky Walky- Dark Chocolate

At first I couldn't decide if Walky Walky was just for people who found Pocky a Little too pocky...
And then once I opened the really cute packaging- it looks like a little to-go coffee cup- I started to think that maybe it was for people who like they're candy to resemble rabbit pellets. It is not often I take actual product photos but here you go folks:


You know if rabbit pellets taste as good as Walky Walky I am in trouble!

The walky (walki?) are roughly the size of Chiclets's. The candy's are your standard pocky biscuit enrobed in dark chocolate. The chocolate if I am not mistaken is the same dark chocolate used on the Men's Pocky. They have just the right amount of sweetness and crunch. To really get any hit of flavor you need to eat a few pellets at a time. One by one they are a little weak but together they are just right.

For a new twist on an old favorite I liked them.


PURCHASED FROM:
Sunrise Market NYC

Glico Cratz- Alpen Salz and Chicken Flavor

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Glico Dessert Pocky- Chocolate Banana

I wonder if chocolate covered banana's are what King Kong gives to his girlfriend before a hot date?
I don't know why I wondered that, it's just one of those things that run through my mind when I probably should be working.

What I liked about this Pocky right off the bat is that it smells like Circus Peanuts. And since I am one of five people alive on the planet who like Circus Peanuts I considered this a good thing.

The sticks themselves are first dipped in a thick layer of banana flavored fondant. Again, it really does remind me of a Circus Peanut. The banana is then topped with a heavy drizzle of milk chocolate. Not only does it look lacy but it adds an interesting bit of texture.

All in all these were good- I think they are the Dessert Pocky I have liked the most.

PURCHASED FROM:
Kam Man Market NYC

Glico Dessert Pocky- Chocolate Orange

I have been really looking forward to trying this Pocky

We all know about my love of anything orange and chocolate.
The Dessert line of Pocky features both a thicker biscuit stick and also roughly four times the normal amount of chocolate. It's also pretty phallic looking (would a good companion product to it be Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls?)

Beyond that, the smell is incredibly. It smells like deep chocolate and orange liqueur. The flavor is pretty much exactly that. The orange flavor is much stronger then the chocolate. It has a very Grand Marnier like taste. The chocolate is just sort of there- it's not bad, but it's not good. The chocolate is a milk chocolate base with a drizzle of darker chocolate. Even one of these is a satisfying snack (yeah, that's right I stopped at one- stop looking at me like that!) Yeah, you should go and get some of these... buy extra for me.

PURCHASED FROM:
Sunrise Market NYC

Jack In The Box Steak Teriyaki Bowl

So here it was after 11:00 PM at night and all of a sudden I have a major craving for teriyaki...
Now sadly, even here in the wonderful, magical land of Southern California heeding the call of random food cravings at late hours can be hard to fill. What I really wanted was a local chain of Teriyaki bowl places all breast meat bowl but they closed at 10:00. I had however, remembered that Jack In The Box had just brought they're Teriyaki bowls back- and conviently enough my local Jack is open until 2:00 AM so off to the drive-thru I went.

I opted for the steak bowl. Say something nice... well there certainly was a lot of broccoli!
The rice... oh dear, the rice was watery and bland even for fast food. The steak strips were lean and certainly resembled steak. Flavorwise it tasted slightly better then most heat and eat version of steak. It's lean, tender and vaguely beef flavored. The teriyaki sauce was salty and vaguely teriyaki.

I guess "vague" is the best way to describe this. It's kinda of like steak, kinda like teriyaki and definatly avoidable.

I will say the flavor does improve just a little if you let the bowl set for a bit. Yeah, I should have gotten a Sourdough Jack.

PURCHASED FROM:
Jack In The Box

Chungs Shrimp Egg Rolls

Frozen egg rolls always seem to sound like a better idea then they really are.
I am especially picky when it comes to egg rolls in general. In terms of the skin I prefer the thicker, wonton like skin to the thinner, fried spring rollesque skin. I don't know why but most West Coast egg rolls seem to be the later (anyone have any insight into why?). I was happy to see that the Chung's Shrimp rolls had the skin I prefer.

The egg roll innards are very veggie filled. Carrot is the overwhelming flavor- but in the carrots defense they are fairly crisp and fresh tasting. There is also cabbage and a hot almost floral note that may or may not be ginger. I honestly couldn't tell.
As far as the shrimp, the photo on the box shows whole baby shrimp. And there were indeed one or two whole baby shrimp per roll. The majority of the shrimp seemed to be more like ground shrimp. The flavor was still there even if it was not exactly the way I was expecting it.

All things considered for a frozen egg rolls these are pretty decent. The veggies tasted fresh, the wrapper stays crispy and the shrimp is represented enough that you don't dig through the filling wondering where it is. I still prefer my local Chinese places egg rolls but for those late night cravings these hit the spot.

PURCHASED FROM:
Albertsons Supermarket

Durian!

Never let it be said that I won't do anything for a good review

This is actually the second Durian I purchased to review. The first one I got in New York at New Years, however I never got a chance to open it before I left.

For those of you who may not know, Durian is an Asian fruit that is famous for it's rather pungent smell. Many people say that the smell is reminiscent of dirty diapers, old onions and rotting corpses. In some countries there are even restrictions as to where you can eat them. For more information then you will probably ever want click over to Durianpalace.com
Personally, I didn't think the smell was so bad. Mostly it was like a strong sulfur it was strongest breaking into the rind, but once the fruit was opened the sulfur mellowed and it was just fruity.

Before:

After:


The flesh is segmented into pod-like lobes. The lobes are both a kind of foie gras looking solid and a stringy, mushy membrane. The actual fruit smelled sort of like a combination of onion and melon. Not nearly the dead body smell I was expecting- and some how I have made that sound like a bad thing.

The taste.
People seem to be split on the taste. Durian seems to be a love it or hate it thing. to use two examples with people you have probably heard of.
Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods couldn't eat it. Considering the things Andrew will eat it was pretty surprising that it was a fruit that did him in. Here's a clip, the durian comes in around 7:00 minutes.

Now Tony Bourdain absolutely LOVES the stuff as you can see here (durian is about 6:00 minutes in):

So now that you know what people far more qualified to have an educated opinion then I think about it what did I think?
Really it's not that bad. I preferred the more solid pieces to the custard like parts. The flavor was sort of like honey dew, banana and just general "fruityness" mixed with mild onion.
I think after all the build up that I had about durian I was actually kind of let down. It wasn't nearly as bad as I feared it would be, but at the same time there was no epiphany moment where I felt like I had discovered the coolest thing ever. All in all I am glad I tried it and I feel like I went up another couple hardcore foodie points. Hey, I did make it further then Andrew Zimmern and that has to count for something.

A word of caution. Durian and alcohol shouldn't be consumed at the same time- click the link for Durian Palace for more info. Also, be prepared for some indigestion one way or the other. I warn you it WILL suck- but think of it this way you get to relive the fun that was durian! (look I had to find some bright side to it!)


PURCHASED FROM:
Ranch 99 Supermarket

Tai Pei Shrimp Fried Rice

Getting ready for my move has gotten my already weird eating schedule even further out
of whack...
On my third trip to Wal*Mart of the day around 11:30 PM it hit me that I needed to stop and eat. Chinese sounded great but in this neck of the woods there is no place with anything remotely Chinese open past 10:00 pm so whats a girl to do.

Against my better judgment the Tai Pei box gave me a come hither look through the fogged up Wal*Mart freezer case. Yep, it is some cute packaging:

(that would be the chicken version- I couldn't find a picture of the shrimp)
And inside said box there is supposed to be a delicious mix of rice, shrimp, peas, carrots and baby corn with oyster sauce for some extra oopmh.

Well, I will say that it did smell pretty good when cooking. Sadly it did not smell as good up close. The rice was however surprisingly moist looking. And there are in fact a generous amount of both shrimp and veggies.

What did it taste like?
As expected it is no where near the same ball park as my local place- but to be fiar I was not expecting it to be. But I would say that it is on par with say Panda Express or any other fast food version of Chinese food. It is already pretty salty but doctoring it with soy sauce did improve things.
I didn't really like the shrimp. They tasted like they had been rehydrated and had a weird rubbery texture.

For cheap, microwavable fried rice (or fast food rice) it is not bad, but it's not good. It would never be my first choice but I have had worse.

PURCHASED FROM:
Wal*Mart