Orange White Mocha at Starbucks

Starbucks in Japan never fails. They offer drinks I've never heard (or even thought of) throughout the year and often times put the Secret Menu to shame. Shortly after we got here in 2008 they had coffee jelly cappuccino on the menu. My favorite is the Sakura Steamer during sakura (cherry blossom) season. Anyway, it was pouring the other day and was very windy. My shoes were soaked through, my jeans were wet and sticking to my legs me making me even colder and I needed to burn time before picking the kids up from school.

We hadn't bought our car yet so I was at the mercy of the base shuttle bus and its schedule. I needed to dry off, warm up and planned on getting a white mocha. That plan changed when I saw this sign...an orange white mocha with caramel sauce. Yum! I love all of these things but wasn't sure how the combined flavors would be. Believe it or not, it worked.

It had orange sugar, orange zest, Valencia orange syrup, espresso, steamed milk, orange whipped cream and caramel...all kinds of delicious goodness. I got a tall for ¥460 and not only was it worth every yen, it was elegant and warm as promised!  

A Funny Sign

Signs here are [obviously] written in Japanese and usually English too. It's these translated signs that are funny. More than 75% of the time, at least of the signs I've seen, they aren't correctly translated into English correctly. The translated signs are usually funny and are commonly known as "Engrish."

I went out with some friends a couple of weeks ago and this sign was posted beside a vending machine. It was funny to me at the time, so funny that I had one of them take my picture with it. Now that I look at it it's not nearly as entertaining as it was that night...after a few tanqueray and tonics!

Coffee Jelly Frappuccino is Back at Starbucks!

Living in Japan affords us things that aren't available in the United States, and vice versa. Well here's one thing that you can't get in the United States...you ready? It's a new Starbucks drink called a Coffee Jelly Frappuccino. That's right, jelly.

It came out around this time last year, and while on base one day I tried it. It didn't last long, maybe throughout the summer. Walking through Zushi last week I saw a sign for it outside of Starbucks...and until then I had completely forgotten about it. After last year I know better than to buy it again this year!

By this point you probably are wondering what I thought of it. Well, it tasted good until chunks came up my straw...it was like chunks of jelly, but softer, more like Jell-o. It tasted good though, but it's a texture thing for me. The jelly pieces were large, but very soft so they broke apart and came right up the straw.

What did I think of it? Thumbs down. Coffee is for drinking, not eating...especially in jelly form at the bottom of a frappuccino! If you do try it, grab a spoon to go with your straw, you're going to need it.

And make sure you read the girl's hat in the first picture! She was very kind to let me take it.

Grinder Shaped Bento Boxes, R2-D2 Soy Sauce Holders & Robster Curry

I'm from Connecticut and we call them grinders! I also heard them referred to as hoagies or subs. We went shopping with Julie in Yokohama and came across the neatest store! I'm not sure if it was an import store or not; they had products from the United States, but lots from Japan as well. Needless to say there were a quite few things that stood out! Lots of pictures below.

Lazy Store: Genuine American Goodies - wow, is this what they really think of us?! I spotted this café; my mom's name is Nina.

The grinder and burger bento box. I bought the space shuttle one.

Enjoying my "robster" curry, and that's Landmark Tower in Yokohama covered by clouds.

The girls love Indian food. I hadn't had it until we moved here!

They hallowed out Texas French Toast and made it into an ice cream sundae. They call it "Honey syrup toast with ice cream." I'll be going back there when Bob comes home. We walked by someone eating it, and there's no way one person could eat it alone. The Japanese wear masks all the time, we found some funny ones, though I've never seen these being worn on the train!

They stick a camera in your ear and clean it out while you watch on a monitor. I didn't want to be too rude and take a picture of the inside of the place...but there were TVs in front of the chairs. These are key chains, the top is like opening a package, and the bottom is just like popping bubble wrap.

If you have a friend who happens to be a fan of "Star Wars," you can get them a handy R2-D2 soy sauce holder or pepper shaker. These were adorable even though I'm not a fan of dressing up your pet. They're little yukatas for dogs.

Garlic Bread with a Japanese Twist...Maple Syrup

My friend Lisa took Sydney and I to an Italian restaurant in Yokosuka at the end of April. It's on the top floor (9th?) of More's City Mall which is down Blue Street and walking distance from the base. We walked around a little bit working up an appetite, and of course saw some funny Engrish shirts. It was shortly before Mother's Day, so we saw some Mother's Day soap that read, "Thanks Mam!"

Once we got to the restaurant I opened the menu and saw garlic bread. Okay, no biggy, it's an Italian restaurant so seeing it on the menu is a given. Well there's a twist. This garlic bread comes with maple syrup. No kidding, maple syrup. This is why Lisa took us here! I'm game for trying just about anything - especially here. We live in Japan, LIVE here. Most people don't get the opportunity to visit here, nevermind call it home for a couple of years, so why not try it, right?! So we ordered it, how could we not?

It was great and I'll be ordering it again next time I'm there. I'll also be making it at home and putting some syrup in a ramekin. Bob, hope you have an open mind!

This restaurant reminded me of "Cheers." Every time someone walked in the staff would yell "Irrashaimase!" That means welcome. But it was just like "Cheers" when Norm would walk in and be greeted with "Noooooorm!" I took a short video talking about the garlic bread and while watching you can't miss the "Irrashaimase!"

If you subscribe to my blog via email you'll need to click here to watch the video, and if you're reading this on my blog's website, it's below the four pictures.

Brain Food, Mr. Brain Food

Seriously, Mr. Brain food. It's a roll with caramel and whipped cream inside, and for ¥128 (about $1.50 with the yen rate) I had to buy and try it today. Oishi desu! It's delicious! It had the texture of a jelly donut from the outside and the bread was good and soft. The caramel wasn't liquidy (is that even a word?!) at all, but wasn't too hard either...kind of like the cream in a Bavarian Cream donut. I had one bite with the filling and gave the rest to the girls. They both approve and have already asked for more next time we're out!

The company's website is on the back of the package, and if you want to take a look at it click here. I found Mr. Brain's website and tried translating it into English, but nothing did. You can take your mouse and put it on on the blue rectangles on the bottom half of the page, and you'll see small pop-ups in English.

But get this, "Mr. Brain" is a TV show! It's a brand new Japanese drama. I found their website through the bread's website, and if you click here you'll be taken there. Here's a very short article about the bread being tied to the show and the health benefits of it. Very interesting and explains the tie-in to the show!

It's called 脳トレパン meaning train your brain bread. It's got DHA in it...so that means I can eat this and it's good for me, right?!

What's the Name of that Car?

I'm not making this up, I was next to a Daihatsu Naked while driving off the base today. This is a perfect example of why I keep a camera on me at all times! Click on the picture to enlarge it and you'll see for yourself!

Below is a 15 second Japanese commercial for the car. If you subcribe to my blog via email you'll need to click here to see the video.

It's All in a Name

I walked by this store on Tuesday in Yokohama and couldn't stop laughing about it for the rest of the morning!

"I love your shirt, where'd you get it? Ann Taylor? Gap?"













"No, I got it at Wood & Pecker."

Come Fly With Me

Errr, "Come Fry with Me???" I spotted this little boy in Zushi Ginza and ever since have had "Come Fly with Me" in my head. Julie was with me and she explained to his mom (her Japanese is very good!) what his hat actually said. We all got a laugh out of it though, even the little boy's sister, then we bowed, thanked them and went on our way hunting for Kit Kats.

Fruits Therapy, Lucky Wood & Donut Scotch Tape Dispensers

Here are some random finds over the last couple of weeks! Some Engrish, a Japanese toll booth and some funny products spotted at the grocery store, convenience store and/or vending machine. Be sure to click on the pictures to enlarge them!

Pocket Juice Stand sold in a vending machine. It's in the blue section (notice the blue under the price), so that means it's cold. There's nothing funny about the Zebras, I've just never seen anything like it before.
















This is a basket holding bread and Julie spotted the Fruits Therapy in a grocery store in Kamakura.











You hit a button and your car is lowered to you - a car elevator of some sorts. Look on the left they have the same thing for bicycles. When I stop at a toll booth I've never been to before I give them more than enough money...as you can see nothing's in English. The FFSC (Fleet & Family Support Center) has directions, but sometimes the yen amount listed on them is incorrect. It was in this case!











These are Scotch tape dispensers. Sold individually or in the Scotch Donuts mix pack!












The description reads "The best assortment for your luxurious time." The bitter caramel drink wasn't very good...not nearly as good as I was hoping anyway.
















Be sure to read the descriptions for the Magnet Bookmarker. The LUCKY WOOD box was outside a store on Blue Street in Yokosuka.

Beautiful View of Fuji-san from Sagami Bay

We took a drive out to Hayama today, only about 20-25 minutes from where we live. Julie found a picture of this place and wanted to try to find it. She drove, I navigated.

The first spot we found was off of Route 134 in Hayama, and it was a turn off into a parking lot called Toteishi Parking. It was behind a building and hidden, but there was a street sign for it. We parked and saw a bunch of people with cameras and tripods. It's a beautiful scenic view of Mt. Fuji (Fuji-san as the Japanese call it). One of the men offered Keanna and Sydney cookies...in the U.S. I'd say no, but here it's different. He was so sweet and kind even with the language barrier. On the way out we passed by Restaurant Don, and the name wasn't anything notable but the writing on the side of the building was! "First Floor Settle space/Second Floor Placer space/The topic of this house is Humanility and Performance." The view of Mt. Fuji was okay from here, but it wasn't the spot we were looking for.

We headed towards the Emperor's Summer Palace keeping the water on our left. Shortly after passing that and Route 134 forking with Route 207 (get on Route 207 for the view), we saw what we came for, Sagami Bay, the red torii gate, Hayama Lighthouse (also known as Yujiro Lighthouse) and a beautiful view of Fuji-san.

If you go, make sure it's during the winter time while Mt. Fuji is visable. During the spring, summer and early fall months the haze can hide the view.