Fugetsu-Do Peanut Butter Mochi: Long-standing Japanese confectionary shop Fugetsu-Do, located in Japantown in downtown Los Angeles, sells its mochi at various stores around California (I recently found their products at Berkeley Bowl). This set of Peanut Butter Mochi was purchased from Marukai in Glendale, LA and contained 6 sizable pieces of soft, chewy mochi filled literally with chunky peanut butter (maybe Jiff). It feels almost sacrilegious but simultaneously like a sort of twisted American dream where peanut butter c... (read more) 3.0/5.0
desserts japanese fugetsudo peanut butter mochi 3.0
Kimura Yuzu cider: I think I could live in the soft drinks section of Marukai Market in Gardena, LA, with its seemingly endless array of bottles in every color of the rainbow. It was hard to pick just one, but the beautiful vintage-style label of the Kimura brand sodas stood out to me, and yuzu-flavor just felt appropriate. The fizzy drink is pretty sweet, like a tangier Sprite. Paired with the rich burger I had for lunch, it worked well, but on its own, it's a bit too sweet for my taste. Still, as an alternat... (read more) 3.0/5.0
drinks soda losangeles marukai japanese kimura yuzu cider 3.0
Blockheads Black sesame shaved ice with red bean, rice cakes, almond jelly, and condensed milk: Finally got to try this LA-based Taiwanese shaved ice chain. The black sesame ice cream had decent flavor but the texture was not as fluffy as I knew it could be given my recent experience at Powder in San Francisco. At Blockheads, they make their rice cakes in house, which are essentially tang yuan (the mochi-like glutinous rice dumplings that often accompany red bean soup). I expected their almond jelly to be almond jello, but it was more like the harder gelatin cubes often used in Asia... (read more) 3.0/5.0
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Back to Nature Triple Ginger Cookies: Purchased on sale at Berkeley Bowl, these cookies incorporate ginger powder, crystallized ginger, and ginger extract (hence the "triple"). Decent basic ginger snap cookies that are crunchy without being a danger to your teeth. 3.0/5.0
berkeleybowl backtonature triple ginger cookies 3.0
Meiji Tofu Soy Milk: On my last trip to LA, my top priority was getting to try tofu from Meiji Tofu, a small shop in Gardena that specializes in hand-made tofu. I learned about Meiji Tofu from discovering that many restaurants in LA use its product. Unfortunately, after arriving at the shop at 10:30am on Sunday morning, we found they had sold out (they open at 8:30) and were thus closed for the day. Luckily, several Japanese grocery stores in the area stock their tofu and soy milk, so we quickly drove to Maru... (read more) 3.0/5.0
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Trader Joe's Raises the Bar Chewy Granola Bar: Oats mixed with grains and seeds like quinoa and amaranth, bound together with a maple-syrup flavored glaze, produce a varied textural experience that's more familiar than interesting, especially if you've ever eaten one of many like it that now saturate the healthy-snack food aisle. These chewy granola bars are clearly Trader Joe's response to Kind bars, in which the company succeeds through sheer mimicry and value pricing. Nonetheless, they are tasty enough and filling, making them a sol... (read more) 3.0/5.0
traderjoes granolabars raises bar chewy granola 3.0