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
drinks tofu soymilk gardena losangeles meijitofu soy milk 3.0
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
Blue Star Donuts Buttermilk Lemon Poppyseed Donut: Portland is pretty serious about donuts. On my latest visit, I saw a much higher percentage of commuters eating donuts for breakfast than I have witnessed in any other city. So when I was about to fly out from PDX and realized there was a Blue Star next to ticketing, I willingly went through security a second time in order to see what all the fuss was about. There were many flavors I was interested in trying, from their strawberry-rhubarb jam-filled pastry to a more traditional donut ring ... (read more) 3.0/5.0
sweets dessert portland bluestardonuts buttermilk lemon poppyseed donut 3.0
鯛 Tai Arare: I purchased this snack from Tokyo Fish Market, a Japanese grocery store in Berkeley, hoping the fish-shaped crackers would be seafood flavored, as many Asian snacks are. The Chinese character on the packaging even literally translates to "red snapper" (though I have to admit that I had to use Google Translate to determine that). Despite the name and shape, the crackers are just regular glazed rice crackers – crunchy, sweeter than you would expect, but still with a savory soy aftertaste. A... (read more) 3.0/5.0
tokyofishmarket ricecrackers soy japanese tai arare 3.0
Kameda Kotsubukko : Bite-sized pieces of chocolate, tins of mint, or take-away cookies never work on me as impulse grocery store purchases. But rice crackers with too-cute packaging positioned directly next to the checkout does the job. This pack of 4 snack-sized bags of sweet and savory soy flavored crackers have a deep savory taste and are portioned larger than most so that a bag is actually filling. But beyond the cute Japanese branding, they aren't particularly distinctive as far as rice crackers go. I ... (read more) 3.0/5.0
japanese soy kameda kotsubukko 3.0 tokyofishmarket