🍁Maple sweet potato rice cake🍁 #seasonaltreat #autumninjapan #fallinforsweetpotatoes #TBT

Fall has come once again, and the duck and I miss our beloved Japanese seasonal autumn snacks even more this year. Just look at this beautiful treat that we got to devour four years ago, sitting on a canopied bench under a pretty autumn afternoon sun after a fun exploration tour of an area we had never been to. Even though we got it at a local grocery store, we felt truly fancy when we ate this maple syrup sweet potato rice cake (at least that’s what our translator app told us this is)! 5/5 sweet potato stuffed ducks for the sweetness of Japanese autumn in a bite (and many more after that)! 🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁

The duck and I still aren’t eating out a lot, especially since we don’t really like it all that much if catching up with a friend is not involved. So, there might be even more solitary or inside snack reports in the near future of this blog. What about you? Do you like eating out? Are there any foods that you miss?

Snacks: Spring in cookie-shape

IT’S FINALLY SPRING! Can you tell we’re excited? If it weren’t for my annoying pollen allergies, spring would actually have a great chance of being my favorite season (taking into account how the duck and I dramatically suffer in the cold)!
Despite the varied approaches to determining the official starting point of spring, once the cherry blossom season has begun, it doesn’t matter who you ask, everyone will agree that spring has arrived (even if it’s still super cold or rainy outside). For us, the countdown to the beginning of this lovely but painful (even with masks and allergy medicine) season started as soon as we saw the first spring-themed snacks on the Konbini and grocery store shelves. When we discovered a pack of sakura (cherry blossom) flavored cookies back in February, the duck and I could not resist!
Spring also marks the new school and fiscal year in Japan (both start in April – which some see as the month for starting new things; April is Japan’s January for new year’s resolutions) and, more importantly, the season when matcha is a popular snack flavor everywhere, not only in Kyoto! Because of that, this time, we present you not one, but three(!) beautiful cookies that we’ve had the pleasure of trying in celebration of spring:

Snacks: A Meltykiss in winter

It’s Valentine’s Day (= a big deal for Japanese chocolate manufacturers and a sad reminder for the duck and me that some people need a reason to indulge in chocolate) which makes this the perfect time for yet another sweet, chocolaty review.
The snack that we taste tested this time is, rather than being Valentine’s Day themed, a winter exclusive: Meiji‘s Meltykiss chocolates. And, gosh, were we excited to try yet another seasonal snack!
Even though there are quite a few varieties to choose from, some of them limited edition exclusives, the duck and I did not have to think at all before we knew what flavor we would try (first): First Flush Green Tea (quite an obvious choice considering that, well, we are huge matcha fans).
Meltykiss chocolates feature a flavored filling coated by a soft shell of chocolate and most of them are covered with a thin layer of fine cocoa powder (which we l-o-v-e), just like fine, powdery, chocolaty snow!
After having tried a few varieties many years ago, the duck and I were pretty excited to once again have a taste of this beautiful reminder that winter can be sweet: