Let’s get this out of the way quickly so I can go and eat the rest of mine. These are one of my absolute favorites of all time. The reason the name “Melonpan” for these Japanese breads? Because the size/shape is like melon. And the Japanese word ‘pan’ is bread. So you could translate this to ‘melon-shaped bread’. It falls in the breakfast bread category.

This sweet bread has a sugary coating that adheres to itself creating a flaky thick ’shell’ of sorts. Add the chocolate chips and you’ve just given energy within the perfected texture.  Love it. Love it. Love it.  The softness of the bread and an outer crispness from the sugar crystals are two competing textures that balance well. Some photos here hopefully prove that it’s at least worthwhile treat. You can pick Melonpan up in packages at the grocery store in Japan or freshly baked in the donut / bread sections too. There are many flavors and styles of these and they are part of popular culture in Japan. Last comment, Melonpan like donuts don’t really offer nutrition. It’s all about enjoyment, and I suppose the fleeting energy from empty calories.

The Ice Box is a great way to ruin your teeth if you aren’t careful. It is also an excellent refreshment. Chunks of flavored ice with a sweet and tart flavor. Like tasty lemonade. Pictured here is the sour apple flavor. The chunks are always smaller than a marble and each cone-shaped container is enough for two people to enjoy if you don’t mind sharing. There must be a little salt in the mix to keep the ice a little soft at freezing temperature. (The same reason icecream stays softer than a rock in the freezer.)

It’s not advisable to chew ice if you ask any dentist. But Ice Box is to it’s credit softer ice in a cute convenient box. And it’s hard to not want to have another once you’ve found this snack. Unlike many snacks in Japan that just disappear, we have found them at 7-Eleven and the grocery stores in Japan for several years, though more available during the warmer months.

We went to the Hakuen Shopu (100 yen shop (dollar store)) today. We looked at a number of very useless things. The snack section there is not bad, however you will find some obvious rejects. I’m not sure if this Crisp Crunch Coffee patty thing is a reject, though given its oddity, I’d suspect it. I have to be honest, the taste and texture aren’t too bad. Coffee is a lesser used snack flavor and tasty when paired with chocolate of course. If you like Star Crunch from Little Debbie, which has near the most disgusting unreal chocolate created, this one is quite good compared. We are all used to crispy chocolate candy stuff (Nestle Crunch bar, duh) but it’s just that something about this snack doesn’t scream delectable. But it’s fun and funny and has a cocoa / coffee taste, which I usually love. I had a few good bites out of it, so I wanted to share it. I definitely had to share the real thing, as I couldn’t eat this monster alone unless I was paid to do so. I searched the web to find it, but then I got tired. Some other snacks from its company Cisco’s are available online, maybe I’ll post it when I have time. (I’m lying, I’ll never have time.) If you are dying to try a snack that I don’t genuinely drool over, just because it has chocolate and coffee in it, I suppose you’ll find the energy to look it up on your own. I recommend you pick up something more beautiful from a decent chocolate retailer instead though.

Here’s a pic of this bad boy with the 7″ diameter.

I’m not stealing this idea. I wanted to share it with you in case you like to make your own desserts. These look so good, like something inside the glass case at Panera. The recipe comes from a website called smittenkitchen.

Blueberry Crumb Bars

Most people probably don’t know what Aspartame is. It’s a sweetener found in a lot of processed food and drink, candies and gum. There is a controversy around aspartame which is whether its chemicals, or byproducts are carcinogens, cancer-causing agents, from ingestion of the chemicals or the reaction and change in them that occurs during digestion. Read the Wikipedia entry on the Aspartame controversy, and please check the label on any goods that are sweetened without sugar. It’s probably Aspartame, or Splenda. Probably avoid both of them. Diet Coke would be the most popular product using it.

You don’t have to listen to me though. Research for yourself. I think you’ll find that interestingly products containing Aspartame aren’t anything remotely important in your nutrition anyway, so it’s very logical and easy to avoid them. Diet Soda? I mean come on. You want diet soda? It’s called water, or even tea. Add a little lemon if you like.

What a great idea over at this AOL food site. Can you identify candy bars by looking at their cross section? Check it out here.

I love this fruit, but I haven’t been able to try it yet. It turns sour tasting foods sweet and other “trippy” things according to what I’ve read about it. It’s kind of a flavor enhancing fruit. Enhancing is not the right word since it can turn a food you might not like, into one more delicious. For me, that would have to be Kim Chi that I try with it. Recently reminded of it from this New York Times article, I wanted to share it because I think it may have been part of an FDA conspiracy. And I love those kinds of stories where the bad guy wins (sweetener lobbyists), and then the good guy, the fruit Synsepalum dulcificum comes back for the kill through a public relations win.

If the name Synsepalum dulcificum is too annoying to pronounce, you can thank all those characters in early botany showboating their Latin skills as plant naming conventions. Fortunately it’s called the Miracle Fruit under its wikipedia entry. Whew, beans thankfully still hold the title of magical fruit.

I went on a road trip over the Christmas and New Year holidays. Friends and I went out west to hike and goof around. My good friend made it a point to get everyone presents. Knowing I’m always on snack hunts, he gave me a gift I’ll remember for a long time.

The Vosges “Haut Chocolat” box set is a pricy little collection of four bars. Online they will run you about $30. When you love new flavors, four bars seems like too little, but these still make a great luxury gift.

I was given the box set A as my gift. The others look just as fun, so I bet my friend had quite a time choosing. Likely the Ginger Wasabi was the deal breaker. We shared all the tastes among the group, these being good size chocolate bars and all I can say is it gave me a new appreciation for quality. My only complaint was the Gianduja Bar was almost unnecessary, but this was because the other bars were so surprising.

Box A: Black Pearl, Red Fire, Naga, Gianduja

Box B: Barcelona, Creole, Woolloomooloo, Oaxaca

Box C: Goji, Macha, Calindia, d’Oliva

I’ll leave you to research it at the Vosges website, and consider one of these sets for your next high society gift to a friend or loved one. They are memorable.

Snacks disappear, it is part of life. Halloween snacks disappear more rapidly than any other snack. This is usually because they are terrible snacks that don’t even deserve to have their own bin during the Halloween season. This year I found an exception I wanted to latch onto. But it’s going to go away forever I’m sure. Typically candy / cookie combinations are failures for me. They are too sweet or by mixing the two, cancel out the fun and texture of the individual snacks. That’s fine, I won’t ever fault companies or people from trying.

This year for the brief moment that it’s available, I want to say that the lengthy named Reese’s Pieces Crunchy Chocolate Cookie were the right combinations. Reese’s did the smart thing, they kept the snack light, lighter than the normal Reese’s Pieces in fact. I bought the 9 oz bag at the grocery store and ever since I finished them I thought, man, this snack deserves much more than the thirty-day span it’s going to get. If you said, M&M’s were to disappear in lieu of this snack, I’d be fine with that. I don’t have a link for you to get these, they aren’t even advertised on the Hershey / Reese’s website, look for them in the Halloween displays at your local grocery. Maybe next October, they will bring back the snack again.

Chocolate Dipped Pepperidge Farm Soft Baked Chocolate Chunk Dark Chocolate Brownie cookies may be in the running for the longest titled snack. If you could fill this cookie with any more chocolate, it’s own density will give it gravity much like that of a planetary body. Actually, density is not the right word. Unlike it’s breads, these Pepperidge Farm cookies are quite normal in weight and mass. The picture on the bag exactly matches the cookies for once.

The chocolate is sweet, but not as sweet as your average brownie, and perhaps not sweeter than Chips Ahoy. Each cookie is 160 calories, so it’s quite a hit. What really pulls you in is the texture. The soft-baked cookie is a joy to bite into and since half of the cookie has been dipped in chocolate, the shell kind of snaps and breaks up as you bite into one side. Don’t set the box next to a heat vent or in a window. The experience of these cookies is definitely better if kept at or slightly below room temperature. Compare these with Archway Mocha cookies in quality and texture.

If you buy a bag of 8, don’t eat more than one in a day. In fact, half a cookie would be a nice snack for kids. As with any other cookie snack, sharing them makes everyone happy and distributes the waistline.