When your girlfriend is traveling from Japan to India for the very first time, you want it to be special for her. In turn, she wants it to be special for you as well. As it turns out, it all ended up being quite special, even though the both of us fell ill ( we’re now mostly recovered – she’s back in Tokyo, I’m in Gurgaon ). We made memories that we hope to get nostalgic about each time we meet.
She had wanted to being me “stuff” from Tokyo – I had no idea what to ask her for. Apart from the usual, “Oh don’t bother – I’m not going to bother you.”, I genuinely had no idea. She probably guessed that I’d never really ask her for anything, so she went ahead and picked up stuff that she likes. Which, I might add, is sometimes, the best thing to do. You share YOU. Food can be a great choice. Small packets of sweets and savouries and soups and whatnot. A whole bag full of goodies all the way from Japan!
I could’ve eaten everything the same day she put the bag in my lap, but I decided I definitely needed to photograph everything for the sake of documentation. What if I really – REALLY – liked something but I’d already eaten it and had no photos to show? How would I, then, ask her to get me more of that stuff that I really liked?! I don’t open wrappers too well, so the likelihood of having anything to show would be grim.
The bag stayed in one corner of my apartment till we got back from being tourists in Delhi, Varanasi and Agra. Once my friend had left for Tokyo and I’d recovered a bit from my infected throat and tummy, I demolished these over a few days. A couple of the soup sachets remain.
The first thing I ate was the green thing you see up top. It’s a rice-cake with sweet stuffing. It was the most perishable item in the bag and I quickly ate it up. I think it might have been my favourite. A whole mini-meal in itself! Then these prawn crisps below were lovely – not stinky like the ones I’m used to from Thailand. The Chocoballs were great too – not new though – similar chocolate snacks in India – my favourite being Nutties ( affiliate link ). I could eat boxes of Nutties all day, every day. The Japanese Chocoballs were different from Nutties but kinda similar.
Then the grape jellies were also one of my favourites. Sweet and tart and they tasted exactly like those big black grapes with seeds – except the jellies have no seeds. Yummy. The packet was over in one sitting. But of course.
The big packet of what tasted like “matcha” tea cakes were also great. I wasn’t sure about the instructions on the packet about how to eat them, so I tried one just like that right out of the packet and it tasted just fine. So that’s how I demolished the entire packet! I served a couple of these to my parents as well when they dropped by one evening – the only snack from this entire bag that I shared with them. Ooops. They have a bit of a chocolate filling as well. I love matcha in anything.
The pink round balls you see below the match cake were probably the most curious product from this entire bag. The outer covering seemed like gelatinous rice and the inside filling tasted like “rajma” i.e. kidney beans. It was a sweet snack and very soft. I’d not eaten sweet rajma previously, so this was very curious. I’m not sure I like it but I won’t refuse a bite if someone offers. Gooey texture.
Regular potato crisps below. Like french fries except crisps. Salty of course. The pink sticks further below were quite lovely. They are biscuit sticks covered in strawberry flavoured cream. Very tasty. Again gone in one sitting. I’d totally eat these again. The pink “vicks-shaped” candy is also strawberry flavoured. I have a bunch of these laying around still. Haven’t finished off the packet mostly because it’s not really visible each time I step into the kitchen – it’s hidden away ever so slightly. Tastes kinda like our Alpenliebe Strawberry.
And finally, the soups. Knorr. Not available in India but of course. Damn these are good. I drank them all when I was ill and recovering from the bad throat and flu. So comforting! Sea weed soup too. Again, I wasn’t able to understand the instructions on the packet but it clearly said 160ml on one and 180ml on the other. So that’s the amount of water I used to boil and dunk the sachets into. Super.
My friend picked up some local sweets from the mall before she left for Tokyo and I’m a sad little panda that I wasn’t able to help her pick those out. Here’s hoping there will be a next time that she’s back in India – but importantly, here’s hoping that I get to go to Tokyo and take a bag full of stuff for her!
I love you Shiori!
