Thursday, August 22, 2013

August Love With Food Review + 10$ coupon

I have been really loving Love With Food (referral link) lately. For their summer boxes, I think all of them have been a hit so far (this one was good too).  Love with food is a gourmet snack subscription box that has been around for awhile, well as far as subscription boxes go.  It is $12 a month, but the price goes down when you buy longer plans. This box is special because they donate a meal with every box, so that should make you feel awesome.  Every month has it's own theme and the past couple of boxes have been summer themed. This one was Backyard BBQ.

Get your first box free (pay shipping) with code FBGIFT2

 Look at dat angelic glow (aka light from the window).
El Pinto Medium All Natural Salsa ($0.75)- This was really awesome. I had a late night craving for salsa and this satisfied it completely..  It tasted really natural and better than most salsas I've had.  But I am pretty sure some people would find this too spicy.  I didn't think it was at all,  but I am used to spiciness at most levels.  My guess is that some subscribers aren't exactly used to a lot of spiciness.  But I loved it.

Lightly Salted Snapea Crisps ($0.75)- These were kinda like pea flavored cheetos, except they were mostly pea, and not some deep fried puff thing. I thought it was pretty good, but it didn't taste that much like peas.

Rip van Wafels Caramel Filled Waffle Cookie ($1.50)- This was also very good.  I love caramel, so I got excited at the mere sight of it.  There are very similar (almost the exact same) things at Costco, but there are like a million and they come in stacks.  
Some coupons

Aunt Sally's Original Creamy Praline ($2.50)- This was so tasty! It was super delicate for a praline, hence the creaminess, and it tasted very caramelly.  I kinda wish there were more pecans but I kind of don't since it might take away from the creaminess.

Project 7 Mints ($1)- I really like the test tube packaging on this.  As for the mints, they are pretty good.  I just wish they were a bit stronger, but that's just me. And the cause for this is cool, it's a donation in a donation!

Dizzy Pig Tsunami Spin BBQ Seasoning ($1)- I had this on some asian chicken and noodles and it was delicious.  It added a big peppery kick to it, which was really nice. 
Awesome info card with picture

Sahale Snacks Fruit and Almond Crunchers ($1)- I really like Sahale Snacks. Mixed nuts usually aren't my thing, but these had some really nice flavors like sesame, cranberry, and honey.

BOPS Sea Salt Potato Crisp ($1)- I was pleasantly surprised with this. They were like your standard potato crisps, just a bit fluffier, and they actually tasted like potato (and they were healthier).  They weirdly enough reminded me of french fries. 

The total value of this box was about $10.  This is actually pretty great for this box and I liked all the products. I am not sure how a lot of them fit with the theme though. With the exception of the barbecue rub, I think this would be more of a picnic theme. But whatever, it was still awesome.
Verdict: This was a great box. 

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Candy Japan Review

Ugh, I am finally getting situated with the school year again, so I promise now I should be posting more. Not as much as I did in February, but more.. I will get less busy in the winter, but then I might have practice for a percussion group for over 24 hours a weekend! How crazy, now, on to the review!

As you all probably know by know, I have a small (gigantic) obsession with Japanese candy.  There's a subscription for that now! It is called Candy Japan is a bi-monthly candy subscription. Twice a month, they send you "interesting and delicious" candies in an envelope for you to try.  They say to expect 2-6 candies per month.  This subscription is $25 a month, so about $12.50 per envelope.

The owner of this subscription kindly sent me their last July shipment in exchange for an honest review. 


Okashina Mizuame- See below for a more detailed explanation.

Coris Whistle Candies- I've hear of these before and always wanted to try them. You simply put them in your mouth and blow, and the magic of science produces a really high-pitched whistle sound.  I'm sure this would get on someone's nerves, but I liked it since I am really bad at whistling.  I think it was soda flavored, and I really like soda flavored things because that is kinda a trademark of Japanese candy.  Soda flavored things taste kinda like a bubbly soda pop, or Ramune if you have had that. 

Does this look familiar to you if you have read my blog before? I bet it looks like some Awesome Japanese Candy!  This candy came with three different packets of flavored liquid sugar (basically) to mix together and stuff. The blue one was soda flavored, which I love, the yellow was lemon, and red was strawberry flavored. You start out by mixing one of the packets with another one in the plastic tray. You keep trying different flavor combos until you have all of the packets in the container.
After all of the liquid sugar is stirred, this is the final product.  I think the main thing about this candy is that it is supposed to taste like grape at the end.  It definitely did! I didn't know soda+lemon+strawberry=grape!
A lot of Japanese stuff in general comes with free bonuses.  The whistle candies came with a little box with this novelty ring.  This may be a nice surprise to some kids.

As for the value of this box, I am very confident that these candies didn't equal the $12.50. But then again, shipping is super expensive, and you are paying for things you can't get anywhere.  So I think it is a matter of personal opinion if it is worth the money.  For a candy addict like me, it would definitely be worth it. 

Verdict: I am definitely considering to sign up!

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

July/August Skoshbox Review

I'm not dead! This past week up until now has just been work.  My only free time has been at night.Hopefully I'll post more often again. 

Skoshbox is a new Japanese monthly subscription box. Ever since dumpling box went under, I've felt this lack of asian stuff being delivered to me. The timing of this box was perfect! As you most likely know, I am a huge fan of Asian cultures. Not only do they send food and stuff, but they also send stationary, like fun pens and erasers! Each box also has a card with a description of every item. Even though I am not Japanese, this box still interested me a great deal. This box is $12 a month including shipping, and I think that is on the cheaper side of subscription boxes.

This box was founded by two close friends that have lived in Japan and the U.S throughout their lives. The two friends were basically surrounded by Japanese culture all the time.  They saw that access to a variety of Japanese stuff was not only scarce, but also quite pricey. So then bam! Skoshbox was born.

 This month's box came with chopsticks! I have a bunch of matching chopsticks in a drawer so these would look weird with them. I'm sure they'll go to use though.  Skoshbox also includes an info card with a tidbit of information about each product; I always love it when boxes have these. 
Elise Stick- This was a wafer like stick filled with matcha green tea flavored filling. I love green tea flavored stuff, and this was no exception.  It was a nice light snack.

Mini Salad- This were rice crackers with a flavor based of salad dressing! Pretty tasty in my opinion. 

(2) Umaibo- These are flavored puffed corn sticks. Umaibo comes in a bunch of wacky flavors! The ones included were relatively mild, just cheese and corn. 
Fuwa Fuwa Jelly- The Japanese sure do like their jelly candies! This one had marshmallow and melon flavored jelly/jell-o.  I thought it was pretty tasty, but it got really sweet, almost too sweet.

Milk Caramel- Caramel is always welcome in my opinion. This wasn't the best thing I'd ever have, but I still enjoyed it thoroughly.

Melon gummy Candy- I think I got this in a Dumplingbox (discontinued) once! Or something similar. Like Jelly, the Asians also like melon flavored things.  I drink melon flavored milkis (milk flavored soda, yeah it sounds weird but I like it) and ramune (kinda like a japanese sprite) all the time! Oh and the gummy was pretty good.

Grape Gummy Candy- Like the melon flavor, grape is used in most asian stuff. It was also tasty.  
Cheese Kibun- Cheese flavored rice crackers? Sounds good to me.  I love cheese and most things relating to cheese, this was a delicious little snack.  Very flavorful.

Suzume no Tamago- This literally means "Sparrow's Egg." Just peanuts coated in a savory rice cracker shell. Savory rice crackers can make anything taste good! I usually don't like peanuts, but I did like this.

Almondrush- This was just white chocolate with a ton of almond slivers inside. I liked it a lot, more than I thought I would actually. The almonds had a nice flavor and added some texture to the otherwise mediocre white chocolate.


Verdict:  Overall, I really like Skoshbox. I think it was worth the twelve bucks and I will definitely stay subscribed.