Freedom Japanese Market – February 2018

These are all over YouTube and not sure if I have ever seen this box specifically but I did want to try something different from what I have been getting. There are Canadian candy subscription boxes out there but it is a bit much for our household. This was more for the gimmick than anything else. I purchased three months of the original box at $68.97USD. There was a $3.00 discount on there for signing up for the e-mail thing. This a monthly box and the monthly cost is $24.99USD with free shipping.

A couple things to note about the box though. In the pro column would be they include an English list of everything that is in the box and they include a handmade origami each month. On the con would be that it can take weeks to get and there is no tracking. To me that was not enough to say no to the box. It is coming international and the shipping is free. It was something I expected.

If I happen not to have a picture of the origami above this it is because I have misplaced it. A mom brain moment. I set it down because Missy woke up before falling asleep all the way and when I came back I could not find it. It is super cute though ha-ha.

The blue on on the left is Tonkotsu Umaibo, a crunchy puffed corn tube flavoured like pork cutlet sauce. This is also open. The reason I decided to try this one first is because it was thee most disgusting sounding one to me. Part of that reason is that I do not like pork. I imagined it being much worse than it is. No I would not buy it off the shelf but I ate a third of it. I will give the rest to Mister to try. I found it to be a savory seasoning on a giant Cheeto.

The one on the right is Cheese Umaibo. The only difference is that it is a cheese flavouring. So, this tastes like a giant cheese puff! I absolutely want to find some of these to buy ha-ha

Here we have Takoyaki-Tei, puffed rice balls coated with takoyaki sauce. The name of the sauce sounds so familiar and I just cannot place it. Since this is a fair sized bag I am going to wait to try this with Mister.

This is another one I plan on waiting to share with Mister. These are potato chips with soy sauce and mayonnaise. I cannot say these sound appetizing but is mayonnaise not a condiment that varies in flavour in every country?

These have a smell that smells like a regular chips with a slight vinegar smell. They do not taste like anything special and they are not gross either. I am just not a huge fan of chips.

Pachi-Pachi Panic!, soda flavoured ramune candy and grape pop rocks. Pretty excited to try these ones out.

These things are amazing. I mean pop rocks are pop rocks but combine them with whatever ramune candy is and it is a pretty great mix. No I did not share this one.

Here is another one I am phsyced to try out. They are small candies that taste like apple, banana, cherry, and orange. My only qualm with this is that, as you can see, there is a toothpick included. I just simply do not think it needs to be in there.

The banana is the one that tastes the most like a banana candy. The orange has a decent flavouring to it. The green apple is alright I guess. I found it had a bit of weird after taste. The cherry flavour was hardly there. Mister was not even able to tell me what it was and guessed based on the colour.

This the bonus snack, a twisty marshmallow stick. The flavouring might be different (maybe) but we have these here. Another fun fat about me is that gelatin grosses me out. So the most that I use marshmallows for is rice squares. This will absolutely be the last thing I go to try.

Ouji no Wasure-Mono, a chocolate filled cookie that is designed to look like a princes crown. The photo on the packaging reminds me of a meringue cookie.

These are Soba Meshi, which is a puffed rice and dried soba noodles. I am looking forward to trying this one.

I cannot make up my mind about these. I do like them but I am not sure if I want to purposely go out looking for them. I remember as a kid we use the crush up ramen noodles and mix in the dry flavouring. Then we would eat it just like that. This reminds me of that but the flavouring is better and much less salty.

This was the first thing I wanted to try but it is late and I am hoping they taste good. Sona Manmam Soda, soda flavoured gum and one piece is extra sour!

Okay the flavour does not last long and I did not expect it too. They were very good though and very soft. Being soft makes a difference because of their size. I did not share this one either.

Waffle-Kun. A waffle shaped biscuit that is coated with milk chocolate. It looks like what it is suppose to and it does not taste bad. It tastes like a plain biscuit. Really not sure how to explain that one. The chocolate is basic and nothing special though.

Mister had the same thoughts as me. It is a basic biscuit with chocolate.

7 Stick Chocolate Cream, 7 crunchy wafer sticks filled with delicious creamy chocolate. I have a pretty good guess what this is going to taste like. I am in no rush to try it.

These are wafer sticks. They are not quite as sweet as the ones I would buy at the store. I think that is because the wafer is plain and not chocolate. I would buy these.

This fish looking thing is Puku-Puku Tai. A taiyaki shaped biscuit filled with strawberry chocolate. The only reason why I am not trying this one right now is because of its size.

Looks like a fish and smells identical to our strawberry wafers. I have not made up my mind on the taste yet though.

Last we have a potato snack and these are flavoured spicy shrimp. So, these look pretty much like Hickory Sticks. Man I miss eating those. However, they smell like fish flakes. Why I did not think this would be the worst item in the box is beyond me. There is a kick to them, sitting at the back of my throat. I have not tried fish flakes so maybe they do taste like them too. I mean I did not gag (and I had two mouthfuls for an honest tasting) but I am not a fan of these. If the spice was paired with something else I think I would be all over these.

Mister liked these. Said they were alright and finished off the bag. Wish I could have gotten more from him.

I will come back and update as I try items. I will also try to get Mister’s opinion on them as well.

 

DIY: Decorative Pumpkin Jar

You don’t have to do a pumpkin like me but I had this random thought in my head. I acted on it.

Supplies list:

  • Glass votive, vase, any container (mine is from the Dollar Tree)
  • Glitter (I would say lots and I got mine from the Dollar Tree)
  • Small glass beads (this is optional and from the Dollar Tree)
  • Brushes (from Dollarama)
  • Adhesive substance (Mod Podge or similar)
  • Something to mark the glass if you want to make a shape on it

So I just picked this up from the Dollar Tree. It’s not all that big but it’s perfect for this project.

This is the first pumpkin I had drawn on (with Craft Decor chalk writer boughten from the Dollar Tree). It’s rough looking as I was rubbing away excess off the surface. I want to note this like a mix of chalk and oil pastel. I personally won’t use it on a chalk board but works with glass projects.

This is the second pumpkin I drew. It is much bigger than the first and I think it works much better. I’ll be making the outside lines smaller and getting rid of the inside ones.

 I wanted to start with the beads first. I mixed them directly with the Mod Podge. I proceed to fill in the pumpkin. This isn’t very fun and if some one has a better/easier idea please let me know. I would have preferred the beads to be flat but I don’t mind it this way. Gives it a bit of depth.

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I then took the Mod Podge mixed with a fine green glitter to create the cut off stem. I made it quite thick that way it would pop out like the pumpkin.

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After the edges dried some I then took a few different shades of black glitter (one had quit a bit of a silver look to it. Oops!) mixed with Mod Podge. I was fairly lazy and did not want to do more then one layer. So this was done in one fairly thick layer. The glitter to glue ratio was higher than when I did the stem.

The down fall of doing a thick layer is that it is much harder to work with and it takes quite a long time to dry. I left it for nearly four days just to make sure it was safe to use.

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You can see here that the black is very silver. I wanted something more of a prominent black but I am happy with the way it turned out. This was taken after the top layer of glue dried and I could move it to somewhere safe to dry the rest of the way through.


I did not originally have a plan on how I wanted to use the vase, I just new I wanted to make it. I bought a bag of black sand from the Dollar Tree and have been using it as a make-up brush holder (my eyeliner is in there too). I really love this piece!

Back at the Snail Mail

While I was trying to get things back on track I fell very behind in replying to letter. I did recently get some done and sent out though!

Mailed June 16 2016

I have six (I forgot one for the picture) letters going out. They are going to:

  • Canada
  • USA
  • Hong Kong
  • Switzerland
  • Germany
  • Australia

I still have a few more that I need to finish replying to and still some first letters I need to finish up.

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Hand Crafted Christmas Cards 

  
This year I am crafting my Christmas cards. I don’t have any how-tos  for you (but if you want one on a specific card than let me know).

The card pictured above if for my Mom and Stepdad. Black paper and I used General’s white compressed chalk. This one takes very little time but I quite enjoy the quick sketch look.

  
Another very basic card going out to a friend from school and pen pal for many years JL. I just used some green embroidery thread I had boughten from Dollarama, glued down with crazy glue (I do not recommend this however I don’t have a glue gun) and the star/ trunk were done with Reeves soft pastels.

  
This one is going out to Boo Boo and her husband. The black line work was done in Staedtler calligraphy marker (the narrow end) and I used watercolours to bring it to life. I couldn’t tell you the brand as I just used what was dried in my pots.

  
I can’t tell you who this one is going out to. But it was done in the same way as Boo Boos card.

  

This one here is going out to my Dad. Cut out some tree part from leather looking paper (I think it came from a dollar store about four years ago) and mixed some white glitter in with glossy Modge Podge for the snow effect. Oh and I glued the trees down with Modge Podge as well.

I will have more of these to show off but I didn’t want to throw it all into one post. Especially since I am not done all of them yet. They have been fun and I enjoy the mix between tasteful and funny/crude/cute.

New Pen Friends (Hopefully)

I went and registered for International Pen Friends about 3 weeks ago now. I had found a few links to the website based in Finland and I decided to give it a go. I was only able to find one review (this may have just been me and not the fact there is not any out there). I got nervous because this is a paid subscription. I took my chances. Well, I am an impatient person to begin with so waiting for an email just made me that much more nervous that I was ripped off.

Yesterday I in fact received my list of new pen friends. I am quite excited. I have 2 out of 15 written up to this moment. I go to the post office tomorrow and I am hoping to get two more letters done tonight. That means I should have five to send (I did not make it to send my other pen friends letter).

So far I have these following (including my current friends)

2 x USA

1 x Hong Kong

2 x Australia

2 x England

1 x Belgium

4 x France

3 x Germany

1 x Italy

1 x Qatar

I would say I got enough of a selection. I was not looking for any where specific anyways. There are also a few males in that list. I have yet to write to any males (besides my cousin when he was incarcerated) so that will be a new experience that I am looking forward to.

I am not about to assume that all 15 are going to right me back but it would be amazing if they all did. I mean the first letter sets the impression but I like to babble so I am not sure how well they will get read. I also believe that my address will be given out to 10 people in the same fashion.

I still am waiting to hear back from my one pen friend though to see how she liked her parcel. I know that it was much larger than anything that had been sent before but I had to make of for months of not writing back.

I need to get back to work so I can get on my way back home. I have chores and letters to do!