Sichuan Mushroom Noodles - Bento Boxes

Bento Box Picnic in the Park!

Today we decided to do something a little different and have a bento-style lunch at the park. I've had
these cute bento boxes for years. In high school my best friend introduced me to the wonders of real
Asian cuisine including the Japanese “bento box”. The word bento literally translates to “lunch” or
lunchbox. There are hundreds of different styles and sizes for bento boxes ranging from $10 up to $80.
I only have two types: a traditional black lacquered box with a cloth tie and a pink layered box with
several 8 matching containers for sauces, condiments, or garnishes.
Lunch boxes in Japan are somewhat different from what you would find in the US. For a kid
growing up a standard lunch would be a turkey sandwich, crackers, an apple and maybe a cookie for
dessert. When I was a kid in school PB and J’s were still allowed, but now with nut allergies rising, very
few schools have peanut butter products.

Ito en Oi Ocha Green Tea - Canned

Ito En Oi Ocha is clearly a great bottle/canned tea. Love it more then Lipton's and Arizona teas that I have had in the past. So Ito En is a Japanese multinational beverage company that was founded in 1966. It is the biggest green tea distributor in Japan and makes unsweetened, bottle green tea and also lose leaf tea. 

This is unsweetened, which is what I love about it. I can not express that I don't really like sweet tea and it is hard to pick up a bottle of tea in America and it NOT be sweetened. So that is a big sell for me. It is natural and has no calories and you can get about 150% vitamin C for the day. Ingredients are purified water, green tea and vitamin C and that's it. 

 

The color is great and the taste of the beverage is fantastic. It is green tea in it's unsweetened bliss. No wonder why it is the most popular green tea in Japan. Can find it anywhere if you wanted there but not to much here in America. Ito En has a base here but that have a different market that they are shooting for and have a different line of tea's. 

You can find this in can, bottle or a 2L bottle. 

Buy some here! wont be disappointed.

Info from Ito En page and Wikipedia

                

Pokka Milk Coffee

So apparently I have become a guy who enjoys trying a lot of different canned coffee's. What can I say, they are pretty cheap and are nice to have.

So Pokka milk Coffee is from Pokka Corporation which is located in Japan. Actually at the beginning of this year (2013) Pokka and Sapporo (big beer company) merged making Pokka Sapporo Food & Beverage Ltd.

So it comes i a few different coffee shapes, there was a narrower can but I grabbed the typically can as it had more and I was going to pay the same.

   

This canned coffee was rather nice to have. It was a step up from others that I have tried and was smooth and didn't taste burnt. It does say that there are "milk particles" that are floating on top. It says it is natural but not super confident about that but taste fine none the less. Does have that slight bitter taste from a strong cup of coffee. I can say that I enjoyed it and would recommend it but I wouldn't go more then $1 for a can.

Can buy some right here if you like!

Mr. Brown Cappuccino Coffee

Mr. Brown Cappuccino iced coffee is a canned or a bottled coffee that is produced by King Car company that is based out of Taiwan. There are many flavors like original, vanilla (which we reviewed here), espresso, cappuccino, Colombian, Macadamia Nut and Blue Mountain Style. It launched in 1982.

 

Apple Sidra Soda

This drink isn't a true cider but it is more like a soda. It was very fizzy when I opened the can and poured it. It has a real light taste, the apple in it is not to strong like a lemon-lime drink does. Not being to sweet is good for me because sometimes the lemon-lime drinks are. It is almost so mellow that I can't tell it is an apple flavor. It was about 75 cents and was worth it. It losses its carbonation pretty quick which means flat pretty quick so if you open the can you better have at it!

This soda "Apple Sidra" is made by Oceanic Beverages Co. Inc in Taiwan

I love the look of the can.

   

Ribon Hokkaido Soft Milk Candy

Ribon's Hokkaido Soft Milk Candies are wonderful! They are a soft candy much like a caramel candy but it has a somewhat light sweet condensed milk taste. Glad that the bags come with quite a few candies to keep me going for awhile. 

Hokkaido is the northern island of Japan and is ranked #1 for raw milk which is why this is called Hokkaido Soft. That and they use Hokkaido milk for every bag! Apparently it has a ton of Calcium too.

    

Also, they are not sticking and are just the right size to eat. 

I definitely recommend trying these things out!

Omnomnomnomnom.

Also, here is a link to Amazon if you want a few!