Nurturing my inner... choc n' roll

Next stop on the world wide beer tour - Japan.  Konnichiwa.  Get those chopsticks ready.

When I've gone for Japanese, the only way I've seen Sapporo was in a large can.  But Total Wine had it in a smaller bottle, so I was willing to try it at the reduced size.

Silver can or bottle, either way.

Of course there are so many great Japanese dinner options, but today I was in the mood for sushi.  And what's sushi without edamame.  (Steamed, salted soy beans.)  You just pop the beans out of the shell and crunch away.  The whole bowl of them will be gone in a matter of minutes.  They are like vegetables' answer to potato chips.  (Note that potatoes are actually vegetables, so that was redundant.)  You can't stop at just one.

A bean in its natural habitat. So fresh and simple.

When I have sushi at a restaurant I'll get raw fish, aka sashimi.  But when I get it to go, I tend to go with California roll (imitation crab, avocado, cucumber).  Part of my quirkiness, but when I do choose raw, I want it super fresh and to be consumed immediately.

Square, off-white plate with bamboo chopsticks
that have red foil characters on them.

Somewhere in my travels I picked up this little Asian sake cup, but I decided to use it for soy and wasabi.  Anything to make dining even more fun.  The horseradish really clears out my sinuses.  Woo yeah!

Sake cup can be used for other things.
Repurpose items all you'd like.

All together for the full effect.

Full plate and perfectly designed.
So balanced.

And in an unrelated, yet related, side note, my cousin picked up these great little Japanese candies at Wegmans and we both just loved them.

Chocolates the size of Tic Tacs.

They may seem like a simple, tiny, boring chocolate pellet, but they have a terrific light caramel flavor.

Well what do we have here?
Do some of them have pictures?

So strange, but some come with a star or a smiley face in them.  Not sure how they get there.  But those are extra special ones.  So here is a super duper close up for you.

Not sure what their motivation for this is,
but neat surprise.

I didn't drink the beer with the chocolate, in case you wondered.  But I did have it with the sushi and, of course, it was a perfect match.  It's a lite, crisp, clean beer without a heavy after taste.  The only bad part - I ran out of edamame too quickly.