Manga Cafe Order

With this awful virus still around, I find it unlikely we'll be travelling to Japan this year. So inspired by that sad fact, I decided to order home a few Japanese goodies! I bought this stuff from www.mangacafe.fi and this was my first time placing an order there. I know they've been around for years, but I never came about to order anything from there before. I have occasionally bought something (usually Pockys & Ramune) at their table at a convention. But I guess we won't be having any conventions this year either, so all the more reason to buy something home, where I'm stuck anyway.

Pokemon Soda

I think they had about 13 flavors to choose from, all with different Pokemon print on the can. I really wanted a Mewtwo - strawberry soda, but they were sold out. So instead, I chose the can with the Pokeball print, just because it looked nice. I'm a bit skeptical about the taste though.... it's mint flavored. And yeah, it wasn't that good.  Just carbonated water with a weird side taste. Not worth the 4,50€ this thing cost. Now I really wish I had picked another flavor!

Pokemon Cola Taffy

The print on the papers that are wrapped around the taffy is really bad. With this kind of quality I don't see  anybody even wanting to collect these, if that's the intended purpose. The Mew I got, is different from the others,it has a plastic layer on it, so I thought maybe it was a sticker, but nope. It's the same cheap paper just under a protective layer for some reason. So about the candy... it's good!  The cola taste comes through and is neither too subtle or overbearing. 

Ichigo Daifuku - Strawberry mochi and Mochimochi Chokora - chocolate mochi

My mom fell in love with mochis on our trip to Japan, so I ordered these with her in mind. I like mochis just fine, they take a bit to get used to. I really like the outside "dough" or whatever it's called, but I usually find the filling to be a disappointment. First off, these mochis I ordered are super tiny! Like, the ones we had in Japan were the size of a chicken egg, these ones are so little and cute (like a cherry tomato)! So about the strawberry mochis, they are all right. The filling is like a tiny speck of strawberry jam inside a marshmallow, a bit too "meh" for my taste. Now the  chocolate mochis, on the other hand..... they are the best mochi I've tasted in my life! Seriously, it's like they wrapped a rich, dark chocolate cake inside the mochi dough, what's not to love?! The only problem is that they are so tiny, I can't get enough of these!

Pocky Cranberry and  Astor Matcha waffle stick

I think these cranberry sticks just became my new favorite Pocky flavor! They smell damn delicious right out of the box. I should have ordered more of these! About the matcha sticks... I don't like tea, any tea, but the exception to that rule seems to be matcha. No, I wouldn't drink matcha tea, but so far, everything that I've tasted that has included matcha as a flavor has been so good. Matcha ice cream, matcha chocolate and now these waffle sticks. They're all good! Here, the taste of matcha borderlines on being too subtle, but still good.

Fettucine Peach sour gummy

I know these are good. Last time we were in Japan, I bought a random assortment of different candies from Daiso just to try out new stuff, and this Fettucine sort stuck out to me for being especially good. I was happy to find out Manga Cafe had this in their selection. I'm a sucker for sour candies, and I have yet to find a peach flavored candy I didn't like.

Senjakuame - strawberry milk paws

I bought these with hesitation, considering to leave them out of my order, but my curiosity got the better of me. The idea of candy shaped like paws is cute as heck, and the illustration on the packaging are also too cute. The reality is nowhere near as pleasant. First off, the smell that comes out of the bag when you open it is awful. They look slimy and they don't taste any good. Big disappointment! It's the "milk" part that ruins it for me, had they've been pure strawberry, I think they could have been good.

Top 3

1. Mochimochi Chokora 

2. Fettucine Peach

3. Pocky Cranberry 

I wouldn't buy again: Senjakuame - strawberry milk paws, Pokemon Soda (not this flavor anyway)

Moomin candy 2

Previously: http://fantasticpainkiller.blogspot.com/2015/07/moomin-candies.html

I found a bag of Moomin candies I've never seen before! And unlike every other Moomin branded confectionery in Finland this one is not made by Fazer! These candies are from Italy and made by Zaini! I recognize this brand for their chocolate eggs that are sold around easter in stores here in Finland. I never knew they made other candies as well!

It was kind of weird seeing this winter themed illustration on the bag in the middle of  summer, but who cares? I was already sold on the promise of a surprise figure inside! I bought two bags  right away and I think they only cost 1,59€ each, which is much cheaper compared to Fazer's price range.

The jellies (or can I call them marmelade?) come in four flavours, which are: strawberry, orange, cherry, lemon.

My favorite was the cherry and least favorite one the orange (surprise, surprise). Lemon flavour, I think, is a little bit unusual to be found in these type of candy but it wasn't terrible. I'd have preferred the strawberry to have a slightly stronger taste to it, but it was okay. If there wasn't a surprise toy involved, I wouldn't buy this bag just for the jellies. They aren't that good, just "meh" overall.

I was hoping the surprise would be an actual figure instead of some sticker and other kinds of cheap junk they put inside surprise toys these days. And yes, it was a tiny figure, but with my luck I ended up with a double of the same figure, Moominpappa. 

I would really like to get  Little My, Snufkin, Hattifatteners and Moominmamma of course. I wonder why they chose Snork instead of Snorkmaiden who seems to be the more obvious choice.

The figure from the candy bag is really similar to the one I got from the Moomin Christmas calendar, the most noticeable difference is the way the tail is positioned and the material. The calendar figure is made of a slightly softer plastic.

My Moominpappa collection

Sweet stuff from Estonia

At the end of last month me and my mom went on a one day trip over to Tallinn for a shopping spree (I really should stop doing those). Our morning started already at 4 A.M. because we had to reserve enough time to get everything ready before we could set on our 1 hour drive to Helsinki. Then we had to ride the subway for another 30 minutes and finally a 20 minute walk to the terminal. Luckily, there was a breakfast buffet on the ferry, which made the two hour crossing over the Gulf of Finland seem like no time at all.

I didn't even make it on land before I made my first purchases in the ship's supermarket. How could I resist that XXL Sized Darth Vader Pez dispenser or the other Star Wars candies for that matter?

The only candies that were actually worth their price were unsurprisingly the Pez candies. The lollies were bland as hell, no flavour at all. By far, the worst was those that came with the hand held fans. You can't even tell what they're supposed to taste like, there's a little sweetness to them and that's it. But honestly, I didn't buy the lollies and fans for the candy. I wanted them for the mini Vader and Trooper helmets! It will require some disassembly, but that's the fun part isn't it?

More PEZ! I also had to buy this My Little Pony box on-board for the Fluttershy dispenser even though I already have the Rainbow Dash one. It was a good thing there were coin lockers in the Tallinn terminal so I didn't have to carry these things with me the whole day! Now, since we were in Tallinn, I wanted to go to their local supermarket and stock up on those super tasty Pez Fizzy candies, which for some whatever reason are not sold in Finland. I've previously briefly talked about them here. To my dismay, I couldn't them! I must have looked at least four times through the shelves at the candy aisle before I noticed what it read on the lid on those Angry Birds sweets. YES!!! I bought six packs of them, which seemed plenty at the time, but they're running out fast.....

I also bought a couple of these Monster high candies I've never seen before. Boy, they were not worth it! If you let the candies melt away in your mouth, they're okay, but it you make the mistake of chewing them..... blergh. I can only imagine this is what perfume tastes like, so very artificial. Never buying this again.

On a slightly more positive note regarding Monster High. I managed to find one flea market that was within an optimal walking distance from the harbour. There I found these two dolls: Picture Day Abbey and Dance Class Clawdeen for only 3 euros each! Which I think is really cheap considering they still have all their limbs attached and most of their outfits. In Finland, if you manage to find a MH doll for this price, it's usually nude and missing a limb or two.

Still a bad picture, no matter how many filters.

Also at the same flea market, I found this unopened Princess Twilight Sparkle and this random hooded figure (McDonald's toy?) for 1 euro each.

There's still time!

For the first time we also went to one of those big shopping malls and got briefly lost on our way there. Once we finally found it, we headed to the floor that was all about toys. There was this stand full with many beautiful Safari Ltd. animal figures. It was really hard to choose only one to buy, especially with all the amazing variety of awesome dragons and fantasy horses! I wish I could have bought them all, but in the end, I chose this bat-horse or Areion Horse as it's real name goes. It wasn't too expensive...

At the same toy shop I found more of these cool dinosaur skeleton assembly sets! Last time I went to Estonia, I bought the Velociraptor one, this time I got the skeletons for Tyrannosaurus Rex and Stygimoloch! I would really have liked to find a Parasaurolophus and Spinosaurus set as well, but I guess they were sold out. Interesting how the bipedal  dinosaurs, especially if they are carnivorous seem to be the more popular ones. More on  these later!

The last store we visited sold home & kitchen stuff, and had a random selection of other trinkets. I found this fridge magnet of a fox very adorable, so I bought it, even though our fridge at home has wood paneling on the door, so you can't even attach magnets to it. But the fox is so cute!

From the same store, I also got this skull, just because it wasn't expensive and it looks cool. Again for the shits and giggles, I suppose, I bought this Star Wars shampoo & conditioner even if it is meant for kids. I seriously need to question who's bright idea it was to but a BALD character on the side of the bottle when they are trying to sell HAIR shampoo. The Inquisitor doesn't even have hair, his species is bald! Why didn't they put Ezra there with his wannabe Aladdin locks at least that would make sense....

Bye bye Tallinn!

Welcome back to Helsinki

Red Foxes

I repainted some fox figurines inspired by the logo of a well beloved and nostalgic  candy brand that has been around for as long as I can remember. Turns out that they have been around since 1895 when the recipe was invented! The name of the sweets is Pihlaja which is the Finnish word for Sorbus/mountain-ash/rowan trees and berries. However, the unofficial name for them is "fox candy" because of the recognizable logo. The candy itself is basically just marmalade with coats of sugar, nothing too fancy.

I chose  three fox  figures I had around for this project, a tiny "made in china" fox, a bigger fox that is actually a money bank and a small keychain fox of the same brand as the big one. It was really hard to get the eyes right on the smaller ones, therefore out of the end results, I like the big one most because that's where the eyes turned out as I planned.

PEZ Collection

Blah! It's been too long of a break since I last wrote anything, feels like I can't even form proper sentences anymore! Not that I was ever good at that before, mind you. I guess this will be again one of those posts where I try to let the pictures do the most of the  talking.

So, anyway...... first lets talk about Pez candies real quick!
Normal flavours here in Finland have been for as long as I can remember; Orange, Lemon, Cherry, Strawberry, and..... woodland strawberry? (not 100% sure of that...) They all taste good, but by default I like the orange one the least. I can't really decide between the strawberries and cherries which one I like better, depends on the day I suppose!

Other Pez flavours I've tasted are Pez Liqourice and Pez Fizzy. The Liqourice isn't sweet at all, it's more salty like and I don't care for it. Really yucky stuff, never going to buy it again. Now, on the other hand, the fizzy ones, they are the best! Seriously.

strawberry, apple, lemon and the white is something super sour

There are randomly multiple flavours within one pack and they are slightly sour (I guess it's the "fizz" that does it). They are so good!! :3 The only problem I have with them, a very big problem, is  that they are not sold in Finland! WHY!?!!!? I found the Fizzy Pez in a shop in Estonia and they were like 80% cheaper than the regular flavoured ones in Finland. I am so regretting right now I didn't buy more of them while I had the chance. Next time I get to Estonia I'm going to buy a whole truckload of them, so that they'll never run out!

Onto the dispenser themselves. Maybe it's just my memory lying to me, but I have this impression that back in my childhood , you used to get 6 or 8 packs of candy when you bought a dispenser. Nowadays, you get 3 or sometimes just 1 random pack of candy. What's up with that?


Here we are then, the following is my current collection of PEZ dispensers. I've said it before, that I'm not a collector of the PEZ dispensers themselves. I have these few selected ones, because I collect the stuff related to their particular series overall.

MLP: Friendship is Magic. I found just 1 Twilight in a local shop, and I finally found Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie over in Estonia.

The Simpsons. I've had Homer since my childhood and I bought Bart and Marge last year via a Facebook group. Still missing Lisa and Maggie. I was so close getting Lisa, before the seller backed down and was never heard of again.

The Moomins. Bought from the Toy Swap, the most expensive ones yet. Hopefully I'll never have to pay as much for another set of dispensers.

The Skulls. I love skulls! <3 and that's the only reason I bought them. I think they are seasonal for Halloween from 2014.

Star Wars. Maul, Sidious & Grievous were bought at the Toy Swap.  Vader, Stormtrooper & R2 were bought new in a shop. C-3PO is from my brother's childhood. Yoda & Chewie, I found them at a flea market.

Pokémon. I've had them all since my childhood <3


That's it! For now....

Japan Candy Box pt.2

All items ordered from Blippo Japan & Kawaii Shop

Lotte Pokemon Soda Candy - 5 pack
"The candies are super tasty - just place one in your mouth and the candy will start to fizz!" 

These candies come in 5 different flavors; pineapple (Pikachu), melon (Chespin), cola (Fennekin), soda (Froakie) and grape (Espurr). I would describe these candies consistencies as very "powdery", they melt pretty fast once you bite into them. Oh, and there is no fizz whatsoever, what a let down. Taste wise, I've already mentioned that I don't tend to like pineapple & melon and that holds true in this case as well. The pineapple flavoured ones are absolutely disgusting (IMO), while the melon is tolerable. The cola candies do taste like a drink of cola. Although it feels a little bit weird having the taste of cola (/soda) in your mouth and yet you are still thirsty! I'd say the grape flavour was best out of the bunch. Still, definitely not worth buying again.

Coris Wakuwaku Animal Soft Candy DIY 
"Do-It-Yourself set for designing your own cartoon animal candy from delicious strawberry and lemon flavored candy materials!" 

Right off the bat, the candy material or dough as I like to call it was very good! If you are feeling lazy, you can just eat the candy dough roll instead of bothering pushing it in the molds to make cute animal characters for you to eat. That's pretty much what I ended up doing, because the mold was super tiny! Seriously, I should have used tweezers if I had wanted to make these lollies perfectly cute like shown on the packaging. Obviously, I didn't have the nerves, and that's why my super cute candy animals ended up looking like total abominations. 8D
The package included a mold with 2 animals (mine had the mold for a lion and a panda. ), 2 candy materials and 4 sticks. In total there are 4 different molds available and each package will include one of them randomly.

Moko Moko Mokolet Candy Toilet 2 DIY 

"With Moko Moko Mokolet Candy Toilet you can make a foamy sweet drink bubbling out of the toilet bowl! Kawaii or gross?" 

Inside the box you will find a brightly colored mini toilet (which requires a little bit of assembling), a few stickers in case you feel the need to decorate your new lavatory and two bags of flavoured powder. Once you've assembled your toilet all you need to do is pour one of the sachets of powder into the toilet, then just add some water and wait for the foam to rise. My box had cola (red) and melon (green) flavoured powder (although the melon tasted more like apple to me). I wonder if  they have other flavours available?

I had no idea of what to expect from this, other than that the whole concept is a bit absurd. I was pleasantly surprised! The drink was actually pretty damn good because it was so sour! X) 

The only complaint that I have is that there isn't much to drink, because the mini toilet can only hold so little. I want moaarrr! Heck, the toilet is just a gimmick, just let me buy that powder separately and I'll be happy!