DECEMBER NATURE BOX REVIEW

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you had a nice holiday/break!

For today's post, I have my December Nature Box review! I made sure to try some items I haven't had before so there so nothing would be too repetitive. Let's take a closer look!

1) Lemon Pucker Pistachios - If you like sour lemon flavor, then you will love these! These really will make your lips pucker. The lemon flavor is intense, but not overly lemony and it pairs well with the pistachio flavor. It isn't salty either so it makes for a cleaner tasting snack. I could see myself ordering these again.

 

2) Orange Apple Fruit Chews - These are the same in texture as the Watermelon fruit chews I've had before. The orange flavor is a bit more predominant than the apple, but overall, you can't go wrong with this treat. If you're a fan of fruit snacks, then definitely give this a go.

 

3) Honey Macadamia Pretzel Pops - I enjoyed this one quite a bit, but I couldn't really taste any of the macadamia nut in it. It reminded me a lot of the Salted Caramel Pretzel Pops where they had both that salty and sweat thing going on so I would either stick with one or the other. Flavor wise, I couldn't see much of a difference. The shell coating on the honey macadamia one felt a bit harder than the salted caramel ones.

 

4) Lemon Tea Biscuits - I didn't order this one, but it was given to me as a filler for another one that ran out of stock. I wish when that happens, Nature Box can notify you so you can pick something for yourself. These weren't bad, but I wouldn't pick them again. It is a nice sweet lemon flavored biscuit I can see pairing nicely with some black tea, though I wouldn't select them for myself.

 

5) Peanut Butter  Nom Noms - I was definitely expecting more peanut flavor out of this one. The peanut flavor was mild and I felt like the cinnamon in it stood out more. I love the texture of this and the oats throughout but I will probably stick to the Dark Chocolate Nom Noms more.

 

 

Readers, what are your favorite type of snacks? Have you tried Nature Box yet? Let me know!

SNACK REVIEW: O'Zack Limited Edition Matsutake Flavored Chips

 

Today I have a quick little post on this Limited Edition Matsutake (pine mushroom) flavored O'zack  chip. O'zack is known for doing a lot of different seasonal and limited edition flavors so when I saw this flavor, I knew I had to try it out.

 

Matsutake are highly sought out pine mushrooms found in Asia, Europe, and North America and especially in the PNW climate. It has a unique aroma and flavor profile that makes this fungi prized by the Japanese.

 

Now on to the chip. The chip itself has a unique texture--not quite hard like a Lays potato chip but a little fluffy, almost like a Pringles but with more air. As you can see from the pictures above, you can notice the little air bubbles (almost like a popped chip). As you bite into it too, you will notice a soft crunch. The flavor of these chips is spot on to the flavor of Matsutake. Since I've had Matsutake before, I can say that these chips have that true pine aroma to the chips. With a little flavor booster and some salt, this snack makes for an addicting treat. The flavor of the pine mushroom is very different compared to other types of mushrooms so it may take some people awhile to get used to if they are not familiar with anything like it. However, as a unique and limited edition fall flavor, I would definitely try to get your hands on it if you can! I found mines at my local Asian/Japanese grocery store for around $2.59 a bag.

 

Readers, have you tried any limited edition flavored chips? What are some of your favorites? I'd love to know!

NATURE BOX - NOV '14 REVIEW

  

Time for a quick snack overview on my November Nature Box!

I really wanted to try some more

 

1) Italian Bistro Pretzels: A thicker pretzel bite with Italian herb seasonings. This wasn't my favorite and was a little bit dry to be honest. The pretzels had a garlic & parmesan cheese coating to it which was a little bit salty for my taste. I probably wouldn't purchase them again

 

2) Mango Orange Fruit Chews: Loved these ones! Just like the carrot apple fruit chews I mentioned last month, these come five in individual packages. It is definitely more of a tropical flavor and the mango and orange are balanced well without having one over power the other. I would highly recommend this one, especially if you love fruit snacks.

 

3) Dark Cocoa Nom Noms: This was such a rich tasting treat! Strong on the cocoa and not overly sweet, this is perfect for the chocolate lover out there. It has oats in them which makes them very hearty. I would definitely recommend this one, especially if you like chocolate.

 

4) Tart Apple Mango Crispy Chews: This is the only item I re-ordered from last month . I loved these per usual and gave half the bag to my friend to try and she liked them as well. This definitely has more of a mango flavor than apple and the puffed rice in the snack adds for a nice texture. I'd recommend this one, again.

 

5) Salted Caramel Pretzel Pops: I'm a huge fan of almost anything with salted caramel in them and this one was no exception. The salted caramel flavor was wrapped in a hard coating around these the pretzel pop. It was a nice balance of sweet and salty, though it may be a bit too salty for some, but suits my taste buds just fine! For a crunchy snack, I'd recommend this one, especially if you are into the whole sweet/savory trend  =).

 

That's it for last month's Nature Box subscription. As always, I do have a code for anyone that is interested for $10 off their first box from Naturebox.com. Use code: share10off.

 

Readers, what are your favorite type of healthy snacks? Have you tried Nature box yet? Let me know!

BIRTHDAY WEEKEND: Revel and Schilling Cider House in Fremont.

A couple weekends ago, I was able to celebrate my birthday (super last minute) with some of my girl friends. We wanted to venture to a different area of Seattle than are usual Capitol Hill and this time we went to the Fremont neighborhood in Seattle just west to the University District.

 

 

 

Revel



We started off at the cutest Korean fusion place called Revel. None of us have been there and it is always fun to try somewhere new. The menu isn't too huge so it wasn't overwhelming and we were able to try a bit of everything.

  

 Our first dish that came was a noodle dish: Dungeness crab, seaweed noodle, spicy red curry, crème fraiche. It was definitely different than anything I've ever had before but the combo was divine! The seaweed noodles were nice and al dente, the curry wasn't too spicy, there was an overall sweetness to the dish and the crab added a nice flavor and seafood texture. The baby bok choy added a nice fresh crunch to the dish as well.

 

Next were some appetizers: pork belly, kimchi, and beansprout pancake and the short rib, pickled shallot, and scallion dumplings.  Pork belly and kimchi is just always such a nice combo and in a pajun style pancake it added an extra crunch to it. The dumplings had a crush that was reminiscent of a Mexican dessert crust and the meat inside was nice and moist.

The last item we had was a rice dish (like a bibimbap) that had an egg yolk with short rib, sambal daikon (sambal is a type of Indonesian hot sauce, and daikon is a type of raddish) with mustard greens. This was probably my favorite dish! When you mix everything all together, you get a flavor and texture medly going on. Then there are sauces on the side that you can add to your liking including, a soy sauce mixture, fish sauce, gochujang (a type of Korean pepper paste) and I think ssamjang (another type of Korean spicy paste with Korean bean paste).

 

Of course you can't end the night without dessert and since it was my friend and I's birthday month, they gave us two candles to celebrate =)

I can't remember the name of the dessert dish but it consisted of this thick pudding, salted caramel, apples, dates, and rice puffs and OOOooo it was amazingggg! Not overly sweet or rich, just the perfect amount

 

 

 Schilling Cider House 

 

The last stop was Schilling Cider House which is a place where, as you guessed it, sells hard cider drinks. We had never been there before but saw some good reviews on trusty 'ol Yelp and decided to head in. The guy helping us was a bit awkward at first, but warmed up to us when we said we had no idea what we were doing. Basically, each of those samplers you see are $2 each and a whole flight of 6 samples is $13.45 (tax included). Such an awesome deal to be able to try the drinks you wanted! We decided on trying our own flights and pick and choose the drinks. I can't remember all of the ones I had but what comes to mind is sriracha lime, baked apple, a cider with melon, blackberry cider, and a pumpkin ale cider.

 

Sriracha lime tasted like pho without the beef stock and was a bit weird. Not gonna lie, and it definitely did have a kick. I'd recommend anyone to try it at least once since it is so unique and different. Baked apple cider was delicious and tasted like a better version of Martinelli's apple cider since there was alcohol in it. It wasn't overly sweet and the apple flavor was nice and crisp.

The cider with melon was my least favorite. I could barely taste any melon flavor and it was lacking in fullness and flavor. I don't recommend that one. The blackberry cider  was absolutely delicious! The berry flavor was present and it added a nice sweetness to the cider. Again, it wasn't overly sweet and is another favorite. The last cider I can remember and probably my favorite of the bunch is the pumpkin ale cider. If you love pumpkin flavored things, this is one too try. There was a definite pumpkin tone to the cider without it being overly pumpkin like pumpkin pie. It had a mellow sweetness to it that matched the pumpkin flavor just right. I highly recommend this one!

 

That's it for my quick little Birthday weekend post =) I hope you enjoyed it and enjoyed all the food posts. If you live in the Seattle area or ever come to visit, I definitely recommend checking these places out and the Fremont area in general (plus, you can see one of the major tourist attractions, the Fremont Troll!)

 

Readers, do you enjoy Korean food or Korean fusion? How about ciders (alcohol and non alcohol!) Let me know in the comments!

A Look Back: A Day in Korea

*picture heavy*

Taking a little rewind-my trip to Asia this past September was filled with some delays which left me with one day to play in Korea! We weren't too far away from the Incheon airport, but it was enough to see (and eat!) everything, or as much as we could!

First, let's take a look back to that whole day..

Carry on necessities

Bye-bye Washington

Some actually good in-flight Korean airplane food: bibimbap

 

So since we missed our connecting flight to Malayia, we ended up having hotel accommodations made for us at where they provided us with two rooms and 3 meal tickets.

Their version of beef stroganoff..not that great..lolz

Our hotel bathroom

 

A look at night

 

Breakfast- buffet style

 

These spam sets were everywhere!

Lunch with ox tail soup, banchan, and dumplings

 

Much needed matcha/green tea latte

Fish cake snacks here!

 

And all the yummy pastries here, ughh, I wish I could've eaten more!

Our last meal in Korea where it was all seafood!

Banchan, clam soup, seafood noodles, and grilled mackerel.

And back in the airport waiting to go! Repping my 12th fan Seahawks shirt in Korea =P