Brothers Conflict

As per usual with my incredibly long list of anime to finish, I only now got through the last episode of Brothers Conflict, a simultaneously cute and creepy romcom.

The story follows Ema, referred to more often as "Chii" by her talking pet squirrel, Juli, as she moves into a mansion of a house with her thirteen step-brothers. (Er, I think at least one actually lives alone so twelve...?) Juli is completely paranoid about the 'advances' that she might have to deal with living with men ranging from 13 to 30. Which is funny, until you realize that's exactly what's going on.

Basically, of these 13 brothers, about 9 fall madly in love with Ema and ask her out/kiss her/confess to her.

No, seriously. Even the youngest (13 year old) does it, though it's sort of implied that he's not at the point where he's 100% aware of the implications of things like smooches and the like.

The two eldest are more brotherly, but there are some awkward moments at one point (a scene with the second-eldest showing her how to cut a particular food properly and the closeness gets misinterpreted and awkwardness ensues). The third? eldest is a Buddhist monk and seems to be at least partially messing around with her.

But pretty much everyone in the family from high school to young adult age end up falling for and confessing to her (with the notable exception of the brother that happens to be in her class, who has had a crush on her forever -- I don't think he ever outright confesses that he likes her).

The anime was fun, and I'm glad it ended how it did, on a non-near-incestuous note, but there was a creepiness nagging me the whole ride. I'm actually surprised I was compelled to watch it to the end; despite being skeeved out by the daring advances and how Ema clearly only saw them as brothers there was something I really liked. Maybe it was the idea of suddenly having brothers. I don't know.

Twinings Green Tea with Apple and Pear

I knew Twinings had a lot of flavors of tea, but what I didn't realize was that they had a lot of flavored teas. As someone who is slowly becoming tea-dependent, this was a serendipitous realization. I love trying teas and drinking teas and just...tea! As a kid I never thought I'd say that without a gob of honey in my mouth but as I've gotten older I've grown into tea.

Still, I have a liking for sweet things. As a kid I'd found the intense fruity tartness that you get in addition to the sweetness of fruit teas unbearably strong, but seeing a green tea with apple, one of my favorite fruits, looked too good to try.

I was pleasantly surprised. I was afraid that the fruit would be too intense, but it ended up being like drinking green tea, with the fruit flavors being quite subtle. They were mostly a gentle aftertaste -- nowhere near as strong as I'd expected.

Unfortunately it appears this tea is only available in England.

Pepperidge Farm Swirl Bread: Caramel Apple

After enjoying the Strawberry Banana flavor so much, when I saw the Caramel Apple flavor on the shelf next to it, apples being another of my favorite fruits, I was compelled to try it. The smell was strong and apple-y. Unfortunately, the taste was not.

I was frankly disappointed. I referenced the strawberry banana as "subtle;" here, the subtlety is enough that it can be hard to taste the apple at all! Plus, I have no idea if there was any caramel in there, period. The texture seemed to have little apple-like chunks in the slices; honestly, the novelty was mostly in the aroma and texture. The flavor didn't scream "caramel apple" to me at all.

To be fair, it could always be that my taste buds were overwhelmed by something (i.e. apple cider), but I'm pretty sure I had a slice without drinking anything that flavorful beforehand and had a similar effect. Maybe my tastebuds just got inured to apple?

It seems that, for fall, Pepperidge Farm introduced this flavor as well as a Pumpkin Spice flavor, which I did not see with this one, interestingly enough (maybe I was distracted by "ooh, Caramel Apple!"). Hopefully I'm wrong about my first impressions on this bread, and hopefully Pumpkin Spice is good too; I really like these creative Swirl breads.

Nonni's Triple Milk Chocolate Biscotti

Chocolate Biscotti + 110cal.

I'll admit it, the chocolate high for relatively few calories (considering some of the decadent things one can get) is what drew me in. What took me so long to try one was a trick of my own eyes: when I took the tray of long biscotti out of the box, I only counted four, magically neglecting to count the second four behind them.

The biscotti are hard, as to be expected. They are not horribly hard, but give some resistance before breaking -- they are not completely brittle, either. The hardness of the biscotti is offset by drizzled chocolate -- a zigzag on top and a coating on the bottom. These help the texture feel softer without the aid of milk or coffee (which are common complements to biscotti).

At 880--I mean, 110 calories, these four-inch biscotti are quite a treat. Those 110 may soon become 880 despite the barrier of individual wrappers.

Wrigley 5 Gum: Vortex

Wrigley's 5 Gum in Vortex is a green-apple flavor. When you open the pack, it hits you in the face with sour green apple scent. It made me think of a Jolly Rancher, to be honest.

The flavor tastes almost as it smells only a bit less intense. You do get the sour/fruity Jolly Rancher feel, but it is a bit underwhelming. Nevertheless, it's not bad. A bit of "juicy green apple" flavor as the box promises and some chewing. The stick was nice and soft, too.

Not my favorite flavor but I've been able to munch on it for a bit, which says something.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

This book was a fairly good thriller, although the character developments seemed a bit strange and disjointed and unexplained. I definitely enjoyed the thriller-mystery hybrid, although I will say, the fact that a cat is tortured and killed, even a fictional one, rubs me very much the wrong way. I almost couldn't finish the book because it bothered me.

The book is kind of camel-like, since you have the initial mystery and then a "mystery solved" resolution of the conflict that started the book. So, I suppose it would be more sandwich-like.

If you don't know Sweden or Stockholm, you'll be lost -- lots of familiar references to countryside places and city districts that make those who have no clue about the area go "...What?" over and over again.

Not a bad book though.

Mentos UP2U Gum: Striped Red Strawberry/Starmint

Just in time for July 4th I'm posting my thoughts on the patriotically themed flavors of UP2U gum. The package is American Flag-y, and even the flavors are patriotic -- STRIPED Red Strawberry and STARmint. Get it? Stars and stripes?

The Starmint flavor is probably one of my favorite minty flavors so far. I am terrible at identifying mints, so I have no idea if it's a blend of mints or what, but I can say that it's a very light and fresh mint flavor -- very nice and refreshing.

Like the other non-mint flavors I've had (aka Berry Watermelon and...Berry Watermelon), the Striped Red Strawberry does have a weird minty undertone to it. But the flavor is also very definitely strawberryesque, and nicely so. What I REALLY liked about this was the smell -- talk about getting a good smack of strawberry right in the nose (I like strawberry smells)!

Mentos UP2U Gum: Berry Watermelon/Fresh Mint

The Fresh mint starts off nice and sweet -- the way fresh would be expected. At times, though, it gets some bitter/sour notes, or it did with the first few pieces I tasted. (This may also be because I was simply trying the gum, rather than having a piece after food, so the neutralizing effect of the mint was overstated.)

I'm not sure how much I like the Berry Watermelon. It's got a nice sweetness to it, but at the same time, while you're feeling the berry tang and everything, there's a minty undertone that is a little odd considering this is a berry and watermelon flavor. It's kind of like the Fresh Mint is an undertone and it's a bit strange. Besides that, though, the gum is really succulent-feeling and sweet and nice.

Chubster: A Hipster's Guide to Losing Weight While Staying Cool

Recently I was perusing my library system's cache of weight-loss/dieting books (I know that might get people all up in arms, for some reason they always do when I talk about me and dieting -- but hang on for a second before I get all the naknaknakking) and came upon a book by Martin Cizmar called Chubster: A Hipster's Guide to Losing Weight While Staying Cool.

Never mind trimming off fat, did I really just rea that title?! And so, I borrowed the book.

(By the way, apologies to hipsters everywhere. I don't mean to rag on you. I just found the juxtaposition of a dieting book and hipsters kinda funny from the "what how seriously" point of view.)

As much as I thought the book would be a good laugh (as I, for one, do not quite identify with the hipster subculture), it was actually more accessible than I thought it would be. Sure, the narration got snarky and stereotypical hipster-y (something you've probably never heard of--sorry, sorry, I'll stop) at points, since the audience it's aimed it is...well...hipsters, those on the forefront fringe of youth culture, and I couldn't help but giggle when there came a part when a basic caricature of the various stereotypes (the hippie or "granola", a music hipster going to concerts of bands we've never heard of, the trendily nerdy bookworms, the artsy fashionistas, the Twitter prodigies...etc) was given to suggest different ways of going about the "Chubster" plan. But, even the author admitted those stereotypes were...well...stereotypes, extreme cases.

I have to say though, just to get it out there, the Music Snob Hipster was what made me start laughing. The idea of ironic 80's band t-shirts (why they're ironic...I guess 'cause there's no way you'd actually have a shirt firsthand from old bands and they're so old it's ironically being slowpoke.jpg?) and a portable turntable put me in the mind of a character, Dave Strider, from Homestuck, and the ability to concentrate and be mature about things spiraled from there.

If you look past the aim towards being "cool" by the modern standards of being a barista that frequents art galleries and doesn't roll with "The Man," though, the book gives some pretty sound advice. It focuses on calorie counting, and even gives a small sampling of what's calorically better or worse among some fast foods, ethnic foods, and microwaveable meals -- taste taken into consideration as well. Apparently alcohol is a large concern, at least by this book, so there's a whole section discussing the goods/bads of your various recreational drugs (alcohol and marijuana, specifically). There are also some good organizational tips, like creating a database of foods you eat and their nutritional values so that you start to, over time, get a broad picture of what's a better or worse idea in your personal diet.

As exercise, too, is generally considered important for health, the book gives some good alternatives to simply signing up for the nearest gym. Example: walking.

The book tries to drive home that, so long as you're aware of what you're eating and expending energy-wise, you can get a handle on your body. I really liked that it gave a starting point for foods, including defining 'fancier' foods like foi gras and whether it may be a good or bad idea to have (i.e. I would have sworn foi gras was a plant, since gras looks like grass. I was wrong. It's duck fat or something like that. NOT a green like arugula or endive). Not only does it give you a few reference points, it shows in its brief analyses some of the things you should look out for. Another example is the entry on quinoa, where it's pointed out that quinoa IS nutritious, but it's also caloric -- something that has to be taken into consideration with what the meal is.

So, while I sort of took the book out as a shallow joke, it's actually a worthwhile thing to browse through if you're thinking about dieting. It's written by someone who's done the weight loss thing, who has definitely done their research, and who very relatably did not want to glue to a crazy fad diet (never mind if it's too mainstream, those are too ineffective on the whole!).

Juicy Writing

Though Brigid Lowry's Juicy Writing is aimed at younger writers, given its playful personality and categorization in the Young Adult section of the library, it is nonetheless a fun read. The aim of guiding and encouraging people, particularly those who may be just beginning to take an interest in writing, makes it all the more accessible and friendly. It is not aimed for 'established' writers who have honed their craft -- no, this is kind of like Writing 101. It touches on the basic particles of speech (not too deeply, it only really goes into nouns, verbs, and adjectives, if I recall) and explains the importance of story elements like setting, character, and conflict, but it also gives lots of personal anecdotes that show "even for a published writer like myself, it's not exactly an easy road, so don't be discouraged". It's like a big book of writing advice. And, after each element touched on, there are some writing exercises based on what was discussed and/or the examples given in the book to start the reader off on thinking and writing, should they desire. (I skimmed through the exercises, personally more concerned with reading the book).

No matter what your level of skill or interest in writing, if there is any of either, at all, this is a fun way to entertain that.

Marukawa Fusen Bubble Gum

This Japanese gum comes in little cardboard boxes. Inside are four relatively soft gumballs -- there IS a 'shell' but it's more like the gum's been firmed up a bit than covered by a hard shell.

The flavors I've seen are Orange, Strawberry, Melon, and Grape, though the Internet tells me there are others. These flavors come across as their respective fruits at their sweetest -- they aren't overly artificial. For example, the Orange flavor tastes like you're chewing a segment of orange...which is great authenticity-wise (I, personally, am not overly fond of oranges).

If you simply want something to chew on, one ball will suffice. It might feel like a little less gum than you are used to, but it's chewable. Two will be a little over what you're used to.

However, if you want to use it as bubble gum, I suggest using all four balls at once. It may sound like a lot, but with any less the gum is too thin to stretch properly for bubble-blowing.

Three Bedrooms in Chelsea

I recently read Three Bedrooms in Chelsea by Liz Ireland. The book starts off a bit awkwardly, with the main character, Edie, coming off as whiny as her boyfriend of four months is sent off on a journalism assignment to Uzbekistan. Edie, an actress with a severe deficiency in the work department, can't keep the rent up herself; so, when the for-rent stipend given to her by her boyfriend wears off, she makes a decision her friends see as radical, especially in as unpredictable a town as New York City: she decides to get a roommate.

Edie gets more than she bargains for, even after trying to screen through all the potentials. She ends up with not one, but two, roomates: Greta, a German immersed in the hard-partying nightlife, and Danielle, a provincially innocent Texan with a triple-digit allowance from her father.

The book goes through these three women's trials and tribulations in the city -- Edie dealing with her friend's blossoming acting career and her noticeable lack thereof, Danielle getting accustomed to the big city and that thousand-dollar shopping sprees don't agree with someone starting off on their own, and Greta pondering a major lifestyle change.

There's a fair amount of catfights, especially towards the end when Romance Interests are present, but the moment when the three women stop tolerating each other and start getting a little friendlier is surprisingly sudden and quick. I remember distinctly noting how ridiculously quick the turnaround was.

I guess this counts as 'chick lit' because it follows the affairs (love, work, and otherwise) of three women who didn't know each other from a hole in the wall and become, though incredibly different, friends by the end of the book  -- the ending, if you couldn't guess, is one of those everything went to hell during the story but then there's the feel-good ending where a brighter day seems to be coming things.

Overall, it was a fun read.

Morinaga Hi-Chew

The chews start out rather firm, which may contribute to the fact that they are a supple sort of chewy. Kind of like gum that doesn't get too too mushy -- though, of course, less stretchy, since this is intended to be consumed rather than just chewed.

The colors of the chews differ from flavor to flavor. Often, they are pale and dual-colored. For example, the strawberry flavor is white on the edges with a pink middle, and that of the peach is white around...well...a peach color.


The flavor of the chew is light but strong. Quite sweet, but not the overly candy sweet. It's like the natural fruit-sweet noticeably, but not drastically, amplified.

They come in flavors other than strawberry and peach, including mango and melon. (The picture is mango.)

New York Support

'Twas a good day for New York baseball. As it so happens, interleague play has the Yankees at the Braves and the Mets at the Rays. Both of these teams are the mainstay of competition for first place at the moment.

So, to have the Mets give an absolute blowout of a game and bring 11 runs in, despite their outfielders having a few mishaps with tracking the ball under the Tropicana dome, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 11-2, is quite a welcome advantage for the Yankees.

Had they stayed at the score they had going into the eighth, this would have at least kept the Yanks even with Tampa for first. But, in that inning, a strong rally brought six runs in -- enough for the Yankees to win in the end over the Braves, 6-4.

It's safe to say New York baseball fans are happy tonight.

Mets and Nats Errorfest

I think the announcers actually called it "a delightful mess of a game." It was one of those where one team (the away team, the Mets) would get a run -- looked like they'd win. Then, a million errors in the bottom of the inning would bring the home team (the Nationals) up to a tie.

Rinse and repeat for three innings.

I'm not even joking, the amount of errors in the 9 - 12 innings were like...ridiculous.

When you have announcers going "WHAT IS HE DOING?!" and just absolutely bewildered/flabbergasted by the game...

After a lot of botched throws and catcher fails and whatnot, the painfully entertaining game ended with the bases loaded and almost, almost walked the last run in, but there was a base hit instead and so the Nationals won 7-6.

I only started watching because I heard outraged screaming from watchers at the beginning of the errorfest.

And just when the Mets got their first no-hitter in history...second place going against first place, supposedly these are the best teams in the NL East, and we get this. I know it happens, but it feels ridiculous when it does.

Kasugai Gummies

Japanese gummies are typical anime convention fare. They're little, individual wrapped, quarter-sized gummies made with various flavors. Depending on the flavor, I've seen them as both circle and heart-shaped. The gummies are firm, so when you bite down on them it's notably thicker than jello, but they're smooth, too, so if you don't bite down immediately they'll slide around in your mouth. They're surprisingly heavy for their small size; I think I just ate two servings (6 of these things) and it feels like a gummy brick is in my stomach. (You'd think I'd know better by now.)

They come in a lot of flavors; I haven't had the chance to try every flavor out there, but I have had a good number, like melon, grape, muscat grape (yes these are two different flavors), strawberry, and apple. I've even seen a ramune flavored one! I tasted it and thought I tasted a tang like a soda (ramune is a carbonated beverage known for being served in bottles stoppered with marbles), but thinking about it now, the tang was probably a soft hint of the lemon-lime flavor that is the "original" ramune soda flavor.

The intensity of flavor differs depending on which type you're having, and the feeling of the "natural" or "candy" version of said flavors differ as well. For example, the strawberry gummies are light and candylike, while the apple gummies are extremely intense in their flavor and taste like an incredibly potent apple cider.

Superior Cake Products Mini Black and White Cookies

I'm usually not that fond of black and white cookies. The half side of chocolate is usually the best part, and then there's the rest of the cookie to slog through.

Not so with these cookies.

For one, they're small, so while there's less chocolate to enjoy, it's not like you're going through a giant mound of the cookie beneath.

For another, these cookies were amazingly moist for being in a box -- the cookie part was so good, not only did I not mind it, that was a good part of what kept me coming back for another!

It could just be my bad luck in encountering black and whites over the years, but these definitely rank as the best I've had so far.

Philadelphia Dark Chocolate Indulgence

This is basically a chocolate cream cheese. Sometimes it felt like cocoa powder mixed into creamcheese, only, with minimal balancing to the bitterness. Maybe that was the cream cheese giving its part to the flavor and diverting it from pure chocolate taste. It was good, though -- I mean, come on, chocolate and cream cheese, how can this go wrong?!

Also comes in milk and white chocolate; I am sorely tempted to try these out as well.

Devils to the Stanley Cup

I will admit. I am a Rangers fan more than a Devils fan by far. So, to say that the Devils are going to the Stanley Cup stings a little. But, considering the game ended maybe an hour or two before the time of writing, it's a surprisingly tame sting.

Had the game gone as it did in the first period, I don't think I would have felt as peaceful with this outcome. The Devils were positively flogging the Rangers -- 2 goals in one period, the players were nowhere, missing the puck or neglecting to hustle. In a word, the Rangers were sloppy in the first period, and it was embarrassing, especially thinking that we could go down in such a pathetic manner.

The second period made up for this, though. In a matter of minutes, the Rangers came alive and blasted two goals to tie the game back up. The tying goal was astonishing -- a long shot by Callahan that ricocheted off skates and between players, Ranger and Devil alike, to get into the goal. It passed at least five players, including a hit on Girardi's skate.

For the rest of the game, it was a pretty admirable back-and-forth. The Rangers indeed fought hard, but it is as hard to get past Brodeur as it is Lundqvist, and through unlucky placement and missed shots and a thousand other little quirks, none of the scoring chances made in the third period bore any fruit. The same could be said for the Devils, though, which brought the game into overtime.

The winning goal was a tiny putt behind Lundqvist after he defended a barrage of shots. The puck slipped through on one, went behind him, and one calm tap finished the game 3-2 Devils, ending the series.

Juicy Fruit Juicy Secret

It's certainly got a juicy feel to it when you first start chewing, but then the flavor mellows out pretty quickly and the gum loses the softness it originally had. The juiciness is sadly fleeting.

Ben and Jerry's Coconut Seven Layer Bar

I happened upon a scoop shop while I was on a trip to Boston. The combination of coconut ice cream with fudge, walnuts, and butterscotch sounded amazing, and it is currently scoop shop only, so I caved and snapped it up. (Somehow I managed to refrain from also buying every other flavor available, scoop shop specific or not -- I'm a HUGE fan of Ben and Jerry's.) It's been a while, so I don't remember it in detail, but I do remember eating it was an amazing experience. Not sure if I tasted the walnuts all that much, but I distinctly remember the butterscotch being very caramelly to me (in a good way). And the coconuttiness of the ice cream. Oh man. Yum.

Fruit2O and Hint Waters

Recently I've discovered that I can actually stomach flavored water. It used to be that I couldn't take the feeling of water with flavor, but I've found these are enough to my taste that I can handle them. I'm not sure if it's that they're 'gentler' than whatever I'd tried before or if it's my palate changing, but it has happened.

• Hint Premium Essence Water

As you can probably guess from the picture I chose, I tried the watermelon version of this stuff. It was pretty good. It helped that watermelon is a light flavor, because the overwhelming flavor is what stops me when I'm drinking something thirstily and expecting something water (i.e. flavored waters). The hint was light and came across as...well...a hint of watermelon. Just as you'd kinda expect.

• Fruit2O

 
 Like the Hint, this was surprisingly nice and light flavoring, though it was definitely more intense. Again, though, this could relate to the flavor choices -- the Fruit2O I came across didn't have a watermelon flavor, so I can't do a direct comparison; the flavors I had instead were Strawberry, which is nice and light while having a sweet, strawberry punch to it, and Grape, which was slightly reminiscent of the just-too-sweet medicine grape, but not quite. It wasn't bad, though, just a little oddly sweet. (but then, I found the grape medicines among the most tolerable as a kid.)

Blueberry Muffin Poptarts

These Poptarts are, well, Poptarts. You get what you expect -- they're not the next gourmet treat. But, for what they are, they're quite good.

The poptart itself is cute, with white icing and blue and tan specks mimicking the idea of a blueberry muffin.It tasted and felt like a routine Poptart, with either the filling or the icing (likely the filling, for it seemed much less present than the latter) giving a hint of blueberry.

Once you've taken a bite or few, be sure to savor the flavor. It may not seem like that much at first, but I was able to get to a point where the blueberry and the poptart pastry flavors combined and gave a nice, Poptart-ized imitation of a muffin.

Pepperidge Farm Swirl Bread: Strawberry Banana

Considering I like the regular cinnamon version of this bread AND it was strawberry banana, I had to try it. It was quite good. There is still cinnamon in the bread, which is sliced thick and rather moist, mostly due to the swirls and bits of strawberry and banana in the bread. The strawberry banana felt rather subtle to me, sweet but balanced with the cinnamon. It really is like the regular bread only with strawberry and banana, so if you like both...chances are you'll like this.

Body Armor SuperDrink: Strawberry Banana Guava

I've been drooling over this bottle every time I pass. It's all pretty and pink with a nice macro of a ripe red strawberry, yellow bananas, and the adorable green-rimmed pink of what I'm assuming is guava (I should get myself one if they're really like that). Plus, I love anything strawberry banana, I think I mentioned that in a few posts; I remember specifically in my ramblings about Chobani Yogurt and Tropical Starburst.

It was very powerful on the strawberry banana - the combination hit hard. I don't know where the guava went, though, to be honest, I don't know if guava is a flavor I would recognize. The texture was nice. I thought it was going to be watery and odd because the drink is pretty transparent, but it felt more like I was drinking a thinned-out smoothie. Not an exceptionally watered down one, just one that had lost the edge to its thickness. It definitely felt more smoothie-like than I expected.