This weekend I headed out to Mitsuwa with Alicia and Dave. I've been to the Japanese mall before, but it was about a year ago. If there's one thing I would do differently next time, it's bring a cooler: I really wanted to buy some sashimi-grade fish, but was worried it would spoil on the long, traffic-y drive back into the city.

While shopping there, I realized how ironic it is that I'm so into Japanese food: it tends to be over-packaged, beyond wasteful. Not to mention way more expensive than Chinese and Korean imports. Perhaps that's why I only splurge and go once a year or so.

Last time I went I spent a lot more than I expected to, so this time I tried to limit my purchases. No staples that could be easily (and cheaply) bought at Chicago Food Corp. No fish that could go bad on the drive home. What's funny though, is that I bought a lot of snacky food: funny because I rarely buy snacky food, because when I do snack, it's usually on fruit.

What I bought:

- Nagai's teriyaki nori
- Mochi
- Veggie gyoza
- rice snack crackers (family pack)
- chocolate macadamia nuts
- Coffee road candies
- Wasabi peas in a canister (Hapi)
- jar of Gari
- buckwheat soba
- Boss coffee
- bag of mixed greens
- 2 grapefruit
- Koala's March
- UCC The Coffee
- Pearl organic soy milk (vanilla)

Total: $41.77

I'd never had the Nagai's brand of teriyaki nori before, and really like it: a little more thin than Yamamotoyama, crisper. The veggie gyoza has lard in it but hey, I'm not a vegetarian. Koala's March used to be called Koala Yummies, not sure when they changed the name. Still yummy though.

I first saw UCC The Coffee in Dave's fridge (his roommate had some) and was intrigued. It's pretty good stuff: 1.5 liters of thick, dark coffee, very mildly sweet, almost not at all. Pretty good for ready-made. Perfect for those mornings when I don't have time to brew up a French press, or for quick iced coffee.

Much to my surprise, Pearl is really good soy milk. The texture is quite smooth, not grainy. Sweet like vanilla should be, but not overly-flavoured. Reminiscent of Vanilla Vit-a-soy, my fave soy milk. I'd buy Pearl again, plus it's organic!

While there, we also stopped at the liquor store part of Mitsuwa. I bought A bottle of Ozeki cooking sake (finally!) and a small bottle of Sho Chiku Bai Nama organic sake. Haven't tried either one yet, but I'm not much of an expert on sake either. Dave bought a bottle of Choya plum wine that had the fermented plums at the bottom of the bottle, said he'd had it before, and that it was good.

Alicia bought several varieties of Ramune, the uniquely flavoured soft drink that carbonates itself when you dislodge a glass ball from its neck. Hard to describe, but puckeringly delicious, refreshing; I like to buy it when I go to Chinatown. Unfortunately, it spilled all over Dave's car (and our laps) upon opening. Ahem.

Also, we had lunch in the food court, chirashi and teriyaki saba. Pretty good chirashi, and very cheap. Made brief visits to the toy store and the bookstore there as well. As per last time, I didn't buy anything from the Japanese bakery; it's in the back of the store, and by the time I saw it, I had enough sweet stuff in my cart.

Next time, I'd like to visit True World Market, which is just down the street from Mitsuwa, and is supposed to have a good quality sushi-grade fish. Next time, gotta remember to pack the cooler.

Post-post addition: Alicia blogged the sounds of Mitsuwa on Auduble Frequency.