Posts Tagged ‘photograph’

Free Chai Latte from the Coffee Bean

Friday, February 12th, 2010

It’s Chai Lovers Open House at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf when you can get a complimentary 12-ounce Chai Mate, Chai Rooibos or Chai Tea Latte at participating locations.

Free Chai Latte from The Coffee Bean

Free Chai Latte from The Coffee Bean

I got my freebie at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf across from the Wiltern Theater (intersection of Wilshire and Western).

Address: 3810 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles CA, 90010
Phone number: 213-388-9763   
Promo Duration: February 12, Friday 4-7 pm

In-store locations like the one inside Ralph’s supermarket on Western Avenue are not participating in this promotion.

Korean Hardtack : Black-Bean Flavor

Saturday, October 17th, 2009

I’ve always translated gon-bbang 건빵 as hardtack and I’ve always thought of it only in terms of being made from plain barley, but this product set me straight.
Korean Hardtack: Black-Bean Flavor
The product name is Gomun Kong GonBbang, which the English sticker label translates as Black Bean Cookie. No matter that it was the squarish shape of regular hardtack. I guess by now I should know that when a Korean manufacturer says “Cookie” it means, hmmm, any Western-style baked product? Gwaja in general?

Ingredients: wheat flour, sugar, palm oil, corn starch, black-bean powder, salt, black sesame. The actual black-bean content is 0.5%.

Nutrition Facts: Serving size 33 grams. 3 servings per 3.5-ounce bag. Each serving contains 136 calories, 18 from fat. Total Fat 2 grams. Saturated Fat 1 gram. No Trans Fat. No cholesterol. Sodium 74 milligrams. Total Carbohydrates 25 grams. No fiber. Sugars 5 grams. Protein 4 grams.

Suggested retail price is 1200 won in South Korea. I don’t remember what I paid for it but it must have been under a dollar.

UPC bar code number 8 804782 005497. The manufacturer is Cheju Nongyeon, and the importer is Purunchon of 3435 Wilshire Blvd., #122, Los Angeles, CA 90010.

Tasted like plain hardtack… You eat it to satiate the munchies.

Crown Bakey Premium Cheese Cake

Saturday, October 10th, 2009

Enjoyed snacking on this “premium cheese cake” from South Korea’s Crown company. Those two layers that sandwich the white filling are not crunchy! Didn’t remind me of a cheesecake to be honest, but it was a sweet, yummy treat to eat.

Crown Bakey Premium Cheese Cake

There are six individually packed fingerling sandwiches in the box. Has a lot of Korean copy on it, but the requisite English sticker label identifies the product as BAKEY. The first syllable is a long a, as in 베이키 (beh-yi-ke). Original New York Style ~

Ingredients: wheat flour, egg, vegetable oil, sugar, corn, syrup, cheese powder. I think they meant “corn syrup” without a comma after the corn. According to the box, the white cheese filling in the middle is cheddar.  Sure, whatever…

A recommended serving size is 2 packs (40 grams). Label says there are two servings in the box (three, based on my math).

Nutrition Facts: 100 calories per serving, 50 are fat calories. Total Fat 6 grams, 2 grams are saturated, and 2.48 GRAMS TRANS FAT. No cholesterol. Sodium 37 milligrams. Total Carbohydrates 9 grams. No fiber. Sugar 3 grams. Protein 1 gram. No vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium or iron.

Hah! Now that I’ve typed out the nutrition facts, there is no way I’m buying this again, even if it’s delicious and on sale. Trans fat is so not good.

Distributer [sic]: Nishimoto Trading Company, Ltd. Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670 USA. Product of Korea. Net Weight 4.02 ounces (114 grams).  UPC bar code number 8 801111 182911.

Have to admit that the packaging is pretty cool. The stated retail price on the box is 2,000 Korean won. I was able to buy it on sale for just 99 cents at Gaju Market because the expiration date is October 26, 2009.  Sold out immediately.

Must Eat Songpyeon During Chuseok!

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009

Songpyeon is a variety of tteok (Korean rice cake) made from glutinous or sticky rice. It is traditionally eaten during the autumn festival Chuseok.

They are shaped sort of like half-moons and filled with a paste of chestnut, sesame seeds, red beans… And they are steamed over a layer of pine needles, a few of which you can see below.
Plate of Songpyeon during Chuseok

쌀송편 + 쑥송편 + 단호박 송편 + 고구마 송편 + 핑크 송편 = 오색 songpyeon

Making them by hand with the female members of your family is supposed to be one of the hallmarks of the holiday. I bought these songpyeon from a store! Twenty-two pieces cost me just $4.49 American.

The package even came with a bar code (8 55738 00198 6). Label says it’s made by Jihwaja on Vermont Avenue in Koreatown. Ingredients: rice, water, sugar, mung bean, pumpkin, red-bean powder, wormwood, sweet potato.

When I first saw the wormwood, I thought of vermouth, but it turns out it’s a synonym for mugwort or artemisia (쑥), which is the flavoring of the dark green pieces you see in the picture.

I’m guessing that the solitary orange piece is pumpkin (단호박) and the two yellow pieces are sweet potato (고구마). The white are just plain rice (쌀). And the pink? Hmmm… Five colors (오색), each representing a different flavor, correspond to the five cardinal virtues. Don’t have time to google.

So far I’ve discovered that the pink one has a light yellow filling that’s likely chestnut, while the white one is filled with brown stuff that could be red bean. Will taste a couple of more pieces and report back…

Happy Chuseok! 행복한 추석 ~

Lotte Choco Pie – Premium Quality

Sunday, September 27th, 2009

Finally! Got around to this. I had previously posted about Lotte’s “Premium Ghana” choco pie, but have neglected this, their standard choco pie, which by the way is sub-labeled Premium Quality.

Lotte Choco Pie - Box and Wrapper

“Fill your mouth with a pleasure of rich chocolate flavor everyday.”

It seems Lotte is second only to Orion in terms of the leading brand of choco-pie. I can barely tell the difference. I think Orion’s original invention is squishier. Non-Koreans will say that the less squish the better, but there’s so much nostalgia that Koreans associate with the squishiness.

There are six individually packed moon pies in one box, each pie weighing 28 grams (5.92 ounces). Ingredients: wheat flour, sugar, corn syrup, vegetable fat, shortening, whole milk powder, cocoa mass, cocoa powder, lactose, sodium bicarbonate (E500), lecithin, vanillin, vanilla flavor, vegetable oil (palm), sorbitol (E420).

Nutrition Facts: Serving Size: one 28-gram package. Calories 125, 50 from fat. Total fat: 6 grams, 4g saturated. No trans fat. No cholesterol. Sodium 62 milligrams. Total Carbohydrate 18 g — dietary fiber 0.3g, sugars 10g. Protein 1 g. No Vitamin A or C. Calcium 1%. Iron 1%.

Allergy Information: contains milk, wheat, soybean

Manufactured by Lotte Confectionery Co., Ltd. 23, 4KA, Yangpyung-dong, Youngdeungpo-ku, Seoul, Korea. UPC Bar Code Number 8 801062 161881

Keep cool under 22 degrees centigrade and dry moisture 55% in storage and transportation.

The box is chock-full of information in different languages — Vietnamese, Russian Cyrillic, Traditional Chinese for the Taiwanese market, Arabic…

Pictures of other products in the Lotte Family: Chocolate Funzels, Kancho, Custard, Dream Cakes (none of which I have tried…)

Lotte Let’s Be Mild Coffee Drink in Can

Saturday, September 26th, 2009

This was the cheapest coffee drink I could find at Assi Super. 59 cents for 5.92 fluid ounces, plus 5 cents CRV.

Lotte Let's Be Mild Coffee Can Even with the quarter in the picture, it’s hard to accurately portray how small the can is. I vaguely remember this design from Korea, but the label here is completely in English.

“Captures the signature essence of taste and aroma from the selected coffee beans. Ultimately, tasting is comparing.”

THE COFFEE BEAN & FRESH MILK ~

Ingredients: water, sugar, skimmed milk powder, whole milk powder, instant coffee, sodium bicarbonate, sucrose, esters of fatty acid acids, coffee flavor. Contains milk.

Did you get that? It’s instant coffee and coffee flavor. Regardless, it was a refreshing drink after being thoroughly chilled in the fridge.

Nutrition Facts: Serving Size 1 can (175 ml). 75 calories per serving, none from fat. Total fat zero grams, no trans fat. Sodium 80 milligrams. Total carbohydrate 15 grams, all from sguars. Protein 2 grams. Calcium 4% percent daily values. Iron 1%. Not a significant source of saturated fat, cholesterol, dietary fiber or Vitamin A/C/D.

Manufactured by Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co., Ltd. Product of Korea. UPC 8 801056 290016.