Try the World: Thailand

It's been a while since we received out Thailand box, but we've been so busy!   I think it arrived over 3 weeks ago and we haven't yet had any of the delicious treats inside.

It seems they have permanently switched to this rectangular box instead of the original square.   

Here is the lovely patterned brochure of all the foods.

Tom Yum soup.   It has multiple packets inside.  I hope it's good.

Try the World always sends some sort of tea.   Tea is probably up there with milk as my favorite beverage.

We usually get our dried mangos from the Philippines.   Hopefully these are good.   I can be very particular about dried mangos.  

I'll try this cocunut flower syrup on ice cream.

I'm looking forward to these spicy rice crackers.   I like savory snacks.  If they are too spicy, I can add cheese to tone down the flavor.

I have never seen rice packaged like this before.   I have seen black rice at the store though.

I may try using the curry paste to make something eventually.   I just need to figure out what.

Lastly, coconut crispy rolls.   I know these will be good.

Try The World: Holiday Box

Hello food aficionados!   I know it's been a long time.  I have the pictures from our holiday Try the World package. Rather than give one country the spotlight, the box is tasty stuff from several countries.  As of this posting, the only thing we have tried is the chocolate.   On to the photos!

The box this time is rectangular and slightly larger than the other packages.

This time, there was a hay type thing instead of the paper shreds.

The item guide!

Dried berries from Finland.

Panettone from Italy.

Yerba mate tea from the UK.   This should be very caffeinated.

Cookies from Morocco.

Extra virgin olive oil from Israel.   I wonder how it will taste compared to the bottle we got from the Spain box.

Acai fruit sauce from Brazil.

Cocoa truffles from France.  I didn't have high expectations because I've had the type from the big box stores.  The taste is slightly different although they look nearly identical.   Yummy!

Lastly, ginger snaps from Sweden.

Then we packed everything back in the box, nice and tidy.

There are so many delicious treats available this time of the year.  This box will slowly be consumed as a result.

Try the World: Spain

Hello everyone!   Our latest Try the World box arrived on Thursday.   This time, the country is Spain.  We haven't gotten to open any of the products yet, but I am definitely looking forward to it.

They changed up their packaging a little.  No special fold out box this time.   Now there are packing peanuts in a regular box.   The old packaging didn't have any buffering materials.   I wonder if others had their boxes damaged in shipping, hence the change.

This box has two types of sweets in it.  Pictured below is the citrus crumble cake.

The other sweet item was the almond cookies.

I've had almond cookies in Chinese restaurants before.  Looking forward to trying this take on them.

Now this should be interesting.  It's rose jam.   Not a fruit, but a flower.   Maybe I'll make some sort of pancake to eat this with.

This cute tin contains hot paprika.  I'll have to find some good recipes to use it with.

This tomato paste should go well with toast or pasta.

Extra virgin olive oil from Spain!   I've heard that many olive oils sold in US markets aren't really olive oil.   Can't wait to see if there is a difference.

Lastly, we got a can of mussels in pickle sauce.   I'm not sure the best way to eat these, but they look intriguing.  

Try The World: Japan

Hi everyone!   I know it's been a while, but our new Try the World Box arrived and we finally had time to eat some of its contents!  This time, the country is Japan.  Admittedly, it's a little less exotic for us because we are already familiar with many foods from Japan.   Still, it's worth the purchase price.

I love the packaging of the boxes.  It's like getting a present.

The playlist for this box was already up and running on Spotify.   Nice mix of modern music and traditional melodies.

The first item, okonomiyaki flour!   I've made it a few times with standard flour, but this was a real treat.

Steve and I buy these gummy candies regularly.   Yummy!

Ginger paste.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this.  I usually toss out the ginger when I have sushi.

Soba noodles.   I'll probably go and purchase some cold dipping sauce for these.

Seasoned seaweed snack.  This will go nicely on its own or with some rice.

These are soft caramels.  I've never had these before.

Lastly, blueberry matcha tea.   This dissolves completely in hot water.  This will be different.

We decided to have the okonomiyaki.   Here are the instructions in the packet:

It comes with tempura crunchies, seaweed garnish, and the flour and yam paste.

I forgot to buy the scallions, but the recipe still turned out delicious.   We used bacon and mushrooms as our toppings and garnished with spicy mayo and hoisin sauce.   Next time, I'l going to purchase soup stock, standard Japanese mayo, and okonomiyaki sauce.

The instructions ask for a pan with a lid.  Fortunately, we have one.

This is the finished product:

It's not that difficult and very delicious.  Infinitely customizable, a Japanese pizza as it's often called.