Gouter de Roi

Back in March, I had the opportunity to spend two weeks in Tokyo for a business trip.  This was my first trip to Japan, and it was absolutely amazing.  There are two things, in particular, that impressed me about Japan: the efficient transit system and delicious food.

I knew that Tokyo was a foodie city, but I underestimated how seriously everyone takes gastronomy there.  Whether you're going for ramen, sushi, or noodles, the food is always fresh and delicious.  Even a KFC chicken sandwich tastes better than back home.

Whilst in Tokyo, one of my Japanese counterparts offered us a snack at the office.  It was a white chocolate Gouter de Roi made by Gateau Festa Harada.  I love white chocolate, and after only one bite I knew that I had to figure out where to buy some to take back home.  Absolutely delicious (even in spite of the bad French grammar).

It's a very simple snack.  They start with a rusk, and then cover one side and the edges with white chocolate.  That's it!  Straightforward, yet decadent.

The packaging.

The rusk peeking out of the wrapper.

I cut the rusk in half to show both sides.

I scoured a few food halls in train stations and department stores, but I didn't see any for sale.  After doing a bit of research online, I discovered that it is only available in a handful of department stores throughout Japan.

The store that was the easiest for me to get to was the Matsuya Ginza department store, located near Ginza station exit A12.  (It's near the Tsujuki fish market - so if you're going to see the fish auction, then it's quite easy to stop by afterwards.)  The food hall is in the basement, and in there is a counter dedicated to selling Gateau Festa Harada brand products.

Note that there are multiple products called Gouter de Roi, so make sure that you ask for/point to the right one.  Here is what the box looks like:

Since this is a popular gift, they have the boxes pre-wrapped.

This is what the box looks like with the wrapping removed.

This is one snack that I certainly wish could be available in North America.  If you like white chocolate, you should definitely buy a box while you're in Japan!

World of Coca-Cola

Last November, I spent a few days visiting Atlanta.  Although most of my trips to the US are business- or volunteer-related, this one was purely for vacation.  I saw quite a few sites while there: the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, First Baptist Church (where Charles Stanley preaches), the Atlanta Aquarium, the Atlanta History Center, and the first-ever Chick-fil-A restaurant.

The MLK site was definitely the best historical place that I visited.  However, the best touristy site was the World of Coca-Cola.  Although most of the site acts like a never-ending advertisement for Coke, the most famous exhibit is the Taste It! room, where you can sample dozens of Coke products from around the world.  Of course, I had to had to try each one out.

Rating scale
Excellent > Very Good > Good > Okay > Dislike > Disgusting
(I would drink any of the first three ratings, I would drink the fourth if I was at a party without better options, and I would avoid drinking the last two.)

Asia
Vegitabeta (Japan) - Dislike.  Very sweet.  Hard to tell what it was supposed to be.
Melon Frosty (Thailand) - Excellent.  We should get this in Canada.
Lemon Crush (Bahrain) - Excellent
Apple Kiwi Fanta (Thailand) - Dislike.
Thums Up (India) - Okay.  Kind of weird.  Tastes like cola with a bit of curry or spice in it.
Smart Watermelon (China) - Good.
Sprite Ice (Taiwan) - Okay. 
Smart Apple (China) - Dislike.

Europe
Aquarius Libre (Spain) - Good.  Very light drink, barely carbonated.
Fuse Tea lemon ice tea (Turkey) - Very good.
Fuse Tea (flavour unknown) (Georgia) - Okay, but would drink again.
Bonaqa Apfel-Berne (Germany) - Dislike.  Apple flavour
Fanta Pineapple (Greece) - Excellent.
Fanta Magic (Estonia) - Good.
Mezzo Mix (Germany) - Very good.  Imagine Coca-Cola mixed with orange soda.
Beverly (Italy) - Disgusting.  Awful aftertaste.

Africa
Bibo Candy Pine-Nut (South Africa) - Dislike.
Sunfill Blackcurrant (Mauritius) - Good.  It's basically fruit punch.
Bibo DJ Kiwi Mango (South Africa) - Better than the other Bibo, but still not great.
Sunfill Menthe (Djibouti) - Dislike.  Strong mint flavour.
Sparletta Sparberry (Zimbabwe) - Very good.
Bonbon Anglais (Madagascar) - Good.  Clear, sweet, and very fizzy.
Stoney Ginger Beer (Tanzania) - Okay.  Clear ginger beer.
Fanta Exotic (Uganda) - Okay.  Similar to fruit punch.

North America #1
Powerade Fruit Punch (North America) - Good.
Minute Maid Lemonade (North America) - Good.
Gold Peak Tea Sweetened (North America) - Average.  Too sweet.
Pibb Xtra (North America) - Excellent.
Fanta Strawberry (North America) - Very good, but a bit too sweet.
Mello Yello (North America) - Good.
Fanta Orange (North America) - Good.
Fresca Sparkling Citrus (North America) - Very good.

North America #2
Hi-C Fruit Punch (North America) - Okay.
Fruitopia Strawberry Passion Awareness (North America) - Okay.
Minute Maid Light Pomegranate Lemonade (North America) - Dislike.  It's too light.
Fanta Blue Raspberry (North America) - Good.
Barq's Root Beer (North America) - Good.
Tab (North America) - Good.  Tastes better than Diet Coke.
Fanta Orange (North America) - repeat
Sprite (North America) - Good.

North America #3
Powerade Mountain Blast (North America) - Okay.
Hi-C Poppin' Lemonade (North America) - Very good.
Hi-C Orange Lavaburst (North America) - Very good.
Barq's Red Creme Soda (North America) - Okay.
Fanta Wild Cherry (North America) - Dislike.  The cherry tastes very artificial.
Sprite Zero (North America) - Very good.
Mello Yello (North America) - repeat
Fanta Grape (North America) - Good.

Central/South America
Fuze Tea Té Negro (Venezuela) - Standard peach ice tea.
Delaware Punch (Nicaragua) - Excellent.
Ciel Aquarius (Mexico) - Too sweet.
Guarana Kuat (Brazil) - Tastes like a standard guarana soda.
Seagram's Ginger Ale (Mexico) - Standard ginger ale.
Fanta Kolita (Costa Rica) - Excellent.
Manzana Lift (Chile) - Dislike.
Inca Kola (Peru) - Very good.

Coca-Cola Products
Coca-Cola Zero - Very good.
Diet Coke with Lime - Okay.
Coca-Cola Cherry Zero - Excellent.
Coca-Cola Vanilla - Very good.
Diet Coke Caffeine Free - Dislike.  It brings bad memories of my childhood.
Coca-Cola Cherry - Very good.
Diet Coke - Okay.
Coca-Cola - Very good.

Miscellaneous
Coca-Cola Life - Very good.

2015 Goals

A year ago, I said that resolutions were a recipe for failure. I sidestepped that by making a set of goals, which were basically just resolutions in disguise. Lesson learned.

Here's a quick summary of the goals, and where I landed on each one:

• Piano: no
• Harry Potter: done
• Two other novels: no
• Floss daily: not daily, but more than 75% of the time
• Bible chapter daily: done
• Mandarin: I didn't use my workbook, but I download an excellent app, ChineseSkill (Android / iOS), which I've been using several times a week during my commute. I've learned lots of vocab.
• Small group: done
• Backups: I'm about 8 months backlogged, but that's an improvement from the 3-year backlog I was at previously.
• VHS tapes: done, except for a handful that need to be redone
• Blog religiously: no
• Blog generally: no

As for my work goals, I've met most of those. As for health goals, I lost 20 lb and cut out several junk foods from my diet. I also purchased an electric toothbrush, and my teeth have felt cleaner than ever.

Here are my goals/resolutions for 2015:

• Oral health: floss and mouthwash daily
• Reading: read another 2 Harry Potter books, and at least 4 novels
• Mandarin: learn to speak and write 500 words (approx. 75 right now)
• Church: become a member at church and attend small group regularly
• Bible: finish reading through the Bible (approx. 40% done right now)
• Backups: never be more than 2 months backlogged
• Blogging: post at least once a month
• Health: lose another 20 lb
• Work: improve work/life balance
• Piano: practise at least twice a month
• Travel: visit two new countries in Europe or Asia
• Organization: keep all of my loose papers in one pile, and the rest in file folders (or recycling)
• Cooking: learn to make pesto; cook at least one new meal each month

Like before, there are other work-, health-, and relationship-related goals that I'm not posting here. I made some great strides forward in my personal life last year, and I hope to keep on the right track.

Totally legit

The following email made it through the spam filters this week.

Dear Apple user

To get back into your apple account, you'll need to confirm your account . It's easy: Click the link below to open a secure browser window. Confirm that you're the owner of the account and then follow the instructions.

What should I do next ?

All what you need to do is to follow the link below that will take you to our resolution centre, you will be asked to verifiy your account ,after that your account will back to work normaly once again .

<link that doesn't begin with www.apple.com>

Before log in your account will be Confirmed, let us know right away.
Reporting it is important because it helps us prevent fraudsters from stealing your information. Yours sincerely, apple .

Apple Support Team

Spelling mistakes?  Check.  Spaces before a period and question mark?  Yep.  Spelling the company name in all lower-case?  Of course.  Two separate signatures?  You betcha.

This one looks totally legit.

2014 goals

Resolutions are a recipe for failure. They're good intentions that we make at the start of the calendar year, only to give up on them by sometime in March. I've made them in the past, and most of them have not been successful.

This year, I'm making some goals. They are mostly incremental improvements that are realistic and time-bound. Here they are:

• Spend one hour per week practising the piano.
• Read the first two Harry Potter books (one by March, one by May).
• Read two other novels (1984 by August, Animal Farm by October).
• Floss daily.
• Read one Bible chapter daily.
• Finish working through my Mandarin coursebook (one chapter per month).
• Join a small group at church (by January 31).
• Back up my files on a regular basis (never more than a month behind).
• Finish converting camp VHS tapes to digital format by June (on average, 5 cassettes/month).
• Blog once a quarter on a religious topic.
• Blog one a month overall.

Basically, these are goals that I believe will help move me forward in various areas: writing, intellect, relationships, camp, and so on. I also have other goals that are not shared here (related to work and personal health), but they are similar in nature.

Happy new year, everyone!

A border crossing lesson

Yesterday, I crossed the border back into Canada. Here is a condensed transcript of our conversation with the CBSA officer. During the entire conversation, she had a smirk on her face.

Officer: How long have you been gone for?
Me: About two days.
Officer: How much are you bringing back?
Me: About $350.
Officer: Any alcohol or tobacco?
Me: Nope.
Officer: Is there any reason that you're giving me the bird?

I look down at my hand, which is resting on the side of the card. The way that my fingers are spread out make it look like I'm giving her the finger. I quickly bring my hand inside the car.

Me: Oops, sorry about that.
Officer: Have a safe trip.

I've learned an important lesson in making sure that you place your hands in a "safe" position when crossing the border.

The awful commute

Yesterday, I experienced the worst commute of my life.

After a long day of meetings, I left work around 7:00pm. Seeing that it was raining outside, I decided to put on a pair of shorts to make the walk to the subway a bit more tolerable.

As I walked to the subway station, I noticed that the lights were off most of the way. Complete power outage for several blocks in every direction. "Oh well," I thought, "I see that the area around the subway is lit up. Just a few blocks to go, and then I can hop on the subway and get home."

When I arrived at the subway station, the metal doors were shut tight. I walked around to the various exits, and I saw that they were all closed. After checking the TTC's website on my phone, I saw that about half of the subway system was closed. And it was a 3 km walk to the nearest open station. Shuttle buses were running, but it seemed like every bus was packed as full as a can of sardines, and they weren't moving much faster than pedestrians on the sidewalk.

Fantastic.

Predicting I wouldn't get home for quite some time, I decided to grab a quick dinner in the part of town that had electricity. I then walked 3 km to the subway station. It was wet, rainy, and crowded, but thankfully the worst of the storm had passed. The rain was comparable to that of a typical spring day in Seattle.

The subway ride was short, but it saved me several kilometres and hours of walking. I got off, took one look at the mob waiting for the bus, and figured it would be at least a one-hour wait to board. I instead headed for the street and proceeded to walk about 5 km home.

The entire time that I walked home, there was an entourage following me. It seems that I wasn't alone in deciding to abandon the bus and head home on foot. And it turned out to be a good idea: For most of this part of the trip home, there were no electricity and no traffic lights, so the traffic was moving about as fast as I was.

I got back to my place soaking wet, exhausted, and ready to sleep. Of course, the power was out at my place, meaning that there was little to do. It was the cherry on top of my ice cream commute walk.

Yet, I am (surprisingly) still thankful. In spite of the waste of time and energy to get home, I still had:

• a roof over my head
• running water
• food
• a charged phone with 3G internet
• dry clothes
• a couch and bed to rest on

However, the best part of the commute home was knowing that I had brought a pair of shorts to work that day. Had I worn my jeans home, they would have weighed 20 pounds soaking wet and would have caused much discomfort. Wearing shorts meant that the walk home was just 10 kilometres long, and not 10 kilometres long in soaking wet jeans. That one detail made the whole tolerable.

The power came back on after midnight. Today, I am so grateful for what I have. Even when we have a bad day, we are still truly blessed.

Big Brother Canada - season 1

I make it a personal policy to not blog about TV, but I just had to write this one.

I recently watched the finale of season one of "Big Brother Canada." The show is a little less trashy than its American counterpart, but it's essentially the same show. The one thing that I disliked about the Canadian version is that the producers interfered too much with people exiting the house. Specifically:

1. In week 3, Suzette was nominated against AJ. However, viewers were allowed to vote to veto one of the nominations. Suzette, who was the presumptive choice to go home, was saved. Aneal was nominated in her place and was evicted.
2. In week 9, Gary returned to the house after having spent three "weeks" in the Jury House. As a result, he became part of the final five and made it to the final two. (The American version of "Big Brother" has done this in the past, but normally in the first few weeks of competition when there are more people in the house.)

In the finale, Topaz accidentally voted for Jillian to win, instead of her BFF Gary. Topaz pleaded to have the opportunity to re-vote, but her vote was counted as final. Jillian won 4-3 over Gary. Had Topaz voted as she intended to, Gary would have won.

I'm glad that Jillian won. Not because she was a strong player or particularly likeable, but because Gary did not deserve to be in the final two. He had been duly evicted from the house weeks earlier and was only returned to the house because of interference from the producers.

Jillian may not have been the most deserving player to win the game, but she was the only one in the final two who earned her way there.

Missed the train

Today, I took the VIA train back home after a weekend away visiting some family and friends. It felt good to get away for 3 days and have a change of venue.

All of the seats in our the train car are full, with one exception. Right on schedule, the train departs at 40 minutes past the hour. However, one woman in our car runs down the aisle, yelling at the attendant:

"My daughter! We can't leave without my daughter!"

Once the woman finds the attendant, she explains that her daughter has gone outside for a quick smoke, and that they can't leave without her. The attendant radios to stop the train. A few people are racing outside on the platform for about 2 minutes, looking for any sign of this elusive daughter.

At 44 minutes past the hour, the attendant informs the mother that we cannot wait any longer and that the train must depart. The mother reluctantly informs her husband and son, and they take all their luggage to the platform. The three of them head upstairs to (a) find the missing member of their party, and (b) exchange their tickets for a later trip. Depending on the class of ticket, they may either have to pay a change fee (a few dollars), or buy new tickets outright.

A few minutes later, the guy in front of me commented, "That was probably the most expensive smoke of her life."

The rise of slacktivism

Slacktivism is a trend of recent years, driven by a desire to do something good without putting any real effort into it.

It can take various forms, such as writing status updates or reposting photos on Facebook, to raise awareness of a particular cause. For just a few seconds of your time, you, too, can be an online social activist!

I don't necessarily think that posting about a cause automatically makes one a slacktivist. I know people who are heavily involved in causes offline, and they use social media to help spread the word and get more people involved. There are some who try to raise funds for a 5K run they're taking part in, and others who are trying affect real change by gathering grassroots supporters for a cause. This is one of the beautiful things about social media - the ability to quickly gather people for the greater good. It's a powerful tool.

But with great power comes great responsibility. Some people seem to be magnetically drawn to the share button, resulting in the abuse of power and the sharing of all sorts of nonsense. There are three examples that I would like to share (pun intended) with you today.

Big tech is out to get you
Two of my friends reposted the above status in over four weeks ago. Neither of them have unfriended me yet, despite their dire warnings. I think the OVERUSE of CAPITALS and run-on sentences and "BAD GRAMMAR" speak for themselves, but u should still try to READ THIS OK?!!

FACEBOOK HAS CHANGED THEIR PRIVACY SETTINGS ONCE MORE!!! DUE TO THE NEW “GRAPH APP” ANYONE ON FACEBOOK (INCLUDING OTHER COUNTRIES) CAN SEE YOUR PICTURES, LIKES, AND COMMENTS. The next 2 weeks I will be posting this, and please once you have done it please post DONE! Those of you who do not keep my information from going out to the public, I will have to DELETE YOU! I want to stay PRIVATELY connected with you. I post shots of my family that I don't want strangers to have access to!!! This happens when our friends click "like" or "comment"... automatically, their friends would see our posts too. Unfortunately, we cannot change this setting by ourselves because Facebook has configured it that way. PLEASE place your mouse over my name above (DO NOT CLICK), a window will appear, now move the mouse on “FRIENDS" (also without clicking), then down to "Settings", click here and a list will appear. REMOVE the CHECK on "LIFE EVENTS" and "COMMENTS & LIKES". By doing this, my activity among my friends and family will no longer become public. Now, copy and paste this on your wall. Once I see this posted on your page, I will do the same

People get a good feeling from warning others about impending danger. As long as internet services have been free, there have been rumours about evil corporations trying to scam you. Remember how Hotmail would close your account if you didn't forward this email? Or how Geocities is going to resell the content you posted on your webpage? Or that Neiman-Marcus charged $250 to an innocent mother and daughter when buying a cookie after a long shopping trip? Now that you've forwarded that email or shared that Facebook status, you and your friends are that much better off.

These are all lies. And so is the above Facebook privacy warning. Your friends can't secure your privacy settings; only you can do that. Yes, Facebook's privacy settings have historically not been easy to control, but they are getting better. Please take five minutes to learn about how Facebook's privacy settings work and turn off the default global visibility. Listen to Snopes' advice.

And if you're still not convinced that Facebook isn't out to get you, then I know a Nigerian prince who could use your help.

I know my real friends will
There are too many of these to count, so I will create an amalgam of the statuses that I have seen. Just pretend that there are some flowers or Tweety Bird clip art next to this.

Did you know that this week is X Awareness Week? Over Y million people suffer from X. They are some of the bravest people I know. In their honour, will you repost this and leave it as your status for one hour? Z% of you won't, but I know my true friends will. Let's see if I'm right.

Here are the conclusions that follow:

• It's currently X Awareness Week, even though this status was originally posted three months ago. Awareness is not bound by time or space.
• By not reposting this status, you are simultaneously dishonouring Y million people. For shame.
• Z percent of his/her Facebook friends are fake friends. The poster must have poor taste in Facebook friends.
• If I repost this status, I am his/her true friend. Instead of spending time getting to know someone, I can just repost the status to become their true friend.

Awareness is not necessarily a bad thing - it's great to inform people about a cause or disease. And there are times when it's appropriate to honour a loved one who has suffered through an illness. But awareness is just the first step. If you really want to make a difference, get involved and actually do something.

However, what drives me batty is the fact that we are made to feel guilty for not reposting an low-resolution image. If the only way that your cause (or status update) can gain momentum is through guilting people, then perhaps you need to rethink your tactics. (Did you like how I guilted you there?)

If it was my child
This is what originally prompted this post, and it may be the best example of slacktivism that I have seen to date.

Here's the story: Two brothers are kidnapped on April 3, 2013, by their parents who had lost custody of them. They fled the state. An Amber Alert was put into effect. On April 8, the boys are spotted in a Cuban marina, where officials took the parents into custody. On April 9, the boys are returned to the United States. (A fuller account is available here.) I'm not trained in law enforcement, but as far as child abduction cases go, this one seems like a best-case scenario; the kids are returned unharmed, the abductors are captured, and boys can resume a near-normal life with their family.

One person on Facebook wanted to help the case by posting this photo on Facebook. On April 10. The day after the boys were returned to their rightful guardians:

I hope everyone sees this and shares this. You may not know these people, but that doesn't mean they do not matter...God forbid anything ever happened to one of mine, I would hope and pray that others would do something as simple as reposting a photo. Hope these two little boys are returned home soon.

The original poster is obviously not being malicious. It shows that there is a shred of decency left in this world. One mother is trying to help another mother out.

The above photo was shared about 400,000 times. That's right. About 400,000 users pressed the share button to pass on the news that these boys had been abducted, even though these boys were safe and sound. If the story is shown in average of 25 people's Facebook news feeds, then that's about 10 million people who have potentially seen the image.

There is no context of (a) when the boys were abducted, (b) where they were abducted from, (c) where they might be, or (d) who may have taken them. The only details are the names and photos lifted from the a TV news graphic. At least with some details of timeline and location, the public can better aid with looking. If you've ever paid attention to Amber Alerts, they will give you very specific information to help you. Blindly sharing Facebook photos from half a world away is not going to help.

With just a little bit of discernment in what we post and repost on Facebook, hopefully we can help tide the spread of misinformation. I know that my real friends will.

Thanks for listening to my rant.