Chinatown Snack Expedition

Kids were loaded safely in their seats. One of the twins was crying because her sister had been awarded the coveted third-row car seat known as "SammySeat".  Sammy had just gone to the bathroom twice at the lumber company and was complaining that he needed to go again. I knew their moods would be changing soon.  It was snack time, and we were headed on an outing to Chinatown in search of new and interesting treats.

Chinatown Produce is a grocery that stocks all kinds of wonderful and amazing food items, including an an aisle of snacks packed with super-cute anime-ish packaging and completely mysterious contents, at least to us.  The kids and I were each allowed to choose one snack, any snack.  Upon returning home, we would have a taste test to see which snack was yummiest.  I was eager to discover some delicious new imported snacks, hopefully even something as magical as the legendary Tamarindo flavor of Jarritos soda.

For an activity with basically no rules, the kids sure didn't waste any time selecting fully inappropriate snacks.  Jane and Iris both chose strips of candy that ended up being bubble gum, one in fruit flavors and one in Hello Kitty flavors.  Gum is no good because they swallow or choke on it before they can properly enjoy it.  Also, if I remember my childhood warnings correctly , this can lead to a gum tree growing of their stomachs (or is it, "you'll go blind!", i forget).  Noting the eerie similarity in the girls' choices, I added "snack choosing" to "car seat preference" and "biting" on my mental list of twin traits that are possibly genetic and will require further study.

Sam chose a package of curry flavored ramen,  which was problematic in that ramen is clearly a lunch food and not really a snack.  Do you think he was dissuaded by this line of logic?  Like Daddy Comedian Louis CK, I knew better than to fight him about this particular issue in public.  Sam also insisted that he had "sharp teeth" and wanted to "crunch the noodles" rather than boiling them.  Be serious.
I chose some iced cookies in cartoony animal shapes and at the last minute, impulse-bought a strip of wafery things in a red package.

Leaving the market, we took advantage of the pretty day by visiting nearby Ping Tom Park, which is a little harder to find than the platform for the Hogwarts Express.  There's a nice little playground there and it's strangely scenic. In addition to the playground, they have one of these:

and one of these:

And it's right on the river.  Almost immediately we came upon the remains of what must have been an amazing party:

You might want to click this one to zoom in a little

Back at home, Sam and I sampled our new snacks while the girls napped.  Turns out the world of snack food is a small one.  The gum we bought tasted just like any other gum, and the animal cookies weren't too different than any other bland iced cookies.  I was comforted to find that not even in Japan do they have the manufacturing technology to cheaply produce a cookie in a recognizable animal form:

is that a llama?  a mule?  a pinata of a llama?

Sammy made good on his threat/promise to crunch his ramen raw.  He finished a good third of the noodle brick in this fashion:

The surprise of the bunch were these things:

note the shards of uncooked ramen shrapnel

I wasn't sure if they'd be sweet or savory, but it turns out they were cute little mini Pringles!  They are delicious, and would go great with a cold bottle of Jarritos Tamarindo.

Fun Rating:   8 out of 10.  It was fun to get a change of scenery, and it was nice to play outside a little.  The kids snack choices didn't necessarily work out perfectly, but the mini-Pringles were a hit.