Kore wa nan desu ka? (Translation: what is this?)

On my never ending quest for weight loss related answers, I have been excited to discover that my little redneck town has finally begun to grow up and mature - ladies and gentlemen: We now have an Asian Grocery Store!!! Ben and I were chomping at the bit to get down there and have a look!

OMG. It's a veritable smorgasboard of unusual, pungent, exotic, un-translatable gastronomic treasures...

ok, so it's really pretty tiny comparitively, but people: this is a tiny town on the south coast of Australia where the closest we come to culture is Friday Night Chinese at the Bowling Club.

Ben and I have made it our goal to try something new each time we go there. We search the shelves, alternately gasping, scratching our heads, and peering at kanji characters, and then admit defeat and ask the friendly cashier what the little-brown-rolly-things-in-salt are.

I've noticed a few things that may be of interest to my fellow weightloss-ologists out there:

1) An absence of chocolate and dairy products. None. Not one. Interesting...

2) Most snack foods in the Asian Grocery are of the low-GI persuasion, for example; salted sunflower seeds. By the time you nibble the hull of the seed, there aint much seed there. High effort: Teeny tiny morsels.

3) More savoury and salty than sweet. Lots of rice crackers, meat, fish, beans, rice noodles, vegies, preserved fruits, dried EVERYTHING.

Right now I am cooking some sushi rice, and Ben is making instant chicken and onion ramen...

I am drinking Genmai cha, which is a green tea with roasted brown rice. It's yum - kinda like a nutty, 'cooked' taste on top of normal green tea. It's very smooth too, not bitter at all.

Yes, in order to ' the full flavour' it, the brewing needs to be swift. LOL don't ya just love Engrish?

I also bought this "3 Ballerinas" tea which appealed because Hey, 'ballerinas': They're really thin. Unfortunately upon closer inspection, I think the more apt connection here is that the tea contains mallow and senna; senna being a natural laxative. "Excess consumption may have...."

More adventures from the Asian grocery to come...

Finally, a pic of me snuggling my gorgeous little orange man, Henry. Can you believe someone gave this little guy up and couldn't bond with him?