Valentine's Day!!!! Yaaaay!

Hello Dear Readers!!!

I hope you're having a wonderful day!

Finally, I could make time for this post. I wanted to do it last weekend, but a friend called out of the blue, saying she's coming to Osaka at the weekend (from Hiroshima), we haven't met for 5 long years!!! so I really wanted to meet her. 

Anyway, let's explain the Japanese Valentine's Day! It's quite different from western countries, what a surprise, huh?  So, February 14th is Valentine's day, when girls, or women give chocolate to the guy they have a crush on, or to their boyfriends or husbands. March 14th is called White Day...wonder why "white"...when guys give something in return, if they are interested in the lady they got the chocolate from.  So, to put it straight, if you give chocolates to your crush on Valentine's and you ain't get shit on White day, you're screwed. 

There are 3 types of chocolates on Valentine's Day. There is the "honmei" chocolate, which  goes to the boyfriend(-to-be) or husband. "Honmei" literally means "certain" or "favourite". Then there is tomo-choco. Tomo comes from the Japanese word "tomodachi" meaning "friend". Obviously, this type of chocolate goes to your friends. Today, at my school, many high school girls gave away chocolates, handmade cookies etc. to their friends. On this day, handmade sweets are very popular, it is a good chance to show off your cooking skills to your Mr. BIG ;). 

The chocolate moulds I used. diamond, ball, heart, sqare, dome and heart shaped.

After 2 coating, waiting for the Malibu (coconut rum) cream filling.

The finished product :) Not bad for a first try I'd say.

The third type is called "giri-choco". "Giri"stands for "duty" or "obligation". This is a kind of chocolate you give to your co-workers, mainly to the guys, but often to fellow lady co-workers too. This kind of chocolate should not be taken seriously, it's just for politeness. They have a pretty strict protocol, such as all chcolates should be the same, otherwise the receiving party might misunderstand. 

It's a bit far-fetched to me, but I love making sweets, so I always bake or make something for my boyfriend. I usually make more than needed and give some to my friends, but only the ones who are really close. 

One thing I love about Valentine's Day here, is the enermous variety of bon-bons, and home made sweets kits that are on sale from the second week of January! It's amazing! You can find many popular character shaped chocolates, really cute ones, all different kind of liquor chocolates, the finest Belgian stuff, and all kinds of ingredients for cooking that are not available everywhere throughout the year! This year only, I spent more than 25 000 yen on buying chocolates and mainly cooking ingredients!! Wow...

Everything you need from almod and strawberry powder to ONE PIECE shaped handmad choco kit.

These are my absolute favourites from day one! Japanese traditional themed artisan chocolates by Aya Kato.

For animal lovers...

...for Teddy bear and dessert addicts...

...for flower lovers...

The funny section: tits chocolate, money chocolate, sexy female body chocolate, and poo chocolate to bring you luck...I guess.

I hope you gave and got some chocolates today too. This is what I get from my friend, the librarian of the school: (the rose and teddy bear chocolate moulds I lent her). She did a really good job with them. The most delicious however, were the truffles...also home made. Yummieeee.

I also got some Belgian chocolates (not home made of course), they were really nice...must have been expensive!  

Hope you enjoyed today's post! But if I may advise, don't show love and respect only on Valentine's day. It's a nice gesture to give a small gift, but love and respect should be present in a relationship 24/7, 365 days a week, no matter whether it's friendship, family, or a love relationship.  

Damn...now that this nice topic, that I looked forward so much to share with you, is over, I gotta find some new topic to write about, hopefully by this weekend...hmmm....

PLEASE WRITE IN THE COMMENT SECTION WHICH CHOCOLATE IS YOUR FAVOURITE FROM THE ONES IN THE PICTURES! I really want to know what my Readers think! You can comment anonymously.  THANKS! (^^) /"