"Ice cream" and cats

[thistlechaser]

I don't know if I've ever reviewed a food here before. I probably have, but if so I can't remember when.



Arctic Zero is a very low calorie "ice cream". 35 calories for a serving/quarter of the pint, 150 for the whole pint. I 100% knew it would taste nothing at all like ice cream, but I decided to check it out anyway. I got the chocolate peanut butter flavor, instead of the one pictured here.

While nothing like ice cream, it was surprisingly good. I actually liked it! (Please note it's been a year and a half since I last had any "real" sweet, so that could be coloring my taste of things.) It's more like ice milk than ice cream, but to me it tasted chocolately (weakly, but again, with that calorie count, what can you expect?).

My worry with these fake foods is that they'll make me want the real ones more, or somehow make it easier for me to give in and buy the real version. (I never buy sugar free candy/cookies.) I don't know if that's a valid concern or not. I suspect maybe not. I want to eat more of this -- considering calories and other factors, I would choose this over "real" ice cream.

I picked it up in Sprouts (a small grocery chain in this area) for about $3. Very worth it, in my opinion!

---

I now have all the cats in Neko Atsume, and I'm kind of quickly losing interest in the game. All that's left to do is buy the last of the toys I don't own yet (just a matter of time), and get the mementos. I don't know if I care enough about the mementos to put much effort at all into it.

On one hand, I'm kind of sad I'm done (sort of done) so soon, but on the other I'm kind of ready to be done with the game.

Last night I dreamed I adopted a new kitten. Though the dream was set in the real world, the kitten looked exactly like a Neko Atsume cat -- a simple drawing. I think I need a break from cat collecting. :P

Comments

[resonant.livejournal.com]

Wait, there's an end to Neko Atsume?

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I guess once you own all the toys, have pictures of all the cats, and have 100% of mementos, there's nothing left to do but wait for them to add more.

Word is a new cat and two more toys are coming soon, but... that's not much more.

[changeling72.livejournal.com]

I've been eating pretend meat for 23 years and have no desire to eat the real stuff!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Good to hear! That makes sense. :)

[teaandfailure.livejournal.com]

I eat that a lot in the summer! Definitely nothing like real ice cream, but it actually keeps me away from the real stuff, especially since I don't feel bad about eating a whole pint. There's apparently another brand with flavors like cake batter, but I can't remember what it's called, and I've only really seen in on blogs.

Where Arctic Zero really excels is in milkshakes. When I get on a malt bender I use it to make malts without totally boning my calorie counts.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I read that it makes good shakes! I'm going to try that sometime, I still have lots of protein powder around.

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who likes it, I was worried everyone would think I was wacky.

[twissie.livejournal.com]

They added more special cats while I was playing Neko Atsume, so if you stick around long enough, they'll probably do more updates and add more cats. The game was still wildly popular when I was in Japan last summer, there were official guides, soundtracks, and figurines for sale xD;

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I wish we'd get more things to buy! I'd love figurines of it, I bet they'd be the cutest things ever. Must Not Look At Importing Sites!

[socksofjello.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I've ever reviewed a food here before. I probably have, but if so I can't remember when.

I think something like this is actually what caused me to start following you! I vaguely recall reviews of weird snacks and candies you found in international markets; it was pretty novel to me at the time. (2002-2003?)

Now, whether they were serious reviews and not simply "unreadable packaging roulette"...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah! The Japanese snackfood reviews! You're right, I was doing those on a regular basis for a while.

[tersa.livejournal.com]

And here I am, just getting into Neko Atsume because of your initial post. You seem to have gotten all the rare cats super fast, comparatively! I've only, just this weekend, purchased the yard expansion and haven't seen any of the rare cats which require Goldfish items to attract.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

This is one of the main guides I used for earning goldfish (https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-best-way-to-get-gold-fish-in-Neko-Atsume) which helped me a lot. Once I had the yard expansion, the game sped up super fast -- you start earning fish twice as fast, after all.

Either I got lucky or the rare cats are pretty easy to get. Once I had the items to attract them, I set them all up inside (since your food can't get stolen when it's inside), then I bought one goldfish food. With that one food, checking more often than I usually would, I got all the rare cats except two. One came randomly (on silverfish food!) another time, and the last one I put two of his favorite items out instead of one and used goldfish food once more, and he came in minutes. I was actually disappointed at how easy it was.

I liked the game pre-yard expansion better than post-. There was so much more to do and it felt more challenging.

[tersa.livejournal.com]

Ahhh. I could see why using that would cause you to lose interest in the game more quickly. The game is built on RNG and pokemon psychology, but if you speed through to the end, then what's left to do?

Other than the rares, I think I'll avoid using that link. I'm enjoying simply letting the game play out on what suits my fancy. :)

(Speaking of pokemon...I wanted to mention that when I was cleaning out shoveling off my bookcase a few weeks ago, I found a couply of pages of bug reports from PokeMUSH global code that I'd printed out for reference. Tickled me pink to remember that time, and I thought you'd get a kick out of it as well. :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Doing what suits your fancy really is best. Now I'm just putting out the toys I like and taking pictures when something cute happens. The mementos will come or not when they do, I'm just going to sit back and chill.

Ha! It's good to hear about the PokeMUSH code, yeah. I still remember that time fondly (stressful though it was). I actually have a backup file of the MUSH itself somewhere, and for kicks the website is up on my personal web space.

[bacchuslives.livejournal.com]

That looks good! Maybe if you get used to an alternative like that, eventually the "real" thing won't appeal as much. I've been usin Splenda for so long that sugar doesn't taste right anymore!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I bought two more pints of it today ($3, down from $5.50, but more importantly the last pints they had -- I hope it's just because of the sale and not that they're going to stop carrying it). I'm hoping the same thing -- it will make the real stuff less appealing.

I really like Splenda too!

Neko Atsume

[tersa.livejournal.com]

They've introduced four new cats and something called Wallpaper you can buy!

Re: Neko Atsume

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oh! Yay! Thanks for the heads up! I'm going to have to start playing again. :)

Re: Neko Atsume

[tersa.livejournal.com]

No problem! I noticed the wallpapers this morning, but when I went in to clear my gifts, I was like '...who the hell is Apricot?!' :)

And then I remembered what you said about not playing again until they introduced new cats. ;)