atsugari vs samugari

Some people here when the calendar changes to September, they automatically start wearing long sleeves and shoes…

me, I’m still in slippers and using my secret weapon

In Japanese they call people “atsugari” those that cannot tolerate heat…the opposite is “samugari” which is cannot tolerate cold

me I'm atsugari while Satoshi is samugari...

We're supposed to have krazy rains again today...hopefully there won't be any damage

are you atsugari or samugari?!

aloe

Yesterday was excited to notice a nub coming out at the bottom of aloe

and one from the center

will need to remember to bring aloe indoors this winter...
 

kaki

Even if the weather is saying it is still Summer, the foods that we now see in the markets are saying it is Autumn.

I had bought these kaki (persimmon) that were grown in Nara about a week ago.

Since we received grapes from my host mom we ate those first, and we finally got to eat these kaki over the weekend

They were on the smaller size but perfectly ripe and juicy.

I'm glad we tried these and look forward to getting more Autumn fruits in the coming days.

kanno seimenjo

I talked about Kanno Seimenjo before here.

We tried the gyoza recently...20 pieces for 650 yen (tax included)

They come frozen, my peeve is the l-o-n-g plastic container they are in

I cut the tray and plastic package in half then put it into a ziploc so that I could freeze the other 10 pieces

These do not come with instructions on how to fry them up so I adlibbed

I defrosted them in the refrig before cooking, but would leave them frozen until cooking so that it doesn't stick to the plastic tray

I heated some oil in a pan then put down my gyoza and then added some water for it to steam at the end...cooking it for a total of 7 minutes

The gyoza snob approved these...I think it was because the wrappers are on the thin side (most gyoza here in Kanto have thicker wrappers)

The filling has the right amount of garlic in them.

I ate mine with black vinegar and pepper.

I did see a "stamina" version in their freezer, which usually means they have more garlic in them, these looked a little larger, we will try these another time.

We also tried the nikuman...260 yen (tax included)

These are HUGE!

barely fit in my pot with my steamer basket

these are well seasoned and the ratio of bread to filling is just right

The package had instructions on how to heat these up

BUT, I didn't know if their instructions were for the frozen version or thawed out version

I had thawed out our nikuman in the refrigerator the night before

So instead of their 15-20 minutes in the steamer instructions, I just did 15 minutes since it takes the water about 5 minutes to come to a boil on my stove, I let it steam with the boiling water for about 5 minutes, then I turned off the heat and let it sit in the steam for another 5

They also had instructions if you wanted to zap them but most times these types of foods get really hard after zapping so I went the steaming route...

Satoshi had his with karashi mustard

We will get these again.

I'm glad we tried these and look forward to trying their noodles (ramen & pasta) this winter...

this and that

the temps have kinda dropped but the humidity hasn't 

found this furry one trying to keep cool...
 

have you ever seen deer pooping? when we were in Nara, it was my first time seeing this...balls of poop just coming out of its butt like water...

seeing this bread kinda reminded me of this...sorry if you were eating...ha!

toyota sport 800

morris minor

blood moon eclipse

beautiful sunrises...

we are all getting tired of this heat...

Yesterday, got my jasmine lemon tea fix from Tokyo Doujiang

And fan tuan fix

and peanut bun fix...their prices have gone up and they are more popular than ever, but they are under staffed so be prepared to wait

At about 15:00-ish we had a "guerilla" storm...was rainy with thunder and lightning for an hour non-stop

Since we live between Kawasaki (Kanagawa) and Ikegami (Tokyo) we get both alerts...so loud! scared me twice!

Luckily Satoshi was able to get home without having to wait for the trains, many had stopped service due to flooding!

It's the start of a 3-day weekend, have a safe one!

ootoya

I really like the black vinegar sauce that is on the fried fish and fried chicken at Ootoya

It's been awhile since we've eaten there and so the other day we went for lunch and they had a pork and tsukune combination with the black vinegar sauce.

I've never "counted" how many pieces of "meat" were in my serving until this visit...

There were only 2 pieces of pork and 2 pieces of tsukune (oh and if you are interested, there are also 2 of each veggie)

I was disappointed because one piece of pork was really teeny and the other piece was really fatty and hard.as.rock.

Will go back to ordering the fried fish version...hopefully I'll receive 4 normal sized pieces...

chikin mu

Had bought half a daikon and noticed one end turning brown so I tried making chikin mu

Found a recipe on this blog and it seemed really easy, so I cut up the daikon and mixed the brine.

We tried it with dinner the other night and Satoshi said he liked it.

I think it could be a tad sweeter, but will taste it again because it hasn't soaked overnight.

Chikin Mu from Stellan Spice

1/2 pound daikon

1.5 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1/3 cup water

Peel the daikon

Cut into discs that are between 1/2 inch to 1 inch depending on your preference. I usually cut them about 3/4 of an inch

Cut the discs into cubes

Combine sugar, salt, white vinegar and water until dissolved then add daikon and shake or mix until fully submerged in the pickling liquid

Store in the refrigerator for 1 day before eating

This will stay good for up to 2 weeks

NOTES:  easy and tasty

I didn't have white sugar nor white vinegar and used what I had in my pantry (brown sugar and rice vinegar)

It's a good way to use up daikon and is easy to put together

I would definitely make this again.