akutagawa seika

Back in November, when I met up with Greg's sisters, I also checked out Akutagawa Seika

They apparently have been in business since 1886 and used to have a shop in the Komagome area, but now mainly have shops in Saitama prefecture and a teeny outlet shop at the bottom of JR Ikebukuro station

I bought their 70% pure chocolate

And their Omikuji chocolate

Similar to the omikuji that you see at shrines 

You shake out a chocolate wrapped with your fortune

This was fun to do while we had our coffee during the New Year break

I'm glad we got to try these and would go back to buy chocolate from them again

Akutagawa Seika

Ikebukuro Shopping Park, B1

Hours: 10:00-19:30 (Sundays & Holidays), 10:00-21:00 (Weekdays)

*closed when Ikebukuro Shopping Park is

this and that

things done/eaten in 2025, that missed being blogged about

we tried kanno seimen's jumbo shumai is no joke, they are huge!

about the size of a golf ball...5 for 330 yen (tax included)

The filling is seasoned well, so no need to add shoyu when eating

we ate ours with black vinegar and satoshi also added karashi (mustard) to his 

we checked out the marugame seimen under the keikyu kamata station...super teeny in comparison to the one we go to in Kawasaki, but the line moves rather quickly

I had the bukkake udon with toriten (chicken tempura), chikuwa with nori and their chocolate udonuts..

I thought I took a photo of this when I was eating one of the udonuts, but sadly I did not...these were super chocolatey...love!

we still need to try the shop near our shopping arcade, hope to do that soon

tried the dubai style chocolate pistachio ice cream from 7-eleven

it was good, the crispy part was smooshed wafers...would get it again

love this tree, always so pretty with all its blooming camellia

we received these dried kaki from V, love the brand name noto kakinosuke

thank you V

the saltiest & toughest kalbi and brisket from matsuya…it made the stuff in the miso soup seem like it had no flavor!

there was ozoni on New Year's morning

and osechi that evening...everything is so krazy expensive at this time of year...next year I'm gonna look for bento with osechi stuff instead

kalbi don done relatively right at yoshinoya...the meat still had lots of tendons, but at least the salt was way lower than the one at matsuya

and proof that global warming is real...ume is already starting to bloom

Hope 2026 got off to a nice start for you

thank you

(photo taken in october)

What a year!

Thankful for everything (good and bad)

Hoping 2026 will be healthy, happy with more travels, new connections and reconnections for everyone

Be well, be kind

10 photos

tokushima shine muscat jam/compote

1st time making jam/compote with shine muscat it was a nice way to use some of the shine muscat we received from M!

inari eggplant

was a delicious experience once I could get the aburaage open to stuff

chikin mu

super easy recipe and good way to use daikon

eggplant gyoza

nice way to make "gyoza" without wrappers

Yamagata no3 Jam

1st time using fresh apricots

Adapted Dd's dressing

still need to try the other ume dressing recipe Jalna posted :)

Bird Bar

finally found a recipe similar to down to earth's bird bar!

Stuffed Tomato

not really a recipe but tasty

Saborecipe

nice way to kinda "play hooky" from cooking

Ashikaga Flower Park

bucket list item checked! what a great adventure.

I only had 9 kitchen experiences, so I added one of our favorite travel adventures.

We started 10 photos back in 2008 as part of a meme, nowadays I use this as a way to look back at the year

books 2025

Read 3 books this year 

"Aunty Lee's Deadly Specials" by Ovidia Yu

"Geisha, a Life" by Mineko Iwasaki

"Aunty Lee's Chilled Revenge" by Ovidia Yu

I have a couple more books on my shelf but they are huge books, so not very transportable

Still, hope to read more in 2026

this and that

Lanikai Juice is opening up in the shopping mall that we have nearby.

Not too sure January 7th will be "balmy" enough for smoothies...hope they'll survive until the weather warms up.
 

so orange

earlier I thought that Marugame Udon would open in Januray or February in our shopping arcade, but they opened the other week.

this was the line on the 2nd day AND they just gave us some coupons in the mail, so hope to check them out soon

snacks found at daiso...chocolate covered sunflower seeds and covered peanuts

japanese style fish & chips...wakasagi karaage (fried smelt) and fried potato with salt and aonori

literally "potato chips that want to become cheese"...ono!

biang biang noodle flavored chips...mouth.on.fire. but I would get this one again

some of the apples we received from A, had these unusual "bumps"

not too sure what they were but I cut them off before eating

Hope Santa brought all that you wished for.

Have a safe weekend.

stollen-ing

Tried the different stollen this morning

Romi-Unie lots of butter, marzipan, some fruits, spices are super light almost non-existent

Roca Bake cinnamon kinda overpowers everything, but there is a large chestnut in the middle, more bread like 

Think lots of nuts, dried fruits and spices

I'm glad we got to try these.

Each are different, each are delicious