miyako-iwaizumiomoto-tanohata-kuji

We had bought some baked items from Tamiser, a tiny bakery in Miyako for breakfast since we had to catch an early train

Bummer everything was hard.as.rock. 

Seriously thought we were gonna break our teeth!

I try not to waste food, so this was literally painful to eat up

on the way to the station, I fell...my knees and ego was bruised

another slow motion fall...sigh

still feeling sore but at least it doesn't seem like anything is broken...

From Miyako, we purchased a ticket that allowed us to get on and off the train on the way to Kuji on the Sanriku Rias Line

We first got off at Iwaizumiomoto to go to Ryusendo

Catch the local bus

Inside the caves the temperature was almost 10 degrees less than what it was outside!

(sorry this one was out of order) Found a Pokemon manhole cover outside the caves

it was super wet in the caves!

Luckily we were able to check this place out.

Apparently with all the rains, the caves were closed the week before

there are about 200 steps to get to see all the different areas

loved all the clear water! beautiful

From Iwaizumiomoto, we went to Tanohata

Satoshi had thought there were buses running from the station, instead, you needed to reserve a taxi!

Luckily there was someone at the station!

The woman working there, explained all of this to us and called a taxi for us

side story: The taxi driver said that he had just started driving taxis when the tsunami in 2011 hit

His client was late arriving and he was in the midst of taking them around when the earthquake hit

It was when they were visiting Kitayamazaki to see the cape, that they saw the tsunami hit from the lookout area!

He said that his office was wiped out with the tsunami and only his taxi was spared.

Luckily, no one was at the office because it was swept out to sea!

From Kitayamazaki Cape, he took us to a tiny market, Ryutsu Store, to pick up some foods for lunch

And then dropped us off at Unosu Cliff...bear bells on!

Beautiful to see.

We were lucky, it was raining when we went to Kitayamazaki Cape and drizzling when we arrived at Unosu Cliff but we were still able to see both

The lady at the station said that sometimes there is fog!

konbu mayo musubi for Kat

a piece of chicken and piece of takuan from Satoshi's bento...

9000 yen was a total unexpected cost because we needed to take the taxi (cash only!) but worth it because we got to see the areas that Satoshi had wanted to check out

Bummer was the trains...they do not run often so we had almost an hour wait after the taxi tour

On top of that, the station closes at 15:00 so we had to wait outside! near the tracks

At least they left the bathroom open...

Because the tsunami hit, most businesses have moved higher up, so there is nothing around the Tanohata station

From Tanohata, we saw several seascapes but thought the train would be running closer to the sea

Unfortunately there were many tunnels on this route

The train did slow to show us the salmon farm as well as some seascapes

We found a Pokemon in Kuji

For dinner, there were not too many choices, so we went to Universe, the supermarket in the area, it was huge!

Pear from Fukushima

Gyoza with beef tongue and garlic

somen salad

Satoshi had a beef bento

bite sized half baked cheesecake from Rosette, which was next door to our hotel

this would’ve been nice with wine!

Another long day, the weather was drizzly, but we got to see everything we intended to

Ryusendo

1-1 Kannari Iwaizumi

Shimohei, Iwate

*admission

Kitayamazaki Cape

Tanohata

Shimohei, Iwate

Unosu Cliff

Tanohata

Shimohei, Iwate

Rosette

10-17 Kawasakicho

Kuji, Iwate

Open daily: 9:00-19:00

Kuji Grand Hotel

10-15 Kawasakicho

Kuji, Iwate

tokyo-morioka-miyako

From Tokyo, we took the Shinkansen to Morioka, about 3 hours.

Then from Morioka, it is 2 hour bus ride to Miyako.

Last year when we visited Miyako, we didn't get a chance to try their Bindon (bottle bowl)

Fresh seafood is packed into a milk bottle and you pour it onto rice and eat

Apparently back in the Jomon era, the fishermen thought of a way to bring back fresh uni (sea urchin) back to their villages.

They used their ceramic pots filled them with sea water and put the uni in to transport them. 

Inspired by this, Miyako thought of this fun way to eat seafood from their area

There are only 8 shops in Miyako that serve Bindon

We were lucky to try this at Janome.

The shop next door, Sumiyoshi did not get the seafood they needed for their bindon, so they were not serving bindon

Janome's bindon always has maguro (tuna), uni (sea urchin), scallop, ikura (salmon roe) and mekabu (type of kelp). 

The other items that are put into the milk bottle would depend on the catch of the day

On the day that we tried it, we also had salmon, ika (squid), tako (octopus)

There was also some whitebait and tamago (egg) to put onto your donburi

Satoshi had their medium size...his had a crab claw and tara (cod) in addition to the fish mentioned above

Satoshi's lunch also had grilled fish...my miso soup had bits of the grilled fish in it

we kinda figured that the rice makes the size difference and also the size of the milk bottle because we had pretty much the same foods on our trays

medium vs small

if you order the large, you'll get both the medium and small bottle filled with seafood

Since we had time after lunch before we could check in, we bought some tapioca drinks from Le Lait de Chevre, which we checked out last year

I didn't write about it but they use goat's milk in their sweets.

They also use goat's milk in their tapioca drinks

I had matcha and Satoshi had kokuto (black sugar) topped with soft serve

Dinner was at Ebisu

Amuse bouche...scallop mekabu and ikura

Kat went non-alcohol and had the drinkable yogurt

Iburigakko with cream cheese...love this combo!

Ikaoji, a local that thinks of different ways to promote the foods of Miyako came out with fried cod

Pair that with dashi shio fries and you have Ebisu's version of fish and chips

Eat with mayo and wasabi which is grown in the ground and not in water

The fish was fried perfectly

Ryusendo Pork before cooking on the Toban (ceramic pan)

Otokoyama

Since Satoshi had sake, he was given a taste of Hishiya

And given this pin with Miyako dialect

Apparently Kyoto dialect was heard all over Japan when Kyoto was the capital of Japan

"Ookini" which means thank you in Kyoto dialect also means thank you in Miyako dialect

The older generation still use "ookini" in Miyako

We wanted to have something sweet after dinner and found these shaved ice cups with condensed milk at a tiny shop, TomTom

It was a long day but we got to eat everything we intended to.

Janome

2-8 Sakaecho

Miyako, Iwate

Closed: Wednesdays

Hours: 10:00-20:00

Le Lait de Chevre

4-5-10 Oodori

Miyako, Iwate

Closed: Tuesdays

Hours: 10:30-18:00

Ebisu

8-14 Suehirocho

Miyako, Iwate

Closed: Sundays

Hours: 17:30-23:00

TomTom

2-4 Sakaecho

Miyako, Iwate

Open daily: 8:00-20:00

Hotel Miyako Hills

5-1 Wamimachi

Miyako, Iwate

this and that

peanut spread with cocoa, apparently this is a new flavor for Nutella and it had been 60 years?! since they had a new flavor

it kind of reminded me of the chocolate JIF (I think they had a peanut version) I had many many moons ago, this nutella did not have much hazelnut flavor (to me)

apparently Calbee will go back to printing the front side of their packages.

not sure but I think sales must be down because of the somber "colors"

tried the pitaya smoothie from 7-eleven...pitaya, lychee and apple...tasty!

blended it is a fluorescent pink! (see the photo above)

setoka, a type of orange

Okagean used this variety for their shaved ice...refreshing.

Yakiniku King is having a Hawaii fair...we tried their garlic shrimp...it was just okay

I didn't know it but they have a "secret menu"...this is their potato salad it is topped with yakiniku meat bits and fried garlic...tasty!

another thing on their "secret menu" is the tsukune...meh!

Went to Single O to try their banana bread with espresso butter

the butter should just be regular butter because I could not tell the difference

I also tried their Killerbee Cold Brew, this was delicious

Asahi's tomato chuhai is delicious

goya amasuzuke...so easy and ono!

huge peach from Shunpachi, a green grocer that I tried back when they had a shop in Gotanda.

They now have a shop in Hatanodai, so I look forward to trying their bento again here

The peach was delicious, the smaller one was a little more firm and not as sweet as the huge one!

tokyo little people...loved his shirt!

reconnected with moto's kitchen's taco rice...mouth.on.fire

Tried Amei Pan's meat floss bread...the meat floss was bland and the bread has a sweetened mayo in it...they sell a lot of taiwan style breads, not sure I would go back but glad I tried this

one day when I went to run errands I got there before the shops opened so I had breakfast number 2...an butter sandwich and iced coffee at Milkstand by Coffee Milk so I could sit in the air conditioned area

I'm glad I tried this shop

On Sunday morning we were shaken up by a rather large earthquake

Actually the earthquake itself lasted a couple of seconds...the alarm was the thing that scared me the most since it was 2 in the morning!

The other week Satoshi had to be hospitalized to do some tests.

In order to watch tv or run the refrigerator, you need a tv card...1000 yen 

When he was released, you put the card into a machine and if you have points still on it, it will refund your money

I had 257 points left on it and was refunded 250 yen...hoping his tests have good results

so hot that we had acai banana and strawberry milk smoothies while walking home one day

hemmed the curtains (by hand!) I feel so much better about them now...ha!

so many natural disasters again...Nepal, Ishikawa & Toyama...sending good mojo

so many things going on, not enough time to post...hope you all are doing well.