bird bar

Love the internet!

I've been searching for this recipe for forever.

(A bird bar is what I often buy from Down to Earth in Hawaii, it has lots of seeds in it)

And somehow I stumbled on the recipe on Wanda Adams' blog

which was posted back in 2011?!…who somehow found it online from a man in NYC who reprinted the recipe from Down to Earth from a very old article from HMSA's Island Scene magazine...

Makes about 40

1.5 cup turbinado sugar (raw sugar or brown sugar)

1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons canola oil

2 Tablespoons unsulfured molasses

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon egg substitute + 5 Tablespoons water OR  2 egg whites, whisked until foamy

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups uncooked rolled oats

1.5 cup unbleached flour

1/3 cup uncooked millet

1/3 cup sesame seeds

1/3 cup flax seeds

1/3 cup unsalted sunflower seeds

1/3 cup unsalted pumpkin seeds

Lightly grease 12" x 17" jelly roll pan

Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C)

Whisk sugar, oil, molasses, vanilla, egg substitute or egg white

Mix dry (flour, seeds, salt, baking powder, oats)

Combine the dry and the wet and spread evenly in pan

Bake for 18-20 minutes

Cut while warm

NOTES: Because I don't have a jelly roll pan or an oven big enough to bake a jelly roll pan in, I cut this recipe down to make only 10.

I used brown sugar. 

Didn't have molasses so I used honey instead.

wasn't sure if my oats were rolled or not.

wasn't sure if my flour is unbleached

didn't have millet so I left it out.

I only have ground flax seeds so that is what I used

Since I usually bake on my round pizza stone like thingy, I lined it with parchment and scooped out ten-tablespoon scoops

The mixture is quite sticky

My scoops were uneven so some were thin and others were not

AND because the parchment paper was a little oversized, my turntable didn't turn, so the ones at the back of the oven were a little "darker" than the ones in the front

The thicker ones are "chewy" and the thinner ones are "crispy"

The taste is similar to the Down to Earth Bird Bars, will try again and instead pour it out onto my parchment instead of portioning it out before baking

this and that

The hollyhock is blooming which means that rainy season is coming...
 

Unlike our rice prices, veggie prices have gone down down down!

Made a batch of Yamagata style dashi

Interesting sandwich from Dean & Deluca...this had pastrami and cottage cheese...I was actually attracted to this when I saw the pickle relish

Glad I tried this, it was delicious, and was quite meaty 

V and blog reader Mona gave me a heads up about MOS burger's ebi ebi fry burger...it uses whole prawns 

This was delicious...two whole fried prawns with a lemony tartar sauce and veggies...thanks for the heads up!

The weather has been a bit chilly...so we had Paopao's jiaozi (suigyoza) with paitan soup, kale and tomatoes, the other night

Tried Shake Shack's single smashed onion...a smash burger topped with onions, cheese, pickles and dijonnaise

I wish this had more onions and less mustard (don't think it was dijonnaise)....

The fifty-fifty (lemonade-iced tea) reminded me of Hawaiian Sun Iced tea

Found some reasonably priced peonies at the market...I usually choose the “buds” but chose those that were already kind of blooming, hoping they will all bloom

The weather dude says we haven’t started rainy season but almost every weekend we have had rain and on the days that it isn't raining it is overcast and gloomy.

I think this past Wednesday was the first day we had sun.

It is raining today and the temps are apparently March temps..brr.

Have a safe weekend.

maison du miel

Saw something online which tempted me to order these sweets from Maison du Miel to try

Maison du Miel has shops in Nagoya

 

I ordered their Chocoholic

And their macadamia nut caramel sandwiches

The macadamia caramel sandwich was similar to Twix...the caramel is soft and doesn't stick to your teeth and the macadamia nut cookies are crunchy, the chocolate leans towards dark...delicious

The chocoholic is a chocolate cake covered with dark-ish chocolate!

I'm glad we tried these and would like to visit their shops in Nagoya.

Maison du Miel

3-17-3 Yaguma

Nakagawa, Nagoya

Closed: Mondays and Tuesdays

Hours: 10:00-19:00

atsunko pan

Stumbled on this funky shop 

Apparently it is an izakaya at night and during the day, a bakery

I purchased their simit...300 yen (tax included)

Afterwards I looked online, Simit is a Turkish bread that is encrusted with sesame seeds

The bottom was quite sticky because it is apparently dipped in a sweet water before baking.

We had this for breakfast...I didn't know what to put onto the bread, so we had it with cream cheese and strawberry jam.

While it was delicious with the jam, I would eat it with just cream cheese or butter in the future.

I liked the chewy texture, the crispy outside and nutty flavor from the sesame seeds

I'm glad we tried this type of bread and will be back to Atsunko Pan whenever I am in the area.

Atsunko Pan

2-11-31 Kandatacho

Chiyoda, Tokyo

Open Wednesdays, Thursdays & Fridays

Hours: 11:00-until sold out

back to kanda shinoda sushi

I went back to Kanda Shinoda Sushi and bought a different set to try.

This one had a chakin (top of photo), two slices of futomaki and 3 inarizushi...1458 yen (tax included)

Inside the chakin was sesame seeds, nori, seasoned gourd, kind of like mazegohan and topped with a shrimp then wrapped with an egg layer and tied with a thin kombu

I thought this was kind of bland...but I'm glad I got to try it.

I had wanted to try their oshizushi but it needs to be pre-ordered so I'll have to plan ahead to try it. 

tiki's and north shore cafe

We went to check out Tiki's for lunch on Saturday

They are located on the ground floor of the newly opened Yoyogi Park Be Stage building.

Even if Yoyogi is in its name, it is in between JR Shibuya & JR Harajuku

The top floor looks like it will be a terrace (it wasn’t open), the third floor looks like it is being used by different schools, the second floor has a couple of shops

The restaurant is on the first floor and looks out onto a little park where you can sit and have a coffee or just hang out. 

I ordered the club sandwich 2500 yen (tax included) and an oolong tea 300 yen (tax included)

The sandwich was delicious but the sides seemed a bit skimpy and not crispy at all.

Satoshi had their loco moco...2600 yen (tax included) with coffee 300 yen (tax included)

Of course Satoshi said that while it tasted good it wasn't a "loco moco" because the gravy was different and the rice they used was long grain (probably because Japan is having problems securing rice these days)

He also commented that the plate it was served on wasn’t “fancy” it looked like the type of plate you receive at a yoshoku (Japanese western style) restaurant 

They are dog friendly (as long you abide by their rules which they will go over before you enter)...the furry ones even have their own menu! and are served in Le Creuset ceramic dog bowls!

While we dined, I think there were more furry ones than people!

Next door is North Shore Cafe, you can order malasadas...(they also had cream filled (custard and chocolate), we chose plain and cinnamon)

They also sell ice cream and coffee too

We took out our malasadas and coffee...1100 yen (tax included)

The texture was light and airy not oily at all.

All payments are cashless.

Tiki’s also has a cafe menu and dinner menu. 

The dinner menu is more extensive but also more pricey

We're glad we tried these places and wish them luck going forward.

Tiki's 

1-1-1 Jinnan

Shibuya, Tokyo

Hours: 11:00-22:00

North Shore Cafe

1-1-1 Jinnan

Shibuya, Tokyo

Hours: 11:00-21:00

*both are cashless

crane

Have had Crane on my "to try" list for some time now after they were on a Jdrama about burgers.

It is a tiny burger shop that seats about 20 people. 

When I got there, it was about 10 minutes before opening time and there was a large group of 8 high school students before me...

After I was seated, all the other seats filled up

I ordered the Luther Burger....1850 yen (plus tax) and an oolong tea 190 yen (plus tax)

apparently a Luther Burger uses a doughnut instead of a bun and is apparently named after singer Luther Vandross.

Anyway, the glaze on this burger was so krazy sticky!

I had the hardest time getting it into this paper wrapper and then to eat it...glaze everywhere!

But, this smash style burger was so ono! peppery, meaty and juicy

It is topped with super crispy bacon (a rarity), tomato, lettuce and cheese.

And even though I thought I wiped up all the glaze all over my face, aiyah! to all the people who didn't tell me I had doughnut glaze on my nose columella (had to look up what it was called) and tip of my nose...guess no one looks at people's faces anymore...

Anyway, they have this super cheesy burger that is viral that I wouldn't mind trying...I'll be back.

Crane

6-16-3 Sotokanda

Chiyoda, Tokyo

Open daily: 11:30-21:30