sunday

The drama that we watch in the mornings is based on Uno Chiyo's life

We found out that our ward's folk museum was having an exhibit on her life, so we went to check it out.

When we first moved here, we actually went to this museum, but I guess I never wrote up about it.

Parts of our area was a popular place for writers to work and live and was called Magome Bunshimura
 
All the exhibits are in Japanese, though they do have some QR codes for you to scan so you can listen to details about different authors

I loved this print by Kawase Hasui

Lunch was at Cheval Cafe

The terrace was pretty popular on this day so we were seated indoors

Order by QR code...some of their choices were sold out

Satoshi chose their hamburg & aji fry…1450 yen (tax included)

Kat chose their chicken namban…1420 yen (tax included)

I thought the portions were a little small for Satoshi/guys but the food was tasty

And I would've appreciated the veggies being cut to bite size, guess I could've asked for a knife

Dunno if we'll be back since it is quite far from where we live but we are glad we got to try them

Down the hill is Maison Ichi, a bakery

Apparently they are highly rated on food app, though reviews on the map app, says otherwise

we tried their marron coppe (a soft hot dog bun type of bread filled with chestnut paste and chestnut bits) and their fig cream cheese (a hard type of bread filled with walnuts, cream cheese and dried figs)

we are glad we tried this place too, though it is also quite far from where we live, dunno that we’ll be back

The weather was blazing this weekend, so we made sure to get out and enjoy the weather

Cheval Cafe

2-3-1 Nishimagome

Ota, Tokyo

Closed: Mondays

Hours: 11:30-15:00 (lunch), 18:00-21:00 (dinner)

*cash or paypay only

Maison Ichi

2-2-1 Nishimagome

Ota, Tokyo

Open daily: 11:00-20:00

Oh and we also went to check out the area where Uno Chiyo used to live

We were surprised that there are so many hills in our area, our legs were jelly afterwards

midnight diner ninjin shirishiri

was inspired to make ninjin shirishiri with spam after watching the latest episode of “Midnight Diner”

This version uses spam, egg and ground sesame seeds
 

used my mom’s grater

 

nowadays, I usually make this dish using chili crisp and no egg, using spam was a nice change

saturday

Saturday, we went to get our flu shots

It was super fast

Afterwards, I wanted to go grocery shopping but we were too early, so we grabbed a snack at Komeda

Their pizza toast has egg salad in the middle, different but tasty

I did my grocery shopping and then we headed out to Shibuya

The Tokyu Hands (or Hands) is closing its shop that had been in business for 48 years! 

Chances are if you’ve shopped at Tokyu Hands in Shibuya this was the one you’ve been to.

Am gonna miss their skip floors, most of their original shops had them

Afterwards we walked around “okushibu” which are the “backroads” of Shibuya 

Who is this man?! saw him all over the place

We stopped for crepes at Viron

Their menu shows the prices before tax and with tax

But when they actually rang us up the price gets rounded up when the tax is added so it costs 1 yen more than the “with tax” price on their menu?!WT

Anyway, we enjoyed these crepes, they are better and filled more generously than Parla.

Satoshi had salted butter caramel and Kat had chestnut

We then walked around Dogenzaka

And Hyakkendana 

visited Chiyoda Inari Shrine

saw Taruya, an okonomiyaki shop that has been in business since 1931!

Coffee Shop Lion which has been in business since 1926!

BYG, a bar that has been in business since1969

so many interesting buildings in this area

and it felt like you went back in time

kendo shop, Shokodo which has been in business for over 90 years!

tattoo shop

Reikyo, a Taiwanese restaurant, which has been in business since 1955!

no Hachiko during Halloween

and if you are wearing a costume you cannot enter stores

We’re glad we experienced Shibuya before the Halloween kraziness

Plus it was fun exploring an area of Shibuya that we had not seen before

futon

It’s been 3 years but we are giving up those heavy futons that we got from MIL's

Part of the reason is that "someone" says it is "too heavy" to take out and put back into the closet every day

And another reason is that "someone" says his back hurts from sleeping on it

So instead we got these foldable mattresses which are super light

BUT they are a little bigger/wider, so you need to maneuver it as you put it into the closet

I was surprised when they were delivered because the boxes were super big!

I like that it also has a "bag" that it can be put into if you need to take it somewhere

We've made an appointment for our ward to pick up our old ones

I still need to get the seals for us to pay for them to pick them up and to get rid of the futons

And eventually we will get rid of the bulky down futons too

As a replacement, we bought sleeping bags

These are good because they are light and unzip so you can use them like blankets.

With all the earthquakes and natural disasters recently, I felt having sleeping bags would be good to have if we had to go into a shelter instead of lugging the bulky futons

Anyway, we'll be testing out our sleeping bags this winter before we throw out the bulky down futons

this and that

enjoyed this movie recently "the lunchbox" 

I have been wanting to watch it and luckily found it on you tube

enjoyed this one too..."east side sushi" which I also have been wanting to see and also found it on you tube
 

tried the frozen blueberries from 7-eleven...they are more on the tart side so not too good to eat with pancakes, probably better in smoothies or in muffins...

we ate the pasta sauce we received from the family fair...this was ono!

I added broccoli that I had frozen

This sauce is on the saltier side so we cannot have this too often

krazy lady is at it again...she often comes across to cut our plants because she "thinks" all our leaves come over to her side and fills up her drains...

poor plants

With all the rain lately, it has affected the price of leafy veggies

1/4 of a hakusai (chinese cabbage) was 258 yen plus tax! I used the 1/4 to make millefeuille nabe (hot pot) last night

I made this hot pot lazy style without the consomme cube and kim chee, this version was without maitake too...

We ate it with daikon oroshi and dashi shoyu.

Typhoon 31 (In-Fa) has formed and is making its way toward Okinawa...it's been gloomy with the clouds 

We've gone from Autumn straight into Winter...though the temps are supposed to go up over the weekend

Have a safe weekend!

toothpick

do you use the toothpick that usually comes with wooden chopsticks?

apparently, not everyone does
 

so, recently, they have been making these "packets" without the toothpick

if you usually use the toothpick, you'll have to start bringing your own

ikedayama bread & coffee

I had an errand to run and also checked out another location for Ikedayama Bread & Coffee

This one is located near the JR Gotanda Station 

I got their saucisson and cinnamon roll

Loved the sausage, it was super flavorful with a snap

I would've preferred the sauerkraut to be "loose" and not stuck onto the sausage with cheese but I still enjoyed this

The cinnamon roll was a disappointment, I think it might have been overbaked

This shop seems to be a lot smaller than the one in Jiyugaoka and the one in Higashi Gotanda

I'll probably make the walk to the Higashi Gotanda shop in the future.

Ikedayama Bread & Coffee

1-2-10 Nishigotanda, Circles Gotanda 1F

Shinagawa, Tokyo

Open daily: 8:00-19:00