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

takaya marche

Takaya Marche is a shop in Ashiya, Hyogo

My host sister recently sent us their salt sable (cookies), financiers and caneles for Christmas

She said the salt sables are really popular.

We appreciate her kindness and look forward to enjoying these during the nenmatsu nenshi (year end and beginning of the new year)

Thank you T!

Takaya Marche

5-26 Funato-cho

Ashiya, Hyogo

Closed: Sundays & Mondays

Hours: 10:00-18:00

this and that

lately my oatmeal has 1/4 apple, dried cherries, chocolate chips, kinako and cinnamon
 

Himmel’s krapfen. I think this is my first time trying it. The doughnut is supposed to be hollow so that you can fill it with jam or chocolate

Himmel has a plain version and I tried their cinnamon version but there is no filling in either one. 

There are some raisins in the dough, so airy! love!

Satoshi saw Dr Yellow, I did too but never got a photo of it

Satoshi said the train was leaving the station so everyone was trying to get a photo, which is why he had someone’s elbow in his shot

yangnyeom chicken from origin bento...538 yen (tax included)

I like this version better than omma's.  

The chicken is fried and is still quite crisp even with the spicy sauce on it.

We finally saw "Perfect Days" and loved this movie

If you remember we went to check out all the public toilets that were in the movie...here, here & here

After seeing the movie, I realized that not all the toilets were in the movie.

tried the honey, nut and butter streusel kuchen from Himmel.  

Since I didn’t eat it right away, I froze it then reheated it, the texture wasn't too good after doing that

Will try it again without freezing...hoping it will be tasty 

It was the memorial day of my Grandma's passing yesterday...bought her some chrysanthemums...miss you Gma!

Tokyo has been cold, though the next couple of days are supposed to be warm...we need rain, it’s so dry here

Have a safe weekend!