this and that

June 1st starts Shibuya's fine for littering.

If you get caught, you need to pay 2000 yen on the spot

Even if you add your trash to a pile of trash that you see in Shibuya, it is considered littering

They also take charge cards, so you cannot say you don't have cash on you... 

Japanese version...

If you are unfamiliar as to why Japan does not have trash cans out...please read up about it here.

Went to Yogenji and Myokendo to check out their hydrangea...so pretty

Typhoon #6 (Jangmi), "lucky" Satoshi got a typhoon on his birthday.

He was supposed to go see the doctor about the test results from the other day, but he instead rescheduled his appointment and worked from home

Luckily we only had a lot of rain, some other areas had damage and flooding

I found out another Marugame Seimen will soon be in our area

That will be 3 within a 2 kilometer area (1.24 mile) 

I was hoping the Seria (100 yen shop) that used to be right across from this building would move into this space instead...

oh well...hopefully this location of Marugame will succeed

Sunday, we went to Shinjuku, so that Satoshi could check out some things for a tour

we met up at L'Ambre, a coffee shop that has been in business since 1949

the photos you see online make the place seem big, but I guess from where we were sitting it did not look too spacious

bummer that no where does it say that they do not serve lunch on weekends, and only when we tried to order were we told so...so we had dessert 

I really enjoyed this chocolate cake, it had cherries in it...the iced coffee was really bad though...1400 yen (tax included)

Glad we tried this place but will not be back...

Next door is Daruma, we were quickly seated and Satoshi got his lunch so fast

Kat had to wait 30 minutes for her Mabo donburi...hangry!

And the flavors were so off plus it was more tofu than minced pork...turns out the cook was "new" so he was getting the hang of things...whatever, the wait staff should've warned us when he took our order...

Shizuoka potato chips using a BBQ sauce made by Meijiya Shoyu, a shoyu maker in Shizuoka that has been in business for over 100 years.

I think even the potatoes are from Shizuoka

A little sweet, a little dashi (stock) and shoyu...this was delicious. 

Loved the ridges in the chips

If I see the BBQ sauce at the Shizuoka Antenna Shop, I'm going get a bottle to try

Rainy season is coming soon...have a safe weekend!

the fan

In the part of the apartment that we have our bathtub & shower, there is a fan above

Well, when we moved in, the people that are supposed to clean before new tenants move in, did what I feel was a kapulu (half-a**) job (remember we found someone’s shoes?!) so it was already gross

Of course I made matters worse because I didn’t clean it either

So there was lots of “stuff” in between of the blades…eww

Well, the other night, the fan stopped working

So I put on a mask and started scraping out all the “stuff” from between the blades with a wooden chopstick

Even after doing all of that, it still wouldn’t work, so Monday morning, I emailed our building management and they called

Tuesday, a guy working on another project in our building came to take a look

He took photos to send to the higher ups and will get back to us as to what will happen

Hopefully they will be able to repair or replace the fan soon, not sure how much the fan helps but I would hope that it does keep the mold at bay.

hide the weiner

Friend Carol @yumyumtofu posted this on IG, which she had seen on @70sdinnerparty

First, can I just say the comments on their post were in the gutter and kinda brutal?!

Since I have potatoes to use, I thought it might be interesting to try

I totally deviated from the recipe

After cleaning 4 potatoes, I boiled them for 15 minutes because I wasn’t too sure how easily an apple corer would fare with a raw potato

The corer went in super easily and after coring the potato, I put them into the refridge because it was way too early to start cooking dinner

Then when it was time to start cooking dinner, I preheated the oven to 200C (400F)

Then I put the wieners into the potatoes, cutting off the end that stuck out (will use those ends for fried rice)

On a piece of foil drizzle some olive oil, place the potato weiner on the drizzle and then drizzle a little more oil on top of the potato

Wrap the potato and put onto a baking tray 

I baked the potato for 20 minutes, but think I could’ve baked it for a little longer

Instead of eating this with mustard, we had our version with takoyaki sauce 

I don’t think I’d make this again, but it was fun to try!

Thanks Carol, I hope you try it at camp, would be interesting to hear about your experience.

bruh

I like to think that our neighborhood is quite peaceful, quiet

Especially in the early mornings and evenings

So when you come home at 6:30 in the morning walking/staggering in the middle of the street, shouting 

letting everything bounce off the buildings and echoing

We hear you

We come out of our dwellings to check you out

Even different parts of the neighborhood heard you

The grandpas that came out of their houses must've called the police

The police came (3 cars!) and escorted this drunk bruddah back to his apartment a little ways down the street

And then while they left, he was flipping "the finger" at them

small kine excitement in our neighborhood this past Saturday

manpuku tomitaya

Saturday, Satoshi had to get some lab work done, so we ended up having a really late lunch

Since we were starving afterwards, we went to the first restaurant we saw outside of the hospital, Manpuku Tomitaya

Satoshi ordered the Manpuku Ramen...750 yen (tax included)

This was a big bowl of ramen that was shoyu based

He also ordered their gyoza...500 yen (tax included)

He said these were good

(I tried a gyoza but I didn't think they were too great)

Anyway....

I ordered the hiyashi chuuka with kim chee 1100 yen (tax included)

I should've ordered the original version because the amount of kim chee was too generous and overpowered everything

Plus, their servings were way too generous, had to have Satoshi help me finish 

I want to try other items on their menu but will have to remember to ask for smaller amounts of rice/noodles

Hoping the tests Satoshi took will be okay...We'll be back whenever we are nearby

Manpuku Tomitaya

2-7-10 Hatanodai

Shinagawa, Tokyo

Open daily: 10:00-23:00

*cash only

this and that

tried the yangnyeom chicken from Family Mart

If you've ever tried their Famichiki (the boneless chicken) that they have near the registers it is the same soft texture, too soft for my liking for this 

noticed that some of the plants in front of our building are flowering.

looked online and it said that the flowers were feijoa (pineapple guava)

will be interesting to see if it fruits

the garlic we received from Mayumi were purplish...the first time I've seen this type

they were quite hard to peel

it took me two days because my thumb nail was hurting trying to peel them

anyway, after peeling, I washed, dried and then put them in the freezer

we have lots of garlic for awhile...

Summer = mint chocolate season

This cone from Lotte was delicious because they coated the cone with chocolate!

This ice cream bar was delicious because it had crispy/crunchy cookie pieces on the outside of the bar

It's gonna be a hot weekend...stay hydrated, eat lots of ice cream!

Have a safe weekend

shiitake butter & sauce

Thought I posted a recipe about this but can't find one here, so will write this post

I learned about this from an “eating the rainbow” cookbook in Japanese that I have

Take off the stems of the shiitake, then clean

in a heated non stick pan, put the shiitake in and cook on medium/low, turning every so often, until moisture starts to come out from the mushrooms

Then to each, add some butter, and a drizzle of your favorite worchestershire based sauce...like tonkatsu, okonomiyaki, yakisoba or takoyaki sauce

I am not sure how it will taste if you use straight worchestershire because the sauces I mentioned above are a little sweet

Anyway, not really a recipe, but it is easy 

You can also use it with other types of mushrooms

If you try this, I hope you like it

enjoy!