setagaya ume matsuri

Monday was a national holiday, the Emperor's birthday, so we headed out to Setagaya, to check out the ume festival at Hanegi Park

We had heard about this park from a tv show and V also went here earlier in the week.
 

There were many ume trees 

If the air were clearer, we would've been able to see Mount Fuji

Setagaya people

robai (waxy plum/wintersweet)...love the fragrance!

we were kind of hungry, so we bought these ume daifuku made by Kameya Shoten...300 yen each...bummer they never take out the seed!

Near the station was Kyo-azuma, another Japanese sweet shop that we had seen as we walked toward the park

(It wasn’t open when we passed by, but was open when we were making our way back to the train station) 

We tried their ume daifuku...250 yen each...way better because the ume did not have any seeds and instead of white bean paste, this version had azuki bean paste

Apparently their main shop was in Azabu Juban, but when I looked online it had gone out of business

Lunch was at Sekiya Spaghetti Express inside the JR Shinagawa Station, we've eaten here before

This time I tried their napolitan...love! not sickly sweet like some versions can be

I noticed they also have take out, so I hope to try it when I’m not in the mood to cook

The weather was nice, temps are up, up, up!

It was a nice way to end a 3 day weekend

Hanegi Park

4-38 Daita

Setagaya, Tokyo

Kyo-azuma

5-3-11 Matsubara

Setagaya, Tokyo

Closed: Tuesdays

Hours: 8:00-19:00

*cash only

garlic jo's

Sunday after running some errands we had lunch at Garlic Jo's

This restaurant is part of a group of American style restaurants in the Yokohama area

Everything on their menu is garlic

They even have Gilroy garlic festival posters on their walls.

We started off with their tako (octopus) carpaccio...thinly sliced octopus covered with garlic and other spices...Satoshi thought this didn't have enough garlic on it

Garlic fried rice with beef and lettuce...loved this! the beef was tender and the garlic didn't overpower

Garlic shrimp...supposedly like Hawaiiʻs, but these were different

We also ordered baguette so that Satoshi could mop up all the garlic sauce...

I loved all the old skool knick knacks on their shelves...like this lunchbox!

I'm glad we tried this place and will be back whenever we want to eat garlicky foods.

Garlic Jo's

Azalea Kawasaki

Kawasaki, Kanagawa

Hours: 11:00-22:30

*closed when Azalea Kawasaki is

crane house sandwich shop

Lunch was at Crane House Sandwich Shop

They are related to Crane Burger where I had the Luther Burger

The store manager cooks everything to order so everything takes some time to come out

Plus they do delivery/take out too

I had their iced citrus berry coffee...this was delicious! like chocolate raspberry

My sandwich was a BLT plus hummus...love that they toast the bread!

And since crispy bacon is hard to come by in Japan, their "bacon" was more like the outer part of a baked ham! loved it!

Satoshi had their hamburger with egg...the sandwich looked good!

They do have rules...when taking photos of your food, make sure there are no other diners in your photo (to respect their privacy) and no videos

Since all of us were seated at a huge table, I waited until the other diners left to take these photos.

I love their huge windows and plants!

I'm glad we got to try this place, I'll be back whenever I'm in the area

Crane House Sandwich Shop

1-11-12 Kojima

Taito, Tokyo

Closed: Tuesdays

Hours: 11:30-17:00 (Sundays & Mondays), 11:30-15:00 & 17:00-19:00 (Wednesdays-Saturdays)

irifuneya

Saturday, we were near Akihabara and needed to kill some time

As we were in search of lunch, we walked through Okazu Yokocho

You may remember I walked through here before

This time, more businesses were open...like Irifuneya which has been in business since 1935

They make all sorts of tsukudani and side dishes which they have displayed in the front window

The cool thing is that there is a screen door on the back of their front window, kinda like those old skool refrigerators/cabinet thingy that my grandma used to have

We bought a 100 grams of shiitake konbu...650 yen (tax included)

There wasn't too much shiitake in the tsukudani but it was super flavorful and good with rice

and 100 grams of furikake...350 yen (tax included)

The furikake was delicious too, lots of katsuo bushi (bonito flakes).

I also thought the scales they used were cool too

We look forward to eating this in the coming days.

And I look forward to trying other things the next time I'm in this area

Irifuneya

1-4-5 Torigoe

Taito, Tokyo

Closed: Sundays

Hours: 9:30-18:00

*cash only

this and that

I wanna know why falling dishes fall in slow motion...
 

gloopy gravy loco moco...this organic gravy was meh...Satoshi still enjoyed this though

I see a smiley face

cyclamen getting ready for the pretty season

so mini

so teeny

Yesterday, got to spend some time with V...we went to lunch at Butadaigaku...so ono!

And then visited Ikegami Plum Garden

early blooming cherry blossom at Ikegami Honmonji

Thank you for all the omiyage V, the kettle corn is so ono! and we look forward to spending time with you towards the end of your trip. Enjoy!

Have a safe weekend.

epinard

Friend Hiromi, sent me these sweets from Epinard for my birthday

When we lived in Osaka, Epinard was in our area, Minoo

 

It was nice to reconnect with their sweets

And I look forward to sharing these truffles with Satoshi

Thank you Hiromi! I appreciate our friendship and your kindness

gimme chocolate

Saw this ad on Instagram for Gimme Chocolate, a small business from Yamaguchi Prefecture

I love the name of their product as well as the packaging

Their chocolate uses ginger grown in Yamaguchi and also has lemon, beets, carrots, cinnamon, clove, cardamom, star anise, lemon grass, licorice & fennel in it

The chocolate has a strong ginger fragrance

It isn’t too “creamy” so I am thinking it is a darker chocolate

I’m glad I tried this and would get it again