this and that

tried a new (to me) sandwich from Dean & Deluca, honey curry chicken

I like that it had lots of veggies in it

pumpkin chocolate bread/cake?! from Dean & Deluca was kinda dry, and could've been more chocolatey

the price of white rice has come down! well, at the place I buy our brown rice from anyway...

I bought this 2 kilo bag for 1450 yen (plus tax)

I'm all for lower prices as long as the lowered price is fair to the farmers, if it has to be higher, as long as the farmers get their fair share, I'm willing to pay more

hydrogen roasted coffee by UCC.

Satoshi's workplace were giving these out at the recent Smart Energy Week show that was held at Makuhari Messe

He said the coffee didn't taste different from the coffee we normally drink

t-a-l-l sunflower...hello!

I love that I found this bus stop near our apartment it makes buying rice not so hard to transport...wish I had found this many moons ago! would've saved me so many long haul trips from the train station...

myoga from Satoshi's tour guide friend...they grew it! (thank you!)

huge asian pear! so sweet

huge sweet potato, I think this variety was called Beni Kirishima

Went to the dentist on Monday to check on the gum that had laser surgery

The hygienist and doctor said that it healed nicely, so my visit was less than 5 minutes!

gotta love the medical here, I think the total for surgery and 2 visits were less than 2000 yen (tax included)

lunch was at Shake Shack...was the first one in and had the whole restaurant to myself.

The fries were so crisp on the outside and kinda "creamy" on the inside

Silver Week starts today, as well as Typhoon 25 (Dujuan), we have something planned, but might have to change because of the typhoon

have a safe weekend

reconnect

Reconnected with my secret weapon

Was happy to come across shimadofu, a type of tofu that is made in Okinawa.

It is firmer than the firm (momen) tofu that we have on Honshu  

I made a shoyu poke and a tofu poke using one of the NOH poke packets

Satoshi enjoyed this and said it was like he was in Hawaii

grateful

Yesterday we received these beautiful shine muscat grapes from Satoshi's friend, A, who lives in Nagano

We tried some last night and the orbs are huge, and sweet

Thank you A!

1.5 days

According to the weather dude we had 3 weeks of rain!

Sunday afternoon was the first time we've seen the sun!
 

Monday was the first full day in a long time of sun...of course it was blazing! 

We're back to rain today, and maybe a typhoon is coming?!

so gloomy and humid...

Hope the weather is better where you are!

oimachi tracks

After breakfast at Mr Hippo Coffee, we wanted to go to the DIY store but they didn't open for another hour or so, so instead of going home to wait, we walked around the neighborhood

And stopped to check on the sumotori (Japanese wrestlers) of Onoue Stable (photo by hubs)

They seemed to have more people training than in the past

After returning from the DIY store, the work on the road in front of our apartment had begun, so it was quite noisy

I checked the memo that they had given us and their work was supposed to continue until 18:00!

So we decided to get out of the house

And checked out Oimachi Tracks, which I think opened earlier this year. 

After walking the many floors to see what types of restaurants there were, we decided on Togoshiya

Their main shop is in Togoshi-Ginza and their onigiri is similar to Bongo's

I ordered the tuna mayo takuan and a tenmusu (tempura musubi)...840 yen (tax included)

They made a mistake and gave me a tuna mayo shio kombu takuan onigiri, still, this was delicious

Loved how crisp the tempura shrimp was in the tenmusu 

Satoshi ordered the 2 onigiri set 1580 yen (tax included) he tried their monthly special which was a shirasu wakame mentaiko oroshi and the other onigiri he tried was the nozawana wasabi konbu

His set also came with karaage, tamagoyaki, kinpira and miso soup

He enjoyed these, though he said he probably could've ordered the komusubi (smaller) versions

Satoshi also gave me a piece of his karaage (since it was cut into 4 pieces) and the outside was so crunchy and the chicken so moist!

Afterwards we walked around to check out the various areas of the complex

There is a park

a huge Starbucks at one end of the park

Before catching the bus back home, we decided to have some coffee at Woodberry Coffee

Loved all the interesting plants they had

Satoshi ordered the raspberry, coconut water with espresso cold foam...850 yen (tax included)

After his first sip, he said it tasted like mayo...eew!

But after mixing it better, he said he enjoyed it...I tried a sip but it was kinda weird tasting

I am kinda thinking that I really don't care for coconut water because when I tried something with coconut water in it before, I didn't really like it

I ordered their kokuto (black sugar) coffee jelly (gelatin) latte with soy milk...900 yen (tax included)

This was delicious

I let Satoshi taste this and he said my drink was better

can I just say that QR code ordering is the pits! especially when you don't have wifi...at least this shop had wifi...Togoshiya did not

 

Oimachi Tracks is named after the JR railways (I think) when I first heard the name, I thought it might be named after the horse racing tracks that are also nearby

We are glad we checked out this place and have more places we'd like to have meals at

we'll be back

These guys did not finish until 19:00!

I was amazed that the grandpa across the street stayed at home, I would've taken my car and gone somewhere...

Togoshiya

Oimachi Tracks 2F

Shinagawa, Tokyo

Hours: 8:00-22:30 (weekdays), 9:00-22:30 (weekends & holidays)

Woodberry Coffee

Oimachi Tracks 3F

Shinagawa, Tokyo

Hours: 8:00-21:00

mr hippo coffee

There is a new cafe in our area called Mr Hippo Coffee

They are a "chain" as they have several cafes around Tokyo

This particular shop does not have social media so it was hard to find out exactly what time they open

After finally finding something on FB, we went to try their breakfast menu, since they open at 7:30
 

We were disappointed in the lack of enthusiasm that the woman had 

I had also read somewhere that it was cash only, but when we visited we were able to pay with a credit card

Because it is new, the interior is pretty

They do have wi-fi and outlets for you to charge your devices

I had their an butter toast...680 yen (tax included)

while this looked delicious, it seemed to be zapped because the bread got a bit gummy after awhile...boo!

Their coffee while a large serving, wasn't too ono

Satoshi chose their omurice...950 yen (tax included)

This was zapped too, because the egg had no "fluffiness" to it...

While we are glad we got to try this, the food and service is mediocre 

We wish them well and hope they can make a go of things, but we won't be back

Mr Hippo Coffee

1-16-10 Yaguchi

Ota, Tokyo

Open daily 7:30-21:00

25 years

hard to believe that 25 years has passed since that horrific day

sending virtual hugs to those who lost loved ones

never forget

have a safe weekend