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

swicy

a television show here said that the food trend this year is “swicy”...sweet + spicy = swicy

I saw this at one of the supermarkets that I go to and bought one to try
 

I don't think I've ever tried Buldak, but have heard it is really spicy

This version comes with the spicy sauce packet and a sweet sprinkle packet

there are sugar crystals as well as brownish ones

even if this was level 1, it was too spicy for me...mouth.on.fire

should’ve added an egg, still I'm glad I tried it

penguin bakery

Been wanting to try Penguin Bakery for some time now.

They are originally from Hokkaido, and have franchises all over Japan

Earlier this year when they first opened in Motomachi, the lines were kinda krazy, so it was nice to just be able to "walk in" purchase things and "walk out"

I got their root vegetable curry pan, corn bread and cookie melon pan

The root vegetable curry pan was so ono! filled with lots of veggies and curry

The curry wasn't super spicy which was also nice

The corn bread was filled to the gills with corn! love!

Least favorite was the cookie style melon pan...there were crystal sugar pieces here and there to give a "crunch" but it was not even "cookie like"

Anyway, I wished they had more savory items.

I'm glad I tried this bakery, not sure I would go back though

Penguin Bakery

1-13 Ishikawa-cho

Naka ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa

Open daily: 10:00-19:00