no rain no rainbow

Monday it rained for most of the day

As the sun started to set, we were treated to this...huge rainbow!
 

Satoshi saw it too from his work area (photo by Satoshi)

Yesterday was the start of Golden Week, we plan to lay low since everything will be expensive and there will be gazillions of people everywhere...

Be well.

gari

Awhile back, I saw someone on IG make gari, the pickled ginger that you often find at conveyor belt sushi or as a side dish in bento

Since most of the brands (that I have seen) that make gari use artificial sweeteners, I wanted to try to make it myself

So I waited until I saw shin shoga (literally new ginger) in the markets 

Shin shoga is usually a little softer/more tender than the ginger you find in the markets throughout the year

I used a slicer to get most of my ginger sliced thin.

The parts of the ginger that were thicker and tougher, I ended up slicing by hand

If you'd like to try this, here is the recipe by Kei Hamamura : translated

300 grams shin shoga

1 tablespoon salt

250 milliliters rice vinegar

100 grams sugar

Wash the ginger then cut off the red tips and with a spoon take off the dark brownish parts

Thinly slice the ginger

Par boil the ginger for about a minute and then drain

Sprinkle the salt over everything

After the ginger cools, squeeze out all the water

In a pot, put the vinegar and sugar and bring to a slight boil until the sugar is melted

Put the squeezed ginger into a clean jar and pour the hot liquid over the ginger

NOTES: this was so easy to do

I ran out of rice vinegar, so I used some rice vinegar and some ume vinegar

I didn’t weigh how much ginger I had, so had leftover pickling liquid

I usually enjoy the sweeter type of gari, this was puckery but I like it

we had this with sashimi

will see if I can find more shin shoga and make some more using the extra pickling liquid

yokohama

Saturday, Satoshi went to meet up with his friend, A.

They were going to watch their university's baseball game and afterwards they and their other friends went drinking...

so instead Kat went to Yokohama and bought foods from Bluff Bakery and Union and also spent some time with nature

This frilly looking wisteria in front of a flower/plant shop

Yamashita Park, the roses that I usually check out, aren't quite in bloom yet, so I just enjoyed what flowers were in bloom

thought this was a unique/unusual color for irises

 

They also had some displays by gardening groups....this one was of Mount Fuji

And I thought this one was cute

I hope to get back to Yamashita Park sometime in May to enjoy the roses (probably the week after Golden Week)

Still, it was nice to be out and about

matcha smoothie

it wasn't smoothie weather but I wanted to try the matcha smoothie at 7-11 before they ran out 

Apparently this smoothie was a hit at the Osaka Expo 2025.

The matcha that is used is by Kitagawa Hanbe, a tea farm that has been around in Uji Kyoto since 1861

It was a little sweet but still had the bitterness that comes with matcha…delicious

I'm glad I tried this and would get it again...420 yen (tax included)

dish & table

Tried a new (to me) restaurant/deli called Dish & Table

You choose 3 or 4 dishes from their refrigerated case and they can either pack it for you to take out or if you'd like to eat them there they have an eating space on the 2nd floor of their shop

3 items was 1000 yen (tax included)

hijiki quinoa salad had some tuna in it and a vinaigrette, marinated salmon had puckery pickles on it and the squid kiriboshi daikon had a mayo sesame dressing

I want to try their other items, and maybe eat there, I'll be back

Dish & Table

1-50-3 Kitasenzoku

Ota, Tokyo

Closed: Thursdays & Sundays

Hours: 10:00-18:00

this and that

tokyo people : wearing pajamas 

so teeny : takeoka lala

so teeny: honda z

I notice that whenever "someone" has a tour, he gets all focused on that and the stuff he does at home is all krazy

like leaving his usb thingy in the bathroom

and his deodorant near his futon

of course, if he doesn't notice, when he does need it, he's gonna ask me where it is

I saw something online that every time husbands ask this, wives lose brain cells...sigh

I usually answer, that I saw it, but make him try to remember where he put it...ha!

And while I am semi-ranting...

he also writes on the refrig calendar when he doesn't need lunch/dinner...well, sometimes he no tell me when he erases it or when he adds it, so if I don't notice it in time...dude!

We had rain yesterday and then the temps dropped almost 10 degrees...brr!

Hope you have a safe weekend

no soup tan tan men

Tried the no soup tan tan men from Family Mart

Take off this packet before zapping it in the micro

Mouth.on.fire.

Also, it was a good thing I looked at the directions, because that teeny blue packet can make things slightly spicy to krazy spicy (glad I only put a little)

Both of these (the no soup tan tan men & biang biang men) are made by Nissin

Loved the chewiness of the noodles