Sunday, October 04, 2026

kaki kimchee

while scrolling I came upon this 

kaki kimchee

For 2 kaki (persimmon) :  @ginahomecook

1 tablespoon salted shrimp (strain shrimp and use only liquid)

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon gochugaru

1/2 tablespoon shoyu

a little less than 1/2 tablespoon maesil (green plum syrup)

Just peel your kaki 

Cut into 8 slices

Toss everything together

Plate and sprinkle sesame seeds

NOTES: I totally cheated and used the Momoya Kimchee no moto (kimchee base)

I also only made 1 kaki because I wasn't too sure how it would taste

I used 1 teaspoon of the kimchee no moto and a little sesame oil

Coated the kaki with the “sauce”

And sprinkled some sesame seeds

I enjoyed this, it was crunchy, sweet, spicy and salty...so delicious

per the creator: eat it right away or it will get watery

have tried apple with kimchee in the past, but am tempted to try other fruits now

Saturday, October 03, 2026

yangnyeom chicken

We’ve been lucky in that we’ve had time to prepare for all these krazy typhoons

A lot of times for these typhoons, I plan out what we’ll eat for the next four or more days so I won’t need to leave the house

Since Satoshi went to work during this last “typhoon” I had to make sure he had stuff for his bento too.

Anyway, I had bought chicken breast for one of our dinners so I had to figure out how to use it

I decided to try yangnyeom chicken

Yangnyeom Sauce : from the internet

2 tablespoons kochujang

1.5 tablespoons ketchup

1 tablespoon shoyu

1 tablespoon mirin

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon minced garlic

NOTES:

Most yangnyeom chicken is fried but I didn’t want to fry, so I just cooked the chicken and then in the pan, coated the chicken with the sauce

I made half of the sauce

It was tasty, I’m glad I tried it and would make this again

Friday, October 02, 2026

this and that

noticed these cranes...if you’ve been reading our blog you know that the beige brown building in the photo took most of our view of Mount Fuji when it was built.

crossing my fingers that whatever they are building will not block my only view left of Mount Fuji from our apartment...

yakiimo ice cream from Family Mart...so ono!

love that there is sweet potato paste plus sweet potato ice cream in there

this “taberu bokujo” (edible dairy farm) series always has interesting flavors
junk taco rice from Ally...it wasn't even spicy and had dried shrimp on it...we won't be back
kinmokusei (sweet olive) season was so short because we had all that rain and those typhoons
not sure what type of flowers they are but thought they were pretty
tried Chilling Coffee and Bake's carrot cake, it was a little dry but still delicious, glad I got to try it
Black Pearl's gyusuji (beef tendon) curry...was delicious

Topping it with cold broccoli was not delicious

on top of that their restroom smelled really bad...blah!

Satoshi's steak was hard.as.rock...we won't be back

the reddest apple! it was sweet but too bad it was a bit chalky
these hotate himo senbei that we got in Aomori...were different

I had thought they used the scallops in the snack, but it is only the "frilly" part of the scallop and they were fried crispy! so ono!

We should finally have some sun in the coming days

The weather dude said Tokyo had 36 days in a row of rain! talk about depressing

Even more depressing another typhoon (#27) has formed...

have a safe weekend

Thursday, October 01, 2026

red cabbage salad

I love red cabbage.

In Japanese it is called murasaki cabbage (purple cabbage)

Anyway, I am always looking for a good salad/pickle recipe for red cabbage and already have several on this blog

Tried a new (to me) recipe

This one uses just a little sweetener (honey), so it is more on the salty side

Serves: 2 : @yu_salad_recipe

1/4 red cabbage, thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon vinegar

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons honey

4 grinds pepper

Sprinkle the salt on the cabbage and leave for 5 minutes

After 5 minutes, squeeze the water out

Combine the vinegar, olive oil, honey and pepper

Dress the cabbage with the marinade and keep in the refrig

Enjoy

NOTES: this recipe had listed more salt in the marinade, I'm glad I did not put it into the marinade

it also added chia seeds but I did not have any, so left it out

This makes a lot (for us) so we've been eating a little with meals

The recipe says it will last two days, but I think it might last a couple more days than that

Not sure I would make it again, but glad I tried it

Wednesday, September 30, 2026

izugiku

We tried Izugiku recently

This shokudo has been around for 100 years!

Bummer is that they allow smoking, so you have to take your chances when eating here.

Satoshi had their daily special, which was katsuo sashimi and fried shrimp...1000 yen (tax included)

He said he enjoyed this

Kat tried their taco rice...900 yen (tax included) and didn't know they served it with miso soup...

Anyway, I enjoyed this taco rice, it was spicy and also a little sweet

The egg had crispy edges! love!

Cash only and the service is fast but not too friendly

Dunno if we'll be back (because of the smoking) but we are glad we tried this place

Izugiku

1-6-17 Hatanodai

Shinagawa, Tokyo

Closed: Sundays

Hours: 11:30-14:30 (lunch), 17:30-20:00 (dinner), lunch only on Fridays & Saturdays

*cash only

Tuesday, September 29, 2026

nikudofu

saw this recipe on television and wanted to try

Serves 2: from “Sakurai Ariyoshi the Yakai Kitchen”

1 block momen tofu (hard), drain and cut into easy to eat pieces

100 grams beef belly, cut into bite sized pieces

50 grams onion, thinly sliced

10 grams ginger, grated

40 milliliters sake (rice wine)

40 milliliters mirin (sweet rice wine)

240 milliliters water

10 grams honey

16 grams sugar

20 milliliters shoyu

80 milliliters mentsuyu (sauce for noodles)

In a pan, bring the sake and mirin to a boil

Then add the water, sugar, honey, shoyu and mentsuyu

Add the beef, onion and ginger

cook on low for 3 minutes

Add the tofu and simmer until the sauce has permeated the tofu

Turn the heat off and let the tofu soak in the sauce

NOTES: this was delicious

easy to put together

I didn't read the directions and mixed all the ingredients for the sauce together brought it to a boil then simmered everything for a total of 10 minutes

I also added renkon (lotus root) and maitake

I have quite a bit of sauce leftover, so I'm thinking to make oyakodon with it

Monday, September 28, 2026

we're 21

another trip around the sun!

can't believe how long this blog has kept going

appreciate all the comments and messages

grateful for all the friendships made over the years

thank you for coming along with us on our adventures.