akihabara & nezu

Satoshi went to sell some of his "treasures" at Akihabara, while we were waiting for them to figure out how much they were worth, we had lunch at Joto Curry

We've eaten at their shops in Osaka

Their curry starts off a little sweet and then the spices start to creep up on you

It was nice to reconnect with this curry chain

How cute are these coin purses?!

After Satoshi received a little pocket money for his "treasures" we walked to Nezu Shrine to check out the azaleas.

Going through Aki-Oka, which Satoshi had not been through before, but I had had lunch at one of the shops there before

When we arrived near Nezu Shrine, the line to get into see the azaleas was way, way, way, outside!

So instead we admired the azaleas from the outside 

It was still nice to see, even though there were tons of people

I had been wanting to try this cream puff by Le Coussinet

And luckily we walked past just as the batch had come out of their brick oven

Apparently it takes 90 minutes to bake up

The last 10 minutes is when the outside crisps up

The custard cream is rich, vanilla-y and not too sweet

The "best before" time limit is 1 minute! (I had thought it was 10)

So you'll see everyone enjoying their cream puff around the outside area of the shop...

They won't allow you to buy them to take home, they must be eaten right there.

I'm glad we passed by when we did and would like to try their other sweets

It was nice exploring the tiny alleyways of Nezu

Seeing all the different flowers in bloom

It was a beautiful day, though I felt a little "crispy" again, the wind is still a little chilly especially in the shade, but it is only a matter of time before the "h" word starts and all we'll be talking about is the heat and “h”

Le Coussinet

2-34-24 Nezu

Bunkyo, Tokyo

*days closed and hours, check their social media sites

credit card accepted for purchases over 3000 yen

this and that

I love finding interesting buildings among the highrises...this was in Akihabara
 

This bar in Ikegami

This Italian restaurant in Ikegami

tried this new (to me) spam musubi, it also had taco meat in it

the spam was fried, no sauce on it

the taco meat was chicken based and it was quite spicy, would get it again

what would AI propose?...that's what Meiji did when it asked AI 

AI combined kinokonoyama & takenokonoko and named it kitakitanokonokonoyamazato

Try saying that 3 times fast!

Mixed review of this online...bits of the pretzel from kinokonoyama and bits of the cookie from takenokonoko

They also added puffed rice 

It is quite sweet but I like the different goodies in this

Though if no one told you, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell it was these two candies combined into one

Someone also said it is similar to those Black Thunder candies

I’m glad I got to try this

saw this careworker, they often bring the bathtub to people who cannot take a bath on their own

I didn't know it was this large though, wonder how it fits into some apartments/houses

I did notice that they can attach a hose to it, so maybe they do it outdoors?!

Sad they will be tearing down this apartment nearby...loved the tile on the building

Love the light green colored leaves that come out during Spring

Bi Bim Bap style salad...was spicy 

Sriracha potato chips...mouth.on.fire

It is a little chilly today, but our temps are supposed to go up to 30C (86F)?!  tomorrow...eep!

Have a safe weekend.

lup cheong

Remember this lup cheong that I bought in Yokohama?

I tried one in fried rice for our breakfast this morning.

I'm happy to say that it tastes like the lup cheong I grew up with.

Now to look for some mochi rice and chicken stock so that I can make a dish that my mom used to make for us

char siu chicken

Tried this new (to me) recipe for Char Siu Chicken from Recipes Palace which I saw on FB

Serves 4

1.5 pounds boneless chicken thighs

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon chopped green onion for garnish

In a bowl, whisk together all ingredients except green onion until smooth

Add the chicken thighs to the marinade and coat well

Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes (or up to 4 hours for deeper flavor)

Preheat oven to 400F (200C) and lightly grease a baking dish

Arrange the marinated chicken in the dish and brush extra marinade over the top

Bake for 20 minutes, then flip the chicken and brush again with marinade

Continue baking for 10-15 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked and slightly caramelized

For extra charred edges, broil for 2 to 3 minutes at the end of cooking

Remove from the oven, let rest for 5 minutes then slice

Garnish with green onions

Enjoy!

NOTES: Since I had all the ingredients for the marinade, I just bought some chicken 

I made half the recipe and left out the paprika, because it didn’t sound right (to me) to put it in the marinade

I didn’t have green onions so left it out 

I baked this on parchment for 20 minutes, I flipped the chicken over at the halfway point (10 minutes)

I didn’t have skin to crisp up so didn’t put this under the broiler 

This tastes similar to the hoisin sauce chicken that I’ve made in the past

Since I had leftover marinade I heated it on the stove and plan to use it on something soon

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

FYI: Last night, I used the leftover sauce (was only a little over a tablespoon) in a stir fry with pork and some veggies, this sauce tasted better with pork 

pps leftover chicken, a couple days later tasted more like char siu than hoisin sauce chicken  

research

Sunday, after doing some errands in the morning, we headed out to Shibuya

Satoshi has another tour coming up and wanted to check some things out

While he does his checking, I usually take photos of things that interest me

They plan to close Seibu Department store in Shibuya in September

I thought the building was so cool looking, it actually connects to the other half of the department store (on the left side of the photo)
 

Jump comic store in Parco Shibuya

I haven't been to Cat Street in some time, so it was cool to see the Coach Cafe (from the outside)

A stop into Kiddy Land (I waited outside)

And then we headed to Akihabara

Rules on how to enjoy Tokyo/Japan

I want to stick this on my suitcase

When friend Val was visiting, we didn't go into the Donki at Akihabara, we should've, there were all sorts of anime goods, maybe she could've found more items for her son 

inside Donki Akihabara

I hadn't known that on Sundays they block off traffic here.

I do know that they do this in Ginza

It was my first time in the AKB Cultures Zone Building

And into Onoden, an electric/appliance store which has been around since 1941

And then back to Radio Kan

It was so sunny, I felt a little crispy after we got back home...

Hoping the family that Satoshi takes around will enjoy their trip

meh

I saw this drink (the one on the right) when I passed by Dean & Deluca the other day and wanted to try
 

I had the chance on Saturday...lychee, coconut water and a matcha espuma which is similar to whipped cream

They should tell you to mix it well before drinking because I didn't and boy, did it taste weird

The lychee flavor was super sweet and fake

But mixed, it was balanced 

I'm glad I tried it but wouldn't get it again.

this and that

probably the last of the freesia...that reddish one had a different fragrance from the dark pink ones, super strong but still super nice

Satoshi got several "tips" from people he took around...

and this one...

and this one…he thinks the tour agent tells them “Japan has no tipping, so give your tour guide a little gift instead”

Benny's nori bento...468 yen (plus tax)...still quite reasonable

The other day while it was raining, there were these two pigeons, and one more on the electrical line were  waiting for the rain to stop

The trees in our courtyard are flowering and new leaves are coming in.

I do notice some trees are dried up, I hope the gardeners that come every so often will dig those up

The other month, I noticed this hole in the ceiling near the elevator.

I have a feeling one of the workmen that are working on an apartment's renovation might have hit the ceiling with something.

Hoping they get this fixed soon

We're supposed to have rain today AND the temps are forecast for 27C (80F) on Saturday!

so krazy because the temps went down to 9C (48F) the other day

Have a safe weekend.