cafe ciel

A new cafe opened in the space that Colombia was in, Cafe Ciel

The new owners got rid of the booth type of seating and replaced it with tables and chairs

They do have free wi-fi, which is nice

The big screen isn't a television, but a big board that shows slides of weather and some news 

I ordered the napolitan, and ordered it with an iced coffee…1000 yen plus tax

This had way too much sauce/ketchup…blah

The iced coffee was delicious

Satoshi ordered the daily hamburg and ordered it with a hot coffee…1000 yen plus tax 

Satoshi‘s patty was so teeny, in fact, when his food came out, his first words was "kawaii"

They also have karaage (fried chicken) or curry as lunch choices

They don't have small/light items on their menu like sandwiches or desserts, so I'm not too sure how this cafe will fare

We don't know if we'll be back but wish them all the best of luck

Cafe Ciel

7-16-1 Nishikamata

Ota, Tokyo

Closed: Sundays & Holidays

Hours: 10:00-20:00

lanikai juice

Finally tried the Lanikai Juice that is in our shopping mall

I looked online and their menu is different from the one in Hawaii
 

My photos uploaded wonky...I ordered the Kahala Sunset, small 990 yen (tax included)

acai, pitaya, granola, banana, strawberries, coconut chips & fresh honeycomb

Apparently there is a 15 minute time limit to consume this

Since I walked home, it was a  little melted but for the most part, the middle was still a little frozen

I enjoyed this.

Look forward to trying the nut version bowl that they have, I'll be back.

Lanikai Juice

Gran Duo Kamata 1F

Hours: 10:00-21:00

*closed when Gran Duo is

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