irifuneya

Saturday, we were near Akihabara and needed to kill some time

As we were in search of lunch, we walked through Okazu Yokocho

You may remember I walked through here before

This time, more businesses were open...like Irifuneya which has been in business since 1935

They make all sorts of tsukudani and side dishes which they have displayed in the front window

The cool thing is that there is a screen door on the back of their front window, kinda like those old skool refrigerators/cabinet thingy that my grandma used to have

We bought a 100 grams of shiitake konbu...650 yen (tax included)

There wasn't too much shiitake in the tsukudani but it was super flavorful and good with rice

and 100 grams of furikake...350 yen (tax included)

The furikake was delicious too, lots of katsuo bushi (bonito flakes).

I also thought the scales they used were cool too

We look forward to eating this in the coming days.

And I look forward to trying other things the next time I'm in this area

Irifuneya

1-4-5 Torigoe

Taito, Tokyo

Closed: Sundays

Hours: 9:30-18:00

*cash only

this and that

I wanna know why falling dishes fall in slow motion...
 

gloopy gravy loco moco...this organic gravy was meh...Satoshi still enjoyed this though

I see a smiley face

cyclamen getting ready for the pretty season

so mini

so teeny

Yesterday, got to spend some time with V...we went to lunch at Butadaigaku...so ono!

And then visited Ikegami Plum Garden

early blooming cherry blossom at Ikegami Honmonji

Thank you for all the omiyage V, the kettle corn is so ono! and we look forward to spending time with you towards the end of your trip. Enjoy!

Have a safe weekend.

epinard

Friend Hiromi, sent me these sweets from Epinard for my birthday

When we lived in Osaka, Epinard was in our area, Minoo

 

It was nice to reconnect with their sweets

And I look forward to sharing these truffles with Satoshi

Thank you Hiromi! I appreciate our friendship and your kindness

gimme chocolate

Saw this ad on Instagram for Gimme Chocolate, a small business from Yamaguchi Prefecture

I love the name of their product as well as the packaging

Their chocolate uses ginger grown in Yamaguchi and also has lemon, beets, carrots, cinnamon, clove, cardamom, star anise, lemon grass, licorice & fennel in it

The chocolate has a strong ginger fragrance

It isn’t too “creamy” so I am thinking it is a darker chocolate

I’m glad I tried this and would get it again  

lunar new year

Went to Chinatown in Yokohama yesterday 

It was quite empty because I've heard that the Chinese were told not to visit Japan...
 

I wanted to check out Ryuuka a tiny market...

I've been looking for Hoisin sauce...620 yen (tax included) and they have it! hope to get the other ingredients together so that I can make Hoisin sauce chicken

This restaurant was in the J-drama, "119 Emergency Call"

I was also looking for lup cheong...there was one shop that was selling imported lup cheong from the US, but they were selling it for $29!

Instead I bought this Taiwan brand from Sakamoto (forgot to take a photo of the store front)...650 yen (tax included)

I hope this will be similar to the lup cheong flavor that I grew up with...

Hoping the Year of the Horse will be a good one for everyone

Ryuuka

136-13 Yamashitacho

Naka ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa

Hours: 9:30-21:00

*cash only

Sakamoto

190 Yamashitacho

Naka ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa

Closed Wednesdays & Thursdays

Hours: 11:00-18:00

*cash only

tiramisu chocolate

Learned about these from friend Val

She was searching for them to bring back as omiyage

Apparently there are 3 different companies that make them (that I know of)

Puare which you can find at Donki 

Yuuka which you can find at Takeya

Kokyu no Choco which you can find at Marushige (in Kansai)

Almonds are coated with a marscapone coating then a chocolate coating then dusted with cocoa powder

Most also have a matcha version

I bought a bag for Satoshi for Valentine’s 

Have you tried these?

this and that

this guy, Kato Ryo, is what the Japanese call "talent", he appears on different television shows, what the Japanese call “variety”...the other day I walked past him in Yurakucho...wearing the exact same outfit...he stood out because it was fahreezing and he was wearing these shorts!

the other day, the shopping mall had a giveaway.

for every 1000 yen you spend you got 1 try to spin the wheel...when I spun the wheel, I got the booby prize...and was given this candy...the lady behind me snickered! how rude yeah?! 

my new favorite egg sandwich that the neko bread people make...bu bu! (oink oink)

tokyo furry people keeping warm

so yellow green

so teeny MG1100

blood orange season...ordered us 2 kilos from Kajibou...3580 (tax and shipping included) only 18 orbs but I look forward to having these every year

Hoping we can nip our runny noses and Satoshi's cough soon.