Saturday, April 19, 2008

saturday

As I told Lori in the comments from a previous post, we eat out mostly on weekends. This is an agreement that Satoshi and I have had from before we were married. The agreement is that on weekends, I don't cook...so I have "the weekend off". My half of the agreement is that Satoshi is allowed to sleep until 9:00 a.m. (Though with our holo-holo (galavanting) schedule, usually he has to wake up earlier.)

Anyway, last Saturday was a beautiful day.

Breakfast was really simple, yomogi (mugwort) toast, with adzuki cream cheese and a strawberry-banana flax seed smoothie.

Half a banana, 5 strawberries, 1/2 a teaspoon of ground flax seed and 1/2 a cup of milk. Whiz in food processor, makes 1 serving. Add more milk if too thick.

After breakfast, we walked to Suigetsu Park. Most of the cherry blossoms were billowing to the ground. Seeing the ground all pink is just as beautiful as seeing the blossoms on the trees.

We also visited Sonpachiyakujin, we've visited this temple before and I've written about it here. The archway at the entrance seems to be eroding and starting to lean. Still, it was beautiful with the cherry blossoms.

From Sonpachiyakujin, we walked to Satsukiyama Park then to Kawanishi. Lunch was at a restaurant called Corin. There was a line, so we waited for a table.

I ordered the daily lunch special--fried shrimp and Chinese roast pork (950 yen--about US$9.50). This came with ratatouille, a salad and "clam chowder". (Actually it was clam flavored soup, nothing chowder-y or clammy about it...)

Satoshi had the jumbo fried shrimp (1600 yen--about US$16). Ordering this, he was told he'd have to wait about 20 minutes for them to cook it. Boy, were they HUGE!

We both added dessert--ice cream (each 250 yen about US$2.50).

Mine was honey & walnut, Satoshi's was matcha (green tea).

After lunch, we walked to Hibarigaoka-Hanayashiki through a little park near the tracks. Most of the cherry blossoms were billowing off the trees, but it was still nice to be out and about.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Loving these food pics! I really like the adzuki cream cheese on toast idea. And Satoshi's matcha ice cream is something I'd definitely order. :)

Anonymous said...

Yum, you do eat well-both at home and at restaurants.

I've always been curious about the jumbo shrimp served with the head on: Do you eat the head too? I assume no, but am not sure because the head seems like one of those surprising things people eat.

Take care to the two of you!

Mama Mia said...

I never had azuki cream cheese but it sounds so good!

K and S said...

I hope you try it and like it, Lori and Lina!

Anon, we usually eat the tails, but not the heads. :)

Take care everyone.
Kat

2kamuela47 said...

Cherry Blossoms! :o) I like the strawberry smootie and I think I'll try the adzuki cream cheese some time soon. BTW, how was the honey walnut ice cream? Matcha is one of my favorites. Have a great weekend! Take care!

OkiHwn said...

Those shrimp dishes look ono! As far as shrimp heads, I chew and suck all the flavor out!

KirkK said...

Hi Kat - It's nice that you get a break on the weekends - it gives you more time explore without having to worry about what to cook! Plus, it makes for some delicious looking posts!

K and S said...

I hope you try the cream cheese soon, Laura! The walnut honey ice cream was delicious, like vanilla with lots of walnuts.

Thanks for the tip, Nate, Satoshi didn't know what to do with them and I didn't either. :)

Thanks Kirkk :)

Take care everyone.
Kat

nordwolke said...

Oh, the cherry blossoms are already blooming over there. I will have to look urgently at ours in the park, but I think, they are later than the ones in Japan!

K and S said...

I hope you get a chance to enjoy the cherry blossoms where you are, Beadexplorer!

Take care.
Kat

ilingc said...

Oooh, azuki and cream cheese on toast sounds interesting. I'm going to put that on my to try list. :)

I generally don't cook on the weekends either. Unless we're having people over. Sometimes it's just laziness though. hehe

K and S said...

I hope you get a chance to try the combination, Ilingc!

Take care.
Kat