another "rosey" & foodie weekend

The weekend was beautiful. Sunny with a slight breeze at times.

Saturday, Satoshi had his German class so we went to Umeda early and checked out Boulangerie Takagi, which I wrote about here.

Luckily it wasn't too crazy inside the shop and we were able to pick out some items for lunch.

Satoshi chose a bread with salmorejo (chilled spanish tomato soup) with egg and some bacon on top (top left). He also chose a shrimp and bacon tartine (top right). There was also an egg, tomato and ham sandwich, but that was apparently eaten so fast that the camera missed taking its photo.

I chose the apple galette (bottom right) and a Sebastian style shrimp and bacon sandwich (bottom left).

I am not too sure what "sebastian style" is but there were marinated (sweet/sour) veggies in the sandwich which reminded me of banh mi (vietnamese sandwich).

We sat in the shade near Nakanoshima and enjoyed everything we got, it was also nice to people watch.

After lunch, we walked around the Nakanoshima Rose Garden.

We've visited this garden (pre-blog) and I must say they have really made this place nice. When we visited before, there were many homeless people here and there and it was kind of a scary place to visit.

Now there is grass and many rose bushes, just a nice place to hang out.

I was amazed at all the different varieties of roses too, like this one called "Edgar Degas", each flower on the same plant was a different color.

I love how most of the rose names are "positive" like "love", "peace" or of people like "Princess Aiko" (the daughter of the Japan Prince).

Somehow looking at all the bridges that cross the Tosabori river and Dojima river around Nakanoshima Rose Garden reminded me of Paris (though we've only visited Paris for a day--pre-blog).

Satoshi went off to his class and I walked around window shopping and stopping into Ig Cafe for a decadent custard filled french toast.

After more walking, we met up at Yodobashi Camera, where we had dinner at Gyo Gyo. They were having a "sale" on most of their items.

I chose their Hokkai "don". A bowl filled with a little rice and LOTS of different seafood pieces (octopus, salmon roe, squid, sea urchin, crab leg, yellowtail, marinated mackerel, scallop, clam, northern shrimp)...1280 yen (about US$12.80). This came with chawan mushi (savory custard) and miso soup.

Satoshi chose the uni hotate & ikura don (sea urchin, scallop & salmon roe bowl)...1280 yen (about US$12.80). This also came with chawan mushi & miso soup.

This shop definitely had fresh seafood and great prices.
Sunday, I made us a breakfast bento and we headed to Aramaki Rose Garden. We've visited here in the past and love it.

Our breakfast bento had some egg with canned teriyaki saba rolled into it. Carrot salad, tsukemono (pickles) & grapefruit pieces.

I also made some musubi with different fillings.

On our "breakfast picnics" I usually brew some coffee and put it in a thermos.

I re-used this plastic container that originally had dressing in it and put some milk in it for my coffee. I also put a horeizai (miniature "blue ice") with it so it wouldn't spoil.

(To get the milk into the teeny container, I used my "spice funnel" a teeny little funnel which is used to put spices into jars (got this at the 100 yen store)).

The roses this year were a little shorter in height than in the past, I think the weird winter weather played a big part in it.

The light rose fragrance that wafted here and there was nice and we enjoyed getting out and about. Seeing these blooms especially on a beautiful day really brought out an inner sort of peace too.

For lunch, Satoshi said he wanted to eat gyoza (pot stickers), so we stopped at Ippudo for lunch.

I tried their "tsukemen". Unlike ramen, udon or soba where the noodles are already in the soup, tsukemen is where you dip your noodles into the soup and eat them.

This soup was fish based with half of a soft boiled egg, generous pieces of pork, green onions, & smashed up ika fry (a crunchy sweet/salty seafood snack). Though I finished my meal, this soup was too salty for my tastes.

Another great weekend for us, I hope yours was just as nice!