tokyo tower

After dinner, we said goodbye to V and A and they took a taxi back to their hotel.

As we made our way to the train station, we went to check out the line to go up to the Observation Deck at Tokyo Tower.

In the past, the lines were krazy so I had never been up there (at least I don’t remember ever going up there)

This time around the lines were manageable, so we paid our 1200 yen per person and went up to explore.

All sorts of sights

Reflections of Tokyo Tower in the surrounding buildings

Lamborghini Countach convoy...

And then we checked out Mannekin Pis before boarding the train.

Foreigners were out and about, thankfully it was not as krazy crowded as before the pandemic.

 

tofuya ukai

Located near the base of Tokyo Tower, Tofuya Ukai is a beautiful restaurant that serves everything soy.

Saturday, V invited us to have dinner with her and her daughter here.

The grounds are beautiful and you could easily forget you were in a big city...

And the food was delicious and beautifully presented.

Hassun: peanut tofu with miso (kind of reminded me of the Okinawan jimami tofu which is also made from peanuts), salmon roe with pickled root vegetables and yuzu (similar to namasu), kelp cured trout sushi, arrowhead chips and roast duck with kujo onion (hard to maneuver out of the dish and kind of tasted like pork to me)

Age Dengaku: deep fried tofu topped with a dengaku (sweet-salty) miso and fresh negi (leeks)...so delicious, deep fried and thin like a cracker! want to re-create this!

This was also served with some blanched spinach topped with katsuo bushi 

Today's sashimi: maguro (tuna), hirame (flounder/halibut), kanpachi (amberjack)..we think…we couldn't remember the types of fish that the staff had mentioned...

Ebi imo Fukumenni: ebi imo (type of taro root found mostly in Kyoto shaped like raw shrimp) that is simmered in stock then fried so that the outside is super crispy while the inside is super tender, there was also some ginkgo nuts and the sauce that was drizzle over had a little yuzu flavor

Tousui Tofu: Fresh tofu simmered in a seasoned soy milk broth

Having eaten here before, this is the dish that V said she loved and the reason why she wanted to eat here again.

Eat as is first to enjoy the flavors of the tofu and broth, then add some sansho konbu and/or shoyu

Really simple and flavorful.

Tokusen wagyu tataki: Seared premium wagyu roast beef

Roast beef so tender that your chopsticks could cut through the meat and you didn't need any teeth to eat it either! talk about melt in your mouth.

There was a shoyu based sauce and the roast beef was coated with pepper, eaten with the fresh veggies matched nicely.

Freshly ground pepper or wasabi was also served to change up the flavors, but the shoyu sauce was enough flavor for me.

Taigohan: Grilled red snapper mixed into takikomi rice

Thank goodness it wasn't a lot as we were all getting full at this point.

Dessert: Poached apple with a wine jellied sauce served with a green apple sorbet

Thank you for generously treating us to dinner V, we hope you had a nice birthday and we’re honored that you let us be a part of your special day.

Tofuya Ukai

4-4-13 Shibakoen

Minato, Tokyo

Phone: 03.3436.1028

19691

Met up with V and her daughter A on Friday, it was a beautiful day. We went to Boulange D316 picked up some baked items for brunch and walked along the Tamagawa...saw Mount Fuji who was a little shy.

This chestnut scone was delicious....there were bits of chestnut as well as chestnut paste mixed into the dough.

I also had a fish sandwich...

The leaves were still turning but I loved all the different colors.

While eating, we were talking about what to do next.

V mentioned that she has always wanted to eat the 8 layer soft serve at Nakano Broadway.

She looked up how to get there and we were off!

Strawberry, pistachio, vanilla, chocolate, yakiimo (roasted sweet potato), ramune (carbonated drink similar to 7up/Sprite), cafe au lait, goma...there is also a sign that say you should eat this carefully because if it topples over, they will not make re-make it again!....1000 yen (tax included)

The small was 340 yen (tax included) and you could choose 1 to 3 flavors...so of course I chose 3!

Goma (sesame), chocolate and yakiimo (roasted sweet potato)

So good and the cone super crisp!

Oh and if soft serve isn't your thing, Daily Chiko also has a stand and eat udon shop next door....

We had to stand and eat our soft serve but V said that Daily Chiko also has some chairs to the side of their shop (which were being used when we were there)

The basement also had many tiny grocery shops and knick knack stores...I could see myself spending a lot of time here and will come back to explore the upper floors...

JR Nakano Station wall art

Then we went to shop at Shinjuku...everyone in Christmas mode...Louis Vuitton's lego display

And while A shopped at Sekaido, V and I went to Oiwake Dango Honpo to get dango!

I bought the “adult” mitarashi for Satoshi which has shichimi (7 spice) and sansho (Japanese pepper) mixed into the sweet salty mitarashi sauce and I also got him the yomogi (mugwort) which was topped with tsubuan (chunky bean paste)

For myself I bought yuzu an (citron mixed into a white bean paste, so good!), and kuri (chestnut sweet bean paste topped with whole chestnuts)

I hope V and A had a nice day and got to do, see and eat everything they wanted to.

Thanks for today V and A!

Daily Chiko

5-52-15 Nakano, inside Nakano Broadway B1

Nakano, Tokyo

Phone: 03.3386.4461

Hours 10:00-20:00

p.s. if you are interested in seeing other photos from the day click here

p.p.s. V, thank you so much for all these goodies!

this and that

Tokyo People...super high heels...

Found a similar version of this chicken chili sandwich at Family Mart...like their version better than 7-eleven's..the bread is softer.

Hello..

Look up!

I spy Hello Kitty

Tokyo People...probably a Pokemon Go-er, didn’t notice me until I walked passed her

Black Friday started in Japan over a week ago and will apparently last until the end of November.

I know I said we don't celebrate Thanksgiving...well, it was a holiday on Wednesday, Kinro no Kansha no hi (Thanks to the Laborers Day, like Labor Day and Thanksgiving together) so we kind of celebrated Thanksgiving...

I poached some chicken...

And made some kabocha

And some salad (without the kaki)

You probably already heard but Japan beat Germany! krazy!

Tokyo people...loved the guy on the left's sweatshirt...

My host sister sent us these buttery cookies from Sebastien Gaudard.

She recently went to Paris for work (I think)...Thank you!

I had an errand to run yesterday and tried Guzman y Gomez's Fish Cali Burrito...they do not have any explanations on their menu, so I did not know what a "cali burrito" was...after looking online I learned that it is a burrito with french fries and guacamole in it...love!

I also didn't know what “regular” and “light” meant on their menu...but judging from the prices I think regular and light meant the size of the burrito.

Tokyo's case numbers are up...I’m meeting up with V today, and we're also having dinner with her tomorrow.

Have a safe weekend!

saying goodbye

My brother posted on FB that Malia passed away...

Thank you Malia!

For keeping me sane during those rough days…

Loved our conversations (even if it was almost always you telling me to feed you)

Loved hugging you (even if you didn’t love my hugs)

Thankful for being able to spend time with you

Love you and will always think of you whenever I open a can of tuna

You will be missed!

Love, your krazy Aunty Kat

thank you

Thankful for a roof over our heads

Enough to eat

That Satoshi has a job

Relatively good health

Hoping that Ukraine will be free soon

And that everyone will be kinder to one another

Thank you for reading our blog

Hope your holidays are delicious

ii fufu no hi

For some reason Satoshi thought Ii fufu was on 11/11, so he gave me this box of cookies.

Cute packaging.

Apparently you are supposed to break off the cookie where the dotted lines are.

Only problem is that the dotted line doesn't go all the way through the cookie, so it makes a mess instead...

Still, it was cute and thankful that he remembered even if it was two weeks too early.