back to shirokane takanawa

Thursday, I went to Shirokane Takanawa to revisit Maruichi Bagel.

It had been almost a year.

I purchased two everything bagels and one seven grain honey

Sliced them and put them in the freezer.

Checked out Backerei Blau Berg, a tiny bakery.

Picked up their pretzel which I put into the freezer, to try another day.

I had their teriyaki chicken and egg salad bread for lunch on Thursday, filled to the gills! love!

Croquante, pieces of puff pastry stuck together with caramel (?), not sweet and was kind of disappointing, didn't have too much flavor after the teri chicken bread...

The marron pie...so delicious! whole chestnuts as well as some cake wrapped with puff pastry.

Sweet, salty, buttery, flaky...love!

Want to go back to try other items.

Maison d'Ahni's (counter clockwise) Gateau Basque a la creme, Gateau Basque au chocolat, Sable Breton & Financier, which were nice with wine.

Buttery, flaky, moist, love!

Want to go back to try their cakes.

It was blazing on Thursday, but I'm glad I was able to get out and about.

Maison d'Ahni Shirokane

1-11-15 Shirokane

Minato, Tokyo

Closed Tuesdays

Hours: 7:00-19:00

Backerei Blau Berg

3-9-6 Shirokane

Minato, Tokyo

Closed Sundays & Mondays

Hours: 9:30-19:00

this and that

Went to Comme'N the other day.

Bought their roule chocolat, a cake brioche type dough rolled with chocolate..rich!

The honey nuts baguette, so delicious! honey, salt, nuts, butter! love.

The kinako (soy bean powder) & walnuts, I asked them to slice it for me, this was delicious even if you can’t taste the kinako, 

We checked out Kurazushi for the 1st time...meh

The place was NOT first time visitor friendly, or at least we thought it wasn't.

Not a wide selection of sushi, but all sorts of other foods like ramen, fries and other stuff.

Toro taku was delicious as well as the maguro yuk-hoe (photo above).

At least now we know what the hype about this place is even if it isn't somewhere we'd go back to.

cute small truck with cute escavator

this snack mix by Ton’s, delicious! cheesy and a little peppery

tried Aunt Stella's cookies, which opened recently in the shopping center nearby (bottom left then clockwise: almond chocolate chip, chocolate chip, double chocolate, coconut and orange marmalade)

These cookies are crispy, delicious!

And you can buy them by weight...I bought 7 and it cost 575 yen (tax included)

Loved the package, "How to Cook a Husband" is a real excerpt!

The other day we also got rid of our backpacks. It was actually my mom & dad’s I think they gave it to us after climbing Mount Fuji because they weren’t going to use it again and didn’t want to lug it home. 

The coating inside the backpack was making everything we put into into the bag, black, so we finally decided to get rid of them.

I’ve been having heel pain, and finally went to see a doctor, not too sure what the doctor said it was, but it looks like I have a spur (on the X-ray), he recommended heat treatment and electric treatment so I will go 2 or 3 times a week for rehab 

At night I will tape my arch and heel with a medicated tape and whenever I go out will use arch supports, he said it will take some time, but I hope this will heal.

thought it was unusual for them to give me a pen for coming to their clinic...

Tokyo People...the delivery guy...it was blazing.

Cute tiny truck.

My vaccinated arm turned red where the vaccine was administered, it felt hot and then got itchy.

At least the “lump” went away.

We're back to blazing...have a safe weekend.

we're 18

Wow!

18 years.

If you remember, please tell us how you started reading our little blog?

We appreciate your comments.

Not sure how much longer we’ll continue this blog but we are thankful for you coming along with us on our adventures. 

futon

Earlier in the month, we got rid of our folding beds.

And got rid of our old futons the other week.

Now I can access this part of my wardrobe rack.

It cost us 1800 yen to get rid of these, (300 yen per futon), they didn't want any covers on them or for them to be tied because they will look at them to see if they can be reused...

I think these were in pretty good condition even if we used them for over 20 years...

hanging at tamanoi sumo stable

One of Satoshi's tour guide friends received an invitation for a party at Tamanoi Sumo Stable and the invitation was for family too.

It was 10,000 yen per person!

I had just received my vaccine, so didn't go.

Satoshi with the stable master, Tamanoi-oyakata (Ozeki Tochiazuma Daisuke)

Azumaryu

TBS announcer

If you know who he is, please tell me...Toshunryu (Satoshi asked his tour guide friend)

Handball player Daisuke Miyasaki
 

If you paid 1000 yen for a raffle ticket you could win these sumo trading cards...I think Satoshi said his friend gave him these because he already had them.

I'm sure it was a good experience, but tell "someone" he shouldn't be going out on Sunday nights...he came home at 1:00-ish.

I had to lock the door because he forgot to and had to make sure he didn't sleep on the toilet...

so...

Friday, I went to get my Covid XBB vaccine.

For the most part I felt okay after, then Saturday my arm hurt and I had a slight fever.

I did take aspirin and still somehow got the errands that needed to be done, done.

The gloomy rain didn't help the mood though.

Sunday, felt way better though for the 1st time there is a slight “lump”where the vaccine was administered… 

We got out early and went to check out the higanbana (spider lilies) at Fuchu City Local Forest Museum.

If you remember we went here in March to check out the ume.

backstory: On an afternoon program, they featured this park and showed all the spider lilies in bloom.

It was so beautiful.

Apparently this park has 350,000 spider lily blooms! mostly all under the ume trees!

I also learned that it is also called manjushage.

Apparently this flower is poisonous and was planted near the bodies of the deceased to deter animals.

We along with lots of others were at the park when it opened at 9:00.

Snacks from Kimuraya Bakery, who has been in business since 1965

Curry pan, gateau noir & menchi katsu sandwich…delicious!

Kakuni don (braised pork belly bowl) with matcha sauce at Iyemon Cafe for lunch

This was so delicious! I want to recreate it!

Satoshi had their soy milk tan tan udon, which he drank all the soup! ack! when I wasn't watching...

We want to come back to try other matcha dishes/drinks

The weather FINALLY got cooler in the early mornings and evenings…but will go back to blazing in a couple of days…ack

Have a good week.

Kimuraya Bakery

1-6-56 Minami-cho

Fuchu, Tokyo

Closed Tuesdays

Hours: 7:00-19:00

Iyemon Cafe

Lazona Kawasaki

Open when Lazona Kawasaki is

ps if you are interested more photos, look here

this and that

Tokyo People...out for a walk

Gathering up all the "illegally" parked bicycles
 

1st time seeing yellow spider lilies...

Love the colors of this chrysanthemum

Tried a new version of spam musubi from Family Mart

It had gloopy teriyaki sauce and sliced medium boiled eggs.

I prefer the one with tuna mayo & scrambled egg...

Oomasari, fresh peanuts, that I boiled.

Back in 2018 when we first tried them they were huge, they still are.

Went to Daily Supply SSS, a little coffee stand nearby.

I tried their espresso tonic and galette bretonne...770 yen (tax included)

The espresso tonic was delicious, though I thought it would've been more fizzy.

The cookies were delicious too, buttery!

I think they might be related to Sando, which we tried back in 2019 because they also call their espresso tonic, Tonny (different spelling)

Tokyo people...everyone has the fan jackets to keep cool.

Did you know that the guy who invented this jacket, didn't have enough money to get a patent? so now "everyone" can make them...

Bought some new (to me) chocolates...one is strawberry and chocolate kinokonoyama and the other is kokuto (black sugar) chocolate covered almonds.

Looking forward to trying these.

Asian pear season is bulgogi season for me...bummer the sanchu lettuce was so expensive and so skimpy looking, probably the tolls of the blazing summer heat.

I receive my XBB vaccine later today, hoping it doesn't wipe me out over the weekend.

Hope you have a safe weekend.

reminiscing

One year ago, we were making portuguese bean soup

Four years ago, we were purging things and keeping cool

Seven years ago, we were renewing our library card

Twelve years ago, we were back from France

The foods these days are autumn-y but the temps are still very summer-y

It is O-higan and ends on the 23rd, so hopefully we'll be able to see more of these higanbana (red spider lilies).

haneda

We didn't know what to do with ourselves on Monday, which was a holiday (Keiro no Hi).

So we went to hangout at Haneda Airport, since it is nearby and they recently opened Terminal 2 to International flights.

They were having some type of event with Lego...

Lots of people needed to go places.

New (to me) vending machines

Satoshi and I shared this yakiimo (roasted sweet potato) soft serve from Mangando.

More new (to me) vending machines)

And I was intrigued by all these people standing in line waiting to repack their souvenirs...
 

shiseido parlour cafe

Saturday we ran some errands and then went into Shiseido Parlour Cafe for something sweet.

They had many parfaits and I thought Satoshi would choose the chestnut parfait, but he chose this fresh peach one, he said it was delicious.

I chose Aumônière, which means drawstring bag in French.

A thin crepe filled with marron (chestnut) paste, cassis sherbet, almond florentine and chocolate ganache. 

You could also drizzle some caramel sauce, I did drizzle a little but it made things a bit overly sweet.

There were also bits of marron glacés (candied chestnuts) too

Delicious!

It was our first time here and we enjoyed it, they also serve savory things too.

We'll be back.

Shiseido Parlour Cafe

Lazona Kawasaki

Open when Lazona Kawasaki is

Hours: 11:00-21:00