thank you

What a year! full of baseball, lots of meeting up with friends and family in Japan and Hawaii

I continue to mask and social distance, Satoshi, not so much.

There were sad days as well as good days

Definitely lots of delicious days

Grateful for our adventures and for you being a part of them.

Wishing everyone good health, new adventures and a delicious 2024.

Be well and be kind

Thank you!

sunset photo taken in September 2023

10 photos

Deconstructed Onigiri Bongo recreated one of the most popular combos at Onigiri Bongo and it was our first time marinating egg yolks.

Corn Karaage tried recreating the corn karaage we had an izakaya, the corn has to be really fresh and the cob not too thick to be able to cut through the cob

Umeshu Pickles tried this after seeing this on a tv show, even though this was delicious using umeshu to make the pickles was kind of a waste of alcohol

Banana Juice an Osaka favorite, easy and delicious

Yakishisomaki finally tried making this, easy and good way to use up shiso

Making marinated feta 1st time trying to make this and it was a nice substitute for the marinated feta that I usually use for watermelon salad

Fukujinzuke tartar sauce this recipe reminded me of the tartar sauce I usually make

Fukujinzuke tsumire 1st time adding pickles to tsumire, the pickles stayed crunchy

Caldeirada 1st time making this, it was actually at the end of 2022, but relatively easy and delicious.

A year later  One of the highlights of 2023 was the umeshu we started in 2022.

We started 10 photos as a meme in 2008, I now use it to look back on the adventures in my kitchen.

Did you have a favorite recipe from our blog this year?!

books

"Love in the time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez 

finally finished this book!

it was so hard to get into so it took me years to finish!

I also "read" two picture books in Japanese 

"The cat with no name" by Fumiko Takeshita

"The cat who lived a million times" by Yoko Sano

not much reading this year....hopefully more in 2024

Please share with me in the comments something you enjoyed reading in 2023

this and that

Turtle churro chips...was ono!

Reminded me of Aerial, corn chips that we have here.

Tokyo people: this guy...the box of boards he was carrying was super heavy looking
 

The sunset last night

Went to return the pudding bottles this morning

Tokyo people: social distancing at the train crossing

On my way to return the pudding bottles, I was happy to see this food truck, Banh Mi Lien.

I had seen it once before at this spot, pre-pandemic (I think), I'm glad I was able to try their banh mi this time around.

I ordered the Thit Nuong (BBQ pork)...680 yen (tax included)

This was their "full size"

Other sandwiches have "half sizes"

I toasted it and it was delicious!

I hope to try other things on their menu, whenever I am in the area.

Satoshi will be off from tomorrow, I think we are going to re-check the Ultraman manhole covers we missed.

I also have my "usual" year end posts lined up.

Will talk to you after Satoshi goes back to work on the 4th.

Have a safe weekend.

merry merry

Hope Santa brought everything you wished for.

Santa brought socks, a cell phone case and cell phone strap for Satoshi.

Santa brought Kat all these snacks from Dean & Deluca

 

the sushi card was cute!

For Christmas Eve, we opened this bottle of Domaine Raison's Assemblages Rouge, a medium body red

It said that a good food pairing was kakuni (braised pork belly), so I made sweet sour spareribs, but it kinda didn't match...

For Christmas dinner, I picked up the pintxos set from RF1

This went better with the wine.

We hope you enjoyed your Christmas!

stand and eat nemuro hanamaru

Merry Christmas!

Yesterday we finally went to check out the Stand and Eat Nemuro Hanamaru sushi stand in Granduo Kamata.

(they have conveyor belt type shops too, Jenny’s BF, C said the wait in Ginza was over an hour?!)

We'd never tried this place because there was always a line.

well, we went early and were first in line! whoo

They ask you if you want tea, water or alcohol...

Write your order on the paper, give it to the sushi chefs (should've taken a photo to show you).

(After giving your order and you wish to order more, write your order on a new piece of paper and give it to the sushi chef...)

There are 3 or 4 sushi chefs to take care of 14 customers, so everything comes out pretty quickly...

The chef places a leaf and a mound of gari in front of you and you are ready to go...

Salmon and zukemaguro

loved the big mound of gari (pickled ginger)

torotaku hand roll style and nigiri style...love!

I did order all my sushi without wasabi...someone wasn't reading my order, because the hand roll had wasabi in it!

amaebi...4 on one nigiri!

tamago otsumami style, not too sweet and not ice cold either.

The fish is super fresh and your order comes out super fast.

Wasn’t able to see what Satoshi ordered, though he had 10 pieces.

We both had tea, and our total came out to just under 4000 yen (tax included)

I'm glad we tried this place.

They don't have an English menu, it did take me some time to read through all the sushi choices.

It is definitely a little more expensive than the conveyor belt type sushi places, but you can't go wrong with the service and quality.

We'll be back.

Stand and eat Nemuro Hanamaru

Granduo Kamata 1F

Hours: 11:00-22:00

Closed when Granduo Kamata is

20491

Went to check out the Ultraman Shopping Street in Soshigaya, but first had to transfer trains at Noborito, which is Doraemon themed.
 

All sorts of Ultraman at Odakyu Soshigaya Okura where the Tsuburaya production used to be

Photos uploaded wonky...the train platform at Odakyu Soshigaya

Ultraman in front of the station

Even the light poles are Ultraman-ish

There are 2 Ultraman characters on each end of the shopping street

Yamatoya sells Ultraman manju

chocolate and custard

delicious!

Lunch at Kitchen Makabe in business since 1961 serves Western style foods

I ordered the rib roast pork ginger, super tender, not to gingery though...1760 yen (plus tax)

Still delicious, and I'm glad we were able to get seats since we did not have reservations.

Satoshi had the ebi don, 3 fried shrimp with egg, like oyakodon but with fried shrimp...1600 yen (plus tax)

we'll be back to try other items on their menu.

We were looking for the Ultraman manhole covers we realized we missed them because we didn't go to the very end of one of the shopping streets.

guess we'll need to go back! said Satoshi...

We did find Toho Studios!

Was amazing to see Godzilla and the Seven Samurai at the entrance.

And then we walked through Kinuta Park, which I've been to during cherry blossom season.

It was a beautiful day, though fahreezing.

Yamatoya

3-32-14 Soshigaya

Setagaya, Tokyo

Closed Wednesdays

Hours: 9:00-20:00

Kitchen Makabe

3-1-15 Soshigaya

Setagaya, Tokyo

Closed Thursdays, every other Wednesdays

Hours: 11:30-13:30 (lunch), 17:00-19:00 (dinner)

this and that

Tried a new bakery in our area, Noginohi.

Mostly semi-hard type of breads...these were delicious and relatively cheap.

Butter chicken, apple and hamburger pizza...275 yen (tax included) for each.

They aren't on social media, and not that close to where we live, so I'll be back when I am nearby.

So teeny!

Hello

First time trying Niihao's sheng jian bao (left corner)...delicious!

This one was pork, I saw that they have other fillings too, so we'll have to try them.

NYC Sand and 7-eleven brought back these ice cream bars and cups...we'll have these during the holidays

Tried the Supreme croissant at Dean and Deluca, this one was filled with marron (chestnut) cream.

It was more like buttercream and pieces of chestnut...was disappointed the croissant was kind of soggy too ...meh

Went to get my hair colored yesterday, was surprised at the line when I went at my "usual" time, ended up having to wait 1.5 hours!

After paying for my coloring, the girl at the register gave me this...Sumikkogurashi stickers, apparently the mall was giving these away with 1500 yen or more purchase...so cute!

Dunno where the "warm winter" is because it has been fahreezing.

Hope you have a safe weekend!