atami

From Shimoda, it took close to 2 hours to get to Atami

Loved the stained glass roof outside of the JR Atami station.

It was late for lunch (for us), so we looked for a place to have something light.

There were many places for sweets that many people were standing in line for, but we decided to try San, a coffee place that didn't allow smoking.

Quite fancy!

The women's restroom was unique, there was an aquarium right in front of the toilet...luckily there were no fish to watch you...ahem

We both ordered coffee...600 yen (tax included) each

I ordered tuna and Satoshi ordered egg sandwiches...930 yen (tax included) each

It was nice to sit in the quiet, the sandwiches were delicious and so was the coffee.

My sandwich had cucumbers, Satoshi’s had lettuce

The shopping arcade in front of the JR Atami station was quite touristy, so we headed to the hotel.

Luckily, the hotel provided free transportation 

View of the Ocean Wing, Hotel New Akao

We were booked for the Horizon Wing.

The property was huge!

Since our dinner time assignment was at 19:00, we decided to explore the property and take a bath in their hot springs (they have 3 of them).

There was a  tunnel like walkway between the wings.

Many places to explore on the property, beautiful views and spaces

Lots of beautiful chandeliers

Steps everywhere!

 

At 19:00, we went down to the main dining room and were blown away at the size of the room!

It was like a big opera hall, apparently it can seat 496!

We had 90 minutes to eat....

At the sushi area...

Hot area and dessert area

There were other items that we tried too, it was an interesting and delicious dining experience.

We really enjoyed this property.

I've never been on a cruise, but imagine it is similar to staying at this property.

San

4-19 Tawarahoncho

Atami, Shizuoka

Open daily 8:00-18:00

*cash only

Hotel New Akao

1993-250 Atami

Atami, Shizuoka

cape tsumeki

Breakfast the next morning was huge!

With himono (dried fish)

Rice, salad, fruits
 

And all these condiments that go with rice...my favorite was the one in the bottom right corner, it was okaka (bonito) with ginger and something crunchy...should've asked where to buy it from!

We then caught the bus to Cape Tsumeki to experience the suisen (narcissus) festival.

Unfortunately they just started blooming so they were sparse.

At least the aloe was blooming

The most narcissus we would see

Cute kinmedai trash can!

The hillsides are supposed to white with the narcissus.

The festival goes until January 31st, so hopefully everyone will have more to see!

Since it was opening day of the festival, they were giving away pieces of kinmedai sushi, to the first people there (Satoshi stood in line), I was still full from breakfast, so I just watched him eat...

We checked out the area near the lighthouse

hello

Even if we didn't get to see any narcissus, it was nice to explore this area of Shimoda.

On our way to Atami, we tried the Shimoda salt chocolate that the hotel had given us as a goodnight snack.

shimoda

From Tokyo it takes about 3 hours to Shimoda, a tiny town in Shizuoka.

As soon as we arrived we headed to find Uodonya, a conveyor belt sushi shop.

It turned out it was right across from where the fish come off the boats.

We both ordered the local fish set…2200 yen (tax included) each

Bummer that the photo I took of what each sushi topping was got lost, so no explanation (insert frown)

My favorite was the kinmedai oshizushi, 2nd row, far right. The rice had aonori and shiso in it and was topped with kinmedai that had a kabayaki type of sauce

After lunch we explored Shimoda.

This was apparently the area where Commodore Perry landed in 1854 and where the U.S. met with Japan to end the isolation of Japan and open it up to trading and foreigners.

There is a short road named Perry Road and it reminded me of Kyoto.

Loved this huge bouganvillea tree in front of a cafe.

Satoshi went into the Shimoda Kaikoku Museum.

While he did that, I got a free aloe plant and waited outside and people watched.

Apparently the fishermen of this area brought back aloe from Southern tropical areas.

The plants really grew well in the Shirahama area of Shimoda, so you'll see them there as well as around Shimoda.

(Shimoda people: I was surprised to see these elementary students with these helmets as they walked home from school)

There was a trick art thingy inside of the gift shop of the museum, so I had Satoshi pose.

Geishin no matsu (about 200 plus years) near the Shimoda Hachiman Shrine

 

Teeny origami that was made into a tree! at Hofukuji

This temple is apparently where Okichi the most popular geisha in 1854 was engaged to a carpenter, Tsurumatsu.

She was ordered by local officials to work for Townsend Harris, the first US consul in order to get a better negotiation deal with the US.

After giving up her fiance to do this job, she was "tainted" by a foreigner, and Harris returned to the US after being reassigned.

Her life had many misfortunes afterwards and she eventually drowned herself in 1890.

An actress, Yaeko Mizutani who played Okichi in a movie had Okichi buried next to her fiance, Tsurumatsu, so they could be reunited.

Apparently this temple is also where Sakamoto Ryoma asked Katsu Kashu for forgiveness after he (Sakamoto) left the Tosa domain without permission.

Black soft cream...flavored with chocolate and bamboo charcoal

Black ship, kurofune, is the color of the ship that Perry entered Japan on, so many things/foods are black.

This was a bit gritty from the charcoal, but I enjoyed the chocolate flavor...500 yen (tax included)

Gyokusenji is the place where the first US consulate was.

while Satoshi went to check out the Harris Memorial, I headed back to the hotel

The sunset was pretty

And I got to see the Ryoma Sakamoto statue at the Madogahama Park

Dinner was kaiseki style...the most impressive part was the abalone that was cooked with butter (should've taken a picture before the cooking)

And I was impressed by this huge kiriko (Japan glass) my vitamin container for size reference

Shimoda Bay Kuroshio

4-1 Kakisaki

Shimoda, Shizuoka

Kaitenzushi Uodonya

1-1 Sotogaoka

Shimoda, Shizuoka

Open daily 11:00-15:00 (lunch), 17:30-20:30 (dinner)

*cash only

Shopping Kiss'a

inside JR Shimoda station

hours: 8:00-17:00

*cash only

this and that

Tokyo (furry) People: waiting

(maybe) Tokyo People: super tall!

Buzzballz, saw this on social media, the person had said that they found it at Family Mart, but I found them at Donki (Don Quijote)

Espresso Martini was too sweet! I diluted some with carbonated water and saved the rest for another day

I have another ball (Choco Tease), will dilute that one when I open it.

Tried these cookies by Milka and biscuits filled with Nutella.

I like the Nutella ones better than the Milka ones, the cookies are a better texture, but the Milka ones have more chocolate in them.

Been looking for this Craft Curry by S & B.

Finally found it, it is supposed to have all the spices and the roux is supposed to be able to dissolve easily.

All you need to do is brown your protein and onions then add the packet...will try it soon.

It's been krazy fahreezing...have a safe weekend.

pink

Found these pink kabu (turnips) at the market

Love that they still have the tops on them.

We've been eating them in soups.
 

reminiscing

Four years ago, it was a Friday so we were posting about this and that

Six years ago, we were trying Alice's stollen

Nine years ago, we were trying Gyoza Tenshin's gyoza

Eleven years ago, we were playing tourist

Fourteen years ago, we were telling you what things were were liking

Seventeen years ago, we were eating curry udon at Tokumasa

sukeroku sushi

Have you ever tried Sukeroku sushi? You can often find them in supermarkets and in convenience stores.

I ate a lot of this and learned of it when FIL passed away back in 2008.

I thought I had posted about it, but apparently I did not.

It is usually a combination of inarizushi and makizushi

Apparently the sushi combo is based on the mistress of the main character, Sukeroku, of the Kabuki play, "Sukeroku Yukari no Edozakura"

Sukeroku's mistress was named "Agemaki"...

"age" (ah-gay) is the shortened word for "abura age" (fried tofu), what is used to make inarizushi and "maki" (ma-key) is the shortened word for "makizushi"

Another explanation of this sushi is that because it isn't made of items that would spoil easily, you could have it around when you're busy and not have to eat it right away.

Most times one serving has 6 pieces, 3 inari and 3 maki...there is also a play on words..."suke" (sue-kay) helpful, "roku" (row-coo) 6, 6 pieces...

These days, whenever I eat this, I often think of FIL

back to spaghetti no pancho

Saturday, we went back to eat at Spaghetti no Pancho.

This time I ordered the small meat sauce...790 yen (tax included)

This was meaty, garlicky...delicious! (I also topped it with some parmesan cheese (no photo))

Satoshi ordered the same thing as he did the last time (napolitan & sunny side up egg) but ordered the small version...790 yen + 100 yen (egg) = 890 yen (tax included)

Even if it is a small...it is actually 300 grams of cooked pasta....

The nami (regular) is 400 grams, large is 500 grams and the mega is 600 grams of cooked pasta!

There was a guy sitting next to me that ordered the mega meat sauce! it was huge!

Super reasonable and tasty, I'm sure we'll be back

this and that

it's that time of year when I send Satoshi off to work with a thermos of hot tea to have with his lunch.

After filling the thermos, there is always a little cup left and I usually sit with it, in the quiet, just before my day starts to make breakfast.

fennel explosion...me trying to open the bottle on the right.

made the mistake of pulling down on the bottle with my left hand and pulling the cap up with my right...boom! fennel everywhere

so I decided to put the fennel into the bottle on the left...but being impatient, the funnel I was using, overflowed and more fennel was everywhere....sigh

haagen dazs' collaborated with sadaharu aoki, a patissier in France, looking forward to trying this caramel noisette (hazelnut)...460 yen (plus tax) each

soy meat keema from family mart...mouth.on.fire

it's soup curry season at coco ichibanya...I always get the roasted chicken soup curry, Satoshi tried this one...the ebi (shrimp) soup curry and added fried ika (squid) 

He said he enjoyed this.

Tokyo People: this one zoomed past me...

New (to me) Ritter Sport bars...looking forward to trying these

Small kine shame, but I also thought this was kinda funny....

Our apartment is so small that I often have laundry hanging from the doorways of the two rooms that we have...so we often have to duck under the laundry to get around the apartment...

my "brah", was caught on his backpack! as he was getting ready to leave for work

lucky I noticed as he was putting on his shoes...pretty sure no one would tell him if they saw him with it hanging on his backpack...And I definitely would not pick it up if I saw it outside on the ground…ha!

have a safe weekend.