random things

the rain didn't wash the poop off yesterday...note to self: do not spray the screen from the inside while the wind is blowing...had a mixture of “it” and water misting my face eww

tofu noodles soy milk tan tan men...noodles not the best texture but taste was delicious

yesterday, the weather dude saw 5 plus blooms on the designated tree in Tokyo..let the pretty season begin

they forecast full bloom to be on April 5 (give or take)

(photo of tree in our neighborhood earlier this month)

still waiting

As of this post, Tokyo is still waiting for the weather dude to announce the start of cherry blossom season.

If you ever wondered how the weather dude determines this, I've written about it before, please look here.

Have a safe weekend. 

back to blue poppy

Went back to Blue Poppy Bakery

because they had hot cross buns for Easter.

To tell you the truth, growing up my mom used to make these, but I wasn't a fan of those neon candied fruits she used to put in them.

Blue Poppy's...these had lots of raisins, orange peel and spices like cinnamon and cardamom...love!

Savory Brioche...creme fraiche, bacon, fried onion and parmigiano...delicious!

Chocolate chip cookie...buttery with lots of chocolate! love.

I also purchased their buttermilk scone and moroccan foccacia, but put these into the freezer, will blog about these (hopefully I remember to)

 

random things

Starting April, Satoshi said he’ll be in the same department, but he’ll be assigned to do a different job

Cyclamen in full bloom, we think this is probably the most flowers it has ever had.

Unfortunately, sakura have not starting blooming in Tokyo, yet.

One day of sun today and back to rain tomorrow.

this and that

Lots of stuff not blogged about, so let’s do a "this and that"

Tokyo People: delivery guy

Tokyo People: I would definitely need to stand on a milk case to use the big hand mixer too.

Unorthodox nikujaga...tomato, lotus root and beef

Frou Frou's pot au feu...fall off the bone chicken! 500 yen (tax included)

Tamari marinated cheese, which we bought in Nikko...so ono!

A little sweet a little salty

Akuma no onigiri (literally devil's onigiri) which I think should be translated more like "sinful onigiri" because there are so many "sinful" ingredients like tenkasu (tempura bits), okaka (katsuo bushi), goma, aonori (green laver), shoyu..from Momochi inside JR Shinagawa...260 yen (tax included)

The handful of shops on the level of the Tokyu Ikegami train station in our area all went out of business...hopefully Muji will survive...

I wanna know how the crows, the pidgeons or whatever bird did this (pretty sure it was crows though), can aim their poop to hit both the screen and the glass?!

So gross, especially how it dripped all the way down the glass!...hoping the rain will wash this off (soon!)

The construction area in front of Tokyo Station has art.

Last fall, the art was fall-like...dunno where I posted them, but if I find them, I'll link it here.

Spring version, you can kinda see the fall version which was covered up...

the fall version, I guess I didn't blog about it...

 

This cream cheese spread from Seijo Ishii...four types of dried fruits (raisin, cranberry, apricot and strawberry), cream cheese, and honey...so ono!

And this chocolate bread from Seijo Ishii...buttery and chocolatey!

Sunday? We had snow in our forecast! WT?! turned out to only be rain though...

Sakura should be blooming in Tokyo soon, they’ve changed their forecast a couple of times already

Hope you are having a great week, we're on day 3 of rain...

yasukata sekishi

Yasukata Shopping Street has a sekishi (evening market) on the last friday of every month between 16:00-18:00

Like I've mentioned before, I like to get all my errands done in the morning.

This past Friday though, I was able to get to their evening market and pick up some foods.
 

Musashiya's inarizushi, tamagoyaki, tosani (bamboo shoots simmered in shoyu, katsuobushi and mirin), onion and pork katsu...1300 yen (tax included)

Super reasonable and delicious.

During the pandemic, we've taken out from Musashiya 

I'm glad I got to check this out and will be back the next time my schedule coordinates with this market.

isobe

Every time we pass Isobe, there is a line

On Wednesday, it was a national holiday and google maps said that they were closed.

But, when we walked passed, there was no line and the sign said "open"

There are only 10 seats at the counter

Buy your meal from the ticket machine 

Besides wonton men (noodles), they also have tsuke soba

For the tsuke soba, you can choose the weight of your noodles and which soup you want to have (shiro uma or kuro uma) 

Shiro uma is a white shoyu based soup

Kuro uma is a koikuchi (darker color mor pronounced flavor shoyu) shoyu base soup

You can also choose which type of wonton you want, meat or shrimp or both

I chose the Shiro uma half meat wonton men...950 yen (tax included)

White shoyu based soup, 3 meat wonton

The char siu was super tender...soup was super flavorful

Satoshi had the Shiro uma 3 x 3...1150 yen (tax included)

White shoyu based soup, 3 meat wonton, 3 shrimp wonton

The soup was so ono that he drank all the soup...eep!

We now know why there is always a line here, we'll be back.

Chuuka soba Isobe

1-20-14 Tamagawa

Ota, Tokyo

Closed Wednesdays

Hours: 11:30-14:30 (lunch), 18:00-21:00 (dinner)

Dinner served: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays & Sundays

*cash only

this and that

Sunday and Monday it was so blustery!

Like a typhoon!

One neighbor on one side of us has lots of stuff on their lanai

So whenever it is blustery, we get "presents"

Like these empty plastic bottles 

These "presents" usually "fly" under the space of the partitions that are between our apartments

I was gonna complain, but decided not to.

Our plants make rubbish and I'm sure they have to deal with it.

Instead, since we rarely buy bottled beverages of this size, I decided to fill these plastic bottles with water for us to keep in case of an earthquake, so we can flush our toilet.

So teeny

I noticed this tree on someone's lanai...it was so tall that the people on the floor above are the only ones that can enjoy it.

Yesterday we had quite a large earthquake, it was actually in Ibaraki but we felt it! (even Satoshi felt it, and he usually doesn't)

Wednesday, was watching the game between the Padres and the Dodgers and thought, "wow, Korea has a lot of good looking people", and took a photo of the tv.

Apparently he is Korean singer/actor,  Cha Eun-woo.

This month, Satoshi has been working on the weekends, taking tours here and there.

The other weekend he took a tour to the Shimizu and Fujinomiya area.

They have to make their own props, so he's been taking copies of things and making them larger.

Amazed what you can find at the 100 yen stores too!

I found one of those retractable pointer sticks, clipboard, map of Japan, and a magnetic white board for him.

This weekend he is off to Toba

The cherry blossoms should be blooming soon.

Have a safe weekend, everyone.

oookayama

Tuesday, went to Oookayama 

I always pass this place but it is usually never open when I do, luckily it was open on this day...Matsuyatei

Got this Saikyoyaki Gindara (white miso sablefish) bento for Satoshi...600 yen (tax included)

This bento also came with furikake, okara, fried tofu and konnyaku

I also went to check out Voie Lactée (which means Milky Way in French)

A tiny bakery that has been in business for over 50 years.

Their Origin Sandwich...ham, egg salad, butter, mayo, lettuce..240 yen (tax included)

Delicious! I will try toasting it next time. 

And Salt butter rolls for breakfast...140 yen (tax included) each

These were so buttery!

Will be back to try both places whenever I am in the area

Matsuyatei

3-16-3 Minamisenzoku

Ota, Tokyo

Closed: Sundays

Hours: 10:30-19:30

Voie Lactee

3-12-20 Minami

Meguro, Tokyo

Hours: 7:00-19:30

huanglong

Sunday, went to check out Huanglong (yellow dragon)

super tiny shop 

the owner wasn't too friendly

Satoshi ordered the Umanisoba...650 yen (tax included)

A slurry soupy sauce with lots of veggies over noodles

I ordered the Mabo Ramen 650 yen (tax included)

mouth.on.fire...this was too spicy

it was scalding hot 

the noodles were a little too thin for my liking 

gyoza...gyoza snob said it was so-so...250 yen (tax included)

Dunno if we'll be back, but I'm glad we got to try this place.

Huanglong

2-14-11 Nishirokugo

Ota, Tokyo

Hours: 11:00-13:45 (lunch), 16:30-21:00 (dinner)

*cash only

20167

Since we would be staying in Kyoto on Friday night to attend FIL's memorial service the next day, Satoshi let me go earlier to go holo-holo (gallavanting).

I was lucky to get to see Mount Fuji on the way.

It was my first time back in Osaka since we moved to Tokyo

My first stop was Chocolaterie Coco which I had only learned about after moving to Tokyo, apparently he has been in business since 2015.

Since Friday was the day after White day, choices were kind of slim.

Still I was able to pick out 6 bon bons to try.

Rocher praline (noir), truffes au calvados, pistache, champagne, coco no 8 and tanzania 75...1620 yen (tax included)

All were delicious, love!

I want to try his baked items next time

And then I walked through Honmachi to see all sorts of architecture that were featured on a J-drama

Stumbling on a lot of more things along the way.

In Kyoto, I went to Matsuhiro Shoten and bought a couple of gamaguchi purses

I'm glad they survived the pandemic

And had a very late lunch at Le Bac à Sable, it had been about 8 years since the last time I ate here.

They don't have a lunch menu anymore, so I just had a cheese quiche (which I heated up with their toaster), pain au chocolat and iced coffee...980 yen (tax included)

I'm glad they survived the pandemic too

And then I went up the street to Chocolaterie Hisashi

I picked out 6 bon bons (miso, caramel chocolat, sake, praline pistache, matcha and yuzu)...2700 yen (tax included)

All were delicious too, love!

Loved the caramel chocolat macaron too...475 yen (tax included)

And then I went to Nishiki Market, because I saw something online that said Torisei, which has been in business for over 100 years, sell bentos.

Unfortunately, they only had foods on sticks...(I actually think the info online was wrong)

These days Nishiki Market is definitely not the place to be...way.too.many.people.

I was able to get teriyaki chicken from Torisei that was pre-cut...800 yen (tax included)

super meaty and flavorful

similar to the teriyaki chicken I buy at Shinanoya

And then I walked down to our hotel

Which had a free 1 hour all you can drink, in the lobby (for guests) between 16:00-21:00

Luckily Satoshi arrived in Kyoto so we could try the 1 hour all you can drink

You need to make your own drinks, and drink them in the lobby, but I think this is a nice ammenity for guests.

You can also order food...cheese iburi gakko pizza did not look too good, but Satoshi said it was okay...1000 yen (tax included)

Thankful I was able to get out to Osaka and Kyoto, the weather was nice and I'm glad I was able to see everything I had planned to.

Chocolaterie Coco

1-5-15 Minami Kuhoji machi

Chuo, Osaka

Closed Mondays & Tuesdays

Hours: 11:00-19:00

Chocolate Hisashi

166-16 Ebisucho

Higashiyama, Kyoto

Closed Mondays & Tuesdays

Hours: 10:30-18:00

Torisei

186 Higashiuoyacho

Nakagyo, Kyoto

Hours: 7:30-18:00

Closed Holidays

Il Verde Kyoto

333 Yorozuyacho

Shimogyo, Kyoto

If you'd like to see photos/videos, please look here