thank you

Thankful for the experiences (both good and bad) that we had this year.

If you read, commented and/or lurked our little blog, we are thankful for all of you.

Hoping 2025 will be filled with good health, adventures and everything delicious. 

Be well! I'll post after Satoshi goes back to work on January 6th.

10 photos

Easy Pupu : had to try this after seeing this photo, it was easy, different, and delicious
 

Nira (chive) sauce : easy and delicious to put on tofu and other types of proteins

Reconnect : reconnected with Mom’s Bread & Butter Pickles

Frito Pie : 1st time making frito pie, delicious! Fritos are not commonly found in Japan, so had to bring some back from Hawaii to try this.

S'mores : 1st time for BFF to eat s'mores! glad she now knows what she had been missing

Monkey Chews Kitchen : a tiny French restaurant in our area was a nice way to celebrate our anniversary

Karuizawa : 1st time to this area, we now know it is cooler here than in Tokyo

Furry Get Together : 1st time meeting these 3, it was a nice get together

Atami : 1st time to this area, beautiful beaches and sunrises

Shimoda : 1st time to this area, delicious fish and sights

I started this round up back in 2008 as part of a meme, nowadays, I use it as a nice way to look back on the year.

We didn't try too many new recipes this year, so I included 1st time experiences to make this year’s 10 photos

books

 whoo hoo read 3 books this year

1. "Kau Kau"by Arnold Hiura

2. "The Undomestic Goddess" by Sophie Kinsella

3. "Can You Keep A Secret?" by Sophie Kinsella

Since I have about 20 minutes at physical therapy, I "brilliantly" figured out to bring a book...

If you read something you'd like to share, please let me know in the comments

söpö bagel

Yesterday Satoshi met up with his tour guide friends, so I went on my own adventure to Musashi Koyama

I went to check out Söpö Bagel.

Söpö means “cute” in Finnish. 

I’m glad I knew this before I went because their bagels were “cute” 

I purchased their walnut fig and their bacon cheese (left), both were 270 yen (tax included) each

Their sizing was uneven, I don’t think they really weigh while making these because the bagels were all different sizes 

When I chose, I tried to take the largest ones, still I think they were about 3 inches wide?!

The walnut fig was a bit disappointing, not much walnuts or dried figs.

Since I stuck the bacon cheese bagel into the freezer, I hope it won't disappoint when I do eat it.

Still, I'm glad I tried them, won't be back though.

Söpö Bagel

5-14-14 Megurohoncho

Meguro, Tokyo

Open 8:30-17:00

this and that

the Ritter sport chocolates I recently bought are different sizes!

They were just okay, kinda similar in flavor, but I'm glad I got to try them

My cousin always sends us a family calendar through Shutterfly, this year it got wet.

Satoshi gingerly opened each page and ran the hair dryer over them, then we hung it up to dry

Glad the photos didn't get ruined.

Ranunculous...thought this color was unusual
 

Tried the maitake burger at Shake Shack...last month V's daughter A, tried this.

It has maitake, shiitake, shiso, a red miso mayo and monterey jack cheese...would get this again.

Tokyo Furry People: This furry one was saying "let's go"

Host sister, T, sent us these cute chocolates by Cafe Tanaka's Regal de Chihiro...thank you!

There are coffee beans, dried fruit, roasted soy beans and cookies that are covered with different flavored chocolates...delicious

Satoshi brought home Tochiotome strawberries on Christmas Eve...they were super sweet!

And then he brought home this tiramisu by C3, delicious!

We recently tried the curry ramen at Coco Ichibanya.

I had it with crispy chicken, while Satoshi had his with tonkatsu.

It's been fahreezing here, and really dry, so there have been many fires.

Not to mention, influenza, mycoplasma and covid are on the rise...

"someone" still has his cough...glad I got rid of mine.

Have a safe weekend.

k-sozai

K-Sozai is a tiny shop that opened in May, in the space that used to sell mango drinks and before that boba drinks.

I thought they only sold Korean condiments, but realized they also sold pre-made foods, they have bento, kim chee and also frozen stuff.

I tried their yangnyeom chicken...512 yen (tax included)

This was sweet, spicy and I loved that it had crispy edges and the meat was still moist

I thought there might be ume (pickled plum) in the sauce but when I looked at the ingredients, I was surprised to see strawberry jam listed...still, it wasn’t overly sweet, I would get this again

half vegetable kimbap...458 yen (tax included)

thought this was kind of bland...the nori didn't even have sesame oil on it

the filling was carrot, takuan, egg, kanikama (fake crab), gobo and spinach

I'm glad I tried these and hope to try other items

K-Sozai

Tokyu Plaza Kamata 1F

Open when Tokyu Plaza Kamata is

odawara

The sunrise the next morning was beautiful
 

At the buffet, I decided to try all the "western" types of foods...Satoshi tried some of the "Japanese" types

Loved the “make your own” fried mackerel sandwich I chose the shibazuke tartar sauce

Was bummed we couldn't toast our bread though...

Everyone wanted to sit near this window in the main dining area, the sun was blinding, dunno how they enjoyed their meals...

After we checked out, we asked the driver if he could drop us off at Omiya Green Space, a tiny park that is dedicated to the story of Omiya and Kanichi, characters in Ozaki Koyo's book, "Konjiki Yasha"

Just before Omiya and Kanichi are about to get married, Omiya falls for a wealthy man, the scene depicts Kanichi kicking Omiya in anger.

There is a huge pine tree next to the statue of Kanichi kicking Omiya...

We then walked up to the JR Atami station...8 minutes sounded close by and easy enough, but the stairs were straight up!

From Atami it took a little over an hour to get to Odawara.

Satoshi wanted to check out the castle to re-familiarize himself.

I wanted to find the Gundam manhole.

We picked up musubi from Rokuzaemon for the trip home.

I ordered the nori tsukudani

And the okaka (bonito), ginger, takuan...loved this combo!

Would definitely get musubi from this shop again, there was "stuff" in every bite!

(Satoshi had their egg yolk and saba tsukudani musubis.)

It was my first time to Shimoda and Atami, we hope to be back to check out the hydrangea in Shimoda and maybe stay at New Akao again.

I hope you enjoyed this adventure as much as we did.

Rokuzaemon

Minaka Odawara 1F

Odawara, Kanagawa

Hours: 10:00-20:00

ps have a wonderful Christmas (one of the many trees at Hotel New Akao)

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.